Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



625 words match “BECAUSE”

PREPOSTEROUS a.
to be last; inverted in order. [Obs.] The method I take may be censured as preposterous, because I thus treat last of the antediluvian earth, which was first in the order of nature. Woodward.
PRESSBOARD n.
zed rag paper or board, sometimes containing a small admixture of wood pulp; -- so called because used originally, as now, in presses for pressing and finishing knit underwear.
PREST a.
ney, money formerly paid to men when they enlisted into the British service; -- so called because it bound those that received it to be ready for service when called upon.
PRESUME v.
t rests but that the mortal sentence pass, . . . Which he presumes already vain and void, Because not yet inflicted Milton.
PRETORIUM n.
The general's tent in a Roman camp; hence, a council of war, because held in the general's tent.
PRIME n.
ber expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; -- so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1. [Obs. or Archaic]
PRIMROSE LEAGUE n.
So called because primrose was (erroneously, it is said) taken to be the favorite flower of the Conservative statesman Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield.
PROCESSIVE a.
Proceeding; advancing. Because it is language, -- ergo, processive. Coleridge.
PROMINENT a.
Prominent' moth (Zoöl.), any moth of the family Notodontidæ; a notodontian; -- so called because the larva has a hump or prominence on its back. Several of the species are injurious to fruit trees.
PROPER a.
chaic] "Thou art a proper man." Chaucer. Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. Heb. xi. 23.
PROPIONIC a.
obtained as a colorless liquid having a sharp, pungent odor. Propionic acid is so called because it is the first or lowest member of the fatty acid series whose salts have a fatty feel.
PROPITIATORY n.
The mercy seat; -- so called because a symbol of the propitiated Jehovah. Bp. Pearson.
PRUSSIC a.
designating the acid now called hydrocyanic acid, but formerly called prussic acid, because Prussian blue is derived from it or its compounds. See Hydrocyanic.
PUNISHMENT n.
Any pain, suffering, or loss inflicted on a person because of a crime or offense. I never gave them condign punishment. Shak. The rewards and punishments of another life. Locke.
PYROCATECHIN n.
talline substance, C6H4(OH)2, of the phenol series, found in various plants; -- so called because first obtained by distillation of gum catechu. Called also catechol, oxyphenol. etc.
PYROMORPHITE n.
de, occurring in bright green and brown hexagonal crystals and also massive; -- so called because a fused globule crystallizes in cooling.
PYRROL n.
t of chloroform. It is the nucleus and origin of a large number of derivatives. So called because it colors a splinter of wood moistened with hydrochloric acid a deep red.
QUADRUMANA n.
A division of the Primates comprising the apes and monkeys; -- so called because the hind foot is usually prehensile, and the great toe opposable somewhat like a thumb. Formerly the Quadrumana were considered an order distinct from the Bimana, which last included man alone.
QUAIL n.
A prostitute; -- so called because the quail was thought to be a very amorous bird.[Obs.] Shak. Bustard quail (Zoöl.), a small Asiatic quail-like bird of the genus Turnix, as T. taigoor, a black-breasted species, and the hill bustard quail (T. ocellatus). See Turnix. -- Button quail (Zoöl.), one of several small Asiat…
QUAKER n.
e Nux vomica. -- Quaker gun, a dummy cannon made of wood or other material; -- so called because the sect of Friends, or Quakers, hold to the doctrine, of nonresistance. -- Quaker ladies (Bot.), a low American biennial plant (Houstonia cærulea), with pretty four-lobed corollas which are pale blue with a yellowish cen…
← Previous Page 21 of 32 Next →