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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



609 words match “COMPOSITION”

PLESIMORPHISM n.
sed by some substances of crystallizing in closely similar forms while unlike in chemical composition.
POEM n. 2 definitions
A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; -- contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton.
POESY n.
Poetry; metrical composition; poems. Music and poesy used to quicken you. Shak.
POET n.
One skilled in making poetry; one who has a particular genius for metrical composition; the author of a poem; an imaginative thinker or writer. The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. Shak. A poet is a maker, as the word signifies. Dryden. Poet laureate. See und…
POETIC; POETICAL a.
ical form; exhibiting the imaginative or the rhythmical quality of poetry; as, a poetical composition; poetical prose. Poetic license. See License, n., 4.
POETRY n.
Imaginative language or composition, whether expressed rhythmically or in prose. Specifically: Metrical composition; verse; rhyme; poems collectively; as, heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry. "The planetlike music of poetry." Sir P. Sidney. She taketh most delight In music, instruments, and poetry.…
POINT n. 2 definitions
A mark of punctuation; a character used to mark the divisions of a composition, or the pauses to be observed in reading, or to point off groups of figures, etc.; a stop, as a comma, a semicolon, and esp. a period; hence, figuratively, an end, or conclusion. And there a point, for ended is my tale. Chaucer. Commas and p…
POLYMERIC a.
Having the same percentage composition (that is, having the same elements united in the same proportion by weight), but different molecular weights; -- often used with with; thus, cyanic acid (CNOH), fulminic acid (C2N2O2H2), and cyanuric acid (C3N3O3H3), are polymeric with each other.
POLYPHONIC a.
sing simultaneously according to the laws of counterpoint; contrapuntal; as, a polyphonic composition; -- opposed to homophonic, or monodic.
POLYPHONY n.
Composition in mutually related, equally important parts which share the melody among them; contrapuntal composition; -- opposed to homophony, in which the melody is given to one part only, the others filling out the harmony. See Counterpoint.
POMATUM n.
A perfumed unguent or composition, chiefly used in dressing the hair; pomade. Wiseman.
PORPHYRIZE v.
To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in composition, like porphyry.
PORPORINO n.
A composition of quicksilver, tin, and sulphur, forming a yellow powder, sometimes used by mediæval artists, for the sake of economy, instead of gold. Fairholt.
PORTAL n.
By analogy with the French portail, used by recent writers for the whole architectural composition which surrounds and includes the doorways and porches of a church.
PORTFIRE n.
A case of strong paper filled with a composition of niter, sulphur, and mealed powder, -- used principally to ignite the priming in proving guns, and as an incendiary material in shells.
POSTSCRIPT n.
to a letter after it is concluded and signed by the writer; an addition made to a book or composition after the main body of the work has been finished, containing something omitted, or something new occurring to the writer. [Abbrev. P. S.]
POULTICE n.
A soft composition, as of bread, bran, or a mucilaginous substance, to be applied to sores, inflamed parts of the body, etc.; a cataplasm. "Poultice relaxeth the pores." Bacon.
POY n.
A support; -- used in composition; as, teapoy.
PRICK v.
by punctured dots; as, to prick a pattern for embroidery; to prick the notes of a musical composition. Cowper.
PRIMING n.
Lag of the tide, under 2d Lag. -- Priming tube, a small pipe, filled with a combustible composition for firing cannon. -- Priming valve (Steam Eng.), a spring safety valve applied to the cylinder of a steam engine for discharging water carried into the cylinder by priming. -- Priming wire, a pointed wire used to pe…
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