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By chance; peradventure; perchance; it may be. And pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. Acts viii. 22.

ay. I perish with hunger! Luke xv. 17. Grow up and perish, as the summer fly. Milton. The thoughts of a soul that perish in thinking. Locke.

; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view. Locke.

Embarrassing; puzzling; troublesome. "Perplexing thoughts." Milton.

The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous." Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

o be diffused throughout. A spirit of cabal, intrigue, and proselytism pervaded all their thoughts, words, and actions. Burke.

Made heavy or dull; debased. [Obs.] "Pesanted to each lewd thought's control." Marston.

A reddish fleshy herb of the genus Monotropa (M. hypopitys), formerly thought to be parasitic on the roots of pine trees, but more probably saprophytic.

g appeased or pacified; ready or willing to be pacified; willing to forgive or condone. Methought I saw him placable and mild. Milton.

A thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite, or weak; a truism; a commonplace.

To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless. "Nay," quod this monk, "I have no lust to pleye." Chaucer. Men are apt to play with their healths. Sir W. Temple.

n; -- used also metaphorically. "Plethoric phrases." Sydney Smith. "Plethoric fullness of thought." De Quincey.

Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue. [Obs.] "A man of much plot." Denham.

micrococcus found in the sputum (and elsewhere) of persons suffering with pneumonia, and thought to be the cause of this disease.

prehending and interpreting ideas by the faculty of imagination; the art of idealizing in thought and in expression. For poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language. Coleridge.

To break over the poop or stern, as a wave. "A sea which he thought was going to poop her." Lord Dufferin.

r support of the poor. -- Poor man's treacle (Bot.), garlic; -- so called because it was thought to be an antidote to animal poison. [Eng] Dr. Prior. -- Poor man's weatherglass (Bot.), the red-flowered pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), which opens its blossoms only in fair weather. -- Poor rate, an assessment or tax,…

by questioning or scrutiny; to bring to a stand. A question wherewith a learned Pharisee thought to pose and puzzle him. Barrow.

Capable of existing or occurring, or of being conceived or thought of; able to happen; capable of being done; not contrary to the nature of things; -- sometimes used to express extreme improbability; barely able to be, or to come to pass; as, possibly he is honest, as it is possible that Judas meant no wrong. With God…