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ohibited certain acts, and imposing penalties for committing them. -- Penal servitude, imprisonment with hard labor, in a prison, in lieu of transportation. [Great Brit.] -- Penal suit, Penal action (Law), a suit for penalties.

Accustomed to, or employed in, desperate enterprises; hence, reckless; hopeless. "A perdue captain." Beau. & Fl.

istence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun. "The king-becoming graces . . . perseverance, mercy, lowliness." Shak. Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. Milton.

To persist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any project or course begun; to maintain a purpose in spite of counter influences, opposition, or discouragement; not to give or abandon what is undertaken. Thrice happy, if they know Their happiness, and persevere upright. Milton.…

n pointing their batteries against particular persons, no laws of war forbid the making reprisals. Addison. Some positive, persisting fops we know, Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so. Pope. That face persists. It floats up; it turns over in my mind. Mrs. Browning.

hropy; characterized by philanthropy; loving or helping mankind; as, a philanthropic enterprise. -- Phil`an*throp"ic*al*ly, adv.

A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.

A tedious and wearisome time. In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage. Shak.

[Obs.] Chaucer. Shak. That people that pyned him to death. Piers Plowman. One is pined in prison, another tortured on the rack. Bp. Hall.

mit or bound. Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down Into this deep. Milton. Enterprises of great pitch and moment. Shak. To lowest pitch of abject fortune. Milton. He lived when learning was at its highest pitch. Addison. The exact pitch, or limits, where temperance ends. Sharp.

l part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith. Enterprises of great pith and moment. Shak. Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice.

ning point or condition; that on which important results depend; as, the pivot of an enterprise.

of a word in such a way as to be capable of double meaning; punning. -- Play of colors, prismatic variation of colors. -- To bring into play, To come into play, to bring or come into use or exercise. -- To hold in play, to keep occupied or employed. I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play. Macaulay.…

In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went bef…

A smooth, glossy surface, usually produced by friction; a gloss or luster. Another prism of clearer glass and better polish. Sir I. Newton.

A kind of light bridge, used in sieges, for surprising a post or outwork which has but a narrow moat; a flying bridge.

udging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc. I. Watts. The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief. Shak.

s, to pretend friendship. This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal. Milton.

Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original; primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man. "This is the forest primeval." Longfellow. From chaos, and primeval darkness, came Light. Keats.

mething captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power. I will depart my pris, or may prey, by deliberation. Chaucer. His own prize, Whom formerly he had in battle won. Spenser.