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ct of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange. The violent convulsions and permutations that have been made in property. Burke.

ent or object; a change to something worse; a turning or applying to a wrong end or use. "Violations and perversions of the laws." Bacon.

with funnelform or salver-shaped corollas. Two species are common in cultivation, Petunia violacera, with reddish purple flowers, and P. nyctaginiflora, with white flowers. There are also many hybrid forms with variegated corollas.

Violent and irrational excitement; delirium. See Frenzy.

To strip of money or goods by open violence; to plunder; to spoil; to lay waste; as, to pillage the camp of an enemy. Mummius . . . took, pillaged, and burnt their city. Arbuthnot.

A commercial preparation of garancin, yielding fine violet tints.

Robbery on the high seas; the taking of property from others on the open sea by open violence; without lawful authority, and with intent to steal; -- a crime answering to robbery on land.

A robber on the high seas; one who by open violence takes the property of another on the high seas; especially, one who makes it his business to cruise for robbery or plunder; a freebooter on the seas; also, one who steals in a harbor.

A direction to violinists to pluck the string with the finger, instead of using the bow. (Abrev. pizz.)

l large African birds of the genus Musophaga, or family Musophagidæ, especially Musophaga violacea. See Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos. -- Plantain squirrel (Zoöl.), a Java squirrel (Sciurus plantani) which feeds upon plantains. -- Plantain tree (Bot.), the treelike herb Musa paradisiaca. See def. 1 (above).…

To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.

an. He plighted his right hand Unto another love, and to another land. Spenser. Here my inviolable faith I plight. Dryden.

A genus of herbaceous plants with pretty salver-shaped corollas, usually blue or violet; leadwort.

To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does. Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges. Bp. Hall.

To violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonor.

The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. How long hath this possession held the man Shak. To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. -- To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide…

cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold. Shak.

Falling or rushing headlong; rushing swiftly, violently, or recklessly; moving precipitately. They leave their little lives Above the clouds, precipitant to earth. J. Philips. Should he return, that troop so blithe and bold, Precipitant in fear would wing their flight. Pope.

To urge or press on with eager haste or violence; to cause to happen, or come to a crisis, suddenly or too soon; as, precipitate a journey, or a conflict. Back to his sight precipitates her steps. Glover. If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. Bacon.

A falling, flowing, or rushing downward with violence and rapidity. The hurry, precipitation, and rapid motion of the water, returning . . . towards the sea. Woodward.