OYSTER n.
hey have a pearly interior, and are allied to the fresh-water mussels. -- Oyster bed, a breeding place for oysters; a place in a tidal river or other water on or near the seashore, where oysters are deposited to grow and fatten for market. See lst Scalp, n. -- Oyster catcher (Zoöl.), any one of several species of wad…
PEN n.
An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving. Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock. Job xix. 24.
PERSECUTE v.
ly, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Matt. v. 44.
PHASE RULE n.
. Willard Gibbs. It may be stated thus: The degree of variableness (number of degrees of freedom) of a system is equal to the number of components minus the number of phases, plus two. Thus, if the components be salt and water, and the phases salt, ice, saturated solution, and vapor, the system is invariant, that is, t…
PHENOLOGY n.
f the relations between climate and periodic biological phenomena, as the migrations and breeding of birds, the flowering and fruiting of plants, etc. -- Phe`no*log"ic*al (#), a. -- Phe`no*log"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Phe*nol"o*gist (#), n.
PIG n.
One who is hoggish; a greedy person. [Low] Masked pig. (Zoöl.) See under Masked. -- Pig bed (Founding), the bed of sand in which the iron from a smelting furnace is cast into pigs. -- Pig iron, cast iron in pigs, or oblong blocks or bars, as it comes from the smelting furnace. See Pig, 4. -- Pig yoke (Naut.), a nick…