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A genus of herbs of the Barberry family, having large palmately lobed peltate leaves and solitary flower. There are two species, the American Podohyllum peltatum, or May apple, the Himalayan P. Emodi.

ng politics, we often mean that they are wrangling about some mere party question. F. W. Robertson.

a pointed nose and a crescent-shaped tail; -- called also mackerel shark. [Written also probeagle.]

body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon, and Globefish. -- Porcupine grass (Bot.), a grass (Stipa spartea) with grains bearing a stout twisted awn, which, by coiling and uncoiling through changes in moisture, propels the sharp-pointed and barbellate grain into the wool and fl…

n; not dependent on circumstances or probabilities; not speculative; compelling assent or obedience; peremptory; indisputable; decisive; as, positive instructions; positive truth; positive proof. "'T is positive 'gainst all exceptions." Shak.

tato (Bot.), Ipomoea Pes-Capræ, a kind of morning-glory with rounded and emarginate or bilobed leaves. [West Indies] -- Sweet potato (Bot.), a climbing plant (Ipomoea Balatas) allied to the morning-glory. Its farinaceous tubers have a sweetish taste, and are used, when cooked, for food. It is probably a native of Brazi…

A white robe with a purple border, worn by a Roman boy before he was entitled to wear the toga virilis, or until about the completion of his fourteenth year, and by girls until their marriage. It was also worn by magistrates and priests.

tate of the mind in which all its faculties are alert, prompt, and acting harmoniously in obedience to the will, enabling one to reach, as it were spontaneously or by intuition, just conclusions in sudden emergencies.

ress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2.

gether); to enchain. [Obs.] Sir William Crispyn with the duke was led Together prisoned. Robert of Brunne.

ation. Hence, specifically: (a) The novitiate which a person must pass in a convent, to probe his or her virtue and ability to bear the severities of the rule. (b) The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor. (c) Moral trial; the state of man in the pr…

Pertaining to, or forming, the front of the head. Procephalic lobe (Zoöl.), that part of the head of an invertebrate animal which is in front of the mouth.

An officer in a university or college whose duty it is to enforce obedience to the laws of the institution.

Lying down, or on the face; prone. " Procumbent each obeyed." Cowper.

or hesitating in decision or action; responding on the instant; immediate; as, prompt in obedience or compliance; -- said of persons. Very discerning and prompt in giving orders. Clarendon. Tell him I am prompt To lay my crown at's feet. Shak. Any you, perhaps, too prompt in your replies. Dryden.

mpt; quickness of decision and action when occasion demands; alacrity; as, promptitude in obedience. Men of action, of promptitude, and of courage. I. Taylor.

An impelling act or movement. God works in all things; all obey His first propulsion. Whittier.

ion of law; to outlaw; to exile; as, Sylla and Marius proscribed each other's adherents. Robert Vere, Earl of Oxford, . . . was banished the realm, and proscribed. Spenser.

The anterior segment of the brain, including the cerebrum and olfactory lobes; the forebrain.

Containing remains of the earliest discovered life of the globe, which included mollusks, radiates and protozoans.