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A motile condition in plants resulting from exposure to light. -- Pho`to*ton"ic, a.

An instrument used in forming eyelets; a stiletto.

Act of piffling; trifling talk or action; piddling; twaddle. [Dial. or Slang] "Futile piffle." Kipling.

the choroid and iris, or the pigmented connective tissue cells in the skin of fishes, reptiles, etc.

t.), a beautiful coniferous tree, the Araucaria excelsa. -- Pine barren, a tract of infertile land which is covered with pines. [Southern U.S.] -- Pine borer (Zoöl.), any beetle whose larvæ bore into pine trees. -- Pine finch. (Zoöl.) See Pinefinch, in the Vocabulary. -- Pine grosbeak (Zoöl.), a large grosbeak (Pini…

a price or value. [Obs.] Shak. Pitched battle, a general battle; a battle in which the hostile forces have fixed positions; -- in distinction from a skirmish. -- To pitch into, to attack; to assault; to abuse. [Slang]

d has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague. "A plague upon the people fell." Tennyson. Cattle plague. See Rinderpest. -- Plague mark, Plague spot, a spot or mark of the plague; hence, a token of something incurable.

Abounding, or infecting, with plagues; pestilential; as, plagueful exhalations.

One of the motile ciliated gametes, or zoögametes, found in isogamous plants, as many green algæ (Chlorophyceæ).

tals, also as the platinum arsenide (sperrylite). It is heavy tin-white metal which is ductile and malleable, but very infusible, and characterized by its resistance to strong chemical reagents. It is used for crucibles, for stills for sulphuric acid, rarely for coin, and in the form of foil and wire for many purposes.…

An extinct order of Mesozoic marine reptiles including the genera Plesiosaurus, and allied forms; -- called also Sauropterygia.

A genus of large extinct marine reptiles, having a very long neck, a small head, and paddles for swimming. It lived in the Mesozoic age.

: Easily influenced for good or evil; tractable; as, a pliant heart. The will was then ductile and pliant to right reason. South.

An extinct genus of marine reptiles allied to Plesiosaurus, but having a much shorter neck.

A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet. Cowper.

The scaly covering of the foot of a bird or reptile.

With artillery, the point where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.

bid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.

Any Old Word rodent of the genus Hystrix, having the back covered with long, sharp, erectile spines or quills, sometimes a foot long. The common species of Europe and Asia (Hystrix cristata) is the best known.

To paint or draw the likeness of; as, to portray a king on horseback. Take a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem. Ezek. iv. 1.