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A step; a degree; esp. in the slang phrase "To take one down peg." To screw papal authority to the highest peg. Barrow. And took your grandess down a peg. Hudibras. Peg ladder, a ladder with but one standard, into which cross pieces are inserted. -- Peg tankard, an ancient tankard marked with pegs, so as divide the li…

y the day. [For other phrases from the Latin, see Quotations, Phrases, etc., from Foreign Languages, in the Supplement.]

the vulgar tongue, being perpetually read in churches, have proved a kind of standard for language. Swift.

Of or pertaining to Persia, to the Persians, or to their language. Persian berry, the fruit of Rhamnus infectorius, a kind of buckthorn, used for dyeing yellow, and imported chiefly from Trebizond. -- Persian cat. (Zoöl.) Same as Angora cat, under Angora. -- Persian columns (Arch.), columns of which the shaft represe…

The Persian language.

Any flying marsupial of the genera Petaurus, Phalangista, Acrobata, and allied genera. See Flying mouse, under Flying, and Phalangister.

austed; to run out; to fail; -- used generally with out; as, that mine has petered out. [Slang, U.S.]

Small; little; insignificant; mean; -- Same as Petty. [Obs., except in legal language.] By what small, petit hints does the mind catch hold of and recover a vanishing notion. South. Petit constable, an inferior civil officer, subordinate to the high constable. -- Petit jury, a jury of twelve men, impaneled to try caus…

To study, or make critical comments on, language. Evelyn.

The study of language, especially in a philosophical manner and as a science; the investigation of the laws of human speech, the relation of different tongues to one another, and historical development of languages; linguistic science.

A method of phonetic printing of the English language, as devised by Mr. Pitman, in which nearly all the ordinary letters and many new forms are employed in order to indicate each elementary sound by a separate character.

One of a group of marsupials including the phalangists.

, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language. What is picturesque as placed in relation to the beautiful and the sublime It is . . . the characteristic pushed into a sensible excess. De Quincey. -- Pic`tur*esque"ly, adv. -- Pic`tur*esque"ness, n.…

Fig.: Mixed. "Piebald languages." Hudibras.

licate; hence, to act or talk triflingly or ineffectively; to twaddle; piddle. [Dial. or Slang]

An unsuspected victim of sharpers; a gull. [Slang] Blue pigeon (Zoöl.), an Australian passerine bird (Graucalus melanops); -- called also black-faced crow. -- Green pigeon (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of Old World pigeons belonging to the family Treronidæ. -- Imperial pigeon (Zoöl.), any one of the large Asia…

The skin of a pig, -- used chiefly for making saddles; hence, a colloquial or slang term for a saddle.

The leg; as, to knock one off his pins. [Slang] Banking pin (Horol.), a pin against which a lever strikes, to limit its motion. -- Pin drill (Mech.), a drill with a central pin or projection to enter a hole, for enlarging the hole, or for sinking a recess for the head of a bolt, etc.; a counterbore. -- Pin grass. (Bo…

To languish; to lose flesh or wear away, under any distress or anexiety of mind; to droop; -- often used with away. "The roses wither and the lilies pine." Tickell.

Languishing; drooping; wasting away, as with longing.