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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,000+ words match “FORMER”

PICRA n.
The powder of aloes with canella, formerly officinal, employed as a cathartic.
PIECE n. 13 definitions
A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings.
PIEPOUDRE; PIEPOWDER n.
An ancient court of record in England, formerly incident to every fair and market, of which the steward of him who owned or had the toll was the judge. Blackstone.
PILLAR n. 5 definitions
A portable ornamental column, formerly carried before a cardinal, as emblematic of his support to the church. [Obs.] Skelton.
PINESAP n.
A reddish fleshy herb of the genus Monotropa (M. hypopitys), formerly thought to be parasitic on the roots of pine trees, but more probably saprophytic.
PINIC a.
Of or pertaining to the pine; obtained from the pine; formerly, designating an acid which is the chief constituent of common resin, - - now called abietic, or sylvic, acid.
PINK a. 12 definitions
ball. -- Pink salt (Chem. & Dyeing), the double chlorides of (stannic) tin and ammonium, formerly much used as a mordant for madder and cochineal. -- Pink saucer, a small saucer, the inner surface of which is covered with a pink pigment.
PINNACE n. 3 definitions
A small vessel propelled by sails or oars, formerly employed as a tender, or for coast defence; -- called originally, spynace or spyne.
PINUS n.
e genus of evergreen coniferous trees, mostly found in the northern hemisphere. The genus formerly included the firs, spruces, larches, and hemlocks, but is now limited to those trees which have the primary leaves of the branchlets reduced to mere scales, and the secondary ones (pine needles) acicular, and usually in f…
PIPE n. 18 definitions
A roll formerly used in the English exchequer, otherwise called the Great Roll, on which were taken down the accounts of debts to the king; -- so called because put together like a pipe. Mozley & W.
PISTOLE n.
The name of certain gold coins of various values formerly coined in some countries of Europe. In Spain it was equivalent to a quarter doubloon, or about $3.90, and in Germany and Italy nearly the same. There was an old Italian pistole worth about $5.40.
PIT n. 17 definitions
Formerly, that part of a theater, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theater.
PITCH n. 24 definitions
or rack, bearing such a relation to a corresponding line in another gear, with which the former works, that the two lines will have a common velocity as in rolling contact; it usually cuts the teeth at about the middle of their height, and, in a circular gear, is a circle concentric with the axis of the gear; the line…
PLACK n.
A small copper coin formerly current in Scotland, worth less than a cent. With not a plack in the pocket of the poet. Prof. Wilson.
PLANTAIN n. 3 definitions
North America. -- Water plantain, a plant of the genus Alisma, having acrid leaves, and formerly regarded as a specific against hydrophobia. Loudon.
PLASMATOR n.
A former; a fashioner. [R.] "The sovereign plasmator, God Almighty." Urquhart.
PLATINUM n.
f foil and wire for many purposes. Specific gravity 21.5. Atomic weight 194.3. Symbol Pt. Formerly called platina. Platinum black (Chem.), a soft, dull black powder, consisting of finely divided metallic platinum obtained by reduction and precipitation from its solutions. It absorbs oxygen to a high degree, and is empl…
PLATONIC; PLATONICAL a. 2 definitions
the equinoxes, or the space of time in which the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect to the equinoxes; -- called also great year. This revolution, which is caused by the precession of the equinoxes, is accomplished in about 26,000 years. Barlow.
PLATOON n. 2 definitions
Formerly, a body of men who fired together; also, a small square body of soldiers to strengthen the angles of a hollow square.
PLOW; PLOUGH n. 11 definitions
uitable for storing. [U. S.] -- Mackerel plow. See under Mackerel. -- Plow alms, a penny formerly paid by every plowland to the church. Cowell. -- Plow beam, that part of the frame of a plow to which the draught is applied. See Beam, n., 9. -- Plow Monday, the Monday after Twelth Day, or the end of Christmas holiday…
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