Search the Dictionary

A lampooner; also, a lampoon. See Pasquinade. The Grecian wits, who satire first began, Were pleasant pasquins on the life of man. Dryden.

Not active, but acted upon; suffering or receiving impressions or influences; as, they were passive spectators, not actors in the scene. The passive air Upbore their nimble tread. Milton. The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas. Locke.

d, smiting the firstborn of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of a lamb.

lied to rulers of some of the city states of ancient Chaldea, as Lagash or Shirpurla, who were conceived to be direct representatives of the tutelary god of the place.

postle, founded in 1858 by the Rev. I. T. Hecker of New York. The majority of the members were formerly Protestants.

An ancient Persian dialect in which words were partly represented by their Semitic equivalents. It was in use from the 3d century (and perhaps earlier) to the middle of the 7th century, and later in religious writings. [Written also Pahlavi.]

as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand. Things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate. Ray.

That part of a church to which penitents were admitted. Shipley.

tion; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. "A penury of military forces." Bacon. They were exposed to hardship and penury. Sprat. It arises in neither from penury of thought. Landor.

te subject or verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in adversity. People were tempted to lend by great premiums. Swift . People have lived twenty-four days upon nothing but water. Arbuthnot .

ompletely; wholly; throughly; faultlessly. "Perfectly divine." Milton. As many as touched were made perfectly whole. Matt. xiv. 36.

xide containing more oxygen than some other oxide of the same element. Formerly peroxides were regarded as the highest oxides. Cf. Per-, 2.

offensive nature; personal remarks; as, indulgence in personalities. Sharp personalities were exchanged. Macaulay.

gerous influence or ambition. It was similar to the ostracism in Athens; but olive leaves were used instead of shells for ballots.

To petrify. [Obs.] Our hearts petrificated were. J. Hall (1646).

, and have long seats upon which several persons may sit; - - sometimes called slip. Pews were originally made square, but are now usually long and narrow.

A body of heavy-armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep. There were several different arrangements, the phalanx varying in depth from four to twenty-five or more ranks of men. "In cubic phalanx firm advanced." Milton. The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower. Pope.

A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated.

Among the primitive Christians, a case in which the relics of the dead were inclosed.

to enter a pigeon house. (b) See Pigeonhole. (c) pl. An old English game, in which balls were rolled through little arches. Halliwell. -- Pigeon house, a dovecote. -- Pigeon pea (Bot.), the seed of Cajanus Indicus; a kind of pulse used for food in the East and West Indies; also, the plant itself. -- Pigeon plum (Bo…