PARALLAX n.
urface, and as seen from some other conventional point, as the earth's center or the sun. Annual parallax, the greatest value of the heliocentric parallax, or the greatest annual apparent change of place of a body as seen from the earth and sun; as, the annual parallax of a fixed star. -- Binocular parallax, the appar…
PENNY n.
See Denarius. Penny cress (Bot.), an annual herb of the Mustard family, having round, flat pods like silver pennies (Thlaspi arvense). Dr. Prior. -- Penny dog (Zoöl.), a kind of shark found on the South coast of Britain: the tope. -- Penny father, a penurious person; a niggard. [Obs.] Robinson (More's Utopia). -- Pe…
PER prep.
also sometimes used with English words. Per annum, by the year; in each successive year; annually. -- Per cent, Per centum, by the hundred; in the hundred; -- used esp. of proportions of ingredients, rate or amount of interest, and the like; commonly used in the shortened form per cent. -- Per diem, by the day. [For…
PETER n.
, the auctioneer in a mock auction. [Cant, U.S.] -- Peter pence, or Peter's pence. (a) An annual tax or tribute, formerly paid by the English people to the pope, being a penny for every house, payable on Lammas or St.Peter's day; -- called also Rome scot, and hearth money. (b) In modern times, a voluntary contribution…
PETIT a.
Petit serjeanty (Eng. Law), the tenure of lands of the crown, by the service of rendering annually some implement of war, as a bow, an arrow, a sword, a flag, etc. -- Petit treason, formerly, in England, the crime of killing a person to whom the offender owed duty or subjection, as one's husband, master, mistress, etc…
PRECESSION n.
e slow backward motion of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, at the rate of 50.2" annually, caused by the action of the sun, moon, and planets, upon the protuberant matter about the earth's equator, in connection with its diurnal rotation; -- so called because either equinox, owing to its westerly motion, comes…
PURSLANE n.
An annual plant (Portulaca oleracea), with fleshy, succulent, obovate leaves, sometimes used as a pot herb and for salads, garnishing, and pickling. Flowering purslane, or Great flowered purslane, the Portulaca grandiflora. See Portulaca. -- Purslane tree, a South African shrub (Portulacaria Afra) with many small oppo…