Loading earlier words…
Pleadings

The mutual pleas and replies of the plaintiff and defendant, or written statements of the parties in support of their claims, proceeding from the declaration of the plaintiff, until issue is joined, and the question made to rest on some single point.

Pleasance

Pleasure; merriment; gayety; delight; kindness.

Pleasantry

That which denotes or promotes pleasure or good humor; cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; especially, an agreeable playfulness in conversation; a jocose or humorous remark; badinage.

Please

To afford or impart pleasure; to excite agreeable emotions.

Pleaseman

An officious person who courts favor servilely; a pickthank.

Pleaser

One who pleases or gratifies.

Pleasurable

Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry.

Pleasure

To take pleasure; to seek pursue pleasure; as, to go pleasuring.

Plebe

The common people; the mob.

Plebeian

One of the plebs, or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician.

Plebicolist

One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common people; a demagogue.

Plebiscite

A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791.

Plebiscitum

A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.

Plebs

The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; -- distinguished from the patricians.

Plectognath

Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi. One of the Plectognathi.

Plectognathi

An order of fishes generally having the maxillary bone united with the premaxillary, and the articular united with the dentary.

Plectospondyli

An extensive suborder of fresh-water physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebr/ united and much modified; the Eventognathi.

Plectrum

A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.

Pled

imp. p. p. of Plead

Pledge

To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.

Pledgee

The one to whom a pledge is given, or to whom property pledged is delivered.

Pledgor Pledgeor

One who pledges, or delivers anything in pledge; a pledger; -- opposed to pledgee.

Pleiades

The seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.

Pleiophyllous

Having several leaves; -- used especially when several leaves or leaflets appear where normally there should be only one.

Pleistocene

Of or pertaining to the epoch, or the deposits, following the Tertiary, and immediately preceding man. The Pleistocene epoch, or deposits.

Plenal

Full; complete; as, a plenal view or act.

Plenarty

The state of a benefice when occupied.

Plene

Full; complete; plenary.

Plenicorn

A ruminant having solid horns or antlers, as the deer.

Plenipotentiary

Containing or conferring full power; invested with full power; as, plenipotentiary license; plenipotentiary ministers.

Plenist

One who holds that all space is full of matter.

Plenitude

The quality or state of being full or complete; fullness; completeness; abundance; as, the plenitude of space or power.

Plenteous

Containing plenty; abundant; copious; plentiful; sufficient for every purpose; as, a plenteous supply.

Plentiful

Containing plenty; copious; abundant; ample; as, a plentiful harvest; a plentiful supply of water.

Plenum

That state in which every part of space is supposed to be full of matter; -- opposed to vacuum.

Pleochroism

The property possessed by some crystals, of showing different colors when viewed in the direction of different axes.

Pleomorphic

Pertaining to pleomorphism; as, the pleomorphic character of bacteria.

Pleomorphism

The property of crystallizing under two or more distinct fundamental forms, including dimorphism and trimorphism.

Pleonasm

Redundancy of language in speaking or writing; the use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; as, I saw it with my own eyes.

Pleonast

One who is addicted to pleonasm.

Pleopod

One of the abdominal legs of a crustacean. See Illust. under Crustacea.

Plerome

The central column of parenchyma in a growing stem or root.

Plesimorphism

The property possessed by some substances of crystallizing in closely similar forms while unlike in chemical composition.

Plesiosauria

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

Plesiosaurus

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.

Plethora

Overfullness; especially, excessive fullness of the blood vessels; repletion; that state of the blood vessels or of the system when the blood exceeds a healthy standard in quantity; hyper/mia; -- opposed to an/mia.

Plethoric

Haeving a full habit of body; characterized by plethora or excess of blood; as, a plethoric constitution; -- used also metaphorically.

Plethrum Plethron

A long measure of 100 Greek, or 101 English, feet; also, a square measure of 10,000 Greek feet.

Plethysmograph

An instrument for determining and registering the variations in the size or volume of a limb, as the arm or leg, and hence the variations in the amount of blood in the limb.

Plethysmography

The study, by means of the plethysmograph, of the variations in size of a limb, and hence of its blood supply.

Pleura

The smooth serous membrane which closely covers the lungs and the adjacent surfaces of the thorax; the pleural membrane. The closed sac formed by the pleural membrane about each lung, or the fold of membrane connecting each lung with the body wall.

Pleural

Of or pertaining to the pleura or pleur/, or to the sides of the thorax.

Pleurapophysis

One of the ventral processes of a vertebra, or the dorsal element in each half of a hemal arch, forming, or corresponding to, a vertebral rib.

Pleurenchyma

A tissue consisting of long and slender tubular cells, of which wood is mainly composed.

Pleurisy

An inflammation of the pleura, usually accompanied with fever, pain, difficult respiration, and cough, and with exudation into the pleural cavity.

Loading more words…