Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter P - Page 86

Pointel (n.) See Pointal.

Pointer (n.) One who, or that which, points.

Pointer (n.) The hand of a timepiece.

Pointer (n.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.

Pointer (n.) The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star.

Pointer (n.) Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold.

Pointing (n.) The act of sharpening.

Pointing (n.) The act of designating, as a position or direction, by means of something pointed, as a finger or a rod.

Pointing (n.) The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.

Pointing (n.) The act of filling and finishing the joints in masonry with mortar, cement, etc.; also, the material so used.

Pointing (n.) The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.

Pointing (n.) The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.

Pointingstock (n.) An object of ridicule or scorn; a laughingstock.

Pointless (a.) Having no point; blunt; wanting keenness; obtuse; as, a pointless sword; a pointless remark.

Pointlessly (adv.) Without point.

Pointleted (a.) Having a small, distinct point; apiculate.

Pointrel (n.) A graving tool.

-men (pl. ) of Pointsman

Pointsman (n.) A man who has charge of railroad points or switches.

Poise (v.) Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend; heaviness.

Poise (v.) The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.

Poise (v.) The state of being balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise; balance; equilibrium; rest.

Poise (v.) That which causes a balance; a counterweight.

Poised (imp. & p. p.) of Poise

Poising (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Poise

Poise (n.) To balance; to make of equal weight; as, to poise the scales of a balance.

Poise (n.) To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance.

Poise (n.) To counterpoise; to counterbalance.

Poise (n.) To ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh.

Poise (n.) To weigh (down); to oppress.

Poise (v. i.) To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.

Poiser (n.) The balancer of dipterous insects.

Poison (n.) Any agent which, when introduced into the animal organism, is capable of producing a morbid, noxious, or deadly effect upon it; as, morphine is a deadly poison; the poison of pestilential diseases.

Poison (n.) That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.

Poisoned (imp. & p. p.) of Poison

Poisoning (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Poison

Poison (n.) To put poison upon or into; to infect with poison; as, to poison an arrow; to poison food or drink.

Poison (n.) To injure or kill by poison; to administer poison to.

Poison (n.) To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; as, vice poisons happiness; slander poisoned his mind.

Poison (v. i.) To act as, or convey, a poison.

Poisonable (a.) Capable of poisoning; poisonous.

Poisonable (a.) Capable of being poisoned.

Poisoner (n.) One who poisons.

Poisonous (a.) Having the qualities or effects of poison; venomous; baneful; corrupting; noxious.

Poisonsome (a.) Poisonous.[Obs.] Holland.

Poisure (n.) Weight.

Poitrel (a.) The breastplate of the armor of a horse. See Peytrel.

Poize (n.) See Poise.

Pokal (n.) A tall drinking cup.

Poke (n.) A large North American herb of the genus Phytolacca (P. decandra), bearing dark purple juicy berries; -- called also garget, pigeon berry, pocan, and pokeweed. The root and berries have emetic and purgative properties, and are used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are said to be used in Europe to color wine.

Poke (n.) A bag; a sack; a pocket.

Poke (n.) A long, wide sleeve; -- called also poke sleeve.

Poked (imp. & p. p.) of Poke

Poking (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Poke

Poke (v. t.) To thrust or push against or into with anything pointed; hence, to stir up; to excite; as, to poke a fire.

Poke (v. t.) To thrust with the horns; to gore.

Poke (v. t.) To put a poke on; as, to poke an ox.

Poke (v. i.) To search; to feel one's way, as in the dark; to grope; as, to poke about.

Poke (n.) The act of poking; a thrust; a jog; as, a poke in the ribs.

Poke (n.) A lazy person; a dawdler; also, a stupid or uninteresting person.

Poke (n.) A contrivance to prevent an animal from leaping or breaking through fences. It consists of a yoke with a pole inserted, pointed forward.

Pokebag (n.) The European long-tailed titmouse; -- called also poke-pudding.

Poker (n.) One who pokes.

Poker (n.) That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals.

Poker (n.) A poking-stick.

Poker (n.) The poachard.

Poker (n.) A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States.

Poker (n.) Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear.

Pokerish (a.) Infested by pokers; adapted to excite fear; as, a pokerish place.

Pokerish (a.) Stiff like a poker.

Poket (n.) A pocket.

Pokeweed (n.) See Poke, the plant.

Pokey (a.) See Poky.

Poking (a.) Drudging; servile.

Poking-stick (n.) A small stick or rod of steel, formerly used in adjusting the plaits of ruffs.

Poky (a.) Confined; cramped.

Poky (a.) Dull; tedious; uninteresting.

Polacca (n.) A vessel with two or three masts, used in the Mediterranean. The masts are usually of one piece, and without tops, caps, or crosstrees.

Polacca (n.) See Polonaise.

Polack (n.) A Polander.

Polacre (n.) Same as Polacca, 1.

Polander (n.) A native or inhabitant of Poland; a Pole.

Polar (a.) Of or pertaining to one of the poles of the earth, or of a sphere; situated near, or proceeding from, one of the poles; as, polar regions; polar seas; polar winds.

Polar (a.) Of or pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed.

Polar (a.) Pertaining to, reckoned from, or having a common radiating point; as, polar coordinates.

Polar (n.) The right line drawn through the two points of contact of the two tangents drawn from a given point to a given conic section. The given point is called the pole of the line. If the given point lies within the curve so that the two tangents become imaginary, there is still a real polar line which does not meet the curve, but which possesses other properties of the polar. Thus the focus and directrix are pole and polar. There are also poles and polar curves to curves of higher degree than the second, and poles and polar planes to surfaces of the second degree.

Polarchy (n.) See Polyarchy.

Polaric (a.) See Polar.

Polarily (adv.) In a polary manner; with polarity.

Polarimeter (n.) An instrument for determining the amount of polarization of light, or the proportion of polarized light, in a partially polarized ray.

Polarimetry (n.) The art or process of measuring the polarization of light.

Polaris (n.) The polestar. See North star, under North.

Polariscope (n.) An instrument consisting essentially of a polarizer and an analyzer, used for polarizing light, and analyzing its properties.

Polariscopic (a.) Of or pertaining to the polariscope; obtained by the use of a polariscope; as, polariscopic observations.

Polariscopy (n.) The art or rocess of making observations with the polariscope.

Polaristic (a.) Pertaining to, or exhibiting, poles; having a polar arrangement or disposition; arising from, or dependent upon, the possession of poles or polar characteristics; as, polaristic antagonism.

Polarity (n.) That quality or condition of a body in virtue of which it exhibits opposite, or contrasted, properties or powers, in opposite, or contrasted, parts or directions; or a condition giving rise to a contrast of properties corresponding to a contrast of positions, as, for example, attraction and repulsion in the opposite parts of a magnet, the dissimilar phenomena corresponding to the different sides of a polarized ray of light, etc.

Polarity (n.) A property of the conic sections by virtue of which a given point determines a corresponding right line and a given right line determines a corresponding point. See Polar, n.

Polarizable (a.) Susceptible of polarization.

Polarization (n.) The act of polarizing; the state of being polarized, or of having polarity.

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