Faramecium 
malcules. having a soft flexible cuticle and 
oblique adoral groove. P. bursariiim is an ex- 
Parantecium bursarium, a holotrichous ciliate infusorian. (Arrows 
show the course of the circulation.) 
A. Dorsal view: a, cortical layer, or ectosarc; 0, endoplast; c c, 
contractile vacuoles; ft rf', ingested particles of food ; t, chlorophyl 
granules. B, Ventral view : a, vestibule ; t>, oral aperture J c, esoph- 
agus; d, endoplast; tf, endoplastule or paranucleus; c, interior 
protoplasmic endosarc. C. The animal in fissive state, dividing 
transversely by fission: a ft', contractile vacuoles; * *, endoplast di- 
viding ; c c, two endoplastules or paranuclei. 
ample. Commonly, but wrongly, Paramsecium 
or Paranueeium. 2. [I.e.; pl.paramecia (-a).] 
A member of this genus. 
paramenia (par-a-me'ni-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. 
Trapd, beside, + 'ftijv, month, > ftrniiaia, menses.] 
Disordered menstruation. 
parament (par'a-ment), . [Formerly also 
sometimes paretnent,'paramento (< Sp. Pg. It.); 
< ME. parament, parement = OF. parament, 
parement, F. parement = Sp. Pg. It. paramento,< 
ML. paraenta,preparation, apparatus, adorn- 
ment, < L. pararc, prepare, adorn: see pare 1 .] 
1. An ornament; an adornment; decoration. 
To dauncing chambres ful of parementz. 
Chawxr, Good Women, 1. 1105. 
There went more to 't ; there were cloaks, gowns, cas- 
socks, 
And other paramentos. 
Fletcher (and another). Love's Pilgrimage, i. 1. 
Specifically (a) pi. Kobes of state. 
Lordes in parament on here courseres. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1643. 
(6) A cuff sewed upon the outside of a coat-sleeve and 
usually capable of being turned down over the hands, as 
was common toward the close of the seventeenth and in 
the early part of the eighteenth century. 
2. The external face of a wall or any other con- 
structed work. See perpend^. Chamber of para- 
mentst, the presence-chamber of a monarch. 
This Cambyuskan 
Ros fro his bord ther that he sat ful hye ; 
To forn him goth the loude minstralcye, 
Til he cam to his chambre of paramentz. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 261. 
paramentot, n. [Sp. : see parament.] Same 
as parament. 
paramere (par'a-mer), . [< Gr. Trapd, beside, 
-t- fttpw;, part.] In biol. : (a) A radiated part or 
organ ; one of a set of radiating parts arranged 
like the spokes of a wheel about a common cen- 
ter ; an actinomere : correlated with antimere, 
metamere, etc. The arms or rays of a starfish 
are parameres in this sense. 
The former definition of the term antimere as denoting 
at once each separate ray of a radiate, or the right and left 
halves of a bilaterally symmetrical animal, is corrected 
by terming each ray a parainere, and its [the animal's] 
symmetrical halves the antimeres. Encyc. Brit. , XVI. 842. 
(6) Either half, right or left, of a bilaterally 
symmetrical animal : now oftener called anti- 
mere. 
These two halves [of the body divided by the median 
plane], as opposed to antimeresL may be termed parameres. 
Claws, Zoology (trans.), p. 27. 
(c) Either half, right or left, of one segment or 
somite of a bilaterally symmetrical animal. 
The whole system of the one to four elements of the 
middle ear . . . is to be looked upon as one organ of one 
common origin namely, as a modification of the hyo- 
mandibular, the primitive proximal paramere of the sec- 
ond visceral arch. Nature, XXXVIII. 47. 
parameric (par-a-mer'ik), a. [< paramere + 
-ic.] Of or pertaining to a paramere ; provided 
with parameres. or disposed in parameres; ra- 
diate, as a starfish ; actinomeric. 
paramese (pa-ram'e-se), n. [Gr. Kapaptari, the 
chord next after the middle, fern, of napd/ieecx;, 
next after the middle, < Trapd, beside, + fteaof, 
middle: MeiMI01,m0Mft.] In anc. Gr. music, the 
lowest tone of the disjunct tetrachord : so called 
because it lay next to (above) the tone mese. Its 
pitch was probably about that of the B next be- 
low middle C. Sse tetrachord. 
parameter (pa-ram'e-ter), n. [< F. parametre 
= Sp. pardmetro = Pg. It. parametro, < NL. 
parametmm, parameter (see def.), < Gr. Trapd, 
beside, + ptrpov, measure : see meter 2 .] 1. 
4280 
In math.: (a) The third proportional to any 
diameter of a conic section and its conjugate 
diameter: specifically this is the parameter of 
the former of these diameters. The parameter 
of the transverse axis is called the principal 
parameter, or the parameter of the curve, (b) 
Any constant quantity entering into an equa- 
tion, (c) A variable quantity of which the co- 
ordinates of a geometrical locus are direct 
functions. Thus, the coordinates of every uni- 
versal algebraic curve can be expressed as ra- 
tional functions of a single parameter. 2. In 
crystal., the ratio of the three axes which de- 
fines the position of any plane of a crystal; 
more specifically, the ratio belonging to the 
unit or fundamental plane for a given species : 
this axial ratio and the angular inclination of 
the axes constitute the crystalline elements for 
a species Method of variation of parameters, a 
method of finding a solution of a differential equation by 
guessing that it is like the solution of a simpler equation, 
except that quantities constant in the latter are variable 
in the former. Parameters of an orbit, the elements 
of the orbit. 
parametral (pa-ram'e-tral), a. [(parameter + 
-a/.] In crystal., pertaining to the parameter. 
The crystals are very rich in faces, and belong to the 
ortho-rhombic system ; their parametral ratios are a : b : c 
= 1.2594 : 1 : 0.0018. Nature, XXXIX. 328. 
parametric 1 (par-a-me'trik), a. [< Gr. Trapd, 
beside, -f- ftf/rpa, the uterus, 4- -ic."] Situated or 
occurring near the uterus. 
parametric 2 (par-a-met'rik), a. [(parameter 
+ -if.] Pertaining to a parameter Paramet- 
ric distribution, in math. See distribution. 
parametritic (par"a-me-trit'ik), a. [(paramt- 
tritis + -ic.] Pertaining to or affected with 
parametritis. 
parametritis (par"a-me-tri'tis), n. [NL., < Gr. 
Trapd, beside, + fifyrpa, the uterus, + -itis. Cf. 
metritis.] Pelvic cellulitis. See pelvic. 
paramitom (par-a-mit'om), . [< Trapd, beside, 
+ ftiTOf, thread.] A name given by Flemming 
to the more fluid portion of the cell-substance 
which is contained in the meshes of the mitom 
or network of threads ; the paraplasma of 
Kupffer. 
paramnesia (par-am-ne'si-a), . [NL., < Gr. 
Trapd, beside, [ivr/at-, only in comp., remember- 
ing, < lu/ivr/OKetv, remind: see amnesia.] One's 
believing that he remembers things when he 
has never experienced them ; false memory. 
paramo (par'a-mo), n. [Sp.] A desert plain, 
bare of trees, at a high elevation, open to the 
winds, and uncultivated and uninhabited. The 
word is used by writers on South American geography. 
Some Spanish writers employ it for high plateau regions, 
even when these are forested. 
Paramonadidse (par"a-mo-nad'i-de), n. pi. 
[NL., < Paramonas (-monad-) + -idee.] A fam- 
ily of monomastigate eustomatous flagellate 
infusorians, typified by the genus Paramonas. 
It contains free-swimming a'nimalcules of persistent form, 
with transparent colorless endoplasm and a single flagel- 
lum, near the base of which is the distinct oral aperture. 
Thei'e are several genera, based on the different shapes of 
the body. 
Paramonas (pa-ram'o-nas), n. [NL. , < Gr. Trapd, 
beside, + NL. Monas, q. v.] The typical ge- 
nus of Paramonadidse, founded by Saville Kent 
to include forms formerly referred to Monas 
proper, as P. globosa, P. stellata, and P. deses, 
which have a distinct oral aperture. 
pa'ramorph (par'a-m6rf), n. [< Gr. Trapd, be- 
side, + fiopijn], shape. Cf. LGr. irapauapijxnni, 
transform.] 'ia. mineral., apseudomorph form- 
ed by a change in molecular structure without 
a change of chemical composition : thus, rutile 
occurs as a, paramorph, after brookite, and ara- 
gonite after calcite. See pseudomorph saa&para- 
morphism. 
par amor phia 1 (par-a-mor'fi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. 
Trapd, beside, + uoptyii, shape.] Inpathol., mor- 
bid structure. 
paramorpbia 2 (par-a-mor'fi-a), . [NL., < Gr. 
Trapd, beside, -f- NL.' morphia, q. v.] Same as 
thebain. 
paramorphic (par-a-mor'fik), a. [(paramorph 
+ -ic.] Of, relating to, or resembling a para- 
morph ; characterized by paramorphism ; form- 
ed by a change in molecular structure, but 
without change of chemical composition: as, 
the paramorphic origin of hornblende. 
This type of crystal [brookite] is the one which most 
frequently shows the paramorphic change to rutile. 
Amer. Jour. Set., 3d ser., XXXII. 315. 
paramorphine (par-a-m&r'fin), n. Same as 
thebain. 
paramorphism (par-a-mor'fizm), n. [< para- 
morph + -ism.] In mineral., a change of the 
paramour 
molecular structure of a mineral without altera- 
tion of external form or chemical constitution: 
a variety of pseudomorphism. See paramorph 
and pscndomorpli ixt/t . 
paramorphosis (par'a-mor-fo'sis), n. [NL., < 
Gr. rra/id, beside, + /lojxjiuaii;, a shaping.] Same 
as parantorphimn. 
paramorpb-OUS (par-a-mor'fus), a. [< para- 
morph + -ous.] Same as paramorphic. 
paramoudra (par-a-mou'drji), n. Same as pot- 
stone. 
paramount (par'a-mount), a. and n. [Former- 
ly ulso peramouni; < OF. (AF.) paramount, par- 
amont, pcramont, adv. and prep., above (sei- 
!/neur paramount, lord paramount), < par, per 
(< L. per, through), by, + amont, amount, above, 
upward, < L. ad montem, to a mountain: see 
amount. Cf. the opposite pararail.] I. a. 1. Su- 
preme ; superior in power or jurisdiction ; chief : 
as, lord paramount, the supreme lord of a fee, 
or of lands, tenements, and hereditaments. 
Under the feudal system the sovereign is lord paramount, 
of whom all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be held 
mediately or immediately. This is still the theory of the 
English law, the ultimate property of all lands being re- 
garded as in the crown. 
Thus all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be 
holden, mediately or immediately, of the king, who Is 
styled the lord paramount, or above all. 
Blackstone, Com., II. v. 
But while the influence of the House of Commons in the 
Government was becoming paramount, the influence of 
the people over the House of Commons was declining. 
Macaulay, Horace Walpole. 
The administration of justice was rescu ed from the para- 
mount influence of the crown. 
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 381. 
2f. Above ; superior to : with a prepositional 
force. 
The kingdome in parliament assembled is above the 
king, as a general! councell is paramount the pope. 
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, i. 7. 
3. Eminent; of the highest order ; especially, 
of chief or superior importance; above all oth- 
ers as regards importance; superior: as, the 
paramount duty of a citizen. 
John a Chamber . . . was hanged upon a gibbet raised a 
stage higher in the midst of a square gallows, as a traitor 
paramount. Bacon, Works (ed. Spedding), XI. 136. 
Of all the Blessings that ever dropt down from Heaven 
upon Man, that of his Redemption may be called the 
Blessing paramount. Howell, Letters, iii. 4. 
If man's convenience, health, 
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims 
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. 
Cawper, Task, vL 583. 
Although the season had not yet arrived for asserting 
his own paramount claims, he was determined to tolerate 
those of no other potentate. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1. 
Lord paramount. See def. 1. 
II. n. The chief; the highest in rank or im- 
portance; a superior. 
Forth 
In order came the grand infernal peers : 
Midst came their mighty paramount. 
Miltm, P. L., ii. 508. 
Blest Maid, which dost surmount 
All Saints and Seraphins, 
And reign'st as Paramount, 
And chief of Cherubins. 
Howell, Letters, I. v. 11. 
paramountcy (par'a-mount-si), n. [< para- 
mount + -cy.] The condition or rank of being 
paramount. Coleridge. [Bare.] 
paramountly (par'a-mount-li), adv. In a par- 
amount manner; as a matter of the highest 
importance. 
paramourt, paramourst, adv. [ME. , prop, two 
words, par amour, < OF. par amour, by love, with 
love: par, < L. per, through, by; amour, < L. 
amor, love: see amor, amour.] With love; in 
love ; as a lover. 
I lovede never womman here beforne 
As paramoures, ne nevere shal no mo. 
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 158. 
Whan Merlin com to that, he be-hoved to telle of the 
damesell that he loved paramours. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 738. 
Princes luvit hir, paramour. 
The Bludy Serk (Child's Ballads, VIII. 148). 
For paramourst, In the way of or for the sake of love or 
gallantry. 
For paramours he seyde he wolde awake. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 168. 
paramour (par'a-mor), n. [< ME. paramour, 
rramotcre, a lover: see paramour, adr.] If. 
lover, of either sex ; a wooer. 
For paramours they do but feyne. 
To love truly they disdeyne. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4831. 
Adue. alas, my Saviour Lord Jesu ! 
Adue, the gentillest that ever I knew ! 
Adue, my most excellent paramour. 
Fairer than rose, sweeter than lilly flour. 
Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, 1. 678. 
