peba 
Peba, or Texan Arrn.ulillu ( Tatusia novemciittla }. 
The true peba is South American, but the name 
lias also been given to the Texan armadillo, 
pebble (peb'l), n. ("Formerly also /< bit; /iih- 
bli',- (. ME. "jiiblih', "pibbil (in pibbl<:/iluni; /uli- 
bilxlini), iinblili; <. AS. "ptipol, "poprl, in //;</- 
stun, iiii/ii'l-xldu, a pebble-stone. Origin un- 
known; hardly borrowed, as Skeat suggests, 
fi-oin L. fMt|MMa, a pustule, jiii/ii//n, a pustule, 
nipple (see papula, papilla). An Icel. *pi>iinll, 
a ball, is cited, but not found.] 1. A small 
rounded stone. The term is usually applied to stones 
worn and rounded by the action of water, pebbles are 
less In size than cobbles ; and ordinary gravels are chiefly 
nmde up of sand, the grains of which pass by impercep- 
tible gradations of size Into pebbles, with which are fre- 
i|iicntly intermixed more or leas of rounded fragment* 
large enough to be. called cubbies. 
My fords with pebbles, clear as orient pearls, are strow'd. 
Draytun, Polyolbion, xxv. 270. 
The market-place and streetes, some whereof are deli- 
ctously planted with limes, are ample and stralte, so well 
paved w 111 a kind of pibble that I nave not seen a neater 
towne In France. Evelyn, Diary, April 21, 1044. 
I bubble into eddying bays, 
I babble on the pebble*. 
Tennyton, The Brook. 
2. In jewelry, an agate. Scotch agates are com- 
monly known as Scotch pebbles. 3. A trans- 
parent and colorless rock-crystal used as a sub- 
stitute for glass in spectacles, or a fine kind of 
glass so used. 4. Pebble-leather. 
The waxed or colored split la stained on the flesh side, 
nnd it Is strictly known as the " colored pebble." 
C. T. Dacit, Leather, p. 600. 
5. A large size of gunpowder; pebble-powder. 
Large cannon powder, such as pebble. ... Is ... en- 
closed in cases. Encyc. Brit., XI. 32. 
6. One of several different pyralid, tortricid, 
and bombycid moths: an English collectors' 
name. The garden pebble Is Boty* forficali* ; the check- 
ered pebble, Teras contaminana. The nombycid pebbles 
of the genus A T ot.odotda are also called prominent* and 
toothbacks. Brazilian pebble, Egyptian pebble, etc. 
See the adjectives. Mocha pebble. Same as Mocha 
stone (which see, under .*<<). Variegated pebble. See 
pebbleware. 
pebble (peb'l), v. ; pret. and pp. pebbled, ppr. 
pebbling, [(.pebble, n.] I. in trans. To assume 
a prominent grain, or a rough or ribbed ap- 
pearance, as leather when treated by the pro- 
cess called pebbling. 
In currylnit It will " set out," pebble, "stone out," " glass 
In black and past*." C. T. Davit, Leather, p. 464. 
II. traits. To prepare, as leather, so as to 
cause the grain to become prominent and to 
present a roughened or ribbed appearance. See 
pebbling. 
pebbled (peb'ld), n. [< pebble + -rd*.] Abound- 
ing with pebbles ; pebbly. 
And the blithe brook that strolls along 
IU pebbled bed with summer song. 
Scott, Kokeby, iv. 2. 
pebble-dashing (peb'l-dash'ing), w. In build- 
iinj, mortar in which pebbles are incorporated. 
pebble-leather (peb'l-leTH'er), . Leather pre- 
pared so us to show a rough or ribbed grain; 
pebbled leather. 
pebble-paving (peb'l-pa'ving), n. A pavement 
laid with pebbles, or water-worn stones. 
pebble-powder (peb'l-pou'der), n. A gunpow- 
der prepared in cubes or prisms, sometimes MS 
I wo inches on a side. It is slow-burning. 
1847 
yranite.yrem fatpr, gray granUc, tapitlaiuli. porphyry, 
red porphyry, terpenHnt. tarltgated pebble, veined gran- 
He, or rerd-antique. Meteyard, Wedgwood Handbook. 
Variegated pebbleware, the name given by Joslah 
Wcdgwimd in 177H in pehbluware presenting " colors ami 
veins": it thus seems to have been given to those veined 
nr s|H>ttd wares which were not otherwise specially des- 
ignated. 
pebbling (peb'ling), w. [Verbal n. of pi-l,lili. 
v.] In li'dlliir-niniiiif., a special kind of grain- 
ing, in which an artificially roughened or in- 
dented surface on the grain side of leather is 
produced by working upon that side with a 
roller having a pattern which is the reverse of 
the pattern to be impressed on the leather. The 
term Is properly restricted to the act of producing an ir- 
regular pattern, such as would be produced by pressing 
Irregularly distributed minute pebbles upon the leather: 
whence the name. A pattern consisting of straight or 
approximately straight lines Is called a ttraight grained 
pattern, and the leather would be called ttraighti/rained. 
Tin- 1. i / includes pebbling, which Is but a, spe- 
cial kind of Kraining, of whlcl ' 
another variety. 
ch glassing or glazing U still 
pebbling-machine (pel/ling-ma-shen'), . In 
leutlier-manuf., a machine resembling a polish- 
ing-machine in its construction, used to per- 
form the special work called pebbling. The peb- 
bling la done by a roller having on IU surface the pattern, 
in reverse, which It Is desired to Impart to the grain of the 
leather. The roller U pivoted to elastic bearings at the 
lower end of a swinging arm, and Is antagonized by a 
table curved to correspond to the arc through which the 
roller acts. The leather IB supported by the table while 
subjected to the action of the roller. The Imparting of 
a pattern In imitation of more costly leather is strictly a 
variety of graining, though often called pebbling. Since 
the machine used for glassing, glazing, or polishing i 
transformed into a pebbllng-machlne by a change in the 
roller only, the machine Is variously and Indifferently 
called polishing-, ylaainy-, graining-, or pebbling-macMne. 
pebbly (peb'li), a. [< pebble + -y 1 .] Full of 
pebbles ; abounding with small roundish stones. 
Slow stream, or pebbly spring. Coleridge. 
Our keel grated the pebbly barrier of a narrow valley, 
where the land road was resumed. 
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. S45. 
pebrine (peb'rin), n. [< F. pebrine (see def.).] 
An epizootic and zymotic disease of the silk- 
worm of commerce, evidenced outwardly by 
dwindling and inequality in size, and by black 
spots like burns. Inside, the body li filled with mi- 
nute ovoid corpuscles (Microtporidije), upon the presence 
and multiplication of which the disease depends. Peb- 
rine U both contagious and Infectious. The Pasteur 
system of selection consists in the microscopic examina- 
tion of the moth after egg laying, and the rejection of eggs 
laid by those found to be diseased. The microbe which 
causes pebrine was named by Lebert Panhintophyton, and 
classed auiong the paorosperma. 
pebrinOUS (peb ri-nus), a. [< pebrine + -onx.\ 
Affected with pebrine. 
pecan (pe-kan or -kon'), it. [Formerly also 
paccan ; = F. pacane = 8p. pacana, pacano ; 
appar. of native Amer. origin.] 1. A North 
American tree, Hicoria 1'ecan (Carya olivie- 
formin). It abounds on rich bottom-lands from Illinois 
southward and southwestward, thriving especially in Ar- 
pec cation 
peccability (pek-a-bil'i-ti), . [< prrcablr + 
-ill/ ( see -l,illll/).\ The state of being peccable, 
or subject to sin ; rapacity of sinning. 
The common peceability of mankind. 
Decay o/ Chrutian Piety. 
peccable (pek'a-b')! a. [= F. pn-riMi- = Sp. 
/iii-nlilf 1'g. /iifi-iiril = It. jiti'i'iilnli-, < ML. 
/// . -i nhiliK ( T), liable I o sin or offend, < L. pecan . 
sin : see jnccant.] Liable to sin ; subject to sin. 
In a low noisy smoky world like oun, 
Where Adam's sin made peccable hli ieed '. 
Browning. King and Book, II. 107. 
peccadil (pek-a-dil'), n. Same as jn-cfiidi/1-i. 
I'liltini, Bm-lcs('|tie upon l!nrles(iue, p. 162. 
tliiirie*.) [Kare.] 
peccadillo (pek-a-dil'6), n. [< 8p. peea<iill. 
dim. of jurado, t L. jirrculum, a sin, v pi" 
sin: see ]>eccant.] A slight trespass or offense ; 
a petty crime or fault. 
TU low ebb with his accusers when such peccadillo* aa 
these are put In to swell the charge. /.;-. Atlerbury. 
Who doean't forgive? the vlrtuoni Mrs. Grundy. She 
remembers her neighbour's pcceadUloa to the third and 
fourth generation. Thackeray, Philip, via 
peccancy (pek'an-si), n. [< pr<m(t) + -cy.] 1. 
The state or quality of being peccant ; badness, 
(a) The state of having sinned or given offense, (ft) The 
state of being an offender or offending thing or part, In 
aome sense not implying moral guilt ; the condition of be- 
ing bad or defective. 
2. Offense; criminality; transgression. W. ilon- 
tatjue, Devoute Essays, I. xxi. $ 2. 
peccant (pek'ant), a. and n. [= OF. peccant, 
peehant = Sf" pecante = Pg. It. peccante, < L. 
pectan(t-)s, ppr. of peccare, miss, do amiss, 
transgress, offend, sin.] L " 1. Sinning; of- 
fending; guilty; causing offense. 
In worse condition than a peccant soul. 
Milton, Areopagltlca. 
But malice vainly throws the polion'd dart, 
Unless our frailty shows the peccant fiti. 
Crabbe, Works, IV. 194. 
Of course a peccant official found It his interest to spend 
large sums of money on bribing the newswriters. 
Quarterly Rev., CLXIII. 18. 
2. Morbid ; bad ; corrupt ; not healthy. 
There are aome other rather peccant humours than 
formed diseases. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, I. 62. 
France might serve aa a drain to carry olf the peccant 
humours In the political constitution at home. 
Qeldanith, Seven Years' War, L 
3. Imperfect; erroneous; incorrect: as, & pec- 
cant citation. Ayliffe. 
For Euripides Is sometimes peccant, as he Is moat tunes 
perfect " Jonton, Discoveries. 
H.t . An offender. 
This conceitedness, and Itch of being taken for a coun- 
sellor, maketh more reprovers than peccant* ii\ the world. 
Whitlock, Manners of Eng. 1'eople, p. 888. 
peccantly (pek'ant-li), adv. In a peccant man- 
ner; sinfully; corruptly; by transgression. 
peccary (pek'a-ri),n.; pi. peccaries (-riz). [Also 
pecary; prob. from a S. Amer. name, cited by 
Pennant as paquiran.] A kind of swine indige- 
nous to America, belonging to the family IHco- 
tylidxundthegenuHLHcotyles. See the technical 
words. Peccaries are the only Indigenous representatives 
of the Old World Suitljr, or swine, now living In the Xew 
World. There are 2 species, the Ttxan or collared pec- 
cary, D. tirrtfuatut, also called lajaru. and the white-lipped 
peccary of South America, 1). laoiatvt, sometimes placed 
In another genus, fitttophonu. The range of the peccaries- 
Is from Arkansas and Texas through Mexico and the greater 
part of South America. The animals are as large as small 
pigs, and go In droves ; they are extremely vicious and 
Also culled i'iilii'-iiiiirili-r and ii*mnti<' /m 
pebble-stone (peb'1-ston), . [< ME. pibble- 
Klone, pibbilaton, < AS. papolstdn : see pebble.} 
A pebble. 
With gravel, or with litcl pibble xtmiys, 
Unto the'mydwarde fllil ayeme this forgh Ifurrow]. 
Palladia*, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 150. 
I'll. Duke of Gloucester's men, 
Forbidden lati- to carry any weapon. 
Have nll'd their pockeU full of pfbble stonet. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ill. 1. 80. 
pebbleware (peb'1-war), . A variety of Wcds;- 
\vood ware in which different colored clays are 
intermingled in the body of the paste. According 
to the colon, the ware is known as agate, Egyptian pebble. 
Pecan (littoria Pftatt). 
kansas and the Indian Territory. It is the largest tree of 
IU genus, reaching sometimes a great height ; but its wood 
Is of little use except for fuel. Its leaves have thirteen or 
fifteen slender-pointed leaflets. 
2. The nut of the pecan-tree, which is olive- 
shaped, an inch long or over, smooth and thin- 
shelled, with a very sweet and oily meat. It 
is gathered in large quantities for the general 
market. 
Paccan or Illinois nut. . . . It grows on the Illinois, Wa- 
bash, Ohio, anil Mississippi. It is spoken of by Don I'lloa 
iiii.l.T the name of Pacanos, In his Notli-ias Americanas, 
Km ret. 8. Jefenon, Notes on Virginia (1787), p. 68. 
Bitter pecan, n rather small bitter-seeded hickory, Hico- 
ria (Carya) aq\tatica, of the southern United States. Also 
called water- or ncamp-hickory. 
pecan-nut (pe-kan'nut ). n. Same as pecan, 2. 
pecary, . See /.-miry. 
Collated Peccary (Dicvtyles 
pugnacious, and make formidable antagonists. The flesh 
Is edible, but liable to become Infected with the fetid hu- 
mor of the gland on the back, unless this is properly re- 
moved. See also cut under Artiodactyla. 
peccation (pe-ka'shon), n. [< LL. pecfatio(n-), 
a fault, sin, < L. peccare, sin: see peccant.] The 
act of sinning; sin. [Rare.] 
