peccation 
Though he (Philip] roared out peccavi most frankly when 
charged with his sins, this criminal would fall (o peccation 
very soon after promising amendment. 
Thackeray, Philip, vi. 
peccavi (pe-ka'vi). [L., I have sinned, 1st pers. 
sing. pret. ind. act. otpeceare, sin: see peccant. ~\ 
I have sinned; I am guilty; it is my fault. 
I have a trick in my head shall lodge him in the Arches 
for one year, and make him sing peccavi ere I leave him. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, iv. 1. 
pecco (pek'6), w. Same as pekiH: 
pecet, '< An obsolete spelling of piece. 
pech, pegh (pech), v.i. [Imitative.] To pant; 
puff; breathe heavily. [Scotch and North. 
Bug.] 
Up Parnassus pechin'. Burns, Willie Chalmers. 
pechan (pech'an), . The stomach. [Scotch.] 
pechblend, pechblende (pech'blend), . [< G. 
pecli, pitch, + blende, blende.] Variants of 
pitchblende. 
peche 1 ^ A Middle English form of peach 1 . 
peche 2 t, *' A Middle English form of peach 2 . 
pechurane (pesh'u-ran), n. [< F. pechurane, < 
G. pech, pitch, + F. uraue, uranium.] Same as 
pitchblende. 
pecite (pe'sit), n. An insulating material com- 
posed of wax and plaster. It Is applied to the piece 
to be insulated while in a plastic condition. It may after- 
ward be worked and polished, aud withstands a tolerably 
high temperature. 
peck 1 (pek), v. [< M.E.2>ecken,pekken, a var. of 
picken,pikken,yick: seejpw* 1 .] I. trans. 1. To 
strike with the beak, as a bird; hence, to strike 
lightly with some sharp-pointed instrument. 
To be furious 
Is to be frighted out of fear ; and in that mood 
The dove will peck the estridge. 
Shale., A. and C., lii. 13. 197. 
And this we take for a general rule : when we find any 
Fruits that we have not seen before, if we see thempeck'd 
by Birds, we may freely eat, but if we see no such sign, we 
let them alone ; for of this fruit no Birds will taste. 
Dumpier, Voyages, I. 39. 
2. To pick up or take with the beak. 
After what manner the chicken pecked the several grains 
of corn. Addison, Spectator, No. 505. 
3. To make or effect by striking with the beak 
or any pointed instrument : as, to peck a hole in 
a tree. 
The best way to dig for insects is to peck up a circular 
patch about eighteen inches in diameter, throw aside the 
frozen clods, and then to work carefully downwards. 
J. a. Wood, Out of Doors, p. 213. 
II. intrans. To make strokes or light blows 
with the beak or some pointed instrument. 
The liuely picture of that ramping Vine 
Which whilom Zeuxis limn'd so rarely fine 
That shoals of Birds, beguiled by the shapes, 
Peckt at the Table, as at very Grapes. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6. 
To peck at. (a) To strike with repeated slight blows. 
(b) To attack repeatedly with petty criticism ; carp at. 
Mankind lie pecking atone another. Sir R. L' Estrange. 
Heaven mend her faults ! I will not pause 
To weigh and doubt and perk at flaws. 
Whiltier, Lines on a Fly-Leaf. 
peck 1 (pek), H. [<peckl,v.] 1 . A stroke with 
the beak, or with some sharp-pointed tool. 
2. Meat; victuals; food. [Slang, Eng.] 
The black one-legged fiddler is strumming away to en- 
liven the party ; and the peck and booze is lying about. 
Pierce Eyan, Life in London (1821). 
liquid measure), < picoter, peck (as a bird): 
see peck 1 and jjicfc 1 .] 1. A quantity; a great 
deal. 
A peck of white pennies, my good lord judge, 
If you'll grant Hughie the Graeme to me. 
Hughie the Graeme (Child's Ballads, VI. 56). 
Contented to remain in such a peck of uncertainties and 
doubts. Milton. 
'Tis fine but may prove dangerous sport, and may in- 
volve us in a peck of troubles. Steele, Lying Lover, i. 1. 
Her finger was so small, the ring 
Would not stay on which they did bring ; 
It was too wide a peck. 
Suckling, Ballad upon a Wedding. 
Specifically 2. The fourth part of a bushel, 
a dry measure of 8 quarts for grain, pulse, etc. 
The standard British or imperial peck contains 2 gallons or 
554.548 cubic inches. Four pecks make a bushel, and eight 
bushels a quarter. The old Scotch peck, the fourth part of 
a flrlot, or the sixteenth part of a boll, when of wheat, was 
slightly less than the imperial peck ; but when of barley 
was equal to about 1.456 imperial pecks. (See firlot, boll*. ) 
In the United States a peck is the fourth part of a Win- 
chester bushel that is, equals 537.6 cubic inches. 
A peck of coals a-piece will glad the rest. 
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 282. 
3. A peck-measure. 
4348 
To be compassed, like a good bilbo, in the circumfer- 
ence of a pec*, hilt to point, heel to head. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 5. 112. 
He had his faults, which we may as well hide under a 
bushel, or let us say a peck, for it would not take a very 
large vessel to cover them. J. Baker, Turkey, p. 94. 
pecker (pek'er), M. [< peck 1 + -er 1 .] 1. One 
who or that which pecks, picks, or hacks ; es- 
pecially, a bird that pecks, as in the compounds 
nutpecker, oxpecker, woodpecker, flower-pecker. 
The titmouse and thepecker'i hungry brood. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 18. 
2. A picker or pickax. 
The women with short peckers or parers ... do onely 
breake the upper part of the ground to raise vp the weeds, 
grass, and olde stubbs of corn stalks with their roots. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, III. 271. 
3. In weaving, the picker of a loom ; the shut- 
tle-driver. 
When the shaft [of the draw-boy] . . . rocks from side 
to side of the machine, it will carry the pecker . . . with it, 
and the groove and notch at the points of the pecker com- 
ing into contact with the knots upon the cords draws 
them down alternately. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 136. 
4. In teleg., a relay. Earlier forms of this ap- 
paratus pecked like a bird: hence the name. 
[Eng.] 5. Courage; spirits; good cheer. 
[Slang, Eng.] 
Dispirited became our friend 
Depressed his moral pecker. 
W. S. Gilbert, Haughty Actor. 
To keep one's pecker up, to be of good heart ; not to 
lose courage. [Slang, Eng.] 
peckhamite (pek'am-It), n. [Named after S. F. 
Peckham, an American chemist.] A silicate of 
iron and magnesium found in rounded nodules 
in the meteorite of Estherville, Emmett county, 
Iowa. It is intermediate between enstatite and 
chrysolite in composition. 
pecking (pek'ing), n. [Verbal n. of peek 1 , v.] 
1. Same as place-brick. 2t. pi. Pieces pecked 
or knocked off. 
Shavings and peckings of free stone. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, III. 619. 
3. The sport of throwing pebbles at birds to 
bring them down. 
They crossed a road soon afterwards, and there close to 
them lay a heap of charming pebbles. "Look here," shout- 
ed East, "here 's luck ! I 've been longing for some good 
honest pecking this half-hour. Let's fill the bags, and have 
no more of this foozling bird's-nesting." 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 4. 
pecking-bag (pek'ing-bag), n. A bag in which 
to carry pebbles for use in the sport of pecking. 
He ... strides away in front with his climbing-irons 
strapped under one arm, his pecking-bag under the other, 
and his pockets and hat full of pill-boxes, cotton-wool, and 
other etceteras. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 4. 
peckish (pek'ish), a. [<peck l , n., + -ish 1 .] In- 
clined to eat; appetized; somewhat hungry. 
[Colloq., Eng.] 
Nothing like business to give one an appetite. But when 
shall I feel peckish again, Mrs. Trotman ? 
Disraeli, Sybil, vi. 3. 
pecklet (pek'l), w. [A form of speckle, with loss 
of orig. s-.] Same as speckle. 
peckledt (pek'ld), a. [Speckle + -ed'*.] Same 
as speckled. Cotgrave. 
Jacob the patriarke, by the force of imagination, made 
peckled lambs, laying peckled roddes before his sheepe. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., i. 2. 
Pecksniffian (pek'snif-i-an), a. [< Pecksniff 
(see def.) + -ian.] Characteristic of or resem- 
bling Pecksniff, one of the characters in Dick- 
ens's "Martin Chuzzlewit," characterized by 
an ostentatious hypocritical display of benevo- 
lence or high principle. 
Pertinacious religious journals of the Pecksniffian 
creed. Higginson, English Statesmen, p. 271. 
Pecopterideae (pe-kop-te-rid'e-e), n. pi. [NL., 
< Pecopteris (-rid-) + -ese.] A group of fossil 
ferns to which belongs the widely disseminated 
and highly important genus Pecopteris. Schim- 
per has grouped the Pecopteridete, with regard to their re- 
lation to living ferns and with reference to the character 
of the fructification, in five subdivisions; but "one has 
only to look at the classification of a few species grouped 
from the apparent character of the fructifications to see 
how unreliable are the diagnoses derived from them" 
(Lesquereux). The grouping of the Pecopteridese suggest- 
ed by the fossil botanist of the Pennsylvania Geological 
Survey is as follows: (1) Including the species referred 
by Schimper to the genus Goniopteris, distinguished by an 
upward curve of the lateral veins ; (2) Pecopteris proper, 
or cyatheids, to which division belong the species an- 
swering exactly to Brongniart's definition of the genus 
Pecopteris; (3) Pecopteris with hairy or villous surfaces, a 
permanent and easily discernible character ; (4) Pecopteris 
with pinna; not distinctly divided into obtuse entire lobes 
or pinnules, but generally cut on the borders in sharp ir- 
regular teeth; and (5) a group containing those species 
referred to Pecojiteris which " do not find a place in the 
former divisions." Kidston (1886) divides the Pecopte- 
ri/le/f into two subdivisions, Pecopteris and DacliiMheca; 
Pecten, I (>. 
Pectinated Middle 
Claw of Heron, viewed 
Iroin above. 
pectinal 
the genus Pecopteris as limited by him includes species 
previously referred by fossil botanists to twenty-four dif- 
ferent genera. 
Pecopteris (pe-kop'te-ris), n. [NL., < Gr. iri- 
KEIV, comb, + TTTf/j/f, a fern.] A genus of widely 
disseminated fossil ferns, occurring in large 
numbers in the coal-measures of Europe and 
America, and found also in the Middle Devo- 
nian of New Brunswick. The name was given by 
Brongniart in 1822. About 30 species referred to this ge- 
nus were described by Lesquereux, in 1880, as occurring 
in the coal-measures of the United States, chiefly in Penn- 
sylvania and Illinois. As described by Brongniart, the 
genus Pecopteris has bipinnate or tripinnate fronds; the 
piiiiuu are long and pinnatifid ; the pinnules adhere to the 
rachis by the whole base, and are often more or less deeply 
connate and not decurrent, aud the borders are generally 
contiguous or nearly so; the secondary veins, which are 
derived from the median nerve of the pinnules, are sim- 
ple, bifurcate, or trifurcate. See cut (c) under .fern. 
Pecora (pek o-ra), n. pi. [NL., pi. of penis (pe- 
cor-), cattle, a herd: see /eel.] Tn e fifth Lin- 
nean order of Mammalia, composed of the gen- 
era Camelus, Moschus, Cervus, Capra, (Ms, and 
Bos; the ruminant or artiodactyl mammals, 
later called Ruminantia and (with a little exten- 
sion) Artiodacti/la. The name is still in use. 
pecten (pek'ten),i.; pl.pectines(-ti-nez). [NL., 
< L. pecten, a comb, a kind of shell-fish, < pectere, 
comb; cl.Gri.mKeiv, comb, card.] 1. In.zo6V.and 
anat., a comb or comb-like part or process; 
something pectinated; a pectination, (a) The 
bursa or marsupium of a bird's eye, a vascular membrane 
in the vitreous humor, folded or 
plaited into a pectinated structure. 
(b) The comb or pectination of a 
bird's claw, as a heron's or a goat- 
sucker's, (c) The comb, comb-row, 
or ctenophore of a ctenophoran. (d) 
One of the pair of comb-like organs 
behind the posterior legs of some 
arachnidans, as scorpions, (e) In entom., a comb-like or- 
gan, formed generally by a row of short stiff hairs, often 
found on the legs of insects, and especially on the first 
tarsal joint of many bees. It is used for cleaning the an- 
tenn&e and other parts of the body. 
2. Inconch.: (a) {cap."] [NL.] The typical ge- 
nus of the family Pectinidee, having a regular, 
suborbicular, auriculate shell, with approxi- 
mate umbones, and radiating ribs compared 
to the teeth of a comb ; the scallops. The spe- 
cies are very numerous and of world-wide distribution. P. 
maximus is a common edible scallop of Great Britain, also 
called clam queen and .frill. P. opercularis is another Brit- 
ish species, also called quin. P. jacobseus, known as St. 
James shell, a Mediterranean species, used to be worn as 
a badge or emblem by pilgrims to the Holy Land. See 
pilgrim-shell. (6) A species of this genus: in this 
sense there is a plural />;<*. Pecten pubicum, 
the pubic crest. 
Pectenidae (pek-ten'i-de), n. pi. Same as Pec- 
tinidte. 
pectic (pek'tik), a. [< Gr. m/xn/cdf, congealing, 
curdling, < rniyvivai, make fast or solid, fix on, 
= L. pangere, fasten : see pact.] Congealing; 
curdling : noting an acid found in many fruits, 
which in large part makes up fruit-jellies. 
pectin, pectine (pek'tin), . [< pect(ic) + -in, 
-ine 2 .] A substance obtained from pectose by 
the action of heat, ferments, or an acid, and also 
formed in the ripening of fruits. It is soluble in 
water, and its solution on evaporating yields a 
fine jelly. 
Pectinacea (pek-ti-na'se-a), n.pl. [NL., < Pec- 
ten (Pectin-) + -acea.] '!". The scallop family, 
or Pectinidae. 2. A superfamily or suborder of 
bivalves, comprising the families Pectinidte, Li- 
midse, Spondylid, and Dimyidee. The mantle is 
completely open and destitute of siphons, the adductor 
muscle generally subcentral, and the foot byssiferous ; the 
shell has a ligamentary fossette, and similar teeth in front 
of and behind it. 
pectinacean (pek-ti-na'se-an), n. [< Pectinacea 
+ -.] A member of the' Pectinacea. 
pectinaceous (pek-ti-na'shius), a. [< Pecti- 
nacea + -otis.] Of or pertaining to the Pecti- 
nacea; related to or resembling the scallops. 
pectinseal, a. See peetineal. 
pectinaeus,pectineus(pek-ti-ne'us), n.; -pl.pec- 
tinaei, pectiuei (-i). [NL., < L. pecten (pectin-), 
a comb: see pecten.] A flat and quadrate 
muscle at the upper inner part of the thigh. 
It arises from the iliopectineal line of the pubis, and is 
inserted into the femur below the lesser trochanter. Also 
called pectinalis. See peetineal, and cut under muscle. 
pectinal (pek'ti-nal), fl. and . [< NL. pccti- 
natis, < L. pecten (pectin-), a comb: see pecten.] 
I. a. Comb-like; pertaining to a pecten or pec- 
tination; peetineal. [Obsolescent.] 
Il.t w. A sawfish which has teeth projecting 
from each side of an elongated rostrum, and 
the eyes directed upward. See I'rixlix. 
Yet are there other fishes whose eyes regard the heav- 
ens, as plane, and cartiliiginous fishes ; as pectinaln, or such 
as have their bones made laterally like a comb. 
Sir T. Bmmie, Vnlg. Err., iv. 1. 
