pelf 
Must a game be played for the sake of pelf? 
Browning, The Statue anil the liust. 
pelfisht (pel'fish), a. [<pelf+ -i/ii.] Of or 
pertaining to riches; connected with or arising 
from the love of pelf. 
Peljish faults. Stanihmst, Chron. of Ireland, Ep. Ded. 
pelfryt (pel'fri), n. [< ME. pelfrey, also pelfyr 
(Prompt. Parv.), < OF. pel/re, frippery, cf. pcl- 
frerie, peuferie, frippery: see pelf.] Same as 
pelf, 1. 
"Long have we been taking away abuses in England," 
said he; "we have done much in that. Monks, f rial's, 
beads, pardons, pilgrimages, and such other fafty are 
gone ; but what of that, if Antichrist still strike his roots 
among us?" Cranmer, quoted in B. W. Dixon's Hist 
[Church of Eng., xvii. 
Pelias (pe'li-as), n. [NL. (Merrem, 1820), < 
L. Pelias, < Gr. IM/of, a king of Thessaly, son 
of Poseidon, guardian of the Argonaut Jason, 
and a victim to the wiles of Medea.] 1. A 
genus of vipers of the family Fiperidee, having 
the urosteges two-rowed and the nostril open- 
ing between two plates : synonymous with Vi- 
pera proper. Pelias berus is the common viper 
or adder of Europe. See cut under adder. 2. 
A genus of crustaceans. Boiix, 1831. 
pelican (pel'i-kan), n. [Formerly also pellican, 
pelecan; < WE. pelican, pelycan, pelicans, pelli- 
can, pellioane, < AS. pellican = F. pelican = Pr. 
pellica, pelican = Sp. Pg. pelicano = It. pelli- 
cano = D. peliJcaan = Gr. Sw. Dan. pelikan, < 
iiL.peleeanus,pelicanus,<. Gr. nefendv, MGr. also 
Tre/le/avof, TreAeKavof, or 7reAE/wdf, a pelican. Cf. 
7reAKdf (TTEAC KO.VT-), a woodpecker, < jre/Uxdv, hew 
or shape with an ax, < irt^eKvf = Skt. paraqu, 
an ax, a battle-ax.] 1. A large piscivorous 
natatorial bird of the family Pelecanidx and 
genus Pelecanus, having an enormously dis- 
tensible gular pouch. Pelicans of some species are 
found in nearly all temperate and tropical countries. De- 
riving their whole sustenance from the water, they fre- 
quent lakes, rivers, and sea-coasts, and generally secure 
their prey by wading or swimming and scooping it into 
their pouches ; though some, as the brown pelican, swoop 
down on the wing, like gannets. They breed usually on 
the ground near water, laying from one to three eggs, 
white-colored, equal-ended, and of rough texture. They 
are gregarious, and gather in immense companies at their 
Brown Pelican (Ptlecanits/iiscus). 
breeding-resorts. The birds are about as large as swans, 
and their short legs constrain them to an awkward wad- 
dling gait, but their night is easy, firm, and protracted. 
The sexes are colored alike. The plumage is in most cases 
white, variously tinted with yellow and rosy hues. The 
American white pelican, P. trachyrhynchm, is five feet 
long and eight or nine feet in extent of wings ; the general 
plumage is white, with black primaries, and yellow length- 
ened plumes on the back of the head and on the breast. 
The bill is surmounted in the breeding-season by a curious 
horny crest which is deciduous. (See cut at rough billed.) 
The brown pelican, P. futcus, is of dark and varied colors, 
and rather smaller than the white species. The fable that 
the pelican wounds its own breast and feeds its young with 
the blood that flows from it has no foundation in fact so 
far as this bird is concerned. The young are fed on flsh 
brought to the nest in the pouch, and doubtless often mace- 
rated to some extent in the gullet a habit common to 
the other birds of the same order, as cormorants, gannets 
etc. The myth probably arose in connection with the 
fabulous phenix, and may have been borne out by some 
facts which have been observed in the case of the flamingo 
(Phcenicopterw), possibly furthermore acquiring some 
plausibility, in its application to the pelican, from a red 
tint that is observable on the beak or plumage of some 
species. The pelican has from early times been considered 
as an emblem of charity. See also cut under totipalmatt. 
The pelicane his blod did blede 
Ther-with his briddus for to feed ; 
Thit be-tokenet on the rode 
Oure lord us fede with his blode. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. 8-X p. 172. 
On the one hand sits Charity, with a pelican on her head. 
Webster, Monuments of Honour. 
What, would'st thou have me turn Pelican, and feed 
thee out of my own Vitals ? Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 7. 
2. A chemical glass vessel or alembic with a 
tubulated capital, from which two opposite and 
4362 
crooked beaks pass put and enter again at the 
belly of the cucurbit. It is designed for continued 
distillation and cohobation, the volatile parts of the sub- 
stance distilling, rising into the capital, and returning 
through the beaks into the cucurbit. 
Lembec, bolt's-head, retort, and pelican 
Had all been cinders. B. Jomon, Alchemist, iii. 2. 
3f. A six-pounder culverin. Admi 
4f. A kind of shot or shell. Davies. 
When your relation, General Guise, was marching up 
to Carthagena, and the pelicans whistled round him, he 
said, "What would Chloe [the Duke of Newcastle's cook] 
give for some of these to make a pelican pie?" 
Walpole, To Mann, Oct. 8, 1754. 
5. In dental gurg., an instrument for extracting 
teeth, curved at the end like the beak of a peli- 
can. Dunglison. 6. A hook, somewhat in the 
shape of a pelican's bill, so arranged that it can 
be easily slipped by taking a ring or shackle 
from the point of the hook. 7. In her., a bird 
with talons and beak like a bird of prey, but 
always represented with the wings indorsed 
and as bending her neck in the attitude of 
wounding her breast with her beak Dalmatian 
pelican. See Dalmatian. Pelican In her piety, in 
ner., a pelican in her nest feeding her young with blood 
which drops from her breast Pelican State, the State 
of Louisiana. 
pelican-fish (pel'i-kan-nsh), n. A lyomerous 
fish of the family fiurypharyn gidss : so called 
from the large gular pouch. The species originally 
so named is Eurypharynx pelecanaides, a deep-sea form 
dredged at great depths by the naturalists of the Travail- 
leur expedition, near the Canary Islands. 
pelican-flower (peri-kan-nou"er), n. A plant 
of the birthwort family, Aristolochia grandi- 
flora of Jamaica. The name is suggested by 
the pouch-like calyx. 
pelicanry (pel'i-kan-ri), w. ; pi. pelieanries (-riz). 
[< pelican + -ry.] A place where numbers of 
pelicans breed year after year. Encyc. Diet. 
One pelicanry in the Carnatic, where the pelicans have 
(for ages, I was told) built their rude nests. 
T. C. Jerdon, Birds of India, ii. 860. 
pelican's-foot (pel'i-kanz-fut), . An aporrhaid 
mollusk, Aporrhais pes-pelecani, the spout-shell : 
so called from the digitate outer lip. See out 
at Aporrhaig. 
pelican's-head (pel'i-kanz-hed), n. A wooden 
battle-club the head of which is rounded, with 
a projecting beak on one side, used in New 
Caledonia. 
pelick (pe'lik), B. [Amer. Ind. (?).] The com- 
mon American coot, Fulica americana. [Con- 
necticut.] 
pelicoid, . See pelecoid. 
Pelicoidea (pel-i-koi'de-a), n. pi. [NL. (Menke, 
1828), prop. Pelecoided, ? Gr. irfifyZ (nn'/.r/K-), a 
helmet, casque (see Pelex), + eldof, form.] An 
order of bivalves constituted for the family 
Tridacnidse. 
Pelidna_(pe-lid'na), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), 
< Gr. mvi/oVof, livid.] A genus of ScoJopacidee, 
section Trinnees, the type of which is the red- 
backed sandpiper of Europe, etc., Pelidna al- 
pina; the dunlins. The American bird is a dif- 
ferent variety, P. alpina americana, or paci- 
fica. See cut under dunlin. , 
Pelidnota (pel-id-no'ta), n. [NL. (Maeleay, 
1817), < Gr. as if *3rcAioV<Orof, < TrcAioVoTO, make 
livid, < TTf/UdVof, livid, equiv. to Tre/Uof, livid: 
see peliom.] 1. An extensive American genus 
of scarabeeoid beetles, having a mesosternal 
pelite 
Canada to southern Brazil, and has about 50 species, of 
medium or large size and variable in coloration. The 
spotted pelidnota, /'. pundttta, feeds upon the leaves of 
cultivated and wild grapes in the United States during 
June, July, and August, and often does much damage. Its 
elytra are dull brick-red or brownish-yellow with black 
spots. The adults are day-fliers, and the larva; live in 
rotten wood, as the stumps and roots of dead trees. 
2. [/. c.] A member of this genus. 
Pelidnotidset (pel-id-not'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Pelidnota + -idee.] A family of coleopterous 
insects, named from the genus Pelidnota by 
Burmeister in 1844. 
pelike (pel'i-ke), n. [< Gr. *7rtvU'/o?, jrt/.kn, also 
TreMxvr/, ITE'/V!-, and m/tt/f, TrtAAa, TTEAA)? (see def .).] 
In Gr. arcliseol., a large 
vase resembling the hy- 
dria, but with the curve 
between the neck and 
the body less marked, 
and having ouly two 
handles, attached to the 
neck at or near the rim 
and extending to the 
body. 
peliom (pel'i-om), )i. [< 
Gr. TrcAwj/na, a livid spot 
from extravasation of 
blood, < Trrt.tovv, make 
livid, < mvUdf, livid, 
black and blue, black; 
cf. jrfAAof, jrcAof, dark- 
colored, dusky.] A 
mineral: same as iolite. 
Pelion (pe'li-on), n. [NL., < Gr. Tlq'Aiov, a moun- 
tain in Thessaly.] In zool. : (a) A genus of 
carboniferous stegocephalous labyrinthodont 
amphibians, typical of the family Peliontidse. 
Wyman, 1858. (5) A genus of butterflies. Kirby, 
1858. 
Pelionetta (peFi-6-net'a), . [NL. (Kaup, 
1829), < Gr. 7rASf, dark, dusky, + vfjrra, duck.] 
A genus of Anatidee of the subfamily Fuligulinie, 
containing scoters with gibbous extensively 
Black-figured Pelike. in the 
style of Nicosthenes. 
Grape-vine or Spotted Pelidnota (Pelidnota futtctata}. 
a, larva ; *, pupa ; c, beetle ; rf, anal joint of larva ; e, antenna of 
larva ;/, leg of larva. i to rf natural size ; e and/ enlarged.) 
protuberance, mandibles bidentate at top, and 
hind legs alike in both sexes. It ranges from 
Surf-duck (Pelionetta pcrspicillata). 
feathered bill and black plumage, varied with 
white on the head, as P. perspicillata, the sea- 
scoter or surf -duck, which inhabits both coasts 
of North America. 
Peliontidse (pel-i-ou'ti-de), . pi. [NL., < Pe- 
lion(t-) + -idee.'] A family of stegocephalous 
labyrinthodont amphibians, typified by the ge- 
nus Pelion, later associated with the Hylono- 
midse. 
pelisse (pe-les')> [< F. pelisse, a pelisse, OP. 
pelisse, pelice, a skin of fur, = Pr. pelissa = It. 
pelliccia, a pelisse, < L. pelliceus, pellicius, made 
of skins, < pellis, skin, hide: see pell 1 .] 1. 
Originally, a long garment of fur; hence, a 
garment lined or trimmed with fur. 
He [the sheikh] was dressed in a large fox-skin pelisse 
over the rest of his cloaths, and had a yellow India shawl 
wrapt about his head like a turban. 
Bruce, Source of the Kile, I. 115. 
His [Prince Esterhazy's] uniform was a pelisse of dark 
crimson velvet, the sword-belt thickly studded with dia- 
monds. First Year of a Silken Keign, p. 232. 
2. A long cloak of silk or other material, 
with sleeves, and with or without fur, worn by 
women. 
She helped me on with my pelisse and bonnet, and, wrap- 
ping herself in a shawl, she and I left the nursery. 
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, T. 
Pelisse-cloth, a twilled woolen fabric, soft and flexible, 
used for women's outer garments. 
pelisson (pe-le'son), . [OF. pelisson, peli<;on. 
" a furred petticoat or frock" (Cotgrave), < 
pelisse, a skin of fur: see pelisse.] Same as 
pelisse. 
pelite (pe'lit), n. [< Gr. TTI/AO(, clay, earth, mud. 
+ -He 2 .] In petrol., a rock made up of very fine 
argillaceous sediment. It would include fire- 
clay, brick-clay, fullers' earth, and similar de- 
posits. [Rare.] 
