pertly 
Thane syr J'lmmous the pryiice, in presuns of lordes, 
Presez to his nenowne, and pertly it hentes. 
Murte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1- 2918. 
pertness (pert'nes), n. The fact or character 
of being pert, (at) Briskness; smartness; sprightli- 
iicss without force, dignity, or solidity. 
There is [in Shaftesbury's works) a lively pertness, a pa- 
rade of literature. Watts, Improvement of Mind, I. v. 3. 
(6) Sauciness ; forward promptness or boldness. = Syn. (6) 
Impertinence, Impudence, Effrontery, etc. See impudence 
and impertinent. 
pertransient (per-tran'shent), a. [< L. per- 
tf(iiixi<'n(l-)s, ppr. of pertratmre, go through, < 
per, through, + transire, cross, go through : see 
transient.'] Passing through or over. [Rare.] 
pertrychet, pertryket, Middle English 
forms ol partridge, 
pertuisant, pertuisanet, . [OF.: see parti- 
ra/J 2 .] Obsolete forms of uartizan?. 
perturb (per-terb'), v. t. [< ME. perturben, per- 
tourben, < OF. perturber, pertourbcr = Sp. Pg. 
perturbar= It. perturbare,< ~L. perturbare, throw 
into confusion, confuse, disorder, disturb, < 
per, through, + titrbare, confuse, disturb : see 
turbid. Cf. disturb.] 1. To disturb greatly; 
agitate; disquiet. 
What folk ben ye that at myn horn comynge 
Perlourben so my feste with cryinge? 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 48. 
Rest, rest, perturbed spirit I Shale. , Hamlet, i. 5. 182. 
At times there was a perturbed and restless wandering 
of the eye that bespoke a mind but ill at ease. 
Irving, Sketeh-Book, p. 202. 
2. To disorder; confuse; cause irregularity in. 
perturbability (per-ter-ba-bil'i-ti), n. [< per- 
titrbabk + -ity (see -bility'j.} Tne state or char- 
acter of being perturbable. 
perturbable (per-ter'ba-bl), a. [= Sp. pertur- 
bable, < ML. *perturbabilis, < L. perturbare, per- 
turb: see perturb.'] Capable of being perturbed, 
agitated, or disquieted. 
perturbance (per-ter'bans), n. [< perturban(t) 
+ -ce.] Pertui'batiou ; disturbance. 
Snddain passion and perturbance of mind. 
Abp. Sharp, Works, in. ix. 
perturbant (per-ter'bant), a. and . [< L. per- 
turban(t-)s,ppT. ofj>erturbare, perturb: eeeper- 
ttirb.} I. a. Disturbing; perturbing. 
II. n. A disturbing circumstance or thing; 
whatever perturbs or disturbs the natural 
course or order. [Rare.] 
The matter [migration of birds) thus becomes a matter 
of averages, and like all such is open to the influence of 
many perturbanti. Encyc. Brit., III. 764. 
perturbate (per'ter-bat or per-ter'bat), a. [= 
Sp. Pg. perturbado = It. perturbato, < ii.pertur- 
battts, pp. of perturbare, perturb: see perturb.] 
Perturbed. [Rare.] 
perturbate (per-ter'bat or per'ter-bat), v. t. 
[< L. pertnrbatus, pp. of perturbare : see per- 
turb."] To perturb. 
Corruption 
Hath then no force her blisse to perturbate. 
Dr. H. More, Psychathanasia, III. i. 14. 
perturbation (per-ter-ba'shon). . [< F. per- 
turbation = Sp. perturbation = Pg.perturbagSo 
= It. perturbazione, < L. perturbatio(n-), con- 
fusion, < perturbare, pp. perturbatus, confuse, 
perturb: see perturb.] ' 1. The act of perturb- 
ing, or the state of being perturbed; disturb- 
ance; disorder; especially, disquiet of mind; 
restlessness or want of tranquillity of mind ; 
commotion of the passions. 
For it [the earth] is a place of perturbation, 
Of anguish, sorrowe, and vexation. 
Times' Whittle (E. E. T. 8.), p. 143. 
Love was not in their looks, either to God 
Or to each other ; but apparent guilt* 
And shame, and perturbation, and despair. 
Milton, P. L., x. 113. 
2. Variation ; especially, irregular or violent 
variation. 
In all things which admit of indefinite multiplication, 
demand and supply only determine the perturbations of 
value, during a period which cannot exceed the length of 
time necessary for altering the supply. 
J. S. Mill, Pol. Econ., III. ill. | 2. 
3. A cause of disquiet. 
Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow? . . . 
O polish'd perturbation ! golden care 1 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 5. 23. 
4. In astron., a deviation of the motion of a 
planet or comet from a fixed orbit or from its 
regular velocity in that orbit. Perturbations are 
caused by the gravitating action of bodies other than the 
primary or central body. They are commonly and con- 
veniently conceived, not as drawing the planets out of 
their orbits, but as consisting in gradual changes of the 
elements of the orbits themselves. All perturbations 
due to gravitation are, strictly speaking, periodical. But 
4420 
some of them, which depend upon the relative situation 
of the orbits of different planets, go through their changes 
in such vast intervals of time that they are more conve- 
niently regarded as progressive and not periodic, and are 
termed gecular perturbations ; while others, depending for 
the most part upon the relative situations of the planets 
in their orbits, go through their changes in comparatively 
short intervals of time, and can only be represented as 
periodic, and these are technically called the periodic in- 
pgvalitien. = Syn. 1. Agitation, trepidation, uneasiness, 
worry, discomposure. 
perturbational (per-ter-ba'shon-al), a. [< per- 
turbation + -a?.] Of or pertaining to pertur- 
bation or disturbance : as, the perturbational 
theory. Herschel. 
pertufbative (per'ter-ba-tiv), a. [< perturbate 
+ -ive.} Causing or tending to cause pertur- 
bation; disturbing Perturbative function, the 
function which expresses the potential of the attractions 
of a planetary body by all the other bodies of the solar 
system. 
perturbator (per'ter-ba-tor), . [= F. pertur- 
bateur = Sp. Pg. perturbador = It. perturbatore, 
< LL. perturbator, < L. perturbare, pp. perturba- 
tus, perturb : see perturb."] One who perturbs ; 
a disturber. 
The perturbators of the peace of Italy. 
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Hist. Hen. VIII., p. 196. 
perturbatory (per-ter'ba-to-ri), 11. [< pertur- 
bate + -on/.] A name once used by real and 
pretended believers in the divining-rod to in- 
dicate a hypothetical power assumed to reside 
in certain individuals whereby they can exert 
a perturbing influence upon the motion of a 
swinging pendulum, etc. Its characteristics were 
an expansive quality, residing most abundantly in the 
thumb and forefinger, whereby the center of gravity of a 
pendulum held by these digits would be caused to describe 
a circle, and a compressive quality, belonging to the mid- 
dle finger, which resists such motion. A man with a high 
compressive or " active ' perturbatory, touching with his 
middle finger the hand of another with the expansive per- 
turbatory well developed in thumb and forefinger, might 
neutralize the perturbatory in the latter, which is of the 
"passive " variety. A person equally endowed with these 
perturbatories would be negative, and so forth. 
The passive perturbatory is a high degree of expansive, 
and the active perturbatory in like manner a powerful 
compresaive. Jour. Franlclin Inet., CXIX 112. 
perturbatrix (per'ter-ba-triks), n. [= F. It. 
perturbatriee, \ L. perturbatrix, fern, of (LL.) 
perturbator: see perturbator.'} A female per- 
turber; a woman who perturbs or disturbs. 
perturbedly (per-ter'bed-li), adv. In an agi- 
tated or perturbed manner ; restlessly. 
perturber (per-ter'ber), n. One who perturbs ; 
a perturbator ; a disturber. 
perturbing (per-ter'bing), n. [< ME. perturb- 
yiige; verbal n. of perturb, v.] Disturbance; 
agitation. 
Withouten wynd or perturbynge of air. 
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 554. 
Pertusaria (per-tu-sa'ri-a), n. [NL. (A. P. de 
Candolle), < L. pertustis, pp. of pertundere, per- 
forate : see pertuse.'} A genus of gymnocar- 
pous lichens, typical of the subfamily Pertusa- 
riei, having a uniform crustaceous thallus and 
globular difform apothecia. 
Pertusariei (per*tu-sa-ri'e-I), n. pi. [NL., < 
Pertusaria + -ei.~] A subfamily of gymnocar- 
pous lichens, named from the genus Pertusaria. 
pertusate (per-tu'sat), a. [< L. pertmm, pp. 
of pertundere, bore through: see pertuse.} In 
hot., pierced at the apex. 
pertuse (per-tus'), a. [= F. pertus, < L. per- 
tusus, pp. of pertundere, bore through, perfo- 
rate, <.per, through, + tundere, strike. Cf. par- 
tisan^.} 1. Punched; pierced with holes. 2. 
In bot., having holes or slits, as a leaf. 
pertused (per-tusf), a. [< pertuse + -ed"*."] 
Same as pertuse. 
pertusion (per-tu'zhon), n. [= It. pertugio, < 
LL. pertusio(n-), a perforation, < L. pertnndere, 
pp. pertusus, perforate : see pertuse.'} 1. The 
act of punching, piercing, or thrusting through 
with a pointed instrument. 
The manner of opening a vein in Hippocrates's time was 
a stabbing or pertusion. Arbuthnot. 
2. A hole or perforation made by punching. 
The like [large fruit) (they say) will be effected by an 
empty pot without earth in it, ... and the better if 
some few pertugions be made in the pot. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist., % 470. 
pertussal (per-tus'al), a. [< pertussis + -al.} 
Pertaining to or of the nature of pertussis or 
whooping-cough. 
pertussis (per-tus'is), n. [NL., < li.per- inten- 
sive + tussis, a cough.] Whooping-cough. 
Peruant (pe-ro'au), a. Same as Peruvian, S. 
Clarke, Geog. D'escrip. (1671), p. 260. 
peruenket, An obsolete form of periwinkle*. 
perusal 
Perugian (pe-ro'ji-an), (i. and H. [< Fcnujiu 
(sceuef, ) + -.] 1. a. Of or pertaining to the 
city of Perugia, in central Italy, or its inhabi- 
tants ; specifically, pertaining to the Umbrian 
school of early Renaissance painting, which 
had its center in Perugia, and of which Pietro 
Vannucci, called Perugino, the chief master of 
Raphael, was the central figure: as, Perugian 
art; the Perugian school. 
A sketch-book filled by Raphael during his Perugian 
apprenticeship. Encyc. Brit., X.X. 274. 
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Perugia. 
peruke (pe-r8k' or per'ok), n. [Formerly also 
peruque, peruique; in earlier use accom. per- 
wick, pirwike, etc., whence perwig, periwig, etc., 
whence by abbr.!C(V/(seej)ccHp((/ and icjj/); =MD. 
perruycke, perhuycke, D. permjk, now peruik, 
pruik = G. perriicke, periicke, perriick = S w. pc- 
ruk = T)ari.pari/k, a periwig, peruke ; < OF. (and 
F.)perruque, also perrucque, < Olt. perncca, It. 
pei'rucca, parruca = Sardinian pilucca = Sp.j*e- 
luca = Pg. pcruca, a tuft of hair, a wig ; from the 
verb shown in Olt. peluccare, pilnccare. pill tic- 
care, pick or pull out (hairs or feathers) one by 
one, It. peluccare, pick off (grapes) one by one ; 
prob. < LL. *piKcare,piliicare, freq., withforma- 
tive-icare,<L.^7s,ahair: seepile* a.ndpluek 1 .'] 
An artificial tuft of hair, made to imitate the 
natural hair, but usually having larger and am- 
pler masses, worn on the head to conceal bald- 
Perukes. {Facsimile of a cut in the " New York Weekly Gazette 
and 1'ost-boy," 1771.) 
ness, by actors in their make-up, and at one 
time by people generally in conformity to a 
fashion ; a wig. About the middle of the sixteenth 
century wearing the peruke became a fashion. Immense 
perukes with curls falling upon the shoulders were worn 
from about 1660 to 1725, and were then succeeded by 
smaller and more convenient forms, which had also ex- 
isted contemporaneously with the former. As late as 1825 
some old-fashioned people still wore perukes, and a remi- 
niscence of them remains in Great Britain in the wigs of 
the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons, Judges, barristers, etc. 
She has a peruke that 's like a pound of hemp, made up 
in shoe-threads. B. Jonson, Epiccone, iv. 1. 
You us'd to have the Bean-mond throng after you ; and 
a Flock of gay fine Perukes hovering round you. 
Conyreve, Way of the World, ii. 4. 
Comes La Belle Pierce to see my wife, and to bring her 
a pair of perug/ues of hair, as the fashion now is for ladies 
to wear ; whicn are pretty, and are of my wife's own hair, 
or else I should not eiidure them. 
Pepys, Diary, March 24, 1662. 
Campaign peruke. See wig. 
peruke (pe-rok'), v. i.; pret. and pp. peruked, 
ppr. peruking. [< peruke, n. Cf. periwig, ?>.] 
To wear a peruke ; dress with a peruke. [Rare.] 
perula (per'ij-lii), .; pl.perula? (-le). [NL.: see 
perule.} Same as perule. 
perulate (per'ij-lat), o. [<. perule + -ate 1 .} In 
bot., furnished with perules or scales. 
perule (per'ol), n. [= F. perule, < NL. perula, 
a scale, < L. perula, dim. of pera, < Gr. nr/pa, a 
purse, wallet: see Peru.} In bot., a scale, as 
those of leaf-buds. 
peruquerian (per-o-ke'ri-an), a. [< F. perru- 
quier, a barber, < pcrruque, a peruke : see pe- 
ruke.} Of or pertaining to the making of wigs, 
or a wigmaker. [Humorous.] 
Those chef-d'ceuvres of peruquerian art surmounting the 
waxen images in Bartellot's window. 
Dickene, Sketches, The Boarding-House. 
perusal (pe-rp'zal), . [< peruse + -al.} 1. 
Careful examination or survey ; scrutiny. 
Bring candid eyes unto the perusal of men's works. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ Mor., ii. 2. 
The jury, after a short perusal of the staff, declared their 
opinion by the mouth of their foreman, that the substance 
of the staff was British oak. 
Addison and Steele, Tatler, No. 265. 
He asked for a cup of water, gave her a close perusal with 
his eye, inquired the road to Parson Welles's, mounted his 
horse, and disappeared. 5. Judd, Margaret, ii. 6. 
2. The act of perusing or reading through; 
reading. 
He that has the perusal of any of your discourses can- 
not but emerge with the greatest advantages. 
Eeelyn, To Mr. E. Thurland. 
