ble 
petti-fog 
petti-fogt (pet 'i -fog), n. A confusing fog or 
mist: iu allusion to pettifog, v. [A pun.] 
Thus much for this cloud I cannot say rather then 
petty-fog of witnesses, with which Episcopal! men would 
cast a mist before us. Milton, Prelatical Episcopacy. 
pettifogger (pet'i-fog-er), ii. [Formerly also 
pettyfogger, petiefogyer, etc., prop, two words, 
petty fogger, pettie foggcr, etc.; < petty + fog- 
geri.} 1. An inferior attorney or lawyer who 
is employed in small or mean business. 
Pas. You'll know me again, Malevole. 
Mai. O ay, by that velvet. 
Pas. Ay, as a petty-foyyer by his buckram bag. 
Marston, Malcontent, i. 6. 
L pettie fogger, a silly aduocate or lawyer, rather a trou- 
Toune, hauing neither law nor conscience. Minsheu. 
The Widow Blackacre, is it not? That litigious She Pet- 
tn-Foatier, who is at Law and Difference with all the World. 
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, i. 1. 
2. The roekling. [Prov. Eng.] 
pettifoggery (pet'i-fog-er-i), . [< pettifogger 
+ -y'* (see -ery).} The practice of a pettifogger ; 
conduct becoming to a pettifogger; tricks; 
quibbles. 
The last and lowest sort of thir Arguments, that Men 
purchas'd not thir Tithe with thir Land, and such like Pet- 
tifoaqeni, I omit, as refuted sufficiently by others. 
Milton, Touching Hirelings. 
pettifogging (pet'i-fog-ing), a. Practising pet- 
tifoggery; characteristic of or becoming to a 
pettifogger; petty; mean; paltry. 
"The character of this last man," said Dr. Slop, inter- 
rupting Trim, "is more detestable than all the rest, and 
seems to have been taken from some pettifogging lawyer 
amongst you." Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 17. 
As though the voice of a pettifogging critic could drown 
the paean of praise that rises to Napoleon from twenty 
glorious battlefields ! J. Hartley, Essays, p. 357. 
pettifogulize (pet-i-fog'u-liz), v. i.; pret. and 
pp. pettifogulized, ppr. peitifogulizing. [< petti- 
fog + -ule (dim. suffix) + 4ze.~\ To act as a 
pettifogger; use petty and contemptible means. 
[Rare.] 
Topetttfoffulize that is, to find evasions for any purpose 
in a trickster's minute tortuosities of construction. 
De Quincey. 
pettigret, An obsolete form of. pedigree. 
pettily (pet'i-li), adv. In a petty manner, 
pettiness (pet'i-nes), n. The character of be- 
ing petty; smallness; littleness; triviality. 
Which in weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow 
under. Sliak., Hen. V., iii. 6. 137. 
=Syn. Smattness, etc. (see littleness), frivolousness, trivi- 
ality, insignificance. 
pettish (pet'ish), a. [< pefl + -isl^. Cf.petf.} 
Proceeding from or pertaining to a pet or pee- 
vish humor; fretful; peevish; subject to freaks 
of ill temper. 
They are in a very angry pettish mood at present, and not 
likely to be better. Pepys, Diary, I. 405. 
=Svn. Peevish, Fretful, etc. See petulant. 
pettishly (pet'ish-li), adv. In a pettish man- 
ner ; with a freak of ill temper. 
pettishness (pet'ish-ues), n. The state or 
character of being pettish ; fretf ulness ; petu- 
lance ; peevishness. 
pettitoes (pet'i-toz), . pi. [< petty + toes.'] 
The toes or feet of a pig: sometimes jocularly 
used for the human feet. 
He 's a Turk that does not honour thee from the hair of 
thy head to thy pettitoes. Shirley, Maid's P^evenge, iv. 1. 
But, alas ! the degeneracy of our present age is such 
that I believe few besides the annotate! 1 know the excel- 
lency of a virgin sow, especially of the black kind brought 
from China ; and how to make the most of her liver, lights, 
brains, and pettitoes. W. King, Art of Cookery, Letter ix. 
pettle 1 (pet'l), n. A dialectal (Scotch) form of 
paddle^, paddle^. 
pettle 2 (pet'l), v. t.; pret. and pp. nettled, ppr. 
pettifog. [Appar. a use of pettle^, aecom. to 
.pet 1 .] To indulge ; coddle ; pet. 
And harle us ... and pettle us up wi' bread and water. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviii. 
pettleS (pet'l), n. [Avar, of pattle^.} A tool 
used in various arts for burnishing, its rubbing 
end Is usually of hardened steel or agate fitted to a suit- 
able handle. 
petto (pet'to), n. [It. (= Sp.pecho = Pg.peito). 
< Ij.pectus, breast: see pectoral.'} The breast. 
In petto, in one's own breast or private thought ; iu 
secrecy. 
pettrelt, . Same as poitrel. 
petty (pet'i), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also 
pettie, pety,petie, also petit; < ME.pety (in pety 
cote, also in comp. petycote,petticote, etc. : see 
rtticoat), earlier petit, < OF. petit, pete t, peti, 
petit (Walloon piti) = Pr. Cat. petit = Olt. 
4430 
ial; inconsiderable or insignificant; of little ac- 
count: as, petty payments; a petty quarrel. 
How I contemn thee and thy petty malice ! 
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, iii. 2. 
These arts, being here placed with the principal and 
supreme sciences, seem petty things. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 238. 
2. Of minor importance or gravity; not heinous 
or serious: as, petty trespass ; a petty crime. 
3. Inferior as regards rank, power, capacity, 
possessions, etc. ; not of great importance, 
standing, or rank: as, a petty prince; a petty 
proprietor. 
His extraction was humble. His father had been a 
petty officer of revenue ; his grandfather a wandering der- 
vise. ilacaiday. Warren Hastings. 
Petty average, in com. and nav. See average^, 1 (c). 
Petty bag, formerly, an office in connection with the Rolls 
Court In the English Chancery, the clerk of which had the 
drawing up of parliamentary writs, writs of scire facias, 
conges d'elire for bishops, etc. See clerk of the petty bag, 
under clerk. Petty cash, small sums of money received 
or paid. Petty cash-book. See cash-book. Petty con- 
stable. See constable, 2. Petty juror, jury, larceny, 
madder, mullen, etc. See the nouns Petty officer, 
an officer in the navy whose rank corresponds with that 
of a non-commissioned officer in the army. Petty officers 
are appointed and may be degraded by the captain of the 
vessel. Abbreviated P. 0. Petty session, treason, etc. 
See the nouns. =Syn. 1 and 2. Diminutive, insignificant, 
slight, trivial, unimportant, frivolous. See littleness. 
Il.t n. A junior scholar in a grammar-school; 
a little child attending school. 
In 1635 the quarterage [of Cartmel grammar-school) 
was 6d. for grammarians, and 4<Z. for petties. 
Barnes, Hist. Lancashire, IL 682. 
pettychapst, n. See pettichaps. 
pettyfoggert, '* An obsolete form of pettifog- 
ger. 
petty-morrel (pet'i-mor"el), n. The American 
spikenard, Aralia racemosa. 
petty-rice (pet'i-ris), . See quinoa. 
petty-whin, n. See whin. 
petulance (pet'u-lans), n. [< F. petulance, OF. 
petulance = S~p. Pg. petulancia = It. petulanza, 
petulanziti,<.ii.petulantia, sauciness, petulance, 
< petulan(t-)s, petulant: see petulant.'] If. 
Sauciuess; wantonness; rudeness. 
This man, being a wit, a poet, and a minstrel, composed 
many indecent songs against me, and sung them openly, 
to the great entertainment of mine enemies ; and, since it 
has pleased God to deliver him into my hands, I [Henry I.] 
will punish him, to deter others from the like petulance. 
Ord. Vitalis, Hist. Eccles. (trans.), p. 8S1. 
2. The character of being petulant ; a petulant 
character or disposition ; peevish impatience or 
caprice; pettishness. 
The misery of man appears like childish petulance. 
Emerson, Nature. 
= Syn. 2. See captious and petulant. 
petulancy (pet'u-lan-si), u. [As petulance (see 
-a/).] Same as .petulance. 
petulant (pet'u-lant), a. [= F. petulant = Sp. 
Pg. It.petulante, < L. petulan( t-)s, forward, pert, 
saucy, wanton, prop. ppr. of *petulare, dim. 
f req.' form of petere, attack, fall upon : see pe- 
tition.} Manifesting peevish impatience, irri- 
tation, or caprice; peevishly pert or saucy; 
peevish ; capricious : said of persons or things : 
as, a petulant youth; a petulant answer. 
Oh ! you that are 
My mother's wooers ! much too high ye beare 
Your petulant spirits. Chapman, Odyssey, i. 
The awful and vindictive Bolingbroke, and the malig- 
nant and petulant Mallet, did not long brood over their 
anger. /. If Israeli, Calamities of Authors, II. 135. 
=Syn. Petulant, Peevish, Fretful, Pettish, Cross, irritable, 
irascible, ill-humored, snappish, crusty, choleric. The 
first five words apply to an ill-governed temper or its 
manifestation. Petulant expresses a quick impatience, 
often of a temporary or capricious sort, with bursts of 
feeling. Peevish expresses that which is more perma- 
nent in character, more frequent in manifestation, more 
sour, and more an evidence of weakness. Fretful ap- 
plies to one who is soon vexed, of a discontented dispo- 
sition, or ready to complain, as a sick child. Pettish im- 
plies that the impatience, vexation, or testiness is over 
matters so small that the mood is peculiarly undignified 
or unworthy. Cross applies especially to the temper, but 
often to permanent character: as, a cross dog; it often in- 
cludes anger or sulkiness. Crossness as a mood may be 
more quiet than the others. See captious. 
petulantly (pet'u-lant-li), adv. In a petulant 
manner ; with petulance ; with peevish or im- 
patient abruptness or rudeness ; with ill-bred 
pertness. 
petulcityt (pe-tul'si-ti), n. [< petulcous + -ity.} 
The state or property of being petulcous ; im- 
pudence. Bp. Morton, in Bp. Hall's Works, 
VIII. 739. 
petulcoust (pe-tul'kus), a. [< L. petulcus, but- 
ting, apt to butt, < petere, attack, fall upon : see 
petulant, petition.'] Disposed to butt ; fractious. 
The Pape first whistles him and his petulcous rams into 
order by charitable admonition, which still increases louder 
by degrees. J. V. Cane, Fiat Lux (1665), p. 161. 
Peutingerian 
petunt, n. [= F. petun, ulsopetum (Cotgrave), 
< Amer. Ind. petun or petum.} Tobacco : an In- 
dian name said to be still in use in some parts 
of Canada. Amer. Jom: Pliilol., VIII. 149. 
Whereas wee have beene credibly informed . . . that 
the hearb (alias weed) ycleped tobacco, (alias) trinidado, 
alias petun, alias necocianum, a long time hath been in 
continual! use and motion. 
John Taylor, Works (16MO). (Nares.) 
But the Indians called it (tobacco) Petun oipetum, which 
indeed is also the fittest name that both we and other Na- 
tions may call it by, deriving it of Peto, for it is far fetched 
and much desired. 
Tobie Venner, A Brief and Acurate Treatise, etc. (London, 
[1660), p. 385. 
Petunia (pe-tu'ni-a), w. [NL. (Jussieu, 1803) 
(P. Petunia), < Amer. Ind. petun, tobacco: see 
petun.} 1. A genus of ornamental plants of 
the gamopetalous order Solanacex and the tribe 
Salpiglossidfe, distinguished by the five perfect 
stamens, funnelform corolla, and entire cap- 
sule-valves. There are from 12 to 15 species, found in 
southern Brazil and the Argentine Republic, and one 
throughout South America and Mexico. They are clam- 
my-hairy and branching herbs, with small undivided 
leaves, and showy violet or white flowers, varying to pur- 
ple and reddish under cultivation, in a few species very 
small and inconspicuous. P. nyctaginiflora, the common 
white petunia, and P. violacea, with purple or lilac flowers, 
are the originals of the numerous garden varieties. 
2. [I. c.] A plant of this genus. 
petuntze, pehtuntse (pe-tun'tse), n. [Chin., < 
pelt, white, + tun.} A kind of silicious porce- 
lain-clay prepared by the Chinese from par- 
tially decomposed granite. It is used by them 
as a medicine. 
Petworth marble. See marble. 
petzite (pet'sit), n. [So called after a chemist, 
Petz, who analyzed it.] A variety of hessite, 
or silver telluride, containing about 20 per cent. 
of gold. 
Peucsea (pu-se'a), n. [NL. (Audubon, 1839), 
< Gr. fftujoj, pine.] An American genus of 
Fringillidse ; the pine-finches. Several species In- 
habit the southern and western parts of the United States 
and Mexico, such as P. bachmani, P. cassini, P. carpalis, 
and P. ruficeps. These sparrows may be recognized by 
the peculiar shades of bay and gray on the upper parts, 
the yellow at the bend of the wings, and the unstreaked 
under parts. They are fine songsters, and lay white eggs. 
Peucedaneae (pu-se-da'ne-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. 
P. de Candolle, 1830), < Peucedanum + -ex.} A 
tribe of polypetalous plants of the order Umbel- 
liferx, distinguished by the fruit being strongly 
compressed on the back, with lateral ridges di- 
lated into a wing-like or swollen margin. It 
includes 13 genera, the chief of which are Fe- 
rula, Heracleum, Opopanax, and Peucedanum 
(the type). 
peucedanin (pu-sed'a-nin), n. [< Peucedanum 
+ -in 2 .} A lion-azotized neutral vegetable 
principle, 
S, discovered in the root of 
prncpe, ^I^S, scovere n e ro o 
Peucedanum officinale, or sea-sulphurwort. It 
forms delicate white prisms, which are fusible, 
and soluble in alcohol and ether. 
Peucedanum (pu-sed'a-uum), . [NL. (Tourne- 
fort, 1700), < L. peiicedanum, peucedanos, < Gr. 
icEVKeiavav, TTEMrtfoavof, hog-fennel (or a related 
umbellifer), prob. < Gr. KCVIOI, fir.] A large 
genus of umbelliferous plants, type of the 
tribe Peucedanese, characterized by its uniform 
petals, fruit with a thin acute or wing-like 
margin, and conspicuous oil-tubes solitary in 
their channels. There are about 120 species, natives 
of the northern hemisphere, of the tropical Andes, and 
of the whole of Africa. They are smooth perennial herbs, 
a few becoming shrubs or even trees. They bear decom- 
pound leaves, and compound many -rayed umbels of white, 
yellow, or rose-colored flowers. A few are cultivated for 
the flowers, under the old name Palimbia ; some are edi- 
ble, especially P. satimm, the parsnip ; others are well- 
known European species, for which see dttfi, brimstone- 
wort, sulphuruxnrt, hog- or sow-fennel (under fennel), milk- 
parsley, marsh-parsley, masterwort, mountain-parsley, pel- 
titory-of -Spain; and for an American edible species, see 
cowishz. 
peulvan, peulven (pul'van, -ven), n. A small 
menhir: a name often given to menhirs less 
than 9 feet iu height. 
An "inclined dolmen," and four peulvens, or small up- 
right stones, 1.45 in. to s in. high. 
Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XIX. 78. 
Peumus (pu'mus), n. [NL. (Persoou, 1807); 
from a native name in Chili.] A genus of apet- 
alous plants of the order Monimiaceee and the 
tribe Monimieee, having its drupes on an en- 
larged disk-like receptacle, and dioecious flow- 
ers with parallel and distinct anther-cells, and 
numerous gland-bearing filaments. The only spe- 
cies is a small tree from Chili, also known as Ruizia and 
as Bddea. It is a fragrant evergreen, bearing rough op- 
posite rigid leaves, and white flowers in terminal cymes. 
See boldo and boldme. 
Peutingerian (pu-tin-je'ri-an), a. [< Pevtinger 
(see def.) + -ian.} Pertaining to Konrad Peu- 
