Pimpla 
1. A genus of pupivorous hymenopterous in- 
sects of the family lehneumonidx, typical of u 
subfamily I'implitiif. P. annulipa preys on the cod- 
Una-moth (Carvocapmpomanella), the cotton-worm (Aletia 
njliiui\ and other destructive insects. P. mani/estalar is 
a large Kuropcan species parasitic on certain bees. 
2. [/. c.] A member of this genus. 
pimple (pim'pl), n. [Early mod. E. also pim- 
/ /. pumple; < ME. 'pimpel (f) (not found), per- 
haps a nasalized form of AS. "pipel, a pimple, 
blister, found only in the rare verb piplian, 
/>///"'<>;, blister, grow pimply, used only in 
ppr. pipligende, pypelgende, pimply, appar. < 
I,, /in /nilii, a blister, pimple: see papula. For 
tin' form, cf. MD.pimpel, pepel, a butterfly. < L. 
/m/iilio, a butterfly. The alleged AS. 'pmpel, 
a pimple (Lye), is an error for winpel, a wim- 
ple. The W. pwmp, a knob, bump (see bump?), 
and F. pompette, a pimple, are not connected.] 
1. A small inflammatory dermal tumor or 
swelling; a papule or pustule, such as are seen 
in acne. 2. A little elevation or protuber- 
ance, of any kind, resembling a pimple. 
So do not pluck that flower, lady, 
That has these pimple* gray. 
Tom Linn (Child's Ballads, I. 268). 
On poor pasture land, which has never been rolled, and 
has not been much trampled on by animals, tho whole 
surface is sometimes dotted with little pimples, through 
and on which grass grows ; and these mmptet consist of 
old worm-castings. Darwin, Vegetable Mould, p. 286. 
St. A jolly boon companion. 
The Sun 's a good Pimple, an honest Soaker, he has a 
Cellar at your Antipodes. 
Congreve, Way of the World, Iv. 10. 
Pimple in a bent t . something very small. 
I could lay down heere sundrye examples, were yt not 
I should bee thoght ouer curious by prying owt u pimple 
in a bent. Stanihurst, knri',1, Ded. (Davies.) 
pimple (pim'pl), r. /. ; pret. and pp. pimpled, 
ppr. pinipling. [< pimple, .] To cover with 
pimples; cause to abound with pimples; spot 
or blotch as with pimples. 
Yet you will pimple your souls with oaths, till you make 
them as well-favoured as your faces. 
Middleton, Black Book. 
pimple-metal (pim'pl-met'al), n. See metal. 
pimple-mite (pim'pl-mit), n. A parasitic mite 
or acarine, Demodex follieulorum, occurring in 
the sebaceous follicles of the face. 
pimp-like (pimp'lik), a. Like a pimp ; vile ; in- 
famous; mean. 
pimply (pim'pli), o. [< pimple + -yi.] Covered 
with pimples; spotted. 
pimpsnip(pimp'ship),. [<;mnp-r--,v7iy>.] Tho 
office, occupation, or person of a pimp. Imp. 
Diet. 
pimp-whiskint (pimp'hwis'kin), n. A person 
of low habits or character, ford, Fancies, i. 3. 
[Contemptuous.] 
pin 1 (pin), n. [< ME. pinne, pynne, a pin, peg, 
bolt, bar, peak, < AS. pinn, a pin or peg (occurs 
once, in hiepsan pinn, the pin or bolt of a hasp), 
= MD. pinne, D. pin, a pin, peg, = MLG. pinne, 
LG. pinne, pin, > G. pinn, m., pittite, t., a pin, 
peg, = Icel. pinni = Sw. pinne, a peg, = Dan. 
pind, a pin, pointed stick, = Ir. Gael, pinne, a 
pin, peg, spigot, = W. pin, a pin, style, pen, < 
ML. pinna, a pin, nail, peak, pinnacle, probe, 
appar. later uses of L. pinna, penna, feather, 
wing, flu, pen: see pen 2 . The transition from 
'feather' to 'pin' (a slender or pointed instru- 
ment) appears to have been through 'pen,' a 
quill, to 'nen,' a style or stylus, hence any slen- 
der or pointed instrument: see pen 2 .] 1. A 
wooden or metal peg or bolt used to fasten or 
hold a thing in place, fasten things together, 
or as a point of attachment or support, (a) The 
bolt of a door. 
Then take the sword from my scabbard, 
And slowly lift the pin; 
And you may swear, and safe your aith, 
Ye never let rlerk Maunders in. 
Clerk Sounders (Child's Ballads, II. 46). 
(b) A peg or bolt serving to keep a wheel on its axle ; a 
llnch pin. (c) A peg on the side of a boat, serving to keep 
the oar in place ; a thole. Also called tholepin, boat-pin. 
(d) A peg of a stringed musical instrument See peg, 1 (c). 
Yell take a lith o 1 my little finger bane, . . . 
And ye 11 make a pin to your fiddle then. 
The Bunny Bow o' London (Child's Ballads, II. 362). 
(e) A peg used to stop a hole. 
Yf thou will haue frute of diners colours, thou shalt 
make an hole in a tree ny the roete euyn to the pithe of 
the tree, and anon doo in y hole good aaure of Almayne so 
that it be ny full, and stoppe the hole wel and luste W a 
short plum,'. Arnold's Chron. (1502), ed. 1811, p. 170. 
CO In ttifrch., a short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a 
part of which serves as a journal. (0) The axis of a sheave. 
(A) In joinery, the projecting part of a dovetail, which tits 
Into the socket or mvivhn: purt. (0 That part of the stem 
Of a key which enters the lock. 
4493 
2. A peg, nail, or stud serving to mark a posi- 
tion, step, or degree; hence, a notch; a step; 
a degree. 
He will 
Imagine only that he shall lie cheated, 
And he Is cheated ; all still comes to passe 
He 's but one pin above a natural. 
If. Cartmright, The Ordinary, II. S. 
Specifically (at) One of a row of pegs let Into a drink- 
ing-veasel to regulate the quantity which each person was 
to drink; hence, a drinking-bout; joviality. See on a 
merry pin, below. 
Edgar, away with pin> I' th cup 
To spoil our drinking whole onea up, 
llolborn Drollery (1873X p. 76. (\arrt.) 
(b) A nail or stud (also called a pita) marking the center 
of a target ; hence, the center ; a central part. 
The very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's 
butt-shaft. Shot., U. and J., IL 4. IS. 
The pin he shoots at, 
That was the man dellver'd you. 
Fletcher, Island Princess, IT. 1. 
Ill cleave the black pin In the midst o' the white. 
Middleton No Wit like a Woman's, IL 1. 
3. One of a number of pieces of wood, of more 
or less cylindrical form, which are placed up- 
right at one end of a bowling-alley, to be bowled 
down by the player; a skittle; hence, in the 
plural form, a game played with such pins. 
Compare ninepins, tenpins. 4. A cylindrical 
roller made of wood: a rolling-pin. 6. A leg: 
as, to knock one off his pins. [Slang.] 
Mistake you ! no, no, your legs would discover you 
among a thousand ; I never saw a fellow better set upon 
his pint. Burgoyne, Lord of the Manor, 111. 8. 
6f. A peak; pinnacle. 
Up to this pynnacle now go we ; 
I xal the sett on the hyghest pynne. 
Coventry Mytteriei. 
7. A small piece of wire, generally brass and 
tinned, pointed at one end and with a rounded 
head at the other, used for fastening together 
pieces of cloth, paper, etc., and for other pur- 
poses. 
Yet liberal I wan, and gave her piiu, 
And money for her father's officers. 
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, v. 3. 
Hence 8. A thingof very small value; atrifle; 
a very small amount. 
But when he la to highest power, 
Yet he is not worth a pin. 
Babeet Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 93. 
I do not set my life at a pin'* fee. 
Shot., Hamlet, i. 4. 65. 
As tho' he cared not a pin 
For him and his company. 
Sir Andrew Barton (Child's Ballads, VII. 206). 
9. A straight, slender, and pointed bar with an 
ornamental head or attachment, used by women 
to secure laces, shawls, etc., or the hair, and 
by men to secure the cravat or scarf, or for mere 
ornament. Compare hairpin, safety-pin, scarf- 
pin, xliairl-i>in. 10f. A knot in timber. 
The pinne or hard come of a knot In timber, which hurt- 
eth sawes. fiomendator. (Hares.) 
11. A noxious humor in a hawk's foot. Imp. 
Diet. Draw-bore pin. See draw-lore. Dutch ping, 
a game or pastime resembling skittles. Strutt. Main 
pin, in a vehicle, a king-holt or holster-pin. On <>r upon 
a merry pint, in merry pin, in a merry humor or mood; 
disposed to be jolly. See def. 2 (a\ Compare to put in the 
pin, below. 
Their hartes . . . were set on so merit a pynne, for the 
victory of Montargea. Uall, Uen. VI., an. 6. 
Close discourses of the honour of (*od and our duty to 
Him are irksome when men are upon a merry pin. 
Charnodr, Works, I. 198. 
Tom Calond'rer, right glad to And 
His friend in merry pin. 
Cmrper, John OOpln. 
On one's pins, alive and In good condition ; on one's legs. 
[Slang.] 
Glad to hear that he Is on Ait pint yet ; he might have 
pegged out In ten years, yon know. 
Harper's Mag. , LXXX 269. 
Pins and needles, the pricking, tingling sensation at- 
tending the recovery of feeling in a limb which has gone 
to sleep ; formication. Points and pins. See point 1. 
Steady pin, in /winding: (a) One of the pins in a flask 
which fit Into openings In the lugs of another flask, so that, 
after the pattern is drawn, the two parts can be replaced 
In their original position. (6) One of the dowels by which 
the patterns are neld together, when, for convenience in 
molding, they are made in two or more parts. To put in 
the pin, to stop ; give over ; especially, to stop or give 
over some bad habits or Indulgence, such as drunkenness : 
as, 111 put in the pin at the New Year. [Colloq. } 
pin 1 (pin), f. t. ; pret. and pp. pinned, ppr. pin- 
ning. [< ME. pitmen, pynni-n : < pin 1 . .] 1. 
To fasten or secure with a bolt or peg. 
Conscience held hym 
And made Pees portor to pynne the Kates. 
Pirrt Ptoaman (C\ xxlil. 298. 
I say nothing. 
But smile and pin the door. 
Middleton, Chaste Maid. I. -> 
pinafore 
2. To fasten with a pin or pins. 
Good Mlstrtsa Orgia. holde your hasty handes ! 
Became your maldes have not yind In your baod 
According to your mlnde, must the stick file 
About their shoulders straight'; 
Timet' WkulU (E. E. T. S.\ p. 108. 
Never more 
Will I despise jrour learning ; never more 
Pin cards and cony-UHs upon your cassock. 
AMU. and FI., Scornful Lady, IT. 1. 
I tied on my straw bonnet, iiinnrd my shawl, took the 
parcel and my slippers, which I would not put on yet, and 
stole from my room. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxvll. 
3. To transfix with or as with a pin; hence, 
to seize and hold fast in the same spot or posi- 
tion. 
Haven't I come Into court twenty afternoons for no 
other purpose than to see you pin the chancellor like a 
bull-dog? D&lrent, Bleak House, xxlv. 
4. Tonal); seize; steal. [Slang.] 5. To swage 
by striking with the peen of a hammer, as in 
splaying an edge of an iron hoop to give it a 
flare corresponding to that of the cask. E. H. 
Knight. 6. To clog the teeth of: as, to pin a 
file: said of particles which adhere so firmly to 
the teeth of a file that they have to be picked 
out with a piece of steel wire TO pin one's faith, 
etc., on or upon, to rely on ; have confidence in. 
The Latins take a great deal of pains to expose this 
Ceremony as a most shameful Imposture. . . . But the 
Greeks and Armenians pin their faith upon It. and make 
their Pilgrimages chiefly upon this motive. 
Maundrelt, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 97. 
To pin the basket'. See battet. 
pin- (pin), r. /. ; pret. and pp. pinned, ppr. pin- 
ning. [< ME. pmnen, pynnen, var. of penneii, 
E.pen*, with ref. to tiw', p.] 1. To inclose; 
confine; pen or pound. 
If all this be willingly granted by us which are accused 
to pin the word of God in so narrow room, let the cause 
of the accused be referred to the accuser's conscience. 
Hooter, Eccles. Polity. 
2. To aim at or strike with a stone. [Scotch.] 
And who taught me to pin a losen {window-panel, to 
head a bicker, and hold the bannets? Scott, Redgauntlet. 
pin :i t (pin), n. [< ME. 'pinne, *i>enne (T), < AS. 
piun, a spot on the eye, prob. = It. panno, a 
spot on the eye, < ML. pannus, a spot on the 
eye, a membrane, a particular use of L. pannus, 
a cloth: see pane 1 . For the vowel relation, 
AS. i from L. a, cf. pimple, prob. < L. papula.] 
A spot or web on the eye: usually in the 
phrase pin and (or) iceb. 
His eyes, good queene, be great, so are they clear and graye, 
He never yet had pinne ur \rebbe, his sight for to decay. 
Gatcuiijne, Princely PI. of Kenelw. (Xaret.) 
And nil eyes 
Blind with the pin and tn-6 lint theirs. 
Shak., W. T., I. 2. 291. 
pina ' (pe'nyft), n. [Sp. (Chilian), so called from 
its shape ; a particular use of pina, a pine-cone, 
pineapple, < L. pinea, a pine-cone, < pinus, pine : 
see pixel, j,ignon.] The spongy cone of silver 
left behind, in the treatment of silver amal- 
gam, after all the mercury has been driven off. 
pifia-, n. Same as piKa-cloth. 
Pinaceae (pi-na'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Lindley, 
1846), < L. /it a nt + -aeea.j The (\niifertf. 
pinaclet, " A Middle English form of pinnaele. 
pina-cloth (pe'uyji-kloth), . A thin and trans- 
lucent fabric made of the fiber of the long leaves 
of the pineapple-plant, Ananas xatira, and other 
species of the genus. It is highly esteemed by 
Orientals as a material for fine robes, scarfs, 
etc. Also pinetipple-floth, pine-eloth. 
pinacocytal (pin a-ko-si-tal), a. [< pinaeocyte 
+ -al.~\ Of or pertaining to pinacocvtes: as, a 
pinacocytal layer. Eneyc. Brit., XXll. 427. 
pinaeocyte (pin'a-ko-sit), n. [< Gr. irivaf (irivan-). 
a tablet, + xi-rof, a hollow (cell).] One of the 
simple |>:ivciiiriit-epithelial cells of which flit- 
ectiidiTiii of sponges usually consists. Similar or 
identical plnacocytes form the endodermal epithelium, 
except In the cases of the ascons and of the flagellated 
chambers of all sponges, which latter are lined with cho- 
anocytea. 
pinacoid (pin'a-koid), n. [< Gr. irnwf (mivx-), 
board, tablet (see pinax), + eiiof, form.] In 
crystal., a plane parallel to two of the crystal- 
lographic axes: as, the basal pinacoid, or base 
parallel to the lateral axes. ThemoeropinaonVf and 
oraehypinacoid are planes in the orthorhombic system par- 
allel to the vertical axis and the longer or shorter lateral 
axis respectively; similarly the vrttuipinacuid and dino- 
pinacoid. In the inotmclinic system, are parallel to the 
vertical axis and the nrthodiagonal or clinodiagonal axis 
respectively. 
pinacoidal (pin-a-koi'dal), a. [<pinaeoid + -at.] 
< x'tln- nature of or characteristic of a pinacoid: 
a*, /liniifiiiiliil cleavage. 
pinafore (pin'a-for), . f</(l. r.. + afi>re.] 
A sort of apron worn by children to protect the 
front part of their dress; a child's apron. 
