pontonier 
of pontoons; also, one who constructs pontoon- 
bridges. 
pontoon (pon-tCn'), . [Formerly ponton ; < 
F. ponton = Sp. ponton = Pg. potttao = It. pon- 
tonc, < LL. </( M-), a pontoon, L. ponto(n-), a 
kind of Gallic transport, a punt, \ pon(t-)s, a 
bridge: ('< //>, ////i. Cf./wii/l.] 1. Inmilit. 
engin., a flat -bottomed boat, or any light frame- 
work or floating structure, used in the construc- 
tion of a temporary bridge over a river. One 
form of pontoon 
iss hollow cylin- 
der of tin-plate, 
with hemi-i>lnT 
leal ends, divid- 
ed by several 
longitudinal and 
transverse par- 
Pontoons in place for Pontoon-bridge, 
rafters for supporting the roadway ; t, road- 
way complete. 
tltlons to act as 
braces and to 
prevent sinking 
if pierced by a 
shot or accidentally. Another Is in the form of a decked 
canoe, consisting of a timber frame covered with sheet- 
copper, and formed in two distinct parts, which are locked 
together for use and dislocated for transportation, and 
also divided Into air-tight chambers. 
2. ffaut., a lighter; a low flat vessel resem- 
bling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans, 
and other machinery, used in careening ships, 
chiefly in the Mediterranean. Admiral Smyth. 
3. In hydraul. engin.: (a) A water-tight struc- 
ture or frame placed beneath a submerged ves- 
sel and then filled with air to assist in refloating 
the vessel. (6) A water-tight structure which 
is sunk by filling with waterand raised by pump- 
ing it out, used to close a sluiceway or entrance 
to a dock. Also spelled ponton. 4. In anat., a 
loop or knuckle or the small intestine : so called 
from the way it appears to float in the abdomi- 
nal cavity. See the quotation under mesentery. 
5. In brewing, one of the cleansing-rounds 
or cleansing-squares used for clarifying ale. 
pontoon-bridge (pon-ton'brij), H. A platform 
or roadway supported upon pontoons. 
Pontoon-bridge at Coblenu on the Rhine. 
pontoon-train (pon-tn'tran), n. Milit., the 
carriages or wagons and materials carried with 
an army to construct bridges. 
pontophidian (pon-to-fid'i-au), w. [< Gr. TTOV- 
Tof, the sea, + tyidtav, dim" of fyif, a snake.] 
4618 
bridge used in sieges for surprising a fort or 
outwork that has but a narrow moat. It Is com- 
posed of two small bridges laid one above the other, and 
so contrived that, by the aid of cords and pulleys, the 
upper one may be pushed forward till it reaches the des- 
tinril ]iinl. 
ponty (pon'ti), . ; pi. ponties (-tiz). Same as 
ptmtO. 
ponty-sticker (pon'ti-stik'er), . In glass-mak- 
ing, a workman who affixes a quantity of blown 
glass to the ponty or pontil. 
pony (po'ni), n.; pi. ponies (-niz). [Formerly 
a\oponey, poieitey; prob. < OF. poulenet, a colt; 
cf. pouleuiet, poulinel, a colt, dim. of poulain, a 
colt: see puuen. The word is thus ult. con- 
nected with Gr. TroAof, a foal : see foal. The 
Gael, ponaidh, as well as Ir. poni, a pony, F. 
poney, a ponv, are from E.] 1. A very small 
horse; specifically, a horse less than 13 hands 
in height. The Shetland breed of ponies are stoutly 
built, active and hardy, with very full inane and tall, and 
of gentle, docile disposition. In western parts of the 
United States all the small hardy horses (mustangs or 
broncos) used by the Indians are called ponies. 
I have bought two more ponies, so we are strong in 
pigmy quadrupeds. 
Sydney Smith, To Mrs. Holland, June 3, 1835. 
A pony must be less than 52 Inches (IS hands) from the 
ground to the top of the withers. . . . Ponies, as a rule, 
will do far more work than a full-sized horse. 
JSncyc. Brit., XIL 191. 
2. The sum of 25. [English sporting slang.] 
He is equally well amused whether the play is high or 
low, but tne stake he prefers is fives and ponies. 
Grerille, Memoirs, Aug. 15, 1818. 
3. A translation of a Greek or Latin author 
used unfairly in the preparation of lessons; 
hence, any book so used: same as horse*, 9. 
[School and college slang.] 4. A very small 
drinking-glass. (a) Aglass holding about a mouthful 
of spirits, as brandy. (6) A glass holding about a gill of 
beer. 
5. The quantity (of liquor) contained in such 
a glass. 6. A small raft of logs. [Delaware.] 
7. In the West Indies, a small tree, Tecoma 
Serratifolia. [Pony Is used in composition to denote 
something small of its kind, as puny-ma; pony-engine, 
etc.] Jerusalem pony, an ass. |slang.]=8jm. 1. Pony, 
Colt, Filly. A pony is a small horse, especially of a small 
breed, as a Shetland pony ; a cult is a young horse, and 
distinctively a male ; a/fui/ is a young mare. 
pony (po'ni), v. t.; pret. and pp. ponied, ppr. 
ponying. [< pony, n.} To use a pony in trans- 
lating: as, to pony a piece of Latin. [School 
and college slang.] 
pony-engine (po'ui-en'jin), n. On a railroad, 
a small drill-engine, or a yard-engine used at 
stations for moving care and making up trains. 
pony-saw (po'ni-sa), . A small gang-saw used 
for sawing timber into boards. 
pony-truck (po'ni-truk), . Atwo-wheeledlead- 
ing truck used in some forms of locomotives. 
P. 0. 0. An abbreviation of post-office order, a 
money-order issued by the post-office. 
pooa, puya 2 (po'ii, po'yij), w. [E. Ind.] An 
urticaceous plant, Alaoutia (Bcelimeria) Puya, 
[NL, < Gr. 
jroiTof, the sea, + Triipof passage, pore: see 
7>ore2.] A genus of delphinoid odontocete ce- 
taceans. It contains a small estuarinc American dol- 
phln, P. blainvillei, about 5 feet long, with a developed 
dorsal fin, long slender jaws with from 200 to 240 teeth, 
about 40 vertebra, the sternum of two pieces, the ribs 10 
In number, of which 4 join the sternum, and the blow-hole 
transverse and crescentlc. This genus connects the I'la- 
tanutiiltr or fliirlatlle dolphins with the Delphinid* or 
true marine dolphins, porpoises, grampuses, etc. Also 
called Slfiunlelphis. Also Puntoporus. 
Pontoporiinae (pon-to-po-ri-i'ne), n. pi. [NL., 
< Poiitoporia + -iii.] A subfamily of Delphi- 
nidte, represented by the genus PontofHtrin. 
There Is an evident external ni'ck ; the frontal area is ex- 
panded and little depressed ; the postorbltal process of 
the frontal bone and the zypomatic process of the squa- 
moaal project outward ; and the maxillary Is crested, with 
a free margin over the orbital region. 
pont-volant (pont-vO-lant'), w. [< F. pont vo- 
lant: pout, liridirr (see pout); rolant, flying: 
see rolaiit.] Milit., a flying-bridge; a kind of 
Also pooah. 
pood (pod), 7i. [Formerly also pode (= F.^wude 
= G. pud) ; < Buss, jiuttu.'] A Russian weight, 
equal to 40 Russian pounds, or 36 pounds avoir- 
dupois. 
I haue bought ... for 77. rubles foure hundred podes 
of tried tallowe. Hakhtyt's Voyages, L 802. 
poodle (po'dl), n. [= Sw. Dan. pudel = D. poe- 
dcl(-hond), < LG. pudel, G. pudel, pudel-hund, 
a poodle, poodle-dog; prob. < lj&.pudeln,pvd- 
deln, waddle ; ct.Q.pudeln, splash. Cf. puddle^.] 
One of a breed of usually undersized fancy or 
toy dogs, with long curly hair. They are intelll 
gent and affectionate, and are much used as pets. There 
are many varieties, one of which Is the French barbet 
Poodles are said, perhaps without suffident reason, to be 
especially liable to rabies. 
Pofficetes (p6-e-se'tez), . [NL. (Baird, 1858, in 
the form Poocyten), < Gr. noa, grass, + o'usrrrfa, 
an inhabitant.] A genus of North American 
fringilline birds, having the inner secondaries 
lengthened, the tail long and emarginate, with 
white lateral feathers, the wing pointed, with 
bay on the bend, and the whole plumage streak- 
ed. The only species, P. gramiuewt, Is the well-known 
gmssfinch, bay-winged bunllng. or vesper-bird, one of the 
commonest sparrows of the United States, migratory, 
granivorous. a sweet songster, and nesting on the ground. 
See cut under grauflnch. 
pooh (p<> or pu). intrrj. [AlsojwA, and formerly 
l.i/l,, !, ,/!,. !,!(; cf. Icel. pu, pooh; cf. i>n : /l'i. 
I'll", phoo, phy, jbi, etc.] An exclamation of 
dislike, scorn, or contempt. 
Pough ! pr'ythee never trouble thy Head with such Fancies. 
Prior, The Thief and the Cordelier. 
pool 
pooh-pooh (p6'p6), interj. [Reduplication of 
/"//. | An exclamation indicating contempt, 
The pooh-pooh theory of language. Bee language*. 
pooh-pooh (po'po), r. /. [<?oo/(, pooh, a re- 
peated form otpooh, interj.'} To turn aside from 
with a "Pooh"; express dislike, scorn, or con- 
tempt for; sneer at. 
George pooh-poohed the wine and bullied the waiters 
royally. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvl. 
Surely if we could recall that early bitterness ... we 
should not pooh-pooh the griefs of our children. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, I. 7. 
pookoo (p8'k8), n. [African.] A kind of kob 
or water-antelope of Africa, Kobua vardoni. 
See /..,/.. 
pool 1 (pol), . [< ME. pool, pole, pol, < AS. 
pol = OFries. pol = D. poel = MLG. pol, 
LG. pol, i>oM, pul = MHG. phuol, pfuol, Q. 
pfuhl = Icel. pollr = Sw. Dan. pol, pool; prob. 
of Celtic origin : < Ir. poll, pull, a hole, pit, also 
mire, dirt, = Gael, poll, a hole, pit, bog, pond, 
pool, also mire, mud, = W. picll = Corn, pol 
= Manx poyll, a pool, puddle, = Bret, poull, a 
pool ; cf. L. pdttis (pdlud-), a marsh, = Gr. irri- 
/oc, mud: see palus. Cf. pill*, from the same 
source.] 1. A small body of standing water; 
a small pond. 
At last I left them 
I' the filthy mantled pool livyond your cell. 
Shot., Tempest, Iv. 1. 182. 
2. A part of a small stream where the bed sud- 
denly deepens and broadens, forming a rela- 
tively still, deep, and wide stretch of water. 
Such pools as be large and have most gravel, and shal- 
lows where fish may sport themselves, do afford fish of the 
purest taste. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 199. 
The sleepy pool above the dam, 
The pool beneath it never still. 
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter. 
3. (a) In Pennsylvania, on some of the rivers 
of the mining regions, a stretch of water lying 
between two river-dams. Hence (6) The 
country adjacent to such pools. 
During a strike last fall on one of the pools of the Monon- 
gahela river, a body of miners from one of the other pooli 
came up in a steamboat with a brass band and paraded 
around the mines, while a committee urged the men who 
had remained at work despite the strike to come out and 
join them. y. A. Jlev., CXLIIL 276. 
4. A measure of work in slating, or covering 
houses with slate, equal to 168 square feet in 
all, or to 84 square feet on each side of the 
roof. Ballitoell. [Prov. Eng.] 5. In decora- 
tire art, a rounded depression, small and short 
in comparison with its width. Compare fluting. 
Pool nshway. See fishway. - Salmon-pool's, eddies 
where the salmon collect. Formerly, in some parts of 
New England, these pools or eddies were numbered, and 
the flshennen living near the streams had certain lights 
in them. Mass. Rep., 1866, p. 31 
pool 2 (p81), . [Formerly poule; < F.potile, pool, 
stakes (= Sp. polla, pool, stakes, = Pg. polha, 
a mark or counter in certain games), lit. 'the 
hen' (the stakes being regarded as eggs to be 
gained from the hen), a particular use of F. 
poule (= Sp. polla = Pg. polha, a hen), < ML. 
pulla, f., hen,< ~L.pullus, m., a chicken, a young 
animal: see pullet. The same element occurs 
prob. in polecat.'] 1. The stakes in certain 
games of cards, billiards, etc. 2. A game 
played on a billiard-table with six pockets by 
two or more persons, (o) In the United States, a 
game played with fifteen balls, each ball numl.rn d and 
counting from one to fifteen. The object of each player 
Is to pocket the balls, the number on each ball being 
placed to his credit Also called pyramid pool, (b) In 
Great Britain, a game In which each player Is provided 
with a differently colored or numbered ball, with which, 
playing on the others In a fixed order, he endeavors to 
pocket as many of them as possible. 
3. In liorse-rncitig, ball-games, etc., the combi- 
nation of a number of persons, each staking a 
sum of money on the success of a horse in a 
race, a contestant in a game, etc., the money 
to be divided among the successful betters ac- 
cording to the amount put in by each ; also, the 
money so staked. 4. In rifle-shooting, firing 
for prizes on the principle that every competi- 
tor pays a certain sum for every shot, and the 
proceeds after a certain deduction are divided 
among the successful competitors. 5. A set 
of players, as at the game of quadrille or comet ; 
also, one of the counters used in such games. 
What say you to & poult at comet at my house? 
Southerne. (Latham.) 
She had also asked him twice to dine at Koslngs. and 
had sent for him only the Saturday bufore, to make up 
her pool of quadrille in the eveninK 
Jane Atateti, I'ride and Prejudice, xlv. 
Quadrille pools are the fishes or other counters used In 
playitiK the old-fanhluncd game of qundrillu. 
X. and Q., 7th ser., I. 477. 
