pot 
(6) An earthen \ I'KSI -I, i.ft* n fur holding something distinc- 
tively specified ; a jar or jog : as, a tlower-poC; a cream-pot. 
For ho rim-ril of alt kindes of serpentes to be put into 
earthen pot*, the whlchc In the mlddea o( the hattell were 
cast intci the enemyes shippes. 
OoUing, tr. of Justine, foL 131. 
In the Monastery of blakc nmnkys callyd Seynt Nicho- 
las De Elio ther lyes the body of Si-ynt Nicholas, as they 
sey, also <K>it of the Pottis that ower lord turnyd watlr In 
to wyne. Torkinytnn, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 10. 
Doe we not commonly see that in painted pottet is hid- 
den the deadly vst poyson '! Lyly, Euphues, p. 63. 
At an open window of a room in the second story, hang- 
ing over aoniepotf of beautiful and delicate flowers, . . . 
waa the figure of a young lady. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xlli. 
In order to lighten the weight of the solid plaster, earth 
en pats have been placed between the Joists and the spaces 
filled up with the mortar (practice in Paris In respect of 
floors with iron joist*]. Kncyc. Brit., IV. 455. 
2. A drinking-vessel; a vessel containing a 
specified quantity of liquor, usually a quart or 
a pint; a mug. 
Fill me a thousand pott, and froth 'em, froth 'em ! 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, ill. 7. 
No carved cross-lmnes, the types of Death, 
Shall show thec past to Heaven : 
But carved cross-pipes, and, underneath, 
A pint-pot, neatly graven. 
Tennyson, Will Waterproof. 
3. The contents of a pot ; that which is cooked 
in a pot; specifically, the quantity contained 
in a drinking-pot, generally a quart (in Guern- 
sey and Jersey, about 2 quarts). A />< of butter 
was by statutes of Charles II. made 14 pounds. 
He maketh the deep to bull like a /.'. Job xlL 31. 
Let's each man drink a pot for his morning's draught, 
and lay down his two shillings. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 181. 
They will wait until you slip Into a nelghlKiurlng uk 
house to take a pat with a friend. 
Suift, Directions to .Servants, Iv. 
4. Stoneware: a trade-term. 
A street seller who accompanied me. calleil them mere- 
ly pots (the trade tri-m ), but they were all pot ornaments. 
Among them were great store of shepherdesses, of grey- 
hounds, . . . and some put* which seem to be either shep- 
herds or musicians. 
Mayhew, London Labour anil London Poor, I. SXt. 
6. In sugar-mantif., an earthen mold used in 
refining; also, a perforated cask in which su- 
gar is placed for drainage of the molasses. 
6. In founding, a crucible. 7. In glasa-mantif., 
the crucible in which the frit is melted. Those 
used for glass of fine quality, such as flint- 
glass, are closed to guard against impurities. 
8. The inetal or earthenware top of a chim- 
ney; a chimney-pot. 9. A size of writing- 
paper whose original water-mark is said to 
nave been a pot. The smallest sheets measure 
15| X 12i inches. Also spelled pott. 10. In 
fishing: (a) The circular inclosed part of a 
pound-net, otherwise called the bowl, pound, 
or crib, (b) A hollow vessel for trapping fish ; 
a lobster-pot. 11. In card-playing: (a) The 
aggregate stakes, generally placed together in 
the center of the table ; the pool, (ft) In faro, 
the name given to the six-, seven-, and eight- 
spots in the lay-out. 12. A large sum of 
money. [Betting slang.] 
The horse you have backed with a heavy pot. 
Lever, Davenport Dunu (ed. TauchniU), I. 191. (Hoppe.) 
13f. A simple form of steel cap, sometimes 
plain, like the skull-cap, sometimes having a 
brim. 14. Inpyrotechni/, the head of a rocket, 
containing the decorations Double pot. See 
dottW?. Qiass-melting pot. See glass. Little pott. 
See little. Pot Of money. See money. To boll the 
pot. Same as to keep the pot boiliny (a). 
No fav'ring patrons have I got. 
But just enough to boil the pot. 
W, Cainoe, Dr. Syntax, I. 23. (Dames.) 
To go to (the) pot, to be destroyed, ruined, or wasted : 
come to destruction : possibly In allusion to the sending 
of old metal to the melting-pot 
Then goeth a part of little flock to pot, and the rest scat- 
Tyndale, Ana. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soe., 1850), p. 110. 
Your mandate I got, 
You may all go to pot. 
Ooldmiith, Reply to Invitation to Dinner t Dr. Baker's 
The iimnlwr of common soldiers slain not amounting to 
fewer than seven hundred. . . . But where so many offi- 
cers went to the pot, how could fewer soldiers suiter? 
Court and Time* of Charles /., t 285. 
To keep the pot boiling. <<i> To provide the neceasa- 
ries of life. 
Whatsoever Kitchlng found it, it was made poor enough 
before he left It ; so poor that it is hardly able to keep the 
pot boiling for a parson's dinner. 
Htylin, Hist, Reformation, p. Jli (Danes.) 
(6) To "keep things going "; keep up a brisk and contin- 
ued round of activity. 
"Keep the pot a bilin'. sir," said sain: anil down went 
Wardle again, and then Mr. Pickwick, and then Sam, and 
4647 
's heels. /** . 
Tomakethepotwlthtwoearft>.ettherm.akmbo. 
Dame*. 
Thou sctt'st thy tippet wondrous high, 
1 *'' 
potamological 
potablenew (po'ta-bl-ne.), . The quality of 
being potable or driiikable. 
POtaget, . An olwolete form of pottage. 
potagert, a. An obsolete form of pot linger. 
PotameaB (no-U'mf^), n. pi. [NL. (Jussien 
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, p. 130. 
It 1 (pot), r. ; pret. and pp. potted, ppr. potting. 
[< poti, n.] I. traiw. I. To put into pots. 
2. To preserve in pots, usually in the form of 
paste and often with high seasoning: as, potted 
meats or lobster. 
I was invited to excellent English potted venison at Mr. 
Hobhson's, a worthy merchant. 
Krelyn, Diary, March 22, 1640. 
Meat will also keep fresh for a considerable period when 
surrounded with oil, or fat of any kind, so purified as not 
to turn rancid of itself, especially if the meat be previous- 
ly boiled. This process Is called pottinu. 
Ure, Diet, in. 073. 
3. To stew; cook in a pot as a stew: as, to pot 
pigeons. 4. To plant or set in pots: as, to pot 
plants. 
Pot them [Indian tuberoses) In natural (not forc'd) earth. 
Eaelyn, Calendarium Hortense, April. 
6. To put in casks for draining : as, to pot sugar 
by taking it from the cooler and placing it in 
hogsheads with perforated heads, from which 
the molasses percolates. 6. To shoot; bring 
down by shooting; bag: as, to pot a rabbit, a 
turkey, or an enemy; hence, to catch; secure: 
as, to pot an heiress. [Slang.] 
The arrow flew, the string twanged, but Martin had 
iieen In a hurry to pot her. and lost her by an Inch. 
C. Keade, Cloister and Hearth, vill. 
It being the desire of punUmen to pot as many birds 
a* possible by one shot, . . . punt-guns are not required 
to -liiHit close, the main object being a large killing circle. 
'. '. lireenrr, The (!un, p. 631. 
7f. To cap. See to cap rerxex, under capi, r. 
The boles of divers schoolcs did cap or ;*"' verses, and 
contend of the principles of grammar. 
.Si, Survey (l. r >DX p. 5S. (Latham.) 
8. To manufacture, as pottery or porcelain ; 
especially, to shape and lire, as a preliminary 
to the decoration Potted meats, viands parboiled 
and seasoned and put up in the form of paste covered with 
oil or fat In small porcelain pot,or In hermetically sealed 
tin cans or glass jars. 
H. intrans. 1. To drink; tipple. 
Co*. 'Fore God, an excellent song |a drinking-song). 
fayo. 1 learned it in England : where, Indeed, they are 
most potent In potting. Shak., Othello, II. 3. 7. 
The Increase in drinking that unfailing criterion, alas ! 
of increase in means in the lower classes in England car- 
ried your English in potency of jtottiivj above even "your 
Dane, your (ierman, am) your swag.helllcd Hollander." 
& DovtU, Taxes In England, 1. 20ii. 
2. To shoot at an enemy or at game ; especial- 
ly, to shoot to kill. 
The jovial knot of fellows near the stove had been pot- 
tiny all night from the rifle-pit. 
Lecer, Davenport Dunn (ed. Tauchnitz), III. 292. (Uoppt.) 
pot 2 (not), w. [A var. of put- tor pit 1 ; but 
prob. in part associated with pot 1 .] A pit; a 
hole; especially, a deep hole scooped out by the 
eddies of a river. 
The deepest pot in a' the linn 
They fand Erl Klchard In. 
Karl Richard (Child's Ballads, III. 7). 
Pot and gallows. See pit and gallom, under pit'. 
pot 3 (pot), r. t.; pret. and pp. potted, ppr. pot- 
ting. [Origin uncertain; perhaps a slang use 
otpofl.] To deceive. Ballivefl. 
potable (p6'ta-bl),rt. and n. [<F. potable^ Sp. 
potable = Pg. potaccl = It. potabite, < L. pota- 
bilis, drinkable, < potare, dnnk: see potation.'] 
I. a. 1. Drinkable; suitable for drinking. 
Dig a pit upon the sea shore, somewhat above the high- 
water mark, and sink It as deep as the low water mark : 
and as the tide comet h In it will fill with water fresh and 
potable. Bacon. Nat Hist. 
They [the Chinese) bore the Trunk with an Awger, and 
there Issueth out sweet potable Liquor. 
UoweU, Letters, IL 64. 
The product of these vineyards [of England) may have 
proved potable, in peculiarly favourable seasons, if mixed 
with honey. S. DamU, Taxes in England, IV. 76. 
Hence 2. Liquid; flowing. 
Therefore, thou best of gold art wont of gold : 
Other, leu fine In carat. Is more precious, 
Tismil ' Inu life in medicine potable. 
Shot., j Hen. IV., IT. 5. 13. 
What wonder then If fields and regions here 
Breathe forth elixir pure, and riven run 
Potable gold. Milton, P. L, lit 608. 
II. ''. Anything that is drinkable; a drink. 
The damssk'd meads, 
I'nforc d, display ten thousand painted flowers 
r wful In potable*. J. Philips. Cider, i. 
Or. irora/iof, river, + <.] A tribe of 
mouocotyledouous water-plants of the order 
\niiiilitri ,T. by some botanists erected into a 
separate order, characterized by an ovary with 
four carpels having one half-coiled ovule in 
each containing a curved embryo, it Includes i 
Inhabitant of salt and the other of fresh waters through- 
out the world. See cut under pondmed. 
potamic (po-tam'ik), a. [< Or. trora^of, a river 
(Bee potation), + -ie.] Pertaining to, connected 
with, or dependent on rivers. [Rare.] 
The commercial situation of the trading towns of North 
Ciermany, admirable so long as the trade of the world was 
chiefly potamic or thalaaslc In character, lost nearly all Its 
value when at the opening of the sixteenth century com- 
merce became oceanic. 
The Academy, Oct 28, 1888, p. 266. 
Potamobiidas (pot'a-m6-bi'i-d), n. pi. (NL., 
< Gr. Tfora/JOf, river, -f /ji'oc, life. + -imp.] Hux- 
ley's name (1878) of a family of fluviatile craw- 
fishes, confined to the northern hemisphere and 
represented only by the genera .Inim-im and 
t'ambarux, the other genera of Antacid* in a 
usual sense forming a contrasted family Parax- 
tacidie. 
Potamochcerns (pot'a-mo-ke'rus), n. [NL., < 
Gr. irorouof, river, +"xoipof, hog.] An Afri- 
can genus of .SiiiWa- or swine, containing such 
Red Kivcr-hotf I ratam*k*r*i ftnutllalHi). 
species as /'. pcnicillatun, of a reddish color with 
tufted ears; the river-hogs. Also called CJi<r- 
ropottimux. 
Potamogale (pot-a-mog'a-le), i. [NL. (Du 
Chaillu, I860), <Gr.Tor<iHof',' river, -f- 50/17, contr. 
of )a).(ii, a weasel.] The typical genus of the 
family Potomogattdm ; the otter-shrews. The 
tibia and fibula are ankylosed, the muzzle is broad and 
flat with valvular nostrils, the limbs are short, the feet 
arc notwehliod, and the long cylindroid body is continued 
Into the thick vertically flattened tall, which constitutes 
a powerful swimming-organ. ThedcnUl formula is 3 In- 
cisors, 1 canine, 3 pmnolara, and 3 molars In each half- 
jaw. /'. relax, the only species known, Is a large animal 
(for this order), being alwnt .' feet long, of which the tail 
is about half, dark-brown above and whitish below, of 
aquatic habits, and in general resembling a small otter, 
whence the name ottrr shrew. 
Potamogalidae (pot'a-m^-gaTi-de), ii.pl. [NL., 
< Potamogale + -imp.] A family of aquatic 
mammals of the order Innectieora, of equatorial 
Africa, containing the genus Potamogale; the 
otter-shrews. 
Potamogeton (pot ' a- mo -je' ton), . [NL. 
(Tonrnefort, 1700), '< L.' potamogeton, < Gr. 
irorafioytiruv, pondweed, < vora/iof, river, + yii- 
TUV, neighbor, inhabitant.] A genus of fresh- 
water plants known as pondweeds. the type of 
the tribe Potamete in the order Xaiadarex. It la 
distinguished from the allied genus Kuppia by the sessile 
nutlets and also by the presence of a calyx ; and Is further 
characterized by Us numerii a! plan In fours, each flower 
having four roundish sepals, four stamens, four styles, and 
four distinct ovaries producing four small rounded drapes 
or nutlets, each with a thick, rigid, or spongy pericarp, and 
a single seed containing an annular or spirally coiled em- 
bryo. There are over 60 species, scattered throughout the 
world, growing In still rivers, ponds, and lakes, with one 
ur two In brackish waters. (See pondmtd.) A few species 
have acquired other names In local use. as, In England, P. 
dennu, the frog's lettuce or water-caltrops, and P. notfiu, 
the tench-weed or deu"s-spoons,and In America }'.ampl\fo- 
lius, the cornstalk-weed. (See hetfraphyOotu, 1.) A large 
number of aquatic plants, supposed to belong to the ge- 
nus Potamogeton, have been described under that name by 
paleobotanlsts ; they come from various regions, and from 
several divisions of the Tertiary. 
potamography (pot-a-mog'ra-fi), n. [= F.po- 
tamoyrdjihii- = It. i>oiamograjHa ; < Gr. irarafitf, 
river, + -jpafia, < )pajeiv, write.] A descrip- 
tion of rivers. 
potamological (pot'a-mo-loj'i-kal), a. [<potn- 
molog-y + -ic-al.) Of or pertaining to potamol- 
ogy: as, a potamologiml table. 
