potometer 
potometer (po-tum' <-((!). . [< Gr. nnrnv, 
drink, + /itr/mv, measure.] An instrument for 
measuring the amount of water absorbed by a 
transpiring plant in a given time. /'. Itm-iriii. 
potoo (po-t6 ), . [Jamaican; imitative.] A 
capriinulgine bird, Nyctibius jamaicenxix. 
pot-paper (pot'pa'per), H. An old brand of pa- 
per bearing the figure of a pot as a water-mark. 
See poft, n., 9. 
pot-pie (pot'pi), . 1. A pie made by lining 
the inner surface of a pot or pan with pastry 
and filling it with meat, as beef, mutton, fowl, 
etc., seasoning it, and then baking. 2. A dish 
of stewed meat with pieces of steamed pastry 
or dumplings served in it ; a fricassee of meat 
with dumplings. [U. 8.] 
pot-piecet (pot'pes), . Same as potijtui, '1. 
pot-plant (pot'plant), n. 1. Any plant grown 
in a pot. 2. The pot-tree, or monkey-pot tree. 
See Leeythis and pot-tree. 
pot-plate (pot 'plat), n. A plate of Chinese 
porcelain, or of some fine European faience, in 
Pot'plate of Chinese blue and white porcelain. 
the decoration of which appears a vase, basket, 
or the like, of broad rounded form, usually very 
conventional. 
potpourri (po-po-re'), H. [Formerly also pot 
porrid (Cotgrave) ; < F. pot-pourri, < pot, pot, + 
pourri, pp. of pourrir, < L. putrere, rot: see pu- 
trefy. Cf. equiv. ollu podrida.] 1. A dish of 
different kinds of meat and vegetables cooked 
together; a stew. Hence 2. A miscellane- 
ous collection ; a medley. Specifically (a) A mix- 
ture of the dried petals of rose-leaves or other flowers 
with spices and perfumes. It is usually kept in Jars for 
its fragrance, (6) An incense for 
burning, made of a mixture of 
gums, seeds, and the like, recipes 
fox which were highly valued, 
especially in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, (c) Same as potpourri-jar. 
(</} Same as medley. (e) A lit- 
erary composition consisting of 
parts put together without unity 
or bond of connection. Pot- 
pourri-jar, acovered Jar or vase 
for holding potpourri. (See def. 
2 in).) Rich jars of the enameled 
pottery of the eighteenth century 
having covers are often called by 
this name. 
potrack (pot-rak ), r. i. 
[Imitative.] To cry as a 
guinea-fowl. [Rare.] 
That the dusting of chickens, cackling of geese, and the 
potrackinij of Guinea-hens have not given rise to an elab- 
orate series of weather proverbs is, I think, surprising. 
Pop. Set. Mo., XXVIII. 640. 
pot-roast (pot'rost). w. Meat (generally beef) 
cooked in a pot with a little water, and allowed 
to become brown as if roasted. [Local, U. S.] 
pot-setting (pot'set'ing), n. In glass-manuf., 
the operation of placing in their proper posi- 
tion in the furnace pots which have previously 
been annealed at a red heat. 
potshard, H. Same as potuherd. 
potshareti Same as potsherd. 
potsheent, Sameas^o<ee. Miss Edgeworth, 
Absentee, x. 
potshell (pot'shel), . A potsherd. Harper's 
Mil,/., LXXLX. 248. 
potsherd (pot'sherd), . [Also/>oteA<mJ; <poft 
+ sherd.] A piece or fragment of an earthen- 
ware pot; any broken fragment or piece of 
earthenware. 
Potpourri-jar. 
4653 
Mr. Ben Allen and Mr. Bob Sawyer betook Uiemseives 
til :l ri|lll-.sll-||-ll I-:! /:/: ..II I 1 1 . I , I II . . t . - t . -I . I I I] I . . - . . f 111. 
Borough. Ihekrnt, Pickwick, 111. 
pot-shot 1 (pot'shot), H. 1. A shot taken for the 
purpose of filling the pot, little heed being paid 
to skill in shooting or to the preservation of the 
appearance of the animal. 
Shooting flying was not an ordinary accomplishment : It 
was just coming in, and mo*t people took put Aof, and 
would not risk shooting at a bird on the wing. 
J. AMon, Social life In Reign of Queen Anne, I. 813 
2. Hence, a shot carefully aimed. 
In consequence of the sepoys stealing through the thick 
brushwood and dense woods, and taking pot that* at their 
sentries and pickets. 
If. U. KtiaeU, Diary In India. II. 327. 
P0t-shot 2 t (pot'shot), a. Drunk ; fuddled with 
drink. 
And being mad perhaps, and hot potshot, 
A crated crowne or broken pate hath got. 
John Taylor, Works (1(130). (Sam.) 
pot-sickt (pot'sik), a. Intoxicated ; tipsy. Flo- 
rio, p. 68. 
pot-stick (pot'stik), . [Early mod. E. pot- 
styeke, < ME. potstyk; < pot 1 + stick.] A stick 
for stirring porridge, etc. 
The next had in her hand a sword, another a club, an- 
other a pot-tHdre. 
Quoted In Ca.pt. John Smith'i Works, I. 196. 
pot-still (pot'stil), H. A still to which heat 
is applieu directly as to a pot, in contradis- 
tinction to one heated by a steam-jacket. See 
still. 
potstone (pot'stou), . 1. A concretion or 
mass of flint, of a pear-shaped form, and hav- 
ing a central cavity passing through the longer 
axis. These concretions occur in the chalk, singly or In 
vertical rows like columns, at irregular distances from 
each other, but usually from 20 to 30 feet apart. They 
were formerly particularly conspicuous near llorstead, 
about six miles from Norwich, England, In a quarry, now 
closed, where they were mostly pear-shaped, and about a 
feet In height and 1 foot in diameter. Their origin is not 
easily explained. 
2. Same as xoapstone or steatite. 
pot-suret (pot shor), a. Full of confidence 
through drink; cock-sure. 
When these rough gods beheld him thus secure, 
And arm'd against tlii-m like a man pot-mire, 
They stint vain storms ; and so Monstrlfera 
(So bight the ship) touch'd about Florida. 
Lryend ( Captain Janet (1W.H). (HaUiuxU. ) 
pottt, " An obsolete spelling of pot 1 . 
pottage (pot'aj), n. [< ME. potage, < OF. po- 
tage, pottage, F. potagi' (= Sp. potajr = Pg. po- 
tagem = It.potaggio, poltagaio), porridge, soup, 
< pot, pot: see pot 1 .] 1. A dish consisting of 
meat boiled to softness in water, usually with 
vegetables ; meat-broth ; soup. 
Though a man 1 falle In Jalous rage, 
Let maken with this water his potage, 
And never shal he more hiswyf mistrlste. 
Chaucer, Prol. to l"ardoner's Tale, 1. 82. 
Blow not thy Pottaije nor Drinke, 
For it is not commendable. 
Haters Book (E. E. T. S.\ p. 79. 
Jacob sod nottaije: ami I'.sau came from the fleld, and he 
was faint Oen. xxv. 29. 
2. Oatmeal or other porridge. 
Thel have not, in many place*, nouther Pesen ne Benen, 
ne non other Potayes, but the Brothe of the Klesache. 
Manderille, Travels, p. 260. 
pottage-waret, w. [ME. potageicare ; < pottage 
+ irre2.] Pottage-herbs; pulse. 
Nowe potayeintre in askes mynge & kepe 
In ollbarelles or salt tubbes doone. 
PaUaditu, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 160. 
pottaint (pot'au), . [< OF. potain, pot-metal: 
see potin.] Same as pot-metal, 1. 
potteen, . See poteen. 
pottenger, . See pottinger. 
potter M pot'er), n. [= D. potter, a hoarder, = 
MLG. potter, LG. pottjer = G. potter, potter; < 
OF. potter, F. potier, a potter, < pot, pot: see 
pot 1 .] 1. One whose occupation is the making 
of pots or earthenware vessels of any kind. 
We are the clay, and thou our potter ; and we all are the 
work of thy hani Isa. bdr. 8. 
2. One who peddles earthenware or crockery. 
[Prov. Eng.J 
Rough patten seemed they, trading soberly, 
With paulered asses driven from door to door. 
Wordsirarth, Guilt and Sorrow, xlvi. 
pottery 
clay which U of a grayish color and when ftred U white, and 
a Mark clay so called, which also result* In a whltr biscuit. 
Potter's field, a piece of ground reserved as a burial- 
place for strangers and the friendless poor. The name is 
derived from Its une In the following pauage : 
And they took counsel, and bought with them Ithlrty 
pieces of sllverl the potter'iJMd, t<> Iwry strangers In. 
Mat. xxvii. 7. 
Potters' lathe, ^ame as patten' wfterl. Potters' ore, 
one of the many miners' terms for galena: lead ore In 
lumps and sufficiently free from gangue to be used by 
potters for glazing their ware. - Potters' wheel, an Imple- 
ment used in shaping earthenware vessels of rounded fonn, 
serving to give the mas* of clay a rotary motion while 
the potter manipulates it. The primitive form Is a small 
round table set on pivot, and free to revolve; It 1* 
turned by the hand at Intervals. An Improved form has a 
lower shelf or foot-piece connected with the table, o that 
b - 
Potters' Wheel. 
a, partly molded clay ; b, gui'ling measure ; , revolving wheel, 
screwed on fthaft d. which is propelled l.y horizontally moving treadle- 
apparatus/, and steadied by fly-wheel A. pivoted on block g; e, box 
for containing balls <tf clay, water vessel, tpunge, tools, etc. 
the potter can give it continuous motion by the action of 
his foot. The wheel Is also used in applying rings of 
color, by revolving the vessel while the brush is firmly 
held stationary and in contact with it. 
potter- (pot'er), r. [Also putter, dial. (Sf.)pon- 
ter, puddcr; cf. D. poti-n-n, prutcren, poke, pry, 
search ; freq. of pote, and secondarily otpufl-, 
push: see pot f, putl.] I, intrant. 1. To be 
busy in doing little, or what is of little or no 
practical value; busy one's self over trifles; 
trifle; work with little energy or purpose. 
[Colloq.] 
His servants stayed with htm till they were so old and 
pottering he had to hire other folks to do their work. 
Georye Eliot, Adam Bede, xvll. 
Lord John Russell's Government pattered with the diffi- 
culty rather than encountered it. 
./. McCarthy, Hist. Own Times, xvll. 
2. To hobble; walk slowly and with difficulty; 
move slowly ; loiter. 
Past the old church and down the footpath pottered the 
old man and the child, hand-in-hand. 
T. lluyhet, Tom Brown at Rugby, I. 2. 
I ... pottered about Beaune rather vaguely for thereat 
of my hour. //. Jamet, Jr., Little Tour, p. 252. 
3. To walk upon or leap from piece to piece of 
floatingice. Bartlett. [Local, U.S.] To potter 
about, to wander Idly to and fro ; move about in a pur- 
poseless and Ineffectual manner. 
EC. trans. To poke; push; disturb. [Collojj.J 
potterer (pot'er-er), n. One who or that which 
potters; one who moves slowly or loiters. 
Potterton hen. See ftei. 
potter-wasp (pot'er-wosp), n. A wasp of one 
of the genera Odynervn, Etimenen, etc., whicli 
builds mud cells in any convenient cylindrical 
And he took him a potfherd to scrape himself withal 
Job it 8. 
In upper Egypt, it is true, the potsherd, the ostrakon, 
takes the place of the papyrus. 
Amer. Jour. PhUol., VIII. 508. 
pot-Shop (pot'shop), H. 
[Slang.*] 
3. One who pots meats, vegetables, etc. 4. A 
fresh-water clemmyoid turtle, /'< ir. -IK-IH* ser- 
rata, of the United States. 5. The slider, or 
red-bellied terrapin, I'm-iuli IHII* IH./IWI. S,>.. 
slider. [Local, I . S.] - Potters' clay, (a) A clay 
used for ordinary earthenware, and of some shade of brown. 
A small public house, red.oryellowafterbnrning. (6) In a larger sense, any earth 
used in the ceramic art. including kaolin, a so-called blue 
Potter-wasp ( Otfyttfrut Jtavifa ). 
, max of tempered cl.iy used by wasp to close the nett in wooden 
spool ; A, one cell or the nest : c. the wasp. 
cavity, such as a hollow reed, an accidentally 
folded paper, or the hole in a spool, t). flaripe* 
and E. fraterna are good examples, 
pottery (pot'er-i). H. ; pi. jHtlli-rifx (-iz). [< F. 
lintirie(=Pr. polaria). putli-ry, </>f,apot: see 
