poussette 
poussette (po-sef), r. i. ; pret. and pp. poiix- 
si li'il. ]i|n-. IIIIIIXXI/IIIK/. [<F. /MM<se<te, push- 
pin. < II'HIXVI; push: seepits/t.] Toswinground 
in couples, as in a country-dance. 
runic wet-shot alder from the wave ; 
Came yews, a dismal coterie : 
Each plnck'd his one foot from the grave, 
Pmunfttiittj with a sloe-tree. 
Tennyton, Amphlon. 
poussie (po'si), H. A Scotch form of. pussy. 
poustt, poustiet, a. [< ME.pouste,powste,post, 
pogtr, also pout tee,^ OF. poeste, poest, poestre, 
/MII/I vti , /ioett : , poustd, poestet, podestet, etc., < 
li.potesta(t-)ii, power: see potentate.] 1. Power; 
might. 
And so I wllle my pott prone, 
By creaturia of kyndls clene. 
York Playt, p. 9. 
Richesse hath pmute. Ram. of the Rote, \. (MM. 
The est he put In my pouate, 
And the north at my will to be. 
Holy Hood (ed. Morris), p. 63. 
With al thl niyght and tMpooKtr 
Thou schalt him term; and othlr noone. 
Hymn* to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.\ p. 43. 
2. Violence; violent attack. 
Thow hast ben warned ofte 
With pouatM* of pestilences, with pouerte and with angres. 
Pier* Plomnan (B\ xll. 11. 
In poastt, In one's power ; hence, possible. 
Yet It were in pnste, he wolde It not haue do for all the 
reme of grete Bretelgne, for sore he dredde oure lorde. 
M,r!i,i (E. E. T. S.X ill. 610. 
pou Sto (p8 sto). [Gr. iravoru: KVV, where; aril, 
1st pers. sing, second aor. subj. of taravai, set, 
place, stand: see stand.'] A place to stand; a 
basis of operations, either physical or meta- 
physical. According to Diogenes Laertius, Archimedes 
said, "(Jive me where I may stand (irov <rri>\ and with a 
lerer I could move the world." 
She perhaps might reap the applause of flreat, 
Who learns the one pou sto whence after-hands 
May move the worm. Tetmymn, Princess, Hi. 
pout 1 (pout), n. [< ME. "poutc, < AS. *pute, in 
comp. xlc-pute, eel-pout (see eel-pout); cf. MD. 
l>ityt, I), putt, a frog; MD.nudde, an eel-pout; 
ulterior origin unknown.] One of several fishes 
which have swollen or inflated parts, (a) An eel- 
pout. (J>)Theblborblens,6a<2w<{tuictM; the whiting-cod: 
more fully called whiting-pout, (e) In the t'nited States. 
a kind of catfish, Amiurw catu*, and others of this genus ; 
a horn-pont. 
pout 1 (pout), f. '. [< pou ft, H.] To fish or 
spear for pouts. 
pout- (pout), r. [< ME. pouten; perhaps < W. 
ptctlu, be sullen, pout. Cf. F. louder, pout (see 
boudoir). Cf. also F. dial, pot, pout, potte, lip 
(faire la potte, 'make a lip,' pout), = Pr. pot, 
lip, mod. Pr. kiss. The relations of these forms 
are undetermined.] l.intrans. 1. To thrust out 
the lips, as in displeasure or sullenness; hence, 
to look sullen. 
Be not gapynge nor ganynge, ne with thy month to pout. 
Rabca Book (E. E. T. 8. ), p. 1S5. 
Thon poufft upon thy fortune and thy love. 
ShoJt., R. and J., III. 3. 144. 
Pouting Is generally accompanied by frowning, and 
sometimes by the utterance of a Doolng and whoolng noise. 
Danrin, Express, of Kmntlons, p. i;i 
2, To swell out; be plump and prominent: as. 
jiiiiitini/ lips; PHI tiny clusters of grapes. 
Her month ! 'twas Egypt's mouth of old, 
Push'd out and pouting full and tmld. 
Joaquin Miller, Ship In the DesAt. 
3. To puff out or swell up the breast, as a pi- 
geon. See pouter*, 2. 
II. tniiix. To thrust out; protrude. 
Her lips are sever'd as to speak : 
His own an pouted to a kiss. 
Teimymm, Day-Dream, Sleeping Palace. 
4660 
pout 2 (pout), M. [< pouts, r.] 1 . A protrusion 
of the lips as in pouting; hence, a fit of sullen- 
ness or displeasure: as, she has t lie /</. 
Sldeway his face reposed 
i in one white arm, and tenderly unclosed, 
By tenderest pressure, a faint damask mouth 
To slumbery pout. Keati, Endymion, li. 
2. A pouter pigeon. See pouter^, 2. 
pout 3 (pout), w. [A reduction of poult. The 
LG. and G. pute are prob. < E.] 1. A young 
fowl or bird : same as poult. [Prov. Eng. and 
Scotch.] 
h'amntllo lit. 1, a phesant pout. 
Fiona, p. 181. (HaUivll.) 
As soon 's the cloakln' [brooding] time Is by, 
An' the wee pmiti begin to cry. 
Burnt, Epistle to John Rankine. 
2. Figuratively, a young girl; a sweetheart. 
[Scotch.] 
The Squire, returning, mist his poutt, 
And was in unco rage, ye needna doubt. 
Rouft llelemrre, p. 93. (Janiiemai.) 
pout s (pout or pot), r. i. [< pouft, .] To go 
gunning for young grouse or partridges. Imp. 
Diet. 
pout 4 (pout), M. [Prob. < 'pout for note, r.] In 
coal-mining, a tool used for knocking out tim- 
bers in the workings. [North. Eng.] 
poutassou (po-tas'o), . A name of the Mi- 
cromesistius (or Gadus) poutassou, a fish of the 
family Gadtilee. 
pouter 1 (pou'ter), w. [< pout? + -eri.] 1. 
One who or that which pouts. Specifically 
2. A long-legged breed of domestic pigeons, 
named from their characteristic habit of pout- 
l-jiKlUh Pouter. 
ing, or puffing up the breast, sometimes to sur- 
prising size ana almost globular shape. They 
occur In many different color-varieties. Pygmy pouters 
have the same form and habit, but are of very nmall size, 
like the bantams among chickens. 
3. Same &siouft (b). 
Small haddocks and rock pouter* cheap, common flsh 
are often . . . sold at a high price for whiting. 
Lancet, "So. 3465, p. 1024. 
pouter 2 (pou'ter or pS'ter), . [</>ou*3 + -rl.] 
A sportsman whose game is poults or young 
grouse. Imp. JHct. 
pouting 1 (pou'ting), w. [Verbal n. of pout*, r.] 
The act or art of taking pouts (the fish). 
pouting 2 (pou'ting), H. [Verbal n. otpouft, c.] 
The act of protruding the lips petulantly; a 
pout. 
Never look coy, lady ; 
These are no gifts to be put off with pouHngt. 
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, III. _'. 
pouting; 1 (pou'ting or pO'ting), n. [Verbal n. 
of pout 3 , r.] The act or art of taking pouts 
(the bird), 
poutingly (pon'ttngJl), </<. In a pouting or 
Hullcii manner. 
"I suppose I hesitate without grounds." Gwendolen 
spoke rather ptnttingly, and her uncle grew suspicious. 
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xlii. 
pout-net (pout'net), n. Same as plout-net. 
povert, a. An obsolete variant of poor. 
poverisht, '' '. [By apheresis for imporerish.] 
To impoverish ; make poor. 
No violent showr 
Poveriiht the Land, which frankly did produce 
All fruitful! vapours for delight and vae. 
Srfvntrr, tr. of Dn BarUs's Weeks, II.. Fxlen. 
poverty-weed 
povertet, A M iddle English form of poverty. 
poverty (pov'er-ti), n. [< ME.povertee, poverte, 
< OF. porerte, povrete, poivetcit, pourete, pauvre- 
te,F.paurrcti = Pr.paupretat,2>aubrelat,paure- 
tat = OCat. pobretat = OSp. pobrcdad (cf. Sp. 
Pg. pobreza) = It. poterta; < L. pauperta(t-)*. 
poverty, < pauper, poor : see poor and pauper.) 
1. The state or condition of Deing poor; need 
or scarcity of means of subsistence; needy 
circumstances; indigence; penury. 
For pacyence Is payn for pouerte hym-selue, 
And sobrete swete drynke and good lechc in sykeneste. 
Piert I'Untman (BX xlv. Sia 
Glad puorrtr is an honest thyng, certeyn. 
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 327. 
I'hr destruction of the poor Is their poverty. Pniv. i. 15. 
It Is still her [Fortune's) use 
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 
An age of poverty. Shot. , M. of V., iv. 1. 271. 
A carpenter thy father known, thyself 
Bred up In poverty and straits at home. 
Milton, t. E., IL 415. 
2. The quality of being poor; a lack of neces- 
sary or desirable elements, constituents, or 
(nullifies, (a) Lack of fertility or productiveness : as, 
the poverty of the soil, (b) Lack of Ideas or of skill ; lack 
of Intellectual or artistic merit : as, the poverty of a ser- 
mon or a picture, (c) Lack of adequate means or Instru- 
mentality : as, poverty of language. 
When Lucretius complains of our poverty In language, 
he means only In terms of art and science. 
Landar, Imaginary Conversations (Tibnllus and Messala). 
(d) Lack of richness of tone ; thinness (of sound). 
The peculiar quality of tone commonly termed poverty. 
as opposed to richness, arises from the upper partlals be- 
ing comparatively too strong for the prime tone. 
Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (trans. X L 5. 
3. Dearth ; scantiness ; small allowance. 
In places glade and warme If vyne abounde 
In leef, and have of fmite but povertee, 
Now Kitt . hem short and thai wol be feconde. 
J'alladiui, Husbondrie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 219. 
4f. Poor things ; objects or productions of lit- 
tle value. 
Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth ! 
.S'AaJr., Sonnet*, cliL 
5f. The poor; poor people collectively. Com- 
pare the quality, used for persons of quality. 
I have dluers tymes taken a waye from them their ly- 
cences, of lioth sortes, wyth such money as they hane 
gathered, and haue confiscated the same to the poverty 
muli adloyningc to me. 
Hannan, Caveat for Cursetors (15(17). 
There is no people In the world, as I suppose, that line 
M) miserably as do the pouerty in those parts. 
I/aJclvyt'* Vnyaiir*, I. S2X. 
= Syn. 1. Poverty, Want, Indiyeiut, Petairy, Destitution, 
Pauperunn, Xeed, necdiness, necessltousness. privation, 
beggary. Poverty Is a strong word, stronger than bring 
poor; mm! is still stronger, indicating that one has not 
even the necessaries of life ; indigence is often stronger 
than mint, Implying especially, also, the lack of those 
things to which one has been used and that bent one's 
station ; penury is poverty that is severe to abjectness : 
dentittttion is the state of having absolutely nothing; pau- 
perism is a poverty by which one is thrown upon public 
charity for support ; need U a general word, definite only 
In suggesting the necessity for Immediate relief. None 
of these words is limited to the lack of property, although 
that Is naturally a prominent fact under each. 
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the 
hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty couie as one that tra- 
velleth, and thy tratif as an armed man. Prov. vl. 10, 11. 
n'nut can quench the eye's bright grace. 
Scott, Marmion, I. 28. 
The luxury of one class Is counterbalanced by the t'n<f>- 
l/ence of another. Tkoreau, Walden, p. 88. 
Chill penury repressed their noble rage, 
And froze the genial current of the soul. 
Gray, F.legy, st. 18. 
Pity and need 
Make nil flesh kin. . . . 
My strength is waned now that my need Is most. 
Kdirin Arnold, Light of Asia, vl. 78, 113. 
2 and 3. M eagerness, jejuneness. 
poverty-grass (pov'er-ti-gras), . A low 
branching grass, Arixtida dichotoma, common 
eastward and southward in the United States: 
so named as inhabiting poor soils. The name 
is sometimes extended to the genus. 
poverty-plant (pov'er-ti-plant), n. A cist:i- 
ceous ]i];int, /fnilxiniiii tiiiiii-iilii.tn.n little heath- 
like Hliriili of sandy shores. [New Jersey.] 
poverty-stricken, poverty-struck (|iv'er-ti- 
Htrik'n, -struk). <i. Kciluccil to a state of pov- 
erty; suffering from the effects of poverty: 
needy; iinli^rnt. 
Povertu-itnrtrn, hunger-pinched, and tempest-tortured, 
ft [the pine] maintains Its proud dignity, grows strong by 
i-niliirance, and symmetrical by patient struggle. 
//. MarmUlan, quoted In Word-hunter's Note-book, Iv. 
poverty-weed (pov'er-ti-wed), . The purple 
t , Vmotnpyfwn <n'f< n*<, a deleterious 
