446 
PEC 
Wit!) laxatives preferve your body found, 
And purge the peccant humours that abound. Dryden. 
Wrong; bad; deficient; unformal.—Nor is the party 
cited bound to appear, if the citation be peccant in form 
or matter. Ayliffe's Parergon. 
PEC'CANT, f. An offender. Not in life. —This con-- 
ceitednefs, and itch of being taken for a counfellor, 
inaketh more reprovers than peccants in the world. Whit¬ 
lock's Mann, of the Eng. 1654. 
PECCA'VI. [Latin. A colloquial expreflion ftill in 
ufe: as, He cried peccavi .] I have offended.—In queen 
Mary’s time, upon the return of the Catholique religion, 
the nunnes came again to Wilton abbey; and this Wil¬ 
liam earl of Pembroke, came to the gate with his cappe 
in his hand, and fell upon his knee to the lady abbeffe 
and the nunnes, crying peccavi! Upon queen Mary’s 
death, the earl came to Wilton, like a tygre, and turned 
them out, crying, Out ye whores, to worke, to worke ! 
A ubrey's Anecd. 
PECE'TA,/. A Spanifti filver coin. The old Mexican 
peceta of two Mexican reals (1736) is in weight 4 dwt. 
73 gr.; its content in pure filver grains 93’6; and its value 
j s. id. fterling. The peceta of two reals of new plate 
(1775) is in weight 3 dwt. 18 gr. content -]z'z ; and value 
iod. fterling. 
PECE'TO, a town of France, in the department of the 
Po : three miles fouth-weft of Chieri. 
PECHAN'TRE (Nicholas de), a French poet, was 
born at Touloufe in 1638. He gained the poetical prize 
from the academy des Jeux Floraux three times. His 
tragedy of Geta was performed at Paris in 1687, with 
great applaufe. This was followed by Jugurtha, the 
Death of Nero, and home others. Pechantre died in the 
year 1708. 
PECHARE'E, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Chanderee: thirty-five miles weft-fouth-weft of Chanderee. 
PECH'BLENDE, f in mineralogy. See Uranium 
fulphuratum. 
PE'CHIA, a town of Servia, on the Drino : thirty-five 
miles north-eaft ofRagufa, 130 weft-fouth-weft of Niffa. 
Lat. 43. 14. N. Ion. 19. 15. E. 
PECH'LARN,or Pochlarn, a town of Auftria, on the 
right bank of the Danube. The river is very wide, and 
the Romans had here a harbour for their navy: they 
called it Prceclara, and it was considered one of the 
ftrongeft places in the country : forty-two miles eaft of 
Lintz, forty-five miles weft of Vienna. Lat. 48. 14. N. 
Ion. 15. 20. E. 
PECH'LIN (John Nicholas), an eminent phyfician, 
was born at Leyden in 1646. He took the degree of 
M. D. in the univerfity of that city in 1667, and after¬ 
wards travelled into Italy for further improvement. He 
was placed in the medical chair at Kiel in Holftein in 
1673, and rendered himfelf celebrated by many ingenious 
2nd learned publications. He was received into the Aca¬ 
demy Naturae Curioforum in 1678, and into the Royal 
Society of London in 1691. The duke of Holftein 
Gottorp appointed him to the poft of his .firft phyfician 
in 1680, and afterwards to thofe of his librarian and 
counfellor. In 1704, he accompanied the hereditary 
prince of Holftein to Stockholm as his preceptor. He 
died in that capital in 1706, and left a family, which rofe 
to high diftin&ion in Sweden. The firft work attributed 
to Pechlin, was an attack on the fyftems of Sylvius de la 
Boe and Graaf, entitled, “Metamorphis iiEfculapii et 
Apollonis Pancreatici,” under the name.of Janus Leoni- 
cenus. His other works are, a. De Apoplexia, 1667. 
3. De Purgantium Medicamentorum facultatibus, 1672. 
4. De Vulneribus Sclopetarum, 1674. 5. De Fabrica et 
Ufu Cordis, 1676. 6. De Aeris et Alimenti defeclu, 
1676. This contains fome relations partaking of the 
marvellous, refpedfing the retention of life under water, 
which he attributes to the nitrous quality of the air and 
water. 7. De Habitu et Colore Aithiopum, 1677. He 
attributes the colour of negroes to the bile tinging the 
PEC 
cellular membrane, and not to the folar heat. 8. Theo- 
philus Bibaculus, fivede potu These,” 1684; a panegyric 
on tea, in a poetical and exaggerated ftyle. 9. Obferva- 
tionum Phyfico-medicarum, lib. iii. 1691,410. This is 
the author's principal work, the refult of much practice 
and obfervation. It contains many curious and valuable 
remarks, related in a perfpicuous and elegant ftyle, but 
exhibits fome marks of credulity. He alfo has fome 
papers in the Ephem. Naturae Curioforum. Halleri Bill. 
Med. 
PECHME'JA (John), a French writer, was born at 
Villa Franca in 1741. He became profeffor of elocution 
in the college of La Fleche, and died in 1785. His 
eulogy on the celebrated Colbert was crowned with the 
approbation of the academy in 1773 j’but he is principally 
known by a work in poetic profe, called Telephe, 2 vols. 
PE'CHOR, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Gohud : twenty-five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Gwalior. 
PECHOW'LY, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Chanderee: forty miles north-weft of Chanderee. 
PECK, f. [from the Sax. pocca, or perhaps from pat, 
a veffel. Skinner and Dr. Johnfon. —Sereniuslikewife gives 
the Sax. pocca, and the Icel .poke, a pouch, a fack,as the 
etymon. Poke is a northern word for all meafires. See 
Rijy’s Colleft. 2d edit. p. 55. Todd.'] The fourth part of 
a bufnel.—To every hill of allies, fome put a. peck of un- 
flacked lime, which they cover with the allies till rain 
Hacks the lime, and then they fpread them. Mortimer's 
Hujb. 
Burn our veffels, like a new- 
Seal’d peck or bulhel, for being true. Hudibras. 
He drove about his turnips in a cart; 
And from the fame machine fold pecks of peafe. King. 
Proverbially ; a great deal: 
Her finger w'as fo fmall, the ring 
Would not ftay on which they did bring ; 
It was too wdde a peck ; 
It look’d like the great collar juft 
About our young colt’s neck. Suckling. 
To PECK, v. a. [bccquer, Fr. picken, Dutch.] To ftrike 
with the beak as a bird : 
As a hooded hawk, or owl, 
She in vain doth roufe, and peck 
This and that way with her beak. 
Thy baiting does no good, 
Nor thy pecking through thy hood, 
Nor thy ftretching out thy claws. Fanjhaw's Paft. Fido. 
To pick up food w'ith the beak.—Can any thing be more 
furprifing, than to confider Cicero obferving, with a re¬ 
ligious attention, after what manner the chickens peck'd 
the grains of corn thrown them. Addifon. 
She was his only joy, and he her pride : 
She, when he W'alk’d, went pecking by his fide. Dryden. 
To ftrike with any pointed inftrument.—With a pick-ax 
of iron about fixteen inches long, lharpened at the one 
end to peck, and flat-headed at the other to drive little 
iron wedges to cleave rocks. Carew's Surv. of Cornwall. 
—To ftrike ; to make blows.—They will make head 
againft a common enemy, whereas mankind lie pecking at 
one another, till they are torn to pieces. L'Ejlrange. — 
The following paflage is perhaps more properly written 
to pick, to throw. —Get up o’ th’ rail, I’ll peck you o’er the 
pales elfe. Shakefpeare. 
PECK (Francis), an induftrious antiquary, was born 
in 1692 at Stamford in Lincolnlhire. He was educated 
at Cambridge, where he took thexjegree of M. A. He 
entered into holy orders, and became curate of King’s 
Clifton in Northamptonftiire, and afterwards obtained the 
redfory of Godeby in Leicefterfhire, which was his foie 
preferment. Having in 1721 publiftied propofals for 
printing the hiftory and antiquities of his native town, 
his work appeared in 1727, under the title of ‘‘ Academia 
terlia 
