PER 
rarely.—We know bodies and their properties molt per- 
fifth]. Loelie. 
PER'FECTNESS, f. Completenefs; confummate ex¬ 
cellence ; perfeftion.—Ufe makes perfeflnefs, Beaum. and 
Fletcher's Kn. Burn. Pefile. 
How then can mortal tongue hope to exprefs 
The image of fuch endlefs perfeflnefs ! Spenfer. 
Goodnefs j virtue; a fcriptural word.—Put on charity, 
which is the bond of perfeflnefs. Col. iii. 14,—Skill.—Is 
this your perfeflnefs ? Shakefpeare. 
PERFI'CIENT, adj. [perfleiens, Lat.] Effectual.—The 
king being the foie founder of all civil corporations, and 
the endower the perficient founder of all eleemofynary 
ones, the right of vifitation of the former refults to the 
king, and of the latter to the patron or endower. Blach- 
Jlone. 
PERFID'IOUS, adj. [perfdus, Lat. perfide, Fr.] 
Treacherous; falfe to trull; guilty of violated faith.'— 
To b t perfidious is nothing, fo he may be fecret: his Maf- 
ter knows him [Judas] for a traitor. Bp. Hall. 
A molt perfidious flave, 
With all the foots o’ the world tax’d and debofh’d. 
Shakefpeure's All's Well. 
Expreffing treachery ; proceeding from treachery : 
Forfaken of all good, I fee thy fall 
Determin’d, and thy haplefs crew involv’d 
In this perfidious fraud. Miltons P. L. 
PERFIDIOUSLY, adv. Treacheroufly ; by breach of 
faith.—Can he not deliver us pofleflion of fuch places as 
would put him in a worfe condition whenever he fhould 
perfidionfy renew the war ? Swift's Mifcell. 
They eat perfdioufly their words, 
And fwear their ears through two inch boards. Hudibras. 
PERFID'IOUSNESS, f. The quality of being perfidi¬ 
ous.—Some things have a natural deformity in them; as 
perjury, perfidioufnefs, and ingratitude. Tillotfon. 
PER'FIDY,/. \perfidia, Lat. perfidie, Fr.] Treachery; 
want of faith; breach of faith.'—Whatever poets may 
write of rural innocence and truth, and of the perfidy of 
courts, this is undoubtedly true ; that fhepherds and 
minifters are both men ; their nature and paflions the 
fame, the modes of them only different. Ld. Chefterfield. 
• PER'FLABLE, adj. [from the Lat. per, through, and 
fio, to blow.] Liable to be blown through, or of being 
perflated. 
To PER'FLATE, v. a. To blow through.—If eaflern 
winds did perflate our climates more frequently, they 
would clarify and refrefli our air. Harvey. —Thefirftcon- 
fideration in building of cities, is to make them open, 
airy, and well perflated. Arbuthnot on Air. 
PERFLA'TILE, adj. Blowing ftrongly; blowing 
through. Bailey. 
PERFLA'TiON, f. The aft of blowing through.— 
Miners, by perflations with large bellows, give motion to 
the air, which ventilates and cools the mines. Woodward. 
PERFOLIA'TA, f. in botany. See Brassica, Bu- 
pleurum, and Ophrys. 
PE'RFO'LI ATE, adj. in botany, a leaf furrounding 
the ftalk on every fide, as if the ftalk pafled through its 
centre ; as in Bupleurum perfoliatum, thence termed 
thorough-wax, from the old word wax, to grow. 
To PER'FORATE, v. a. [peiforo, Lat.] To pierce 
with a tool; to bore.—Draw the bough of a low' fruit- 
tree newly budded, without twifting, into an earthen pot 
perforate at thebottom, and then cover the pot with earth, 
it will yield a very large fruit. Bacon's Nat. Hifl. —The 
Hypericum, or St. John’s wort, is fometimes called ts per¬ 
forata,” or perforated, from the fmall holes feen all over 
its leaves, if held up to the light. Chambers. 
The labour’d chyle pervades the pores 
In all the arterial perforated fhores. Blachmore. 
PER 609 
PERFORA'TION, f. The aft of piercing or boring. 
—The likelieft way is the perforation of the body of the 
tree in feveral places one above another, and the fillipg 
of the holes. Bacon. —Hole ; place bored.—That the nip¬ 
ples fhould be tnade fpongy, and with fuch perforations 
as to admit paflage to the milk, are arguments of provi¬ 
dence. Hay on the Creation. 
PER'FOR ATIVE, adj. Having power to pierce: ap- 
pied to the chirurgical inftrument called a trepan. Todd’s 
Johnfon. 
PERFORA'TOR, f. The inftrument of boring.—The 
patient placed in a convenient chair, dipping the trocar 
in oil, ftab it fuddenly through the teguments, and, with¬ 
drawing the perforator, leave the waters to empty by the 
canula. Sharp's Surgery. 
PERFO'RCE, adv. [par force, Fr.] By violence ; vio¬ 
lently.—She perforce withholds the loved boy. Shake- 
fpeare's M. N. Dream. 
All trembling, and arifing full of fpots, 
And pale with death at hand, perforce (he breaks 
Into the inntoft rooms. Peacham on Poetry. 
Of neceflity.—Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad 
dog. Ray's Proverbs. 
So forth he far’d, as now befell, on foot, 
Sith his good deed is lately from him gone; 
Patience perforce! Spenfer's F. Q. 
To PERFOR'M, v.a. [per andformure, Lat.] To exe¬ 
cute; to do; todifcharge ; to atchieve an undertaking ; to 
accomplifh.—All three fet among the foremoft ranks of 
fame for great minds to attempt, and great force to per¬ 
form what they did attempt. Sidney. 
Haft thou, fpirit. 
Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bad thee ? Shahefp. 
.To PERFOR'M, v.n. To fucceed in an attempt.— 
When a poet has performed admirably in feveral illultrious 
places, we fometimes alfo admire his very errours. Watts. 
PERFOR'MABLE, adj. Prafticable; fuch as may be 
done.—Men forget the relations of hiftory, affirming that 
elephants have no joints, whereas their actions are not 
performable without them. Brown's Vulg. Err. 
PERFOR'MANCE,/. Completion of fomething de- 
figned; execution of fomething promifed.—Promifing is 
the very air o’ th’ time ; it opens the eyes of expeftation : 
performance is ever the duller for his aft, and, but in the 
plainer kind of people, the deed is quite out of ufe. 
Shakejpeare’s Timon. —Men may, and muft, differ in their 
employments ; but yet they muft all aft for the fame ends, 
as dutiful fervants of God, in the right and pious per¬ 
formance of their feveral callings. Law. 
His promifes were, as he then was, mighty ; 
But his performance, as he now is, nothing. Shakefpeare. 
Compofition ; work.— Few of our comic performances 
give good examples. RichardJ'on's Clarijfa. —Aftion ; 
fomething done.—In this Aumbry agitation, befides her 
walking and other aftual performances, what have you 
heard her fay ? Shakefpeare. 
PERFOR'MER, f. One that performs any thing.—The 
merit of fervice is feldom attributed to the true and exact 
performer. Shakejpeare. —It is generally applied to one 
that makes a public exhibition of his flcill; as an aftor 
or mufician. 
To PER'FRICATE, v.a. [from the Lat. per, through, 
and frico, to rub.] To rub over. Johnfon. 
PERFRICA'TIQN,/! The aft of rubbing thoroughly. 
Scott. 
PERFRIC'TION, /’. The aft of rubbing thoroughly ; 
a fliivering for cold. Cole. 
PERFU'MATORY, adj. That perfumes.—A perfunm- 
tory or incenfe altar. Leigh's Crit. Sacra, 1650. 
PERFU'ME, f. [ parfum, Fr. fometimes accented on 
the firft fyllable in poetry.] Strong odour of fweetnefs 
ufed to give feents to other things.—Pomanders and knots 
of 
