PET 
769 
P E S 
j82t.—P elt is ninety miles fouth-eaft of Prefburg, and 
103 fouth-eaft of Vienna. Lat. 47. 28. N. Ion. 19.14. E. 
PES'T-HOUSE, f. An hofpital for perfons infedled 
with the plague.—Which kind of reafoning is juft as if 
a man fliould go into a peft-houfe to learn a remedy 
againft the plague. South. 
Are we from noifome damps of peft-houfe free? 
And drink our fouls the lweet ethereal air ? T/iomfon. 
PEST'DON, a town ofPruflla, in Pomerelia: ten miles 
fouth of Marienburg. 
To PES'TER, v. a. [pejler , Fr. to inveigh againft.] To 
diflurb ; to perplex; to harafs ; to turmoil.—We are 
pejlered with mice and rats, and to this end the cat is 
very ferviceable. More again/l Atheifm. — A multitude of 
fcribblers daily pejler the world with their infufferable 
ituff. Dry den. 
Who then (hall blame 
His pejler’d fenfes to recoil and ftart, 
When all that is within him does condemn 
Itfelf for being there ? Sha/iefpeare’s Macbeth. 
He hath not fail’d to pejler us with meflage, 
Importing the furrender of thofe lands. Shakefpeare. 
To encumber; [ pefta , Ital. a crowd or throng.]— Cloiftered 
monks, which fill and pejler every city. Harmar's Tr. of 
Beza, 1587.—The people crowding near within the pejler'd 
room. Drayton. 
The churches, and new calendere, 
Pejier'd with mongrel faints. Bp. Hall's Sat. 
Confin’d and pejier'd in this pinfold here, 
Men drive to keep a frail and feverifh being. Milton. 
PES'TERER, f. One that pefters or difturhs. 
PES'TEROUS, adj. Encumbering ; cumberfome.— In 
the ftatute againft vagabonds, note the dillike the parlia¬ 
ment had of gaoling them, as that which was chargeable, 
pejleroits, and of no open example. Bacon's Hen. VII. 
PES'TI, a town of Naples, in Principato Citra, fituated 
near the ruins of the ancient Paeftum or Poftidonia, which 
was ruined by the Guifcards, and abandoned in the nth 
century. Among the ruins are three temples, a theatre, 
an amphitheatre, a church, See. twenty miles fouth-eaft 
of Salerno. 
PESTIC'CIA, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata: nine 
miles north of Turfi. 
PES'TIDUCT, f. [Lat. peftis, and duco, to lead.] That 
which conveys or brings contagion.—When I am but 
lick, and might infedl, they [the friends of the difeafed] 
have no remedy but their abfence and my folitude. It 
is an excufeto them that are great, and pretend, and yet 
are loth to come; it is an inhibition to thofe who would 
truly come, becaufe they may be made inftruments and 
peftiduds to the infection of others, by their coming. 
Donne's Devot. 
PESTIF'EROUS, adj. [from the Lat. peftis, and fero, 
to bear, &c.] Dellruclive ; mifehievous.—Beware of the 
pejliferous lee of Rome, that flie make you not drunke 
with her pleafaunte vvy'ue. Abp. Cranmer's Anj'wer to Bp. 
Gardiner. 
Such is thy audacious wickednefs, 
Thy leud, pejliferous, and diflentious, pranks, 
The very infants prattle of thy pride. Shakefpeare. 
Peftilential; malignant; infedlious.—It is eafy to con¬ 
ceive how the fleams of pejliferous bodies taint the air, 
while they are alive and hot. Arbuthnot. 
PES'TILENCE, J'. \pejlilence, old Fr. from peflilenlia, 
Lat.] Plague; peft; contagious diftentper.—-The pefti- 
lenee that walketh in darknefs. PJ'alm xci. 6.—There 
ftiall be famines, and peflilences, and earthquakes, in di¬ 
vers places. Matlh. xxiv. 7. 
The red peftilence ftrike all trades in Rome, 
And occupations perifli. Shakefpeare. 
When my eyes beheld Olivia firft, 
Methought fhe purg’d the,air of peftilence. ShdheJpeare. 
PES'TILEN f, adj. Producing plagues; malignant*-— 
Great ringing of bells in populous cities diffipated pejlilent 
air, which may be from the concuffion of the air, and not 
from the found. Bacon's Nat. Hijl. —To thofe people 
that dwell under or near the equator, a perpetual fpring 
would be a moll pejlilent and infupportable fummer. 
Bentley. —Mifehievous; deftrudlive: applied to things.— 
There is nothing more contagious and pejlilent than tome 
kinds of harmony ; than fome, nothing more ftrong and 
potent unto good. Hooker. 
Which precedent, of peftilent import, 
Againft thee, Henry, had been brought. Daniel. 
Mifehievous ; applied to perfons.—We have found this 
man a pejlilent fellow. Alls xxiv. 5.—In ludicrous language, 
it is uled to exaggerate the meaning of another word : 
One peftilent fine, 
His beard no bigger though than thine, 
Walk’d on before the reft. Suckling. 
PES'TILENT WORT. See Tussilago. 
PESTILEN'TIAL, adj. Partaking of the nature of 
peftilence; producing peftilence; infedtious ; contagious. 
—Thefe, with the air palling into the lungs, infect the 
mafs of blood, and lay the foundation of peftilential fevers. 
Woodward. 
Fire, involv’d 
In peftilential vapours, flench, and fmoak. Addifon. 
Mifehievous; deftrudtive ; pernicious.—If government 
depends upon religion, then this fhows the -peftilential 
defign of thofe that attempt to disjoin the civil and ec- 
clefiaflical interefls. South. 
PES'TILENTLY, adv. Mifchievoufly; deftrudlively. 
—In ludicrous language, fo as to exaggerate the mean¬ 
ing of another word.—The pretence of making people 
fagacious, and peftilently witty ! Echard of the Cunt, of 
the Clergy. 
PESTILL A'TION, f. [from peftle.] The a£t of pound¬ 
ing or breaking in a mortar.— The bell diamonds are 
comminuble, and fo far from breaking hammers, that 
they fubmit unto peftillation, and refifl not any ordinary 
peftle. Broivns Vu/g. Err. 
PESTIVIEN', a town of France, in the department of 
the North Coafts: nine miles fouth-fouth-well of Guin- 
gamp, and twelve north of Roftrenen. 
PESTLE,/. [ peftail , old French; pijlillum, Latin.] 
An inftrument with which any thing is broken in a 
mortar.—What real alteration can the beating of the 
peftle make in any body, but the texture of it ? Locke .— 
Upon our vegetable food the teeth and jaws aft as the 
pejlle and mortar. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 
Pestle of Pork, f. A gammon of bacon. A very old 
exprefiion. Huloet and Barret give it. And the Ex- 
more dialed! yet calls a leg of pork by this name.—With 
(having you fhinelike a pejlle of porke. Damon and Pythias. 
To PES'TLE, v. n. To ufe a peftle.—It will be a pejl- 
ling device : it will pound all your enemy’s pradlices to 
powder. B. Jonfon’s Epicoene. 
PESTOV'SKOI, a town of Pruffia, in the government 
of Viatka, on the Suran: forty-eight miles north-north- 
eaft of Slobodfkoi. 
PE'SU, or SI'U, a city of China, of the fecond rank, in 
Kiang-nan, on the river Hoang: 317 miles fouth of Pe¬ 
king. Lat. 34. 10. N. Ion. 117. o. E. 
PES'VER, a town of Perfia, in the province of Irak: 
fixty miles weft of Kermanfha. 
PES'UMSCUT, a river in the province of Maine, 
which runs into Portland Bay. 
PET, f. [of doubtful etymology; from depit, Fr. or 
impetus, Lat. or perhaps it may be derived fome way from 
petit, as it implies only a little fume or fret. Dr. Johnfpn. 
— Serenius derives it from the Su. Goth, pelt, an interjec¬ 
tion expreffing diflike or contempt. It may be from the 
Italian 
