410 
P I E 
P I E 
arch one hundred and nine feet - , the diftance between 
the piers feventy-two feet and an half ; in the fecond arch, 
the diftance of the piers is one hundred and thirty feet ; 
in the third the diftance is one hundred and nine feet; 
in the fourth the diftance is one hundred and thirty- 
eight feet. Arbuihnot on Coins. —A proje&ingmole erefted 
in the fea, to break the force of the waves.—A peer \_pier~] 
is from petra , becaufe of the congestion of great ftones to 
the raifing up of fuch a pile : ’tis a kind of ftnall artificial 
creek or iinus, as the pier of Dover, the pier of Portland, 
See. Gregory's Pojihum. 1640. 
Piers, in common architecture, are a kind of pilafters, 
or buttrefles, raifed for fupport, ftrength, and fometimes 
for ornament. Alfo a fort of fquare pillars, part of which 
is hidden within the wall ; the only thing wherein it 
differs from a pilafter, being this, that the latter has a 
bale and capital, which the former has not. According 
to the aft of parliament for the rebuilding of London 
after the fire in 1666, the fcantlings or piers were ordered 
to be for the firft fort of houfes, corner piers 18 inches 
fquare; middle andiingle piers 12 and 14 inches; double 
piers, between houfe and houfe, 14 and 18 inches. In 
the fecond and third fort of houfes, corner piers, 2 feet 6 
inches fquare ; middle or tingle piers, 18 inches fquare ; 
double piers, between houfe and houfe, 14 and 19 inches 
fquare. 
PIER'-GLASS, J'. A looking-glafs fitted to that part 
of a wall in a room which divides the windows. 
PIER HEAD', a cape on the north-eaft coaft of New 
Holland, and weft point of Thirfty Sound. 
PIE'RA, a town of Spain, in Catalonia: fixteen miles 
north-weft of Barcelona. 
PIERA'CO, a town of the marquifate of Ancona : 
five miles north of Ancona. 
PIE'RBACH, a town of Auftria: eight miles north- 
north-weft of Grein. 
To PIERCE,?;, a. [percer , Fr. from per fe ire, L at.] To 
penetrate; to enter; to force a way into.—The love of 
money is the root of ali evil ; which, while fome coveted 
after, they have pierced themfelves through with many 
borrows. 1 Tim. vi. 10. 
Steed threatens fteed in high and boaftful neighs, 
Piercing the night’s dull ear. Shakefpeare's Hen. V. 
The glorious temple fhall arife, 
And with new luftre pierce the neighbouring fkies. 
Prior. 
To touch the pafiions ; to affeft : 
Did your letters pierce the queen ? 
She read them in my prefence, 
And now and then an ample tear trill’d down. S/iakefpcare. 
To PIERCE, v. n. To make way by force into or 
through any thing.—Short arrows, called fprights, with¬ 
out any other heads fave wood fliarpened, were difeharged 
out of mufkets, and would pierce through the fides of 
fhips, where a bullet would not pierce. Bacon's Nat. Hijl. 
Her fighs will make a battery in his breaft; 
Her tears will pierce into a marble heart. Shakefpeare. 
To ftrike; to move 5 to affeft : 
Say (he be mute, and will not fpeak a word ; 
Then I’ll commend her volubility 
And fay fhe uttereth piercing eloquence. Shakefpeare. 
To enter ; to dive as into a fecret.—She would not pierce 
further into his meaning than himfelf fhould declare ; lo 
would lhe interpret all his doings to be accomplifhed in 
goodnefs. Sidney. — All men knew Nathaniel to be an 
Ifraelite ; but our Saviour, piercing deeper, giveth further 
teftimony of him than men could have done. Hooker. — 
To affeft fevercly.—They provide more piercing ftatutes 
daily to chain up the poor. Shakefpeare. 
PIERCE’s I'SLAND, a fmall ifland in Pifcataqua-river. 
PIERCE'A, f. in botany. See Rivina. 
PIE'RCEABLE, adj. That may be penetrated : 
A grove whofe trees, yclad with fommer’s pride, 
Did fpread fo broad, that heaven’s light did hide, 
Not perceahle with power of any ftar. Spenfer. 
PIE'RCED ISLAND, a fmall ifland or rock in the 
gulf of St. Laurence, pierced with two natural arches, 
through which the fea paffes: fifteen miles fouth of Cape 
Gafpe. 
PIE'RCER, J'. An inftrument that bores or penetrates. 
•—Cart, ladder, and wimble, with perj'tr and pod. Tujfer. 
■—The part with which infeeds perforate bodies.—The hol¬ 
low inftrument, terebra, we may Englifh piercer, where¬ 
with many flies are provided, proceeding from the womb, 
with which they perforate the tegument of leaves, and 
through the hollow of it injeft their eggs into the holes 
they have made. Ray on the Creation. —One who perforates. 
PIE'RCING, f. Penetration.—There is that fpeaketh 
like the piercings of a fword ; but the tongue of the wife 
is health. Prov. xii. 18. 
PIE'RCINGLY, adv. Sharply. Sherwood. 
PIE'RCINGNESS, f. Power of piercing.—We con¬ 
template the vaft reach and compafs of our underftanding, 
the prodigious quicknefs and piercingnefs of its thought. 
Denhams Phyf. Theol. 
PIER'CY, a town of America, in North Hampfhire, 
and county of Coos; containing 211 inhabitants. 
PIER'CY I'SLAND, a fmall island, near the eaft coaft 
of New Zealand, a little to the eaft of Cape Brett. 
PIERFO'ND, a tow.n of France, in the department of 
the Oife : eight miles fouth-eaft of Compiegne, and eight 
north of Crefpy. 
PIE'RI A, in ancient geography, a diftrift of Macedonia, 
contained between the mouths of the rivers Ludias and 
Peneus; extended by Strabo beyond the Ludias, to the 
river Axios on the north, and on the fouth no farther 
than the Aliacmon, along the weft fide of the Sinus 
Thermaicus.—Another Pieria of Syria, the north part of 
Seleucia, or the Antiochena, fituated on the Sinus Iflicus, 
and lying next Cilicia to the north-weft. 
PIER'IDES, in fabulous hiftory, the daughters of 
Pierus, a Macedonian prince, who, prefuming to dilpute 
with the Mufes for the prize of poetry, were turned into 
magpies. The name of Pierides was alfo given to the 
Mules, from Mount Pieris in Theffaly, which was confe- 
crated to them ; or, according to others, from Pieris, a 
Theffalian poet, who was the firft who faqrificed to them. 
See Pieris. 
PIERI'NO DEL VA'GA. See Buonacorsia, 
PIE'RIS, orPiERius, in ancient geography, a moun¬ 
tain which is thought to have given name to Pieria of 
Macedonia; taking its name from Pierus a poet, who was 
the firft that facrificed to the Mufes, thence called Pie- 
rides, if credit may be given to an ancient fcholiaft on 
Juvenal. See M use, vol. xvi. p. 275. 
PIER'MONT, a town of America, in the ftate of North 
Hampfliire, and county of Grafton, containing 877 inha¬ 
bitants. 
PIEROUGA'MIS, Indians of Canada, who inhabit the 
weft bank of Lake St. John. 
PIERRE, a town of France in the department of the 
Saone and Loire : fifteen miles north of Louhans. 
PIERRE (St.), an ifland on the coaft of Newfoundland, 
fouth-fouth-weft of the fouth-eaft point of Fortune-bay, 
and near to and fouth-eaft of the fouth point of the ifland 
of Miquelon. This ifland is chiefly ufed for curing and 
drying fifti. Lat. 46.46. N. Ion. 56. 17. W. 
PIERRE (St.), a river of North America, which rifes 
far to the north-weft, and, after a fouth-eaft courfe, joins 
the Miflifiippi about north lat. 44. 40. It is at its mouth 
in the Milliflippi about 100 yards broad. About fifty miles 
from its mouth are fome rapids. It is fuggefted by cap¬ 
tain Carver, that, though the rivers St. Pierre and the 
Miffouri enter the Miflifiippi 1200 miles from each other. 
