Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary



PAWNED, pp. Pledged; given in security.

PAWNEE, n. The person to whom a pawn is delivered as security; one that takes any thing in pawn.

If the pawn is laid up and the pawnee robbed, he is not answerable.

PAWNER, n. One that pledges any thing as security for the payment of borrowed money.

PAWNING, ppr. Pledging, as goods; giving as security.

PAX, n. [L. pax, peace.] A little image or piece of board with the image of Christ upon the cross on it, which people before the reformation, used to kiss after the service; the ceremony being considered as the kiss of peace.

PAY, v.t. pret. and pp. paid.

1. To discharge a debt; to deliver to a creditor the value of the debt, either in money or goods, to his acceptance or satisfaction, by which the obligation of the debtor is discharged.

2. To discharge a duty created by promise or by custom or by the moral law; as, to pay a debt of honor or of kindness.

You have paid down

More penitence, than done trespass.

3. To fulfill; to perform what is promised; as, to pay one’s vows.

4. To render what is due to a superior, or demanded by civility or courtesy; as, to pay respect to a magistrate; to pay due honor to parents.

5. To beat.

For which, or pay me quickly, or I’ll pay you.

6. To reward; to recompense; as, to pay for kindness with neglect.

To pay for, to make amends; to atone by suffering. Men often pay for their mistakes with loss of property or reputation, sometimes with life.

1. To give an equivalent for any thing purchased.

To pay, or pay over, in seamen’s language, to daub or besmear the surface of any body, to preserve it from injury by water or weather.

To pay the bottom of a vessel, to cover it with a composition of tallow, sulphur, rosin, etc.; to bream.

To pay a mast or yard, to besmear it with tar, turpentine, rosin, tallow or varnish.

To pay a seam, to pour melted pitch along it, so as to defend the oakum.

To pay off; to make compensation to and discharge; as, to pay off the crew of a ship.

To pay out, to slacken, extend or cause to run out; as, to pay out more cable.

PAY, v.i. To pay off, in seamen’s language, is to fall to leeward, as the head of a ship.

To pay on, to beat with vigor; to redouble blows. [Colloquial.]

PAY, n. Compensation; recompense; an equivalent given for money due, goods purchased or services performed; salary or wages for services; hire. The merchant receives pay for goods sold; the soldier receives pay for his services, but the soldiers of the American revolution never received full pay.

1. Compensation; reward.

Here only merit constant pay receives--

PAYABLE, a. That may or ought to be paid. In general, money is payable as soon as it is due, or at the time payment is stipulated, or at the expiration of the credit; but by the usage of merchants, three or more days of grace are allowed to the debtor, and a note due at the day when payment is promised, is not payable till the expiration of the days of grace.

1. That can be paid; that there is power to pay.

Thanks are a tribute payable by the poorest.

PAY-BILL, n. A bill of money to be paid to the soldiers of a company.

PAY-DAY, n. The day when payment is to be made or debts discharged; the day on which wages or money is stipulated to be paid.

PAYEE, n. The person to whom money is to be paid; the person named in a bill or note to whom the amount is promised or directed to be paid.

PAYER, n. One that pays. In bills of exchange, the person on whom the bill is drawn, and who is directed to pay the money to the holder.

PAYMASTER, n. One who is to pay; one from whom wages or reward is received.

1. In the army, an officer whose duty is to pay the officers and soldiers their wages, and who is entrusted with money for this purpose.

PAYMENT, n. The act of paying, or giving compensation.

1. The thing given in discharge of a debt or fulfillment of a promise.

2. Reward; recompense.

3. Chastisement; sound beating. [Not used.]

PAYNIM. [See Painim.]

PAY-OFFICE, n. A place or office where payment is made of public debts.

PAYSE, PAYSER, for poise, poiser, not used.

PEA, n. [L. pisum.] A plant and its fruit of the genus Pisum, of many varieties. This plant has a papilionaceous flower, and the pericarp is a legume, called in popular language a pod. In the plural, we write peas, for two or more individual seeds, but pease, for an indefinite number in quantity of bulk. We write two, three or four peas, but a bushel of pease. [This practice is arbitrary.]




3. Freedom from internal commotion or civil war.

4. Freedom from private quarrels, suits or disturbance.


Great peace have they that love the law. Psalm 119:165.

6. Heavenly rest; the happiness of heaven.




Peace, the lovers are asleep.


To make peace, to reconcile, as parties at variance.


PEACEABLE, a. Free from war, tumult or public commotion. We live in peaceable times. The reformation was introduced in a peaceable manner.

1. Free from private feuds or quarrels. The neighbors are peaceable. These men are peaceable.

2. Quiet; undisturbed; not agitated with passion. His mind is very peaceable.

3. Not violent, bloody or unnatural; as, to die a peaceable death.

PEACEABLENESS, n. The state of being peaceable; quietness.

1. Disposition to peace.

PEACEABLY, adv. Without war; without tumult or commotion; without private feuds and quarrels.

1. Without disturbance; quietly; without agitation; without interruption.

PEACEBREAKER, n. One that violates or disturbs public peace.

PEACEFUL, a. Quiet; undisturbed; not in a state of war or commotion; as a peaceful time; a peaceful country.

1. Pacific; mild; calm; as peaceful words; a peaceful temper.

2. Removed from noise or tumult; still; undisturbed; as the peaceful cottage; the peaceful scenes of rural life.

PEACEFULLY, adv. Without war or commotion.

1. Quietly; without disturbance.

Our loved earth, where peacefully we slept.

2. Mildly; gently.

PEACEFULNESS, n. Quiet; freedom from war, tumult, disturbance or discord.

1. Freedom from mental perturbation; as peacefulness of mind.

PEACELESS, a. Without peace; disturbed.

PEACEMAKER, n. One who makes peace by reconciling parties that are at variance.


PEACE-OFFERING, n. An offering that procures peace. Among the Jews, an offering or sacrifice to God for atonement and reconciliation for a crime or offense.

PEACE-OFFICER, n. A civil officer whose duty is to preserve the public peace, to prevent or punish riots, etc.; as a sheriff, or constable.

PEACE-PARTED, a. Dismissed from the world in peace.

PEACH, n. A tree and its fruit, of the genus Amygdalus, of many varieties. This is a delicious fruit, the produce of warm or temperate climates. In America, the peach thrives and comes to perfection in the neighborhood of Boston, northward of which it usually fails.

PEACH, for impeach, not used.

PEACH-COLOR, n. The pale red color of the peach blossom.

PEACH-COLORED, a. Of the color of a peach blossom.

PEACHER, n. An accuser. [Not used.]

PEACHICK, n. The chicken or young of the peacock.

PEACH-TREE, n. The tree that produces the peach.

PEACOCK, n. [L. pavo.] A large and beautiful fowl of the genus Pavo, properly the male of the species, but in usage the name is applied to the species in general. The feathers of this fowl’s tail are very long, and variegated with rich and elegant colors. The peacock is a native of India.

PEACOCK-FISH, n. A fish of the Indian seas, having streaks of beautiful colors.

PEAHEN, n. The hen or female of the peacock.

PEAK, n. [Eng. pike, beak.]

1. The top of a hill or mountain, ending in a point; as the peak of Teneriffe.

2. A point; the end of any thing that terminates in a point.

3. The upper corner of a sail which is extended by a gaff or yard; also, the extremity of the yard or gaff.

PEAK, v.i. To look sickly or thin. [Not used.]

1. To make a mean figure; to sneak. [Not used.]

PEAK, v.t. To raise a gaff or yard more obliquely to the mast.

PEAKING, a. Mean; sneaking; poor. [Vulgar.]

PEAKISH, a. Denoting or belonging to an acuminated situation.

PEAL, n. [from L. pello, whence appello, to appeal. The sense is to drive; a peal is a driving of sound. This word seems to belong to the family of L. balo, and Eng. to bawl, jubilee, bell, etc.]

A loud sound, usually a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts of a multitude, etc.

PEAL, v.i. To utter loud and solemn sounds; as the pealing organ.
PEAL, v.t. To assail with noise.

Nor was his ear less pealed.

1. To cause to ring or sound; to celebrate.

The warrior’s name

Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame.

2. To stir or agitate. [Not used.]

PEALED, pp. Assailed with sound; resounded; celebrated.

PEALING, ppr. Uttering a loud sound or successive sounds; resounding.

PEAN, n. [L poean.] A song of praise or triumph.

PEANISM, n. The song or shouts of praise or of battle; shouts of triumph.

PEAR, n. [L. pyrum.] The fruit of the Pyrus communis, of many varieties, some of which are delicious to the taste.

PEARCH. [See Perch.]

PEARL, n. perl.



3. A white speck of film growing on the eye.

PEARL, v.i. perl. To resemble pearls.

PEARLASH, n. perl’ash. An alkali obtained from the ashes of wood; refined potash.

PEARLED, a. perl’ed. Set or adorned with pearls.

PEARL-EYED, a. perl’-eyed. Having a speck in the eye.

PEARL-SINTER, n. Fiorite; a variety of silicious sinter, the color gray and white.

PEARL-SPAR, n. perl’-spar. Brown spar.

PEARL-STONE, n. A mineral regarded as a volcanic production. It occurs in basaltic and porphyritic rocks, and is classed with pitch stone.

Pearl-stone is a subspecies of indivisible quartz.

PEARL-WORT, PEARL-GRASS, n. A plant of the genus Sagina.

PEARLY, a. perl’y. Containing pearl; abounding with pearls; as pearly shells; a pearly shore.


PEARMAIN, n. A variety of the apple.

PEAR-TREE, n. The tree that produces pears.

PEASANT, n. pez’ant. A countryman; one whose business is rural labor.

PEASANT, a. pez’ant. Rustic; rural.

PEASANTLIKE, PEASANTLY, a. Rude, clownish; illiterate; resembling peasants.

PEASANTRY, n. pez’antry. Peasants; rustics; the body of country people.

1. Rusticity. [Not used.]

PEAS-COD, PEA-SHELL, n. The legume or pericarp of the pea.

PEASTONE, n. A subspecies of limestone.

PEASE, n. Peas collectively, or used as food. [See Pea.]

PEAT, n. A substance resembling turf, used as fuel. It is found in low grounds or moorish lands, and is of several species; one is of a brown or yellowish brown color, and when first cut has a viscid consistence, but hardens when exposed to the air; another consists chiefly of vegetable substances, as branches of trees, roots, grass, etc.

PEAT. [See Pet.]

PEAT-MOSS, n. [peat and moss.] An earthy material used as fuel.

1. A fen producing peat.

PEBBLE, PEBBLESTONE, n. In popular usage, a roundish stone of any kind from the size of a nut to that of a man’s head. In a philosophical sense, minerals distinguished from flints by their variety of colors, consisting of crystalline matter debased by earths of various kinds, with veins, clouds and other variegations, formed by incrustation round a central nucleus, but sometimes the effect of a simple concretion. Pebbles are much used in the pavement of streets.

A general term for water-worn minerals.

PEBBLE-CRYSTAL, n. A crystal in form of nodules, found in earthy stratums and irregular in shape.

PEBBLED, a. Abounding with pebbles.

PEBBLY, a. Full of pebbles; abounding with small roundish stones.

PECARY, PEC-CARY, n. A quadruped of Mexico, in general appearance resembling a hog, but its body is less bulky, its legs shorter, and its bristles thicker and stronger, like the quills of the porcupine. Its color is black and white, and it has on the hind part of the back a protuberance like the navel of other animals, with an orifice form which issues a liquor of a very strong scent.

PECCABILITY, n. [from peccable.] State of being subject to sin; capacity of sinning.

PECCABLE, a. [from L. pecco.]

Liable to sin; subject to transgress the divine law.

PECCADILLO, n. [L. peccatum.]

1. A slight trespass or offense; a petty crime or fault.

2. A sort of stiff ruff.

PECCANCY, n. [from peccant.] Bad quality; as the peccancy of the humors.

1. Offense.

PECCANT, a. [L. peccans. See Peccable.]

1. Sinning; guilty of sin or transgression; criminal; as peccant angels.

2. Morbid; bad; corrupt; not healthy; as peccant humors.

3. Wrong; bad; defective; informal; as a peccant citation. [Not used.]

PECCANT, n. An offender. [Not used.]

PECCAVI. [L. I have offended.] A colloquial word used to express confession or acknowledgment of an offense.

PECHBLEND, n. Pitchblend, an ore of uranium; a metallic substance found in masses, or stratified with earths or with other minerals, in Swedish and Saxon mines. It is of a blackish color, inclining to a deep steel gray, and one kind has a mixture of spots of red.

PECK, n.

1. The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as a peck of wheat or oats.

2. In low language, a great deal; as, to be in a peck of troubles.

PECK, v.t.

1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into, as a bird that pecks a hole in a tree.

2. To strike with a pointed instrument, or to delve or dig with any thing pointed, as with a pick-ax.

3. To pick up food with the beak.

4. To strike with small and repeated blows; to strike in manner to make small impressions. In this sense, the verb is generally intransitive. We say, to peck at.

[This verb and pick are radically the same.]

PECKED, pp. Struck or penetrated with a beak or pointed instrument.

PECKER, n. One that pecks; a bird that pecks holes in trees; a woodpecker.

PECKING, ppr. Striking with the bill; thrusting the beak into; thrusting into with a pointed instrument; taking up food with the beak.

PECKLED, for speckled, not used.

PECTINAL, a. [L. pecten, a comb; pecto, to comb.]

Pertaining to a comb; resembling a comb.

PECTINAL, n. A fish whose bones resemble the teeth of a comb.

PECTINATE, PECTINATED, a. [from L. pecten, a comb.] Having resemblance to the teeth of a comb. In botany, a pectinate leaf is a sort of pinnate leaf, in which the leaflets are toothed like a comb.

A mineral is pectinated, when it presents short filaments, crystals or branches, nearly parallel and equidistant.

PECTINATION, n. The state of being pectinated.

1. A combing; the combing of the head.

PECTINITE, n. [L. pecten, a comb.]

A fossil pecten or scallop, or scallop petrified.

PECTORAL, a. [L. pectoralis, from pectus, breast.]

Pertaining to the breast; as the pectoral muscles; pectoral medicines.

The pectoral fins of a fish are situated on the sides of the fish, behind the gills.

PECTORAL, n. A breastplate.

1. A sacerdotal habit or vestment worn by the Jewish high priest, called in our version of the Bible, a breastplate.

2. A medicine adapted to cure or relieve complaints of the breast and lungs.


1. To defraud the public of money or goods entrusted to one’s care, by appropriating the property to one’s own use; to defraud by embezzlement.

2. Among civilians, to steal.

PECULATION, n. The act, practice or crime of defrauding the public by appropriating to one’s own use the money or goods entrusted to one’s care for management or disbursement; embezzlement of public money or goods.

PECULATOR, n. [L.] One that defrauds the public by appropriating to his own use money entrusted to his care.

PECULIAR, a. [L. peculiaris, from peculium, one’s own property, from pecus, cattle.]


2. Singular; particular. The man has something peculiar in his deportment.

3. Particular; special.

My fate is Juno’s most peculiar care.

[Most cannot, in strict propriety, be prefixed to peculiar, but it is used to give emphasis to the word.]

4. Belonging to a nation, system or other thing, and not to others.

PECULIAR, n. Exclusive property; that which belongs to a person in exclusion of others.

1. In the canon law, a particular parish or church which has the probate of wills within itself, exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop’s court.

Court of peculiars, in England, is a branch of the court of arches. It has jurisdiction over all the parishes dispersed through the province of Canterbury, in the midst of other dioceses, which are exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction, and subject to the metropolitan only.

PECULIARITY, n. Something peculiar to a person or thing; that which belongs to or is found in one person or thing and in no other; as a peculiarity of style or manner of thinking; peculiarity in dress.

PECULIARIZE, v.t. To appropriate; to make peculiar.

PECULIARLY, adv. Particularly; singly.

1. In a manner not common to others.

PECULIARNESS, n. The state of being peculiar; appropriation. [Little used.]

PECUNIARY, a. [L. pecuniarius, from pecunia, money, from pecus, cattle.]

1. Relating to money; as pecuniary affairs or losses.

2. Consisting of money; as a pecuniary mulct or penalty.

PECUNIOUS, a. Full of money. [Not used.]

PED, n. [for pad.] A small pack-saddle.

1. A basket; a hamper.