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In old English law, paage (also peage and pedage) was a toll charged for passage over another person' s grounds.
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A pace is the length of a step in walking or marching. It is reckoned from the heel of one foot to the heel of the other and was formerly sometimes used as a unit in measuring distances. Ordinarily the pace was estimated at two and one half linear feet; but in measuring distances be stepping, the
pace was extended to three feet or to three and three tenths feet (one fifth of a rod). The regulation marching pace in the English and United States armies was thirty inches for quick time, and thirty-six inches for double time. The Roman pace (passus) was from the heel of one foot to the heel of the same foot when it next touched the ground, being five Roman feet. In 1888, the pace was described as 5 feet in length.
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The outbreak of the American Civil War and the feeling of necessity of a better connection with the Pacific coast, induced the American Government to make large grants in favour of the Central Pacific, Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads, by an act of July the 1st, 1862. Later, 47,000,000 acres were granted to the Northern Pacific. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific were completed in 1869. The construction and finance of the Union Pacific were managed by the Credit Mobilier and involved in legislative scandals. In 1878 the office of Commissioner of Railroads was instituted, to supervise the accounts of the Pacific railways.
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A pack was a British measurement for wool and flax equal to 240 or 480 lbs. And for meal being equal to 280 lbs.
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Packfong is a Chinese metal alloy of nickel, zinc, and copper, resembling German silver.
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The pad was a British measure for fish comprising sixty mackerel.
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A padella is a type of candle comprising a large cup or deep saucer, containing fatty matter in which a wick is placed, and used for public illuminations, as at St. Peter's, in Rome.
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A paedophile (spelt in America pedophile and frequently incorrectly pedofile) is someone who exhibits a desire for sexual relations with children (paedophilia or pedophilia). The practice is strongly taboo in Great Britain, but none-the-less quite widespread with sex tourists travelling to Morocco and Thailand where the practice is tolerated, with children working as prostitutes some pimped by their parents.
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Paedotrophy is the art of rearing children.
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The palace court was a former British court having jurisdiction of personal actions arising within twelve miles of the palace at Whitehall. The court was abolished in 1849.
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A palanquin or palki was a kind of litter used in India for the conveyance of travellers. It was a wooden, rectangular box with movable sides and was large enough to allow the passenger to sit or lie down. It was carried by four bearers, by means of two poles passed through rings attached to the
palanquin.
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In phonetics, a palatal is a sound uttered, or a letter pronounced, by the aid of the palate, as for example the letters k and y.
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Palatinates were in Europe districts the ruler of which received from the king almost royal rights of ruling in his province. Maryland was by its charter erected into a palatinate after the model of the palatinate of Durham in England, and so continued as long as it was under proprietary government. The proprietors of Carolina were at first given their province as a palatinate.
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The Palestine Liberation Organisation or PLO was formed in 1964 by the Arab states as an organisation embracing the various Palestinian resistance organisations into one organisation with the aim of creating a secular democratic state over the whole of pre-Second World War Palestine. Under the leadership of Yasser Arafat the PLO modified its objective to the creation of an independent Palestinian state in any part of Palestine from which Israel would agree to withdraw. The PLO was recognised by the United Nations in 1974. After the end of the 20th century the influence of the PLO among Palestinians had waned, to be replaced by more militant groups such as Hamas (formed in 1987 to oppose the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem) and Hezbollah.
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A palindrome is a word, phrase or sentence the letters of which read the same left to right as right to left, such as 'was it a cat I saw'.
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Palissy ware is dishes and other similar articles covered with models from nature of fish, reptiles, shells, flowers and leaves, carefully coloured and presented in high relief. The style was produced by Bernard Palissy during the 16th century.
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Pallas is the second largest asteroid and the second to be discovered. It was first observed by the German astronomer Heinrich Olbers in 1802. It is about 480 km in diameter, and orbits about the sun in 1684 days.
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The palm is a lineal measure based upon the breadth of the hand, and reckoned variously at three or four inches. The Roman palm was reckoned as the length of the hand, and was equal to eight inches.
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Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, which commences Holy week in the Christian calendar. It is so named from the palm branches which were strewed before Christ on his public entry into Jerusalem.
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Palmistry is the science or art, depending upon one's belief, of the foretelling of the future or personal character traits through the study of the shape, colour, texture, temperature and lines of the hand. An ancient art, palmistry was traditionally used to foretell a person's future. Modern western fortune telling palmistry is the result of popularisation by Adrien Adolphe Desbarolles, a Frenchman and another Frenchman and compatriot, Casimir Stanislas d'Arpentigny, a French cavalry officer, who documented a system of interpretation based upon the shape and relative sizes of the fingers and palm. The occult work of Desbarolles and d'Arpentigny was further popularised in the 20th century in books written by 'Cheiro' or ' Count Louis Hammond'. This occult form of palmistry forms the basis of what most people accept as palmistry as traditionally practised by seaside gypsy fortune tellers and other entertainers. A sensible scientific approach was the subject of the life' s work of an Indian, Julius Spier in conjunction
with Carl Jung. Spier's system, which was never completed as a result of his ironically sudden and untimely death, aimed to enable people to analyse and interpret their self so that they may navigate the 'road of development which leads towards perfection, and to achieve the true synthesis of the personality.' In all forms of palmistry, the lines of the palm are given separate names and indications. The primary lines being the lines of: life, which curves from the edge of the palm around the thumb toward the wrist; head which runs across the middle of the palm; heart which runs across the top part of the palm below the fingers. The palm itself is divided into areas, known as mounds, and the fingers and thumb each have special significance.
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The pampas are natural grasslands of South America.
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The Pan-American Congress was an international conference of representatives from the United States and from seventeen States of Central and South America, which assembled at Washington, on October the 2nd, 1889, on the invitation of the United States. Its purpose was to adopt some plan of arbitration for the settlement of disputes, and plans for the improvement of business intercourse and means of communication between the countries. San Domingo was the only State to refuse the invitation. The delegates were taken on a tour of inspection through the Union, prior to assembling for the business convention. Nothing very definite was arrived at in the convention, which was of value chiefly through its exposition of the commercial status and resources of the various countries. The Bureau of American Republics was established at the suggestion of this convention.
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The Panama Congress was called by the Spanish-American Republics in 1826. The United States sent delegates too late for the preliminary meeting and the adjourned congress for 1827 never occurred. Among the objects of the proposed congress interesting to the United States were: The establishment of liberal doctrines of commercial intercourse; assent to the doctrine that free ships make free goods, and an agreement that 'each will guard against the establishment of any future European colony within its. Borders'. The failure of the Congress showed that an alliance between the United States and the smaller Republics was inadvisable. President John Quincy Adams was warmly in favour of the proposed meeting, but Congress did not favour it.
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A pantofle is a type of high-heeled or oriental slipper or loose shoe.
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Originally pantomime was the title given to a type of Roman actor who provided a mimetic entertainment, sometimes accompanied by music, the place of speech being replaced by skilful gestures. The actor playing all the parts. Modern pantomime has evolved from the plays of medieval Italy through developments in the 19th century - and not the 18th century as the Oxford English Dictionary claims - into a very British type of comic play in which the lead male role is played by a young woman, and includes at least one masculine man playing a woman - known as a pantomime dame - and other comic parts, the play typically being a fairy story or nursery story such as Aladdin, Cinderella, Mother Goose or the like.
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A pantoum is a Malay verse consisting of an indefinite number of quatrains with the second and fourth lines of each quatrain repeated as the first and third lines of the following one.
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Traditionally papier mache is made from old paper boiled to a pulp in water, then pressed and mixed with glue or starch paste before being forced into a previously oiled mould and dried. After drying the articles are soaked with linseed oil and dried at a higher temperature. Another variety of
papier mache involved sheets of paper - maybe as many as thirty or forty - pasted on to a metal core and then planed, varnished and polished with pumice stone before being decorated.
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A parasang (farsang) is an ancient Persian (Iranian) unit of measurement equivalent to about three miles.
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Parbreake or parbreakes was an old term for to vomit or spew forth. Although obsolete and archaic by the start of the 20th century, the term can still be encountered in old poetry and fables.
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A parbuckle is a rope used for raising or lowering casks and other cylindrical objects. The rope is secured at the middle at the upper level and both ends are passed under and around the object and then hauled or let out slowly, this being known as parbuckling.
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Parchment is a type of fine writing paper traditionally made from sheep or goat skin.
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A parfleche is an early form of leather carrying case. It is made from a single sheet of untanned buffalo hide or other skin which is moulded while fresh and wet, drying hard and waterproof. They were used by nomadic North American Indians as a form of suitcase for carrying dried food and clothing.
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Parliament is the supreme legislature of Great Britain. Parliament originated under the Norman kings as the Great Council of royal tenants-in- chief, to which in the 13th century, representatives of the shires were sometimes summoned. De Montfort's parliament of 1265 set a precedent by including representatives of the boroughs as well as the shires, which was followed by Edward I from 1275 onwards. Under Edward III the burgesses and knights of the shires began to meet separately from the barons, thus forming the House of Commons. By the 15th century parliament had acquired the right to legislate, vote and appropriate supplies, examine public accounts, and impeach royal ministers. The powers of parliament were much diminished under the Yorkists and Tudors, but under Elizabeth I a new spirit of independence appeared. The revolutions of 1640 and 1688 established parliamentary control over the executive and the judiciary and finally abolished all royal claim to tax or legislate without parliamentary consent. During these struggles
the two great parties emerged, and after 1688 it became customary for the king to choose his ministers from the party dominant in the Commons.
The English parliament was united with the Scottish in 1707, and with the Irish during' the period 1801 to 1922. The franchise was extended to the middle classes in 1832, to the urban working classes in 1867, to agricultural labourers in 1884, and to women in 1918 and 1928. Payment of members was introduced in 1911. The duration of parliaments was fixed at three years in 1694, at seven in 1716, and at five in 1911, but any parliament may extend its own life, as happened during both world wars. Constituencies are kept under continuous review by the parliamentary Boundary Commissions.
There are 630 members of parliament. The House of Lords comprises the temporal peers, i.e. all hereditary peers of England (created to 1707), all hereditary peers of Great Britain (created between 1707 and 1800), and all hereditary peers of the U.K. created from 1801 onward; all hereditary Scottish peers under the Peerage Act of 1963); all peeresses In their own right (under the same act); all life peers (both the Law Lords and those created under the Life Peerages Act of 1958); and the spiritual peers - the 2 archbishops and twenty four of the bishops (London, Durham and Winchester by right, and the rest by date). Since the parliament Act of 1911 the powers of the Lords have been restricted, in that they may delay a bill passed by the Commons for a limited period but not reject it. Under the parliament Bill of 1968 introduced by Harold Wilson a two-tier system of voting and non-voting peers would have been established, salaried, voting members being those 150 life peers able to attend regularly, supplemented by about 80 newly-created life peers chosen chiefly from existing hereditary peers: the government would have been entitled to a 10% majority. The measure gave way to an industrial relations bill. The Lords are presided over by the Lord Chancellor, and the Commons by the Speaker. A public bill is given a preliminary first reading and discussed in detail at the second reading; it is then referred to a standing committee, after which it is considered by a committee of the whole House. After the third reading it is sent to the Lords, whose procedure is similar. If it passes both houses, it receives the royal assent and so becomes law.
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The Parliament of bats was an English parliament held in 1426 during the reign of Henry VI and so called because the members being forbidden by the Duke of Gloucester to wear swords armed themselves with clubs or bats.
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The Parliament of dunces was an English parliament convened by Henry IV at Coventry in 1404, and so called because all lawyers were excluded from it.
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A Parsons table is a square or rectangular table with straight, square legs of the same width as the top is thick, the legs extending from the corners of the top flush with the edges so as to appear jointless.
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The Parsons' Case was a celebrated American legal case won by Patrick Henry in the November session of the Court of Hanover County, Virginia, in 1763. This case involved the constitutionality of the 'option law' or 'two penny act', passed by the Virginia Legislature in 1758. The operation of this act affected each parish minister, compelling him to receive the value of the 16,000 pounds of tobacco, due for his year's services, in paper money of the colony, amounting to 133 pounds instead of 400 pounds sterling, the selling value of the tobacco. The clergy appealed to the crown. The crown disallowed (vetoed) the law. Under this disallowance the Reverend James Maury having sued for damages, the court squarely adjudged the act to be no law, and decided for the plaintiff. A new trial was allowed on a demurrer, and Patrick Henry was retained a counsel for the defendant. His eloquence induced the jury, a picked jury, to return one penny damages for the plaintiff. Patrick Henry's success in the case made him an instant celebrity in America.
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Parthenophagy is the act of eating young girls or virgins.
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Pasigraphy is a system of writing with characters representing ideas, rather than words, designed to be universal in its comprehension.
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Passover is a Jewish festival to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites, when the angel of death (that slew the first born of the Egyptians) passed over their houses, and spared all who did as Moses commanded them.
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Pater noster is an alternative name for the Lord's Prayer, so named from the first two words in the Latin version. The term is also used for every tenth bead of a rosary because at that bead the Lord's Prayer is recited.
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Patina is the gloss produced by age or by continuous hand polishing on woodwork.
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Patricide is the term for the murder of a father.
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Patrol was a military system adopted by the parishes of most of the Southern colonies of America, notably South Carolina. The patrol was a sort of police for the parish, and was designed especially to prevent and subdue insurrections among the slaves. In South Carolina the patrol was established by law in 1704. The patrollers furnished their own pistols and horses. They rode from plantation to plantation and arrested all slaves who- could not show passes from their owners. This system soon became general through the South, and continued under various forms for many years.
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The Patrons of Husbandry (or Grangers as they were popularly known) were an American secret association devoted to the promotion of agricultural interests, organised in Washington in 1867. By 1875 it had 1.5 million member across the USA, both men and women. Though fundamentally non-political, the Patrons of Husbandry exerted considerable political influence in contests with the railroad corporations for cheaper rates.
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Paul Vs Virginia was an important legal case heard before the US Supreme Court. In 1866 Samuel Paul, of Virginia, was indicted by the Circuit Court of Petersburg and sentenced to pay a fine of fifty dollars for refusing, in his capacity of insurance agent for a New York company, to comply with that statute of the State of Virginia which required the deposit in the State Treasury of certain moneys in State bonds by insurance companies not incorporated under the State laws, or the agents of such companies, in return for a license. The Court of Appeals of Virginia confirmed the decree of the Circuit Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed that of the Court of Appeals on the ground that the State statute in question did not conflict with the clause of the National Constitution, which declares that 'the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in several States', nor with the power of Congress to 'regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States'.
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Pavo, the Peacock, is a constellation south of Telescopium, formed by Bayer in 1603.
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The Peabody Museum was instituted as part of Harvard University in 1866 by George Peabody, an American banker, living in England.
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The Peace of the Pyrenees was concluded between France and Spain by Cardinal Mazarin and De Haro, on the Ile des Faisans, in the river Bidassoa, on the borders of the two countries, on the 7th of November 1659, terminating a war which had lasted twenty-four years. By the treaty Spain ceded to France Roussillon with the fortress of Perpignan so that the Pyrenees have since formed the boundary between the two kingdoms.
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On February the 28th,1844, American President Tyler and a large party sailed down the Potomac on the man-of-war Princeton to see Commodore Stockton's ship Peacemaker throw its 200-pound balls. The Peacemaker exploded and many people were killed, among them two members of the Cabinet, Abel Upshur, Secretary of State, and Thomas Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy. The President narrowly escaped.
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In bell-ringing, to ring a peal is to ting 5040 changes. Any number of changes less than 5040 is called a touch or a flourish.
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A pearl is a lustrous concretion produced by certain bivalve molluscs (muscles and oysters) and valued as a gem. Pearls consist almost entirely of nacre, which is the substance forming the inner layers of the mollusc shells. Nacre, known as mother-of-pearl, is composed primarily of aragonite crystals. The pearl is an abnormal growth resulting from the invasion of the body of the mollusc by a minute parasitic worm (it was previously believed to be invasion by a grain of sand or similar which caused the pearl to be produced), which cannot escape and irritates the mollusc which retaliates by coating the irritant with layer upon layer of nacreous material. Both marine and freshwater molluscs produce pearls, but the most valuable varieties originate in the pearl oyster of the Persian Gulf. The most highly prized pearls are spherical. When a pearl that has been cut from the shell presents a hemispherical surface, it is sometimes called a bouton pearl. If a solid pearl has an irregular shape, having grown over a rough object, it is known as a baroque pearl. In the jewellery trade, pearls are commonly known as pear, bell, or drop, according to the shape. Pearl coloration varies widely, the most prized shades being white, black, rose, and cream. River pearls are produced by freshwater mussels in various parts of the world. China is the principal trader in river pearls. Natural, spherical pearls have been cultured successfully since 1920. In this process a mother-of-pearl bead, from three-quarters to nine-tenths of the diameter of the desired product, is introduced into the
pearl oyster. Over a period of years the oyster deposits layers of nacre around the bead. Cultured pearls are not easily distinguished from genuine pearls except by an expert. The technique of producing spherical cultured pearls was developed in Japan, and the culturing of pearls is a major Japanese industry - a small bead of mother of pearl being inserted into the oyster which grows the pearl around the bead. Artificial pearls, in contrast to cultured pearls, are entirely man-made, largely of glass.
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In 1891 the American Lieutenant R E Peary conducted a scientific Arctic exploration to Greenland under the auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He sailed in June and reached McCormick Bay the following month. From here Peary and his wife and party made a number of exploring tours, reaching as far north as 83 degrees. A journey of 1300 miles was accomplished in sleds, and much valuable geographical and geological research was made. A relief party was dispatched to McCormick Bay in 1892.
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The Peasants' War was a German revolt from 1524 to 1526 in which the peasantry and the lower classes of the towns rose up against their feudal overlords. It was caused by the growing economic, religious, and judicial oppression to which the lower classes of Germany were subjected by the nobles and clergy. Fighting between peasants and retainers of the nobles broke out in 1524 in Stuhlingen, and the insurrection rapidly spread over much of central, western, and southern Germany except Bavaria; it also was strong in Austria. In 1525 the peasants formulated their demands, which included the right to choose their own ministers, the abolition of serfdom, the right to fish and kill wild game, the abolition of many kinds of feudal dues, and the guarantee of fair treatment in courts presided over by the feudal nobles. The revolt was particularly violent in Thuringia, where it was made a religious issue by the sect of Anabaptists, headed by the German religious leader Thomas Munzer. Munzer was successful in overthrowing the
feudal regime and in maintaining for a time a community of peasants in which all property was commonly owned; in 1525, however, he was defeated decisively and executed. By the end of 1525, after both sides had committed atrocities and thousands were killed, the nobles in the Swabian League succeeded in putting down the rebellion everywhere in Germany; the revolt continued into the following year in Austria. The peasants of Germany won no concessions by their revolt; in Austria the nobles abolished a few of the evils that brought it about. Paradoxically, it was the opposition of Martin Luther, whose principles were adopted by the dissatisfied peasants and lent inspiration to the revolt, that contributed to the defeat of the peasants. Luther, sympathetic with their aspirations, was adamantly against their armed revolt.
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The peck is a unit of capacity measurement equivalent to 2 gallons or 9.092 litres. A peck of flour was 14 lbs.
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Pederasty is anal intercourse between a man with a boy as a passive partner.
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A pediluvium is a type of foot-bath.
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In geography, a pediplain is an extensive plain formed in a desert by the coalescence of neighbouring pediments.
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Pedlary is a term for any goods sold by a pedlar. The term is also used to describe the trade practised by a pedlar, that of calling from place to place selling small goods which one carries in a pack.
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Pedomancy is divination by inspection of the soles of the feet.
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Pegasus is an ancient Greek northern constellation, situated south-east of Andromeda. The three brightest stars of Pegasus form a square with Andromeda, called the square of Pegasus. The constellation, which is named for the winged horse of Greek mythology, is usually seen upside down in the sky, with only the head, neck, and front half of the animal represented by the stars.
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Pegomancy is divination by the examination of springs or fountains.
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In Christian theology, Pelagianism is a rationalistic and naturalistic heretical doctrine concerning grace and morals, which emphasises human free will as the decisive element in human perfectibility and minimises or denies the need for divine grace and redemption. The doctrine was formulated by the Romano-British monk Pelagius.
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A pelican hook is a hook-like device for holding the link of a chain or similar, and consisting of a long shackle with a hinged rod which is held closed by a sliding ring.
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A Pembroke table is a drop-leaf table with fly rails and usually with one or more draws at the ends of the skirt. It was probably named after Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, who originally ordered a table of this design around 1600.
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A pencil is a long-haired brush terminating in a point and used by artists and sign writers.
Pencil is short for 'lead pencil', an instrument consisting of a thin, usually wooden, tube enclosing a thin rod of some substance, usually graphite.
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The Pendleton Act was an American act for the reformation of the American national civil service, introduced into the Senate by George Hunt Pendleton, of Ohio in 1880, but which did not become a law until January the 6th, 1883. It provided for open competitive examinations for admission to the public service in Washington, and in all custom-houses and post-offices where the official force is of as many as fifty; for the appointment of a Civil Service Commission of three persons and for the apportionment of appointments according to the population of States.
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In geography, a peninsula is a tract of land almost surrounded by water.
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Penn Vs Baltimore was a legal case involving the boundaries between William Penn's and Lord Baltimore's land grants from the crown in America. Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore, met William Penn's deputy in 1682, William Penn in 1683, but nothing was decided, though William Penn obtained a new grant from the Duke of York reaching into Delaware and even into Maryland; also a letter from the king requesting Baltimore to hasten the adjustment of the boundary. The case was taken to London and decided in William Penn's favour. A compromise was arranged in 1732, and enforced by the Court of Chancery in 1760, in accordance with which a line was run by Mason and Dixon, fixing the boundary in 1767 as now.
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The Pennsylvania Gazette was a semi-weekly newspaper established at Philadelphia on December the 24th, 1728, by Samuel Keimer. The full title was The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette. Samuel Keimer soon turned it over to the management of his apprentice, Benjamin Franklin, who quickly made it the most valuable newspaper property in America. The semi-weekly publication was, however, changed to a weekly, owing to lack of subscription. Benjamin Franklin retired from the management of the Gazette in 1766. The Gazette did good service to the Revolutionary cause until the British occupation of Philadelphia. Publication was suspended until after evacuation. It was then renewed and survived another brief suspension in 1815. The first part of the title was dropped when Benjamin Franklin assumed the management. In 1845 the Gazette was merged in the Daily North American.
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The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser was an American newspaper founded in Philadelphia on December the 2nd, 1742, by William Bradford. This journal divided the field with the Pennsylvania Gazette until the British occupation of Philadelphia, when it was suspended for a period, but was afterward revived. The Journal made a successful venture as a semi-weekly in 1788. It was discontinued in 1797, and gave place to the Daily American, a daily newspaper.
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The Pennsylvania Packet or the General Advertiser was an American newspaper founded in November, 1771, by John Dunlap at Philadelphia. During the British occupation of Philadelphia it was removed to Lancaster. After the evacuation it was brought back and published tri-weekly. It was afterward changed to a daily, and appeared under the title of Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser in 1784.
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Penny weddings were an old Scottish custom. The penny wedding was a wedding banquet to which a number of persons were invited, each of whom paid a small sum of money not exceeding one shilling. The monies collected were used to pay the expenses of the banquet, and the remaining money was given to the newly-weds to help them purchase furnishings for their house. The custom was abolished in 1645.
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A pentagon is a five sided regular polygon.
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Pentimento is a term for what occurs when the coatings of oil paint become more translucent over time due to a change in the refractive index of the medium.
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The People's Party was an American political organisation organized during the National Union Conference at Cincinnati, on May the 19th, 1891, and formed chiefly from the various Farmers' Alliances. A national committee was appointed to look after the interests of the new organization, and the platform of the Farmers' Alliance was indorsed advocating free silver; the sub-treasury plan; equal taxation; revenues limited to the necessity of the Government; a graduated income tax;
the election of President, Vice-President and Senate by a direct vote of the people; and prohibition of alien ownership of land. The National Convention at Omaha, Nebraska on July the 2nd, 1893, nominated James B Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and James G Field, of Virginia, for Vice-president. James B Weaver obtained a popular vote of 1,030,128 and an electoral vote of twenty-three.
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Pepper-and-salt was a light grey colour popular for dresses during the 19th century.
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Originally, a perch was a variable linear unit of measurement equivalent to between 14 and 28 feet. Later the term became known as the rod.
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A pergola is a horizontal trellis supported on columns or posts over which vines or other trailing plants are trained.
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Permafrost is the permanently frozen subsoil in Arctic regions.
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Perseus is a northern constellation, situated between Taurus and Cassiopeia. The brightest star is Alpha Persei, or Mirfak. The constellation contains a pair of star clusters, called the double cluster of Perseus, and Algol, which is the best known of the eclipsing stars.
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The Personal Liberty Laws were statutes passed by the Northern American States to protect the negroes within their borders. The first acts were passed about 1840, though Indiana and Connecticut had previously provided that fugitives might have a trial by jury. After the Prigg decision, many of the States passed Acts prohibiting the use of State jails in fugitive slave cases. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 aroused the most violent opposition in the North, and before 1856 many of the States had passed personal liberty acts. Beside prohibiting the use of State jails, these laws forbade State judges and officers to assist claimants or issue writs. Trial was to be given all alleged fugitives. Heavy penalties were provided for the violation of these laws. Such acts were passed in Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of the Northern States, New Jersey and California alone sanctioned the rendition of fugitives.
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The peruke riot was the name given to a disturbance that occurred in London on the 11th of February, 1765. The wig or peruke as it was then called having fallen from fashion the wig makers or perukiers as they were then called, worried about their livelihood, raised a petition and marched on the king with it demanding that gentlefolk should be forced by law to wear a wig. However, the general population seeing that a large proportion of the wig makers were themselves not wearing a wig, became angry and attacked the procession forcibly cutting off the hair of many of the marchers.
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Pessomancy is divination by the analysis of pebbles.
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A pestle is an instrument used for pounding and grinding substances in a mortar.
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Peter Pan is a children's play written by J M Barrie and first produced in 1904, it was a popular hit and established J M Barrie as a top playwright of the era. It featured actress Maude Adams, who had starred in several previous J M Barrie plays and joined him in a stage partnership.
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The Peterloo Massacre was an incident in 1819 when a large assembly of Lancashire workpeople gathered to express their views on the matter of parliamentary reform. They were, on the orders of the magistrates, dispersed by cavalry troops, with eleven civilians killed and between five and six hundred civilians injured.
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The Pewter Muggers were a New York faction of the American Democratic party which was opposed to the Tammany candidates in 1828. Their meetings being held in a Frankfort Street resort over pewter mugs, the name was affixed by their opponents.
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The phaeton is an open four-wheeled pleasure carriage drawn by one or two horses. It was named after the sun-god Phaethon.
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The Philadelphia Museum was the earliest public museum in the United States. It was founded by Charles Wilson Peale in 1785, and had as a nucleus a stuffed paddle-fish and the bones of a mammoth.
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The Philadelphians were a sect founded in London in 1652 to spread the influence of Jakob Boehme, and to show forth 'brotherly love'. Its founders were Jane Leade and John Pordage. For a time they found followers among both Royalists and Parliamentarians as well as supporters in Germany and Holland, but the sect expired in the 18th century.
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Philology is the study of languages, especially as regards their historical development and their mutual points of contact, their internal structure and external groupings. Philology first started among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and then lay dormant until the Renaissance.
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A philtre is a love-compelling magic potion or charm. They were common in Greece and Rome and in medieval Europe and more recently in the East. They are still widely used in Africa and among races of strong African descent, for example Jamaicans, where a common form of philtre is for a woman to add her own menstrual fluid to a preparation of food or drink for her intended mate along with a spell. Fear of philtres is very great in Jamaica, Morocco and other parts of Africa.
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Phrenology (craniology) is the study of the external form of the human skull, as indicative of mental powers and moral qualities. It was propounded by Franz Gall, a German physician around 1796, who enumerated some thirty faculties of the human mind. He believed the configuration of the skull to correspond closely with that of the brain, and declared that mental characteristics are recorded in relief upon the outer surface of the cranial bones. Johann Spurzheim, a disciple of Franz Gall, constructed a scalp chart, showing thirty-five areas, each of which he supposed to be associated with a special faculty. In 1807 a commission appointed by the Paris Institute to investigate the claims of Franz Gall and Johann Spurzheim reported unfavourably; but Dr George Combe of Edinburgh became a convert, and contributed largely to the temporary popularity of Franz Gall's doctrines. Franz Gall was a skilful anatomist and a careful recorder of clinical and pathological observations, and his deductions stimulated research, and in a manner led to the more accurate localisation of brain functions.
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Pica is a size of print (12 point) giving about six lines to the inch.
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A picador is a horse-mounted, lance armed bull fighter.
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Pictor is a constellation south of Columba formed by Lacaille in 1752.
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The first English picture post card was posted on March the 18th 1872. The hobby of collecting picture post cards originated among German hoteliers and spread through western Europe to England where it became very popular around 1900 and remained so until the 1980s when its popularity seemed to wane.
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The picul was a Chinese unit of weight equivalent to 133.5 lbs.
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Piezo is a prefix signifying pressure.
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The pig was a British measurement of ballast equal to 56 lbs.
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The Piglet Files was a British situation comedy television show written by Paul Minett and Brian Leveson, starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, Clive Francis and Serene Evans, about the British secret service. The Piglet Files was produced by London Weekend Television and aired from 1990 to 1992.
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A pikestaff was a staff formerly carried by pilgrims to plainly and ostentatiously announce their devotion and piety.
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The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular uprising which occurred in 1536, as a reaction to the dissolution of the monasteries. In the barren north, where towns were few and far between, the monks were still popular. In Yorkshire they had been the only people to dispense hospitality to the wandering beggar and the ordinary traveller. The work of the Cistercians, too, as sheep-farmers, was a benefit to a country where agriculture was difficult; and it was feared that the dissolution of the larger abbeys (like Fountains) was only a matter of time. A lawyer called Robert Aske mustered the rebels on Skipworth Moor, and then took possession of York; the expelled monks were restored to their monasteries.
The king then sent the Duke of Norfolk to Yorkshire, but when the latter reached Doncaster he found the rising too formidable to risk a battle. So he adopted the usual expedient in such cases - a general promise of a pardon if the rebels would submit, and this was successful for the time being. But a further outbreak in 1537 caused the king to act with a ferocity congenial to his temper. 'You shall in any wise', he wrote to his agents, 'cause such dreadful execution to be done upon a good number of the inhabitants of every town, village and hamlet...as well by the hanging of them up in trees or by the quartering of them, and the setting of their heads and quarters in every town great or small, as they may be a fearful spectacle to others hereafter that they would practise any like matter.' The leaders and no less than twelve abbots were hanged for their part in the rebellion, and that was the end of the Pilgrimage of Grace.
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A pillar box is a post-box shaped like a pillar. In Britain, post-boxes are painted a bright red colour and bear the royal crown and initials of the reigning monarch at the time when the box was erected. Thus, pillar boxes erected after 1952 are marked 'E II R' signifying the reign of queen Elizabeth II.
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A pillory was originally a post that was erected at crossroads by the lord of the manor and bearing his arms upon it as a mark of his territory. Later, pillories sometimes had a collar fixed to them by which criminals could be secured, later still the pillory became a 'T' shaped frame that was erected in a public place, with holes for the head and arms, in which malefactors were displayed to the public. The pillory was a form of torture, the victim usually being denied food or drink for the duration of their sentence, and often subject to having rotten fruits and vegetables thrown at them by passers-by. The pillory was abolished for all offences with the exception of perjury in 1816, and was abolished for perjury in 1837. Prior to 1837 a perjurer could have his ears nailed to the pillory.
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Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) was a proposed series of extinct hominid, providing the 'missing link' in the evolutionary chain between apes and modern man. The remains were 'discovered' by Charles Dawson between 1910 and 1912 and taken to the British museum. In 1953 it was discovered that the fossils had been faked, the jaw bone discovered being that of a modern ape which had been stained to appear to be a fossil, and in 2003 it was discovered that Charles Dawson was the perpetrator of the fraud - other 'fossils' which he had stained with intent to deceive having been discovered - which he did for financial benefit, and to progress his career so that he might join the Royal Society.
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A pin was a cask holding 4.5 gallons of ale or beer. Two pins made one firkin.
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Pink is an effeminate colour merging purple with red. Traditionally associated with femininity, young girls, innocence. Pink is associated with gentleness, with delicate blooms and with blossom.
- Bubblegum - A non-descript term often applied to a vivid, bright rose or coral pink.
- Coral - A reddish-pink.
- Flamingo - An orangey-pink reminiscent of the colour of a flamingo.
- Magenta - A brilliant purple-pink.
- Rose - An effeminate, gentle pink.
- Rosy - A effeminate, gentle pink usually associated with complexion.
- Salmon - An orange-pink colour.
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Pinkerton Law was an American law, part of the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act of August the 5th, 1892, which provided 'that no employee of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or similar agency, shall be employed in any Government service, or by any officer of the District of Columbia'.
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The pint is a unit of capacity measurement equivalent to 4 gills or 0.568 litres.
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A pipe was a British measure of cider equivalent to between 100 and 118 gallons.
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Pit and gallows was the rights conferred by ancient Scottish charters upon a baron of having upon his lands a pit for drowning women and gallows for hanging men convicted of theft.
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A pitman is a connecting rod for transmitting motion from an engine to machinery at a distance.
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A piton is a metal spike used in mountaineering as a support for a belaying pin.
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A plain is an expanse of low and nearly level land. Some plains, such as the Fens of England, large parts of Holland, and extensive areas of Russia, are almost perfectly flat; but generally an extensive plain consists of wide, gently sloping valleys separated by low hills. Such a plain is termed ' rolling' or 'undulating'. Many plains look extremely flat when viewed from the top of the neighbouring hills, but on descending one finds numerous instances of steep gradients, the valley slopes of the streams which cross the plain.
Plains are not all of the same type. Some plains may have been formed by the wearing down of lands that were once much higher. Such areas are more correctly called 'peneplains', e.g. Finland, a lowland area of very old rock, the Hudson Bay lowlands, and Anglesey. Secondly, where layers of rock have not been folded but remain almost horizontal, extensive plains also occur. The Central Plains of the United States and the great plains of European Russia are in this group. Thirdly, plains may have been formed by the gradual accumulation of silt brought down by rivers. These are usually called alluvial plains. Good examples are the plain of North China, the Indo-Gangetic plain, the plains of Iraq, and much of the Amazon lowland. Some plains are the beds of old lakes. Rivers entering a lake deposit silt which is spread by the movement of the water over the lake floor. Such plains, though not large in size, are usually very fertile. Much of the great wheat land of Southern Manitoba is the bed of an old lake -lake Agassiz. The fertile plains of Hungary are of similar origin. Finally, some plains, such as the coastal plains of the United States from Chesapeake Bay to Florida, have been formed by the uplift of part of the sea floor bordering a continent.
The plains of the world tend to be areas of most advanced development and densest settlement. They are easier to cultivate than highland areas as the soil is usually deeper and more fertile. Hence the great plains, except where covered with large tracts of uncleared forest or occasional deposits of infertile soil, are important agricultural lands. Some plains, such as portions of Central Asia or of the Murray-Darling Basin, are too dry for successful agriculture. Unless irrigation is a practical possibility such plains are occupied by pastoral farmers engaged in rearing animals, and even the pastoral farmers sometimes have to bore wells for water, as in Hungary and in Australia. Where coal is found in or near plains, densely populated industrial centres usually develop, as in the North-Central United States. Movement is easy in all directions over lowlands, and rivers are generally slow and easily navigable, so that they are used as commercial highways. This is well illustrated by the United States, where the Mississippi and its tributaries provided the main lines of communication before the period when railways were developed.
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A planchette is a piece of heart-shaped board, mounted on supports, two of which are casters, fixed at the broader end, with a pencil at the other, so that it can move easily over a sheet of paper when hands are placed lightly on it. The planchette is used by some mediums and mystics for supposed contact with spirits, who cause the pencil to write without volition from the person touching the board.
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A planet is a heavenly body which orbits a star.
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A Planimeter is a simple integrating instrument for measuring the area of a regular or irregular plane surface. It consists of two hinged arms: one is kept fixed and the other is traced around the boundary of the area. This actuates a small graduated wheel; the area is calculated from the wheel' s change in position.
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A plantation is an assemblage of planted and growing plants.
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A plateau or tableland generally denotes a large stretch of highland which is practically the same height above sea-level, and which descends on all sides to lower ground. Some plateaux, however, such as those of Tibet and Bolivia, that are fringed by high mountain ranges which tower above the plateau level, are known as intermont plateaux. Sometimes they are so completely enclosed as to have no outlet to the sea.
A plateau might be regarded as an elevated plain, but there is often a great difference between the surface of a plain and that of a plateau. As a plateau is high, rivers are swift and carve deep, narrow valleys instead of the broad, open valleys of the lower rivers of the plains. Such plateau areas as Wales and the Highlands of Scotland, are broken by deep, narrow valleys, and are termed dissected plateaux. On reaching the top of such an area one has a long view of a series of flat-topped mountain ridges. These ridges are all of approximately the same height, and if one imagines the clouds descending until they touched one ridge, then almost every other ridge would be similarly cloud-capped. Other good examples of plateaux are Tibet in Asia, the Ecuador and Bolivian plateaux in South America, and nearly the whole of the continent of Africa.
The Deccan of India is a plateau that has been tilted so that the western edge is much higher than the eastern edge, and all the main rivers drain eastwards. In many instances plateaux are formed by the denudation or wearing down of higher mountainous areas. Ultimately, such areas may become so low that they are nearly plains, i.e. peneplains, such as the land around Hudson Bay. Millions of years ago lava was forced up through cracks in the earth's crust, and spread out over the land in great sheets which have since hardened to form plateaux of basalt.
Two well-known examples of such plateaux are in Antrim (Ireland), and on the Deccan of India to the east of Bombay. Many of the most extensive areas of plateaux in the world are composed of very hard old rock. The Guiana Highlands, most of Africa, Arabia, the Deccan of India, and the West Australian plateaux are all composed of rocks of similar age. The ancient plateau lands are principally valuable for their minerals, such as the gold of Western Australia; the iron and manganese of the Brazilian Highlands; the gold, copper, and diamonds of the African plateau; and the gold of the Lena plateau in Siberia. Where plateaux are found in tropical areas they are important because, being cooler than the neighbouring lowlands, they offer greater possibilities for successful European settlement and development. The highlands of Brazil, Kenya, and Tanganyika are illustrations of this. Much of the tropical plateau area is covered by savannah grasslands. Most of these areas are not yet developed, but offer possibilities for the production of a large variety of both animal and vegetable products when communications have been developed and further settlement has taken place.
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Playboy is an American soft-porn men's magazine founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and world famous for it's 'bunny head' logo. Since the magazine, Playboy has extended into cabaret clubs, the first club being opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1960, famed for their waitresses dressed as 'Playboy Bunnies', a television channel and in 1994 a web site. In 1988 the last American Playboy club closed and in1991 the last international Playboy club, in Manila, closed.
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Please Sir was a British situation comedy television show set in an east London school, written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, starring John Alderton, Deryck Guyler, David Barry, Peter Cleall, Peter Denyer, Malcolm McFee, Liz Gebhadt and Joan Sanderson, about a naive school teacher and his unruly class of secondary school students. Please Sir was aired from 1968 to 1971.
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A plet or plitt was a Russian form of whip similar to a knout, but not made of raw hides, and used for torturing criminals.
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A plith was a piece of iron, made hot and placed in an iron box to be held as a torture by criminals.
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Plough Monday was a name formerly given to the first Monday after Twelfth Night and so called on account of being the first day back at work after the Christmas holidays when the men used to return to their ploughing or work. It was customary in Britain on plough Monday for the farm labourers to draw a plough from door to door of the parish and solicit ,plough-money' to spend on a party, the queen of the banquet being called Bessy.
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Plutolatry is the worship of wealth.
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The pocket was a British measurement for hops ranging from 168 to 224 lbs.
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In the USA, the American Constitution provides that, if the President does not either sign or veto a bill within ten days, it shall become law without his signature, 'unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law'. This gives the President opportunity to prevent a bill from becoming law, if it is passed in the last days of a session, by simply taking no action upon it. This is called the 'pocket veto'. It was first used by President Madison in 1812 in the case of a naturalization act. But the first conspicuous instances were those by General Jackson, seven of whose twelve vetoes were of this sort.
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A pogo stick is a child's toy invented in the early 1920's consisting of a pole with two handles at the top and two foot rests at the bottom, attached to a powerful spring at the bottom so that by standing on the foot rests and holding the handles one can propel oneself along by jumping.
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The poison oracle is a form of divination among the Zande in which poison is given to a fowl, and the divination is derived from the observed effects.
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A pole ladder (builder's ladder) is a ladder made with half-round stiles (sides) comprising the two halves of a single straight pole sawn down the middle. A pole ladder is robust and can be made to a considerable length, as long as eight meters.
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Police forces in Britain did not appear until the mid-19th century. Prior to then Parish constables, recruited from the local citizens on a rotating basis, were responsible for law and order, but were so ineffective that in order to protect their property, land owners banded together to offer rewards for the capture of felons and return of stolen property, the greatest reward being for highway robbery or the crime of breaking and entering into a house, which was almost double the reward offered for the capture of a felon who had killed or maimed a horse. Around the middle of the 19th century organised police forces were formed in Great Britain which quickly evolved into the integrated force we have today.
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Pollux (Beta Geminorum) is the southernmost of the two stars in the zodiacal constellation Gemini, called the heavenly twins, the other twin being Castor.
Pollux is a star of the first magnitude and is 33 light-years away from the earth.
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Polyandry is the custom of a wife having several husbands.
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Polygon is a term used in geometry to describe a closed plane figure with three or more straight line sides. Common polygons are figures such as the triangle, quadrilateral and the hexagon. A square is a regular polygon where the sides and all angles are equal.
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Polytheism is the worship of several gods.
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A pomander was originally a ball of perfume carried in a small, usually round box or case which was also known as a pomander. Today, the term applies to a small box or case with perforations used for holding pot-pourri and often hung in wardrobes to keep clothes smelling fresh.
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Pompadour is a claret purple colour.
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In the USA, after 1875 the regulation of the liquor traffic in Ohio became a leading question in State politics. In 1882 the Republicans adopted the so-called Pond Law for the taxation of liquor selling. It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the State. It required of dealers to take out a high license and also to give a bond.
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Pony girls are women pretending to be ponies, usually including reigns and even pulling traps. It is a form of sexual entertainment of the bondage and SM branches including aspects of both, bondage in the form of harnesses and reigns, SM in the form of mild whipping or beating. The pony girl is submissive to her master. (See animal training).
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The pood (or pud) was a Russian commercial unit of weight equal to 36.112 lbs avoirdupois. The pood was divided into 40 Russian lbs.
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Pool hustling is an occupation in which a professional pool player invites games of pool with unsuspecting members of the public who consider themselves to be quite good. An ideal victim is one who brags about his playing ability. The first game will always be lost by the hustler, who will then perhaps play and lose another game before inviting the victim to place a wager on the game. If the wager is small, the victim may win and be invited to play for a larger wager, when the stakes are sufficiently high, the hustler wins the game conclusively and walks away with the money. The scam is in the deliberate deception of the victim who is led to believe that the other player is not quite such a good player as they are, as distinct from an honest game in which the professional will invite a wager and play to win the wager.
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The poor laws were an act of parliament between 1562 and 1601 which gave local authorities the responsibility for settling and supporting the poor in England.
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In 1607 two ships, the Mary and John, commanded by George Popham, and the Gift of God, commanded by Raleigh Gilbert, were sent out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. They reached the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine on August 19th. George Popham was left to establish a colony at Sabino, and Gilbert returned. Popham died during the winter, and when a ship arrived the next year the colony was broken up.
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The term popular sovereignty originated in America about the time of the acquisition of additional territory from Mexico in 1848. A suggestion was made of a middle course between the Wilmot Proviso, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into newly acquired or organized territories, and the positive permission of slavery under federal legislative enactment; namely, the question was to be settled by the inhabitants of the territories. The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 purported to enforce the popular sovereignty idea. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 decided against it. The Democratic National Convention of 1856 approved of non-interference by Congress. with slavery in the Territories. Douglas, of Illinois, was an ardent advocate of this policy, and he vainly defended it against the Dred Scott decision. The popular sovereignty idea disappeared with the outbreak of the rebellion. It was called in derision " squatter sovereignty".
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Population is the number of people inhabiting a country, region, area, or town. Population statistics are derived from many sources; for example, through the registration of births and deaths, and from censuses of the population.
The first national censuses were taken in 1800 and 1801 and provided population statistics for Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, and the USA; and the cities of London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and New York. Since that time a growing number of countries have taken regular censuses, often at ten-yearly intervals, including Austria (1821), France (1821), China (1851), Russia (1861), Japan (1871), and India (1901). Although censuses are approximately accurate for wealthy industrial countries, this may not be the case with other countries.
Between 1990 and 1995 world population increased by 1.7% a year (the number of elderly increased at 2.7% annually). In mid-1994 world population was 5.7 billion and increasing at the rate of 86 million per annum. According to a UN 'low variant' projection, the world population will be at least 7.9 billion by 2050, 9.8 billion by a mid-range projection, or 13 billion by high-range forecasts.
In September 1994, a UN international conference on population and development was attended by politicians from 150 countries. It emphasised the importance of improving the position of women for effective population control, as well as improved sex education and contraception. Serious population studies date from the later 18th century; for example, Thomas Malthus's 'Essay on the Principle of Population', first published in 1798.
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Porridge was a British BBC situation comedy television show written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, starring Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale and Fulton Mackay, about life in a prison. Porridge was aired from 1974 to 1977.
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The Porteous riot occurred in Edinburgh during September 1736. Porteous, captain of the city guard, while examining a criminal named Wilson, feared a rescue attempt from an assembled mob and ordered his guards to open fire on the crowd. Six members of the crowd were killed and eleven injured. Porteous was subsequently tried, convicted, condemned to death and reprieved. However, at his reprieve a crowd stormed the jail where he was being held, dragged him to the Grassmarket where executions were carried out, and hanged him by torchlight from a dyer's pole.
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The Portfolio was the first American periodical to reach an age of over ten years. It was established in Philadelphia by Dennie in 1801, and was published monthly until 1825. Its pages contained contributions from the pens of many distinguished writers of that period, and upon a variety of subjects.
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The Portland Vase or Barberini Vase is an ancient dark-blue glass and enamel Greek vase, with raised figures and devices in white enamel, discovered in the 17th century near Rome, in the supposed tomb of Alexander Severus and his mother. The vase was placed in the Berberini Palace at Rome, and was bought in 1770 by Sir William Hamilton, who sold it to the Duchess of Portland. In 1810 it came into the possession of the British Museum, and in 1845 was maliciously smashed by a visitor - William Lloyd, but was skilfully repaired.
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A posset pot was a two handled mug, with a lid and a long curved spout originating from the bottom of the pot, used for drinking posset. The spout rising from the base of the mug allowed the posset to be drunk from the bottom, leaving the floating scum of the posset in the mug.
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A pothole is a hole worn in solid rock, usually at the foot of a waterfall, by the constant grinding of a stone, kept in motion by the current.
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The Potomac Company was an American company chartered in 1784, with George Washington as president, for the purpose of connecting the Potomac valley with the West by means of a canal, and for general land improvement. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company succeeded it in 1828.
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Pottery refers to vessels and other items made of baked clay, also commonly known as 'earthenware', unless the clay used was kaolin in which case the items are known as Porcelain or chinaware (china).
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Poudrette is a powdery manure obtained from ordure. It takes a long time to prepare, is pulverulent, brown in colour and almost inodorous.
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Pounce is a fine powder formerly used to prevent ink from spreading on paper, now superseded by blotting-paper.
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Poynings' Law (the statute of Drogheda) was an act of the Irish parliament, passed in 1495, whereby all general statutes before that time in England were declared of force in Ireland. It was so named from Sir Edward Poynings, deputy of Ireland under Henry VII in 1494 when he suppressed the revolt of Perkin Warbeck.
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Pozzolana or pozzuolana is a sort of mortar produced in Italy and formed of volcanic ashes. When mixed with a small portion of lime it quickly hardens even under water. This singular property rendered it very useful in the erection of moles and other buildings in maritime situations.
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In English law, praemunire is a kind of offence of a nature of contempt against the Sovereign and the government. The last prosecution of praemunire took place in the reign of Charles II.
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Prairies are the almost flat, mostly treeless grasslands of North America. Similar areas are the steppes of eastern Europe, the pampas of Argentina and the veldt of South Africa.
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A presentoir was a 16th century ornamental cup, very shallow, and with a tall, enriched stem. They were decorative luxury articles, serving no particular function.
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William Penn, in 1696, in his scheme for a general government for the colonies in A | 
Abbreviations
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