Chapter M (4)

PENDANT. A strop or short piece of rope fixed on each side, under the shrouds, upon the heads of the main and fore masts, from which it hangs as low as the cat-harpings, having an iron thimble spliced into an eye at the lower end to receive the hooks of the main and fore tackles. There are besides many other pendants, single or double ropes, to the lower extremity of which is attached a block or tackle; such are the fish-pendant, stay-tackle-pendant, brace-pendant, yard-tackle-pendant, reef-tackle-pendant, &c., all of which are employed to transmit the efforts of their respective tackles to some distant object.--_Rudder-pendants._ Strong ropes made fast to a rudder by means of chains. Their use is to prevent the loss of the rudder if by any accident it should get unshipped.

PENDULUM. A gravitating instrument for measuring the motion of a ship and thereby assisting the accuracy of her gunnery in regulating horizontal fire.

PENGUIN. A web-footed bird, of the genus _Aptenodytes_, unable to fly on account of the small size of its wings, but with great powers of swimming and diving: generally met with in high southern latitudes.

PENINSULA. A tract of land joined to a continent by a comparatively narrow neck termed an isthmus.

PENINSULAR WAR. A designation assigned to the Duke of Wellington's campaigns in Portugal and Spain.

PENKNIFE ICE. A name given by Parry to ice, the surface of which is composed of numberless irregular vertical crystals, nearly close together, from five to ten inches long, about half an inch broad, and pointed at both ends. Supposed to be produced by heavy drops of rain piercing their way through the ice rather than by any peculiar crystallization while freezing.

PENNANT. A long narrow banner with St. George's cross in the head, and hoisted at the main. It is the badge of a ship-of-war. Signal pennants are 9 feet long, tapering from 2 feet at the mast to 1 foot. They denote the vessels of a fleet; there are ten pennants, which can be varied beyond any number of ships present. When the pennant is half mast, it denotes the death of the captain. When hauled down the ship is out of commission. Broad pennant denotes a commodore, and is a swallow-tailed flag, the tails tapering, and would meet, if the exterior lines were prolonged; those of a cornet could not.

PENNANT-SHIP. Generally means the commodore, and vessels in the employ of government. It is also an authority delegated by the commander of convoy to some smart merchant ship to assist in the charge, and collect stragglers.

PENNOCK. A little bridge thrown over a water-course.

PENNY-WIDDIE. A haddock dried without being split.

PENSIONERS. Disabled soldiers or sailors received into the superb institutions of Chelsea and Greenwich, or, "recently if they choose," receiving out-pensions.

PENSTOCK. A flood-gate to a mill-pond. Also used in fortification, for the purpose of inundating certain works.

PENTAGON. A right-lined figure of five equal sides and angles.

PENUMBRA. The lighter shade which surrounds the dark shadow of the earth in an eclipse of the moon. Also, the light shade which usually encircles the black spots upon the sun's disc.

PEON-WOOD. _See_ POON-WOOD.

PEOTTA. A craft of the Adriatic, of light burden, propelled by oars and canvas.

PEPPER-DULSE. _Halymenia edulis_; a pungent sea-weed, which, as well as _H. palmata_, common dulse, is eaten in Scotland.

PER-CENTAGE. A proportional sum by which insurance, brokerage, freight, del credere, &c., are paid.

PERCER. A rapier; a short sword.

PERCH. A pole stuck up on a shoal as a beacon; or a spar erected on or projected from a cliff whence to watch fish.

PERCUSSION. The striking of one body by another.

PERDEWS. A corruption from _enfans perdus_, to designate those soldiers who are selected for the _forlorn hope_ (which see).

PERIGEE. That point in the moon's orbit where she is nearest to the earth; or the point in the earth's orbit where we are nearest to the sun.

PERIHELION. That point in the orbit of a planet or comet which is nearest to the sun.

PERIKO. An undecked boat of burden in Bengal.

PERIL, OR PERIL OF THE SEA. Does not mean danger or hazard, but comprises such accidents as arise from the elements, and which could not be prevented by any care or skill of the master and crew. (_See_ ACT OF GOD.)

PERIMETER. The sum of all the sides of a geometrical figure taken together.

PERIODICAL WINDS. _See_ MONSOON and TRADE-WINDS.

PERIODIC INEQUALITIES. Those disturbances in the planetary motions, caused by their reciprocal attraction in definite periods.

PERIODIC TIME. The interval of time which elapses from the moment when a planet or comet leaves any point in its orbit, until it returns to it again.

PERIPHERY. The circumference of any curved figure.

PERISHABLE MONITION. The public notice by the court of admiralty for the sale of a ship in a perishable condition, whose owners have proved contumacious.

PERIWINKLE. The _win-wincle_ of the Ang.-Sax., a favourite little shell-fish, the pin-patch, or _Turbo littoreus_.

PERMANENT MAGNETISM. The property of attraction and repulsion belonging to magnetized iron. (_See_ INDUCED MAGNETISM.)

PERMANENT RANK. That given by commission, and which does not cease with any particular service.

PERMIT. A license to sell goods that have paid the duties or excise.

PERPENDICLE. The plumb-line of the old quadrant.

PERPENDICULAR. A right line falling from or standing upon another vertically, and making the angle of 90 deg. on both sides.

PERRY. An old term for a sudden squall.

PERSONNEL. A word adopted from the French, and expressive of all the officers and men, civil and military, composing an army or a naval force.

PERSPECTIVE. The old term for a hand telescope. Also, the science by which objects are delineated according to their natural appearance and situation.

PERSUADER. A rattan, colt, or rope's end in the hands of a boatswain's mate. Also, a revolver.

PERTURBATIONS. The effects of the attractions of the heavenly bodies upon each other, whereby they are sometimes drawn out of their elliptic paths about the central body, as instanced by the wondrous discovery of Neptune.

PESAGE. A custom or duty paid for weighing merchandise, or other goods.

PESETA, OR PISTOREEN. A Spanish silver coin: one-fifth of a piastre.

PESSURABLE, OR PESTARABLE, of our old statutes, implied such merchandise as take up much room in a ship.

PETARD. A hat-shaped metal machine, holding from 6 to 9 lbs. of gunpowder; it is firmly fixed to a stout plank, and being applied to a gate or barricade, is fired by a fuse, to break or blow it open. (_See_ POWDER-BAGS.)

PETARDIER. The man who fixes and fires a petard, a service of great danger.

PET-COCK. A tap, or valve on a pump.

PETER. _See_ BLUE PETER.

PETER-BOAT. A fishing-boat of the Thames and Medway, so named after St. Peter, as the patron of fishermen, whose cross-keys form part of the armorial bearings of the Fishmongers' Company of London. These boats were first brought from Norway and the Baltic; they are generally short, shallow, and sharp at both ends, with a well for fish in the centre, 25 feet over all, and 6 feet beam, yet in such craft boys were wont to serve out seven years' apprenticeship, scarcely ever going on shore.

PETER-MAN, OR PETERER. A fisherman. Also, the Dutch fishing vessels that frequented our eastern coast.

PETITORY SUITS. Causes of property, formerly cognizable in the admiralty court.

PETREL. The _Cypselli_ of the ancients, and _Mother Cary's chickens_ of sailors; of the genus _Procellaria_. They collect in numbers at the approach of a gale, running along the waves in the wake of a ship; whence the name _peterel_, in reference to St. Peter's attempt to walk on the water. They are seen in all parts of the ocean. The largest of the petrels, _Procellaria fuliginosa_, is known by seamen as Mother Cary's goose.

PETROLEUM. Called also rock, mineral, or coal, oil. A natural oil widely distributed over the globe, consisting of carbon and hydrogen, in the proportion of about 88 and 12 per cent. It burns fiercely with a thick black smoke; and attempts, not yet successful, have been made to adapt it as a fuel for steamers.

PETRONEL. An old term for a horse-pistol; also for a kind of carbine.

PETTAH. A town adjoining the esplanade of a fort.

PETTICOAT TROWSERS. A kind of kilt formerly worn by seamen in general, but latterly principally by fishermen. (_See_ GALLIGASKINS.)

PETTY AVERAGE. Small charges borne partly by a ship, and partly by a cargo, such as expenses of towing, &c.

PETTY OFFICER. A divisional seaman of the first class, ranking with a sergeant or corporal.

PHALANX. An ancient Macedonian legion of varying numbers, formed into a square compact body of pikemen with their shields joined.

PHARONOLOGY. Denotes the study of, and acquaintance with, lighthouses.

PHAROS. A lighthouse; a watch-tower.

PHASELUS. An ancient small vessel, equipped with sails and oars.

PHASES. The varying appearances of the moon's disc during a lunation; also those of the inferior planets Venus and Mercury, as they revolve round the sun.

PHILADELPHIA LAWYER. "Enough to puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer" is a common nautical phrase for an inconsistent story.

PHINAK. A species of trout. (_See_ FINNOCK.)

PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY. That department of the science which treats of the causes of the motions of the heavenly bodies.

PHYSICAL DOUBLE-STAR. _See_ DOUBLE-STAR and BINARY SYSTEM.

PIASTRE. A Spanish silver coin, value 4_s._ 3_d._ sterling. Also, a Turkish coin of 40 paras, or 1_s._ 7_d._

PICARD. A boat of burden on the Severn, mentioned in our old statutes.

PICCANINNY. A negro or mulatto infant.

PICCAROON. A swindler or thief. Also, a piratical vessel.

PICCARY. Piratical theft on a small scale.

PICKERIE. An old word for stealing; under which name the crime was punishable by severe duckings.

PICKET. A pointed staff or stake driven into the ground for various military purposes, as the marking out plans of works, the securing horses to, &c. (_See also_ PIQUET, an outguard.)

PICKETS. Two pointers for a mortar, showing the direction of the object to be fired at, though it be invisible from the piece.

PICKLE-HARIN. A sea-sprite, borrowed from the Teutonic.

PICKLING. A mode of salting naval timber in our dockyards, to insure its durability. (_See_ BURNETTIZE.)

PICK UP A WIND, TO. Traverses made by oceanic voyagers; to run from one trade or prevalent wind to another, with as little intervening calm as possible.

PICTARNIE. A name on our northern coasts for the _Sterna hirundo_, the tern, or sea-swallow.

PICUL. _See_ PEKUL.

PIE. The beam or pole that is erected to support the _gun_ for loading and unloading timber. Also called _pie-tree_.

PIECE OF EIGHT. The early name for the coin of the value of 8 reals, the well-known Spanish dollar.

PIER. A quay; also a strong mound projecting into the sea, to break the violence of the waves.

PIERCER. Used by sail-makers to form eyelet-holes.

PIGGIN. A little pail having a long stave for a handle; used to bale water out of a boat.

PIG-IRON. (_See_ SOW.) An oblong mass of cast-iron used for ballast; there are also pigs of lead.

"A nodding beam or pig of lead
May hurt the very ablest head."

PIG-TAIL. The common twisted tobacco for chewing.

PIG-YOKE. The name given to the old Davis quadrant.

PIKE. (_See_ HALF-PIKE.) A long, slender, round staff, armed at the end with iron. (_See_ BOARDING-PIKE and PYKE.) Formerly in general use, but which gave way to the bayonet. Also, the peak of a hill. Also, a fish, the _Esox lucius_, nicknamed the fresh-water shark.

PIKE-TURN. _See_ CHEVAUX DE FRISE.

PIL, OR PYLL. A creek subject to the tide.

PILCHARD. The _Clupea pilchardus_, a fish allied to the herring, which appears in vast shoals off the Cornish coast about July.

PILE. A pyramid of shot or shell.--_To pile arms_, is to plant three fire-locks together, and unite the ramrods, to steady the outspread butt-ends of the pieces resting on the ground. A pile is also a beam of wood driven into the ground to form by a number a solid foundation for building upon. A _sheeting-pile_ has more breadth than thickness, and is much used in constructing coffer-dams.

PILE-DRIVER. A machine adapted for driving piles. Also, applied to a ship given to pitch heavily in a sea-way.

PILGER. An east-country term for a fish-spear.

PILING ICE. In Arctic parlance, where from pressure the ice is raised, slab over slab, into a high mass, which consolidates, and is often mistaken for a berg.

PILL. (_See_ PIL.) A term on the western coast for a draining rivulet, as well as the creek into which it falls.

PILLAGE. Wanton and mostly iniquitous plunder. But an allowed ancient practice, both in this and other countries, as shown by the sea ordinances of France, and our black book of the admiralty.

PILLAN. A northern coast name for the shear-crab.

PILLAR OF THE HOLD. A main stanchion with notches for descent.

PILLAW. A dish composed at sea of junk, rice, onions, and fowls; it figured at the marriage feast of Commodore Trunnion. It is derived from the Levantine _pillaf_.

PILLOW. A block of timber whereon the inner end of the bowsprit is supported.

PILMER. The fine small rain so frequent on our western coasts.

PILOT. An experienced person charged with the ship's course near the coasts, into roads, rivers, &c., and through all intricate channels, in his own particular district.--_Branch pilot._ One who is duly authorized by the Trinity board to pilot ships of the largest draft.

PILOTAGE. The money paid to a pilot for taking a ship in or out of port, &c.

PILOT CUTTER. A very handy sharp-built sea-boat used by pilots.

PILOT-FISH. _Naucrates ductor_, a member of the _Scomber_ family, the attendant on the shark.

PILOT'S-ANCHOR. A kedge used for dropping a vessel in a stream or tide-way.

PILOT'S FAIR-WAY, OR PILOT'S WATER. A channel wherein, according to usage, a pilot must be employed.

PINCH-GUT. A miserly purser.

PINCH-GUT PAY. The short allowance money.

PINE. A genus of lofty coniferous trees, abounding in temperate climates, and valuable for its timber and resin. The masts and yards of ships are generally of pine. (_See_ PITCH-PINE.)--_Pine_ is also a northern term for drying fish by exposure to the weather.

PING. The whistle of a shot, especially the rifle-bullets in their flight.

PINGLE. A small north-country coaster.

PINK. A ship with a very narrow stern, having a small square part above. The shape is of old date, but continued, especially by the Danes, for the advantage of the quarter-guns, by the ship's being contracted abaft. Also, one of the many names for the minnow.--_To pink_, to stab, as, between casks, to detect men stowed away.

PINKSTERN. A very narrow boat on the Severn.

PIN-MAUL. _See_ MAUL.

PINNACE. A small vessel propelled with oars and sails, of two, and even three masts, schooner-rigged. In size, as a ship's boat, smaller than the barge, and, like it, carvel-built. The armed pinnace of the French coasts was of 60 or 80 tons burden, carrying one long 24-pounder and 100 men. In _Henry VI._ Shakspeare makes the pinnace an independent vessel, though Falstaff uses it as a small vessel attending on a larger. Also, metaphorically, an indifferent character.

PINNOLD. A term on our southern shores for a small bridge.

PINS.--_Belaying pins._ Short cylindrical pieces of wood or iron fixed into the fife-rail and other parts of a vessel, for making fast the running-rigging.

PINTADOS. Coloured or printed chintzes, formerly in great demand from India, and among the fine goods of a cargo.

PIN-TAIL. The _Anas acuta_, a species of duck with a long pointed tail. Also, in artillery, the iron pin on the axle-tree of the limber, to which the trail-eye of the gun-carriage is attached for travel.

PINTLES. The rudder is hung on to a ship by pintles and braces. The braces are secured firmly to the stern-post by jaws, which spread and are bolted on each side. The pintles are hooks which enter the braces, and the rudder is then wood-locked; a dumb pintle on the heel finally takes the strain off the hinging portions.

PIONEERS. A proportion of troops specially assigned to the clearing (from natural impediments) the way for the main body; hence, used generally in the works of an army, its scavenging, &c. Labourers of the country also are sometimes so used.

PIPE. A measure of wine containing two hogsheads, or 125 gallons, equal to half a tun. Also, a peculiar whistle for summoning the men to duty, and directing their attention by its varied sounds. (_See_ CALL.)

PIPE-CLAY. Known to the ancients under the name of _paretonium_; formerly indispensable to soldiers as well as the jolly marines.

PIPE DOWN! The order to dismiss the men from the deck when a duty has been performed on board ship.

PIPE-FISH. A fish of the genus _Syngnathus_, with an elongated slender body and long tubular mouth.

PIPER. A half-dried haddock. Also, the shell _Echinus cidaris_. Also, the fish _Trigla lyra_.

PIQUET. A proportion of a force set apart and kept on the alert for the security of the whole.--The _outlying piquet_, some distance from the main body, watches all hostile approach.--The _inlying piquet_ is ready to act in case of internal disorder, or of alarm.

PIRACY. Depredation without authority, or transgression of authority given, by despoiling beyond its warrant. Fixed domain, public revenue, and a certain form of government, are exempt from that character, therefore the Barbary States were not treated by Europe as such. The Court of Admiralty is empowered to grant warrants to commit any person for piracy, only on regular information upon oath. By common law, piracy consists in committing those acts of robbery and depredation upon the high seas, which, if committed on land, would have amounted to felony, and the pirate is deemed _hostis humani generis_.

PIRAGUA [Sp. _per agua_]. _See_ PIROGUE.

PIRATE. A sea-robber, yet the word _pirata_ has been formerly taken for a sea-captain. Also, an armed ship that roams the seas without any legal commission, and seizes or plunders every vessel she meets; their colours are said to be a black field with a skull, a battle-axe, and an hour-glass. (_See_ PRAHU.)

PIRIE. An old term for a sudden gust of wind.

PIRLE. An archaic word signifying a brook or stream.

PIROGUE, OR PIRAGUA. A canoe formed from the trunk of a large tree, generally cedar or balsa wood. It was the native vessel which the Spaniards found in the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west coasts of South America; called also a dug-boat in North America.

PISCARY. A legal term for a fishery. Also, a right of fishing in the waters belonging to another person.

PISCES. The twelfth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of February.

PISCIS AUSTRALIS. One of the ancient southern constellations, the lucida of which is Fomalhaut.

PISTOL. An old word for a swaggering rogue; hence Shakspeare's character in _Henry V._

PISTOLA. A Papal gold coin of the sterling value of 13_s._ 11_d._

PISTOLE. A Spanish gold coin, value 16_s._ 6_d._ sterling.

PISTOLET. This name was applied both to a small pistol and a Spanish pistole.

PISTOLIERS. A name for the heavy cavalry, _temp._ Jac. I.

PISTOL-PROOF. A term for the point of courage for which a man was elected captain by pirates.

PISTON. In the marine steam-engine, a metal disc fitting the bore of the cylinder, and made to slide up and down within it easily, in order, by its reciprocating movement, to communicate motion to the engine.

PISTON-ROD. A rod which is firmly fixed in the piston by a key driven through both.

PIT. In the dockyards. _See_ SAW-PIT.

PITCH. Tar and coarse resin boiled to a fluid yet tenacious consistence. It is used in a hot state with oakum in caulking the ship to fill the chinks or intervals between her planks. Also, in steam navigation, the distance between two contiguous threads of the screw-propeller, is termed the _pitch_. Also, in gunnery, the throw of the shot.--_To pitch_, to plant or set, as tents, pavements, pitched battles, &c.

PITCH-BOAT. A vessel fitted for boiling pitch in, which should be veered astern of the one being caulked.

PITCHED. A word formerly used for _stepped_, as of a mast, and also for _thrown_.

PITCH-HOUSE. A place set apart for the boiling of pitch for the seams and bottoms of vessels.

PITCH IN, TO. To set to work earnestly; to beat a person violently. (A colloquialism.)

PITCHING. The plunging of a ship's head in a sea-way; the vertical vibration which her length makes about her centre of gravity; a very straining motion.

PITCH-KETTLE. That in which the pitch is heated, or in which it is carried from the _pitch-pot_.

PITCH-LADLE. Is used for paying decks and horizontal work.

PITCH-MOP. The implement with which the hot pitch is laid on to ships' sides and perpendicular work.

PITCH-PINE. _Pinus resinosa_, commonly called Norway or red pine. (_See_ PINE.)

PITH. Well known as the medullary part of the stem of a plant; but figuratively, it is used to express strength and courage.

PIT-PAN. A flat-bottomed, trough-like canoe, used in the Spanish Main and in the West Indies.

PIT-POWDER. That made with charcoal which has been burned in pits, not in cylinders.

PIVOT. A cylinder of iron or other metal, that may turn easily in a socket. Also, in a column of troops, that flank by which the dressing and distance are regulated; in a line, that on which it wheels.

PIVOT-GUN. Mounted on a frame carriage which can be turned radially, so as to point the piece in any direction.

PIVOT-SHIP. In certain fleet evolutions, the sternmost ship remains stationary, as a pivot upon which the other vessels are to form the line anew.

PLACE. A fortress, especially its main body.

PLACE FOR EVERYTHING, AND EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE. One of the golden maxims of propriety on board ship.

PLACE OF ARMS. In fortification, a space contrived for the convenient assembling of troops for ulterior purposes; the most usual are those at the salient and re-entering angles of the covered-way.

PLACER. A Spanish nautical term for shoal or deposit. Also, for deposits of precious minerals.

PLACES OF CALL. Merchantmen must here attend to two general rules:--If these places of call are enumerated in the charter-party, then such must be taken in the order laid down; but if leave be given to call at all, or any, then they must be taken in their geographical sequence.

PLAGES [Lat.] An old word for the divisions of the globe; as, _plages of the north_, the northern regions.

PLAIN. A term used in contradistinction to mountain, though far from implying a level surface, and it may be either elevated or low.

PLAN. The area or imaginary surface defined by, or within any described lines. In ship-building, the _plan of elevation_, commonly called the _sheer-draught_, is a side-plan of the ship. (_See_ HORIZONTAL PLAN and BODY-PLAN, or plan of projection.)

PLANE. In a general sense, a perfectly level surface; but it is a term used by shipwrights, implying the area or imaginary surface contained within any particular outlines, as the plane of elevation, or sheer-draught, &c.

PLANE-CHART. One constructed on the supposition of the earth's being an extended plane, and therefore but little in request.

PLANE OF THE MERIDIAN. _See_ MERIDIAN.

PLANE-SAILING. That part of navigation which treats a ship's course as an angle, and the distance, difference of latitude, and easting or westing, as the sides of a right-angled triangle. The easting or westing is called departure. To convert this into difference of longitude, parallel, middle latitude, or Mercator's sailing is needed, depending on circumstances. Plane-sailing is so simple that it is colloquially used to express anything so easy that it is impossible to make a mistake.

PLANE TRIANGLE. One contained by three right lines.

PLANETS, PRIMARY. Those beautiful opaque bodies which revolve about the sun as a centre, in nearly circular orbits. (_See_ INFERIOR, MINOR, and SUPERIOR.)

PLANETS, SECONDARY. The satellites, or moons, revolving about some of the primary planets--the moon being our satellite.

PLANIMETRY. The mensuration of plane surfaces.

PLANK. Thick boards, 18 feet long at least, from 1-1/2 to 4 inches thick, and 9 or 10 inches broad; of less dimensions, it is called _board_ or _deal_ (which see), the latter being 8 or 9 inches wide, by 14 feet long.

PLANKING. The outside and inside casing of the vessel.

PLANK IT, TO. To sleep on the bare decks, choosing, as the galley saying has it, the softest plank.

PLANK-SHEER. Pieces of plank covering the timber-heads round the ship; also, the gunwale or covering-board. The space between this and the line of flotation has latterly been termed the free-board.

PLAN OF THE TRANSOMS. The horizontal appearance of them, to which the moulds are made, and the bevellings taken.

PLANT. A stock of tools, &c. Also, the fixtures, machinery, &c., required to carry on a business.

PLANTER. In Newfoundland it means a person engaged in the fishery; and in the United States the naked trunk of a tree, which, imbedded in a river, becomes one of the very dangerous snag tribe.

PLASH, TO. To wattle or interweave branches.

PLASTRON. A pad used by fencers. Also, the shield on the under surface of a turtle.

PLATE. In marine law, refers to jewels, plate, or treasure, for which freight is due. Thus, _plate-ship_ is a galleon so laden.

PLATE. _Backstay-plate._ A piece of iron used instead of a chain to confine the dead-eye of the backstay to the after-channel.--_Foot-hook or futtock plates._ Iron bands fitted to the lower dead-eyes of the topmast-shrouds, which, passing through holes in the rim of the top, are attached to the upper ends of the futtock-shrouds.

PLATE-ARMOUR. Thick coverings or coatings for ships on the new principle, to render them impervious to shot and shell, if kept just outside of _breaking-plate_ distance.

PLATEAU. An upland flat-topped elevation.

PLATFORM. A kind of deck for any temporary or particular purpose: the orlop-deck, having store-rooms and cabins forward and aft, and the middle part allotted to the stowage of cables. Also, the flooring elevation of stone or timber on which the carriage of a gun is placed for action. Hence, in early voyages, a fort or battery, with well-mounted ordnance, is called "the platform."

PLATOON. Originally a small square body or subdivision of musketeers; hence, _platoon exercise_, that which relates to the loading and firing of muskets in the ranks; and _platoon firing_, _i.e._ by subdivisions.

PLAY. Motion in the frame, masts, &c. Also said of the marine steam-engine when it is in action or in play. Also, in long voyages or tedious blockades, play-acting may be encouraged with benefit; for the excitement and employment thus afforded are not only good anti-scorbutics, but also promoters of content and good fellowship: in such--

"Jack is not bound by critics' crabbed laws,
But gives to all his unreserved applause:
He laughs aloud when jokes his fancy please--
Such are the honest manners of the seas.
And never--never may he ape those fools
Who, lost to reason, laugh or cry by rules."

PLAYTE. An old term for a river-boat.

PLEDGET. The string of oakum used in caulking. Also, in surgery, a small plug of lint.

PLEIADES. The celebrated cluster of stars in Taurus, of which seven or eight are visible to the naked eye; the assisted vision numbers over 200.

PLENY TIDES. Full tides.

PLICATILES. Ancient vessels built of wood and leather, which could be taken to pieces and carried by land.

PLONKETS. Coarse woollen cloths of former commerce. (_See_ statute 1 R. III. c. 8.)

PLOT, OR PLOTT. A plan or chart. (_See_ ICHNOGRAPHY.)

PLOTTING. The making of the plan after an actual survey of the place has been obtained.

PLOUGH. An instrument formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, and possessed of large graduations. When a ship cuts briskly through the sea she is said to plough it.

PLUCKER. The fishing frog, _Lophius piscatorius_.

PLUG. A conical piece of wood to let in or keep out water, when fitted to a hole in the bottom of a boat.--_Hawse-plugs._ To stop the hawse-holes when the cables are unbent, and the ship plunges in a head-sea.--_Shot-plugs._ Covered with oakum and tallow, to stop shot-holes in the sides of a ship near the water-line; being conical, they adapt themselves to any sized shot-holes.

PLUMB. Right up and down, opposed to parallel.--_To plumb._ To form the vertical line. Also, to sound the depth of water.

PLUMBER-BLOCKS. These, in a marine steam-engine, are Y's, wherein are fixed the bushes, in which the shafts or pinions revolve.

PLUMMET. A name sometimes given to the hand-lead, or any lead or iron weight suspended by a string, as used by carpenters, &c.

PLUNDER. A name given to the effects of the officers and crew of a prize, when pillaged by the captors, though the act directs that "nothing shall be taken out of a prize-ship till condemned." (_See_ PILLAGE.)

PLUNGING FIRE. A pitching discharge of shot from a higher level, at such an angle that the shot do not ricochet.

PLUNGING SPLASH. The descent of the anchor into the water when let go.

PLUSH [evidently from _plus_]. The overplus of the grog, arising from being distributed in a smaller measure than the true one, and assigned to the cook of each mess, becomes a cause of irregularity. (_See_ TOT.)

PLUVIOMETER, OR RAIN-GAUGE. A measurer of the quantity of rain which falls on a square foot. There are various kinds.

PLY, TO. To carry cargoes or passengers for short trips. Also, _to work to windward_, to beat. Also, _to ply an oar_, to use it in pulling.

PLYMOUTH CLIMATE.

"The west wind always brings wet weather,
The east wind wet and cold together;
The south wind surely brings us rain,
The north wind blows it back again."

PLYMOUTH CLOAK. An old term for a cane or walking stick.

P.M. [Lat. _post meridiem_.] Post meridian, or after mid-day.

P.O. Mark for a petty officer.

POCHARD. A kind of wild duck.

POCKET. A commercial quantity of wool, containing half a sack. Also, the frog of a belt.

POD. A company of seals or sea-elephants.

POGGE. The miller's thumb, _Cottus cataphractus_.

POHAGEN. A fish of the herring kind, called also _hard-head_ (which see).

POINT. A low spit of land projecting from the main into the sea, almost synonymous with promontory or head. Also, the rhumb the winds blow from.

POINT A GUN, TO. To direct it on a given object.

POINT A SAIL, TO. To affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs. (_See_ POINTS.)

POINT-BEACHER. A low woman of Portsmouth.

POINT-BLANK. Direct on the object; "blank" being the old word for the mark on the practice-butt.

POINT-BLANK FIRING. That wherein no elevation is given to the gun, its axis being pointed for the object.

POINT-BLANK RANGE. The distance to which a shot was reckoned to range straight, without appreciable drooping from the force of gravity. It varied from 300 to 400 yards, according to the nature of gun; and was measured by the first graze of the shot fired horizontally from a gun on its carriage on a horizontal plane. The finer practice of rifled guns is much abating the use of the term, minute elevations being added to the point-blank direction for even the very smallest ranges.

POINT BRASS OR IRON. A large sort of plumb for the nice adjustment of perpendicularity for a given line.

POINT-DE-GALLE CANOE. Consists of a single stem of _Dup_ wood, 18 to 30 feet long, from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 feet broad, and from 2 to 3 feet deep. It is fitted with a balance log at the ends of two bamboo out-riggers, having the mast, yard, and sail secured together; and, when sailing, is managed in a similar way to the catamaran. They sail very well in strong winds, and are also used by the natives of the Eastern Archipelago, especially at the Feejee group, where they are very large.

POINTER. The index or indicator of an instrument.--_Station pointer._ A brass graduated circle with one fixed and two radial legs; by placing them at two adjoining angles taken by a sextant between three known objects, the position of the observer is fixed on the chart.

POINTER-BOARD. A simple contrivance for duly training a ship's guns.

POINTERS. Stout props, placed obliquely to the timbers of whalers, to sustain the shock of icebergs. All braces placed diagonally across the hold of any vessel, to support the bilge and prevent loose-working, are called pointers. Also, the general designation for the stars {a} and {b} in the Great Bear, a line through which points nearly upon the pole-star.

POINT-HOLES. The eyelet-holes for the points.

POINTING. The operation of unlaying and tapering the end of a rope, and weaving some of its yarns about the diminished part, which is very neat to the eye, prevents it from being fagged out, and makes it handy for reeving in a block, &c.

POINT OF THE COMPASS. The 32d part of the circumference, or 11 deg. 15'.

POINTS. _See_ REEF-POINTS.--_Armed at all points_, is when a man is defended by armour cap-a-pie.

POINTS OF SERVICE. The principal details of duty, which ought to be executed with zeal and alacrity.

POLACRE. A ship or brig of the Mediterranean; the masts are commonly formed of one spar from truck to heel, so that they have neither tops nor cross-trees, neither have they any foot-ropes to their upper yards, because the men stand upon the topsail-yards to loose and furl the top-gallant sails, and upon the lower yards to loose, reef, or furl the top-sails, all the yards being lowered sufficiently for that purpose.

POLANS. Knee-pieces in armour.

POLAR CIRCLES. The Arctic and the Antarctic; 23 deg. 28' from either pole.

POLAR COMPRESSION. _See_ COMPRESSION OF THE POLES.

POLAR DISTANCE. The complement of the _declination_. The angular distance of a heavenly body from one of the poles, counted on from 0 deg. to 180 deg.

POLARIS. _See_ POLE-STAR.

POLAR REGIONS. Those parts of the world which lie within the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

POLDAVIS, OR POLDAVY. A canvas from Dantzic, formerly much used in our navy. A kind of sail-cloth thus named was also manufactured in Lancashire from about the year 1500, and regulated by statute 1 Jac. cap. 24.

POLE. The upper end of the highest masts, when they rise above the rigging.

POLEAXE, OR POLLAX. A sort of hatchet, resembling a battle-axe, which was used on board ship to cut away the rigging of an adversary. Also in boarding an enemy whose hull was more lofty than that of the boarders, by driving the points of several into her side, one above another, and thus forming a kind of scaling-ladder; hence were called boarding-axes.

POLEMARCH. The commander-in-chief of an ancient Greek army.

POLE-MASTS. Single spar masts, also applied where the top-gallant and royal masts are in one. (_See_ MAST.)

POLES. Two points on the surface of the earth, each 90 deg. distant from all parts of the equator, forming the extremities of the imaginary line called the earth's axis. The term applies also to those points in the heavens towards which the terrestrial axis is always directed.--_Under bare poles._ The situation of a ship at sea when all her sails are furled. (_See_ SCUD and TRY.)

POLE-STAR. {a} _Ursae minoris_. This most useful star is the lucida of the Little Bear, round which the other components of the constellation and the rest of the heavens appear to revolve in the course of the astronomical day.

POLICY. A written contract, by which the insurers oblige themselves to indemnify sea-risks under various conditions. An _interest_ policy, is where the insurer has a real assignable interest in the thing insured; a _wager_ policy, is where the insurer has no substantial interest in the thing insured; an _open_ policy, is where the amount of interest is not fixed, but left to be ascertained in case of loss; a _valued_ policy, is where an actual value has been set on the ship or goods.

POLLACK. The _Merlangus pollachius_, a well-known member of the cod family.

POLLUX. {b} _Geminorum_. A bright and well-known star in the ancient constellation Gemini, of which it is the second in brightness.

POLRON. That part of the armour which covered the neck and shoulders.

POLTROON. Not known in the navy.

POLYGON. A geometrical figure of any number of sides more than four; regular or irregular. In fortification the term is applied to the plan of a piece of ground fortified or about to be fortified; and hence, in some countries, to a fort appropriated as an artillery and engineering school.

POLYMETER. An instrument for measuring angles.

POLYNESIA. A group of islands: a name generally applied to the islands of the Pacific Ocean collectively, whether in clusters or straggling.

POMELO, OR PUMELO. _Citrus decumana._ A large fruit known by this name in the East Indies, but in the West by that of shaddock, after Captain Shaddock, who introduced it there.

POMFRET. A delicate sea-fish, taken in great quantities in Bombay and Madras.

POMMELION. A name given by seamen to the cascable or hindmost knob on the breech of a cannon.

PONCHES. Small bulk-heads made in the hold to stow corn, goods, &c.

PONCHO. A blanket with a hole in the centre, large enough for the head to pass through, worn by natives of South and Western America.

POND. A word often used for a small lagoon, but improperly, for ponds are formed exclusively from springs and surface-drainage, and have no affluent. Also, a cant name for the Mediterranean. Also, the summit-level of a canal.

PONENT. Western.

PONIARD. A short dagger with a sharp edge.

PONTAGE. A duty or toll collected for the repair and keeping of bridges.

PONTONES. Ancient square-built ferry-boats for passing rivers, as described by Caesar and Aulus Gellius.

PONTOON. A large low flat vessel resembling a barge of burden, and furnished with cranes, capstans, tackles, and other machinery necessary for careening ships; they are principally used in the Mediterranean. Also, a kind of portable boat specially adapted for the formation of the floating bridges required by armies: they are constructed of various figures, and of wood, metal, or prepared canvas (the latter being most in favour at present), and have the necessary superstructure and gear packed with them for transport.

POO. A small crab on the Scottish coast.

POOD. A Russian commercial weight, equal to 36 lbs. English.

POODLE. An old Cornish name for the English Channel. Also, a slang term for the aide-de-camp of a garrison general.

POOL. Is distinguished from a _pond_, in being filled by springs or running water. Also, a _pwll_ or port.

POOP. [From the Latin _puppis_.] The aftermost and highest part of a large ship's hull. Also, a deck raised over the after-part of a spar-deck, sometimes called the _round-house_. A frigate has no poop, but is said to be pooped when a wave strikes the stern and washes on board.

POOPING, OR BEING POOPED. The breaking of a heavy sea over the stern or quarter of a boat or vessel when she scuds before the wind in a gale, which is extremely dangerous, especially if deeply laden.

POOP-LANTERN. A light carried by admirals to denote the flag-ship by night.

POOP-NETTING. _See_ HAMMOCK-NETTINGS.

POOP-RAILS. The stanchions and rail-work in front of the poop. (_See_ BREAST-WORK and FIFE-RAILS.)

POOP-ROYAL. A short deck or platform placed over the aftmost part of the poop in the largest of the French and Spanish men-of-war, and serving as a cabin for their masters and pilots. This is the topgallant-poop of our shipwrights, and the former round-house cabin of our merchant vessels.

POOR JOHN. Hake-fish salted and dried, as well as dried stock-fish, and bad _bacalao_, or cod, equally cheap and coarse. Shakspeare mentions it in _Romeo and Juliet_.

POPLAR. The tree which furnishes charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder.

POPLER. An old name for a sea-gull.

POPPETS. Upright pieces of stout square timber, mostly fir, between the bottom and bilge-ways, at the run and entrance of a ship about to be launched, for giving her further support. Also, poppets on the gunwale of a boat support the wash-strake, and form the rowlocks.

POPPLING SEA. Waves in irregular agitation.

PORBEAGLE. A kind of shark.

PORPESSE, PORPOISE, OR PORPUSS. The _Phoc[oe]na communis_. One of the smallest of the cetacean or whale order, common in the British seas.

PORT. An old Anglo-Saxon word still in full use. It strictly means a place of resort for vessels, adjacent to an emporium of commerce, where cargoes are bought and sold, or laid up in warehouses, and where there are docks for shipping. It is not quite a synonym of _harbour_, since the latter does not imply traffic. Vessels hail from the port they have quitted, but they are compelled to have the name of the vessel and of the port to which they belong painted on the bow or stern.--_Port_ is also in a legal sense a refuge more or less protected by points and headlands, marked out by limits, and may be resorted to as a place of safety, though there are many ports but rarely entered. The left side of the ship is called _port_, by admiralty order, in preference to _larboard_, as less mistakeable in sound for starboard.--_To port the helm._ So to move the tiller as to carry the rudder to the starboard side of the stern-post.--_Bar-port._ One which can only be entered when the tide rises sufficiently to afford depth over a bar; this in many cases only occurs at spring-tides.--_Close-port._ One within the body of a city, as that of Rhodes, Venice, Amsterdam, &c.--_Free-port._ One open and free of all duties for merchants of all nations to load and unload their vessels, as the ports of Genoa and Leghorn. Also, a term used for a total exemption of duties which any set of merchants enjoy, for goods imported into a state, or those exported of the growth of the country. Such was the privilege the English enjoyed for several years after their discovery of the port of Archangel, and which was taken from them on account of the regicide in 1648.

PORTABLE SOUP, and other preparations of meat. Of late years a very valuable part of naval provision.

PORTAGE. Tonnage. Also, the land carriage between two harbours, often high and difficult for transport. Also, in Canadian river navigation means the carrying canoes or boats and their cargo across the land, where the stream is interrupted by rocks or rapids.

PORT ARMS! The military word of command to bring the fire-lock across the front of the body, muzzle slanting upwards; a motion preparatory for the "charge bayonets!" or for inspecting the condition of the locks.

PORT-BARS. Strong pieces of oak, furnished with two laniards, by which the ports are secured from flying open in a gale of wind, the bars resting against the inside of the ship; the port is first tightly closed by its hooks and ring-bolts.

PORT-CHARGES, OR HARBOUR-DUES. Charges levied on vessels resorting to a port.

PORTCULLIS. A heavy frame of wooden or iron bars, sliding in vertical grooves within the masonry over the gateway of a fortified town, to be lowered for barring the passage. When hastily made, it was termed a sarrazine.

PORTE. _See_ SUBLIME PORTE.

PORT-FIRE. A stick of composition, generally burning an inch a minute, used to convey fire from the slow-match or the like to the priming of ordnance, though superseded with most guns by locks or friction-tubes. With a slightly altered composition it is used for signals; also for firing charges of mines.

PORT-FLANGE. In ship-carpentry, is a batten of wood fixed on the ship's side over a port, to prevent water or dirt going into the port.

PORT-GLAIVE. A sword-bearer.

PORT-LAST, OR PORTOISE. Synonymous with _gunwale_.

PORT-MEN. A name in old times for the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports; the burgesses of Ipswich are also so called.

PORT-MOTE. A court held in haven towns or ports.

PORT-NAILS. These are classed double and single: they are similar to clamp-nails, and like them are used for fastening iron work.

PORT-PENDANTS. Ropes spliced into rings on the outside of the port-lids, and rove through leaden pipes in the ship's sides, to work the port-lids up or down by the tackles.

PORT-PIECE. An ancient piece of ordnance used in our early fleets.

PORT-PIECE CHAMBER. A paterero for loading a port-piece at the breech.

PORT-REEVE. A magistrate of certain sea-port towns in olden times.

PORT-ROPES. Those by which the ports are hauled up and suspended.

PORTS, OR PORT-HOLES. The square apertures in the sides of a ship through which to point and fire the ordnance. Also, aft and forward, as the _bridle-port_ in the bows, the _quarter-port_ in round-stern vessels, and _stern-ports_ between the stern-timbers. Also, square holes cut in the sides, bow, or stem of a merchant ship, for taking in and discharging timber cargoes, and for other purposes.--_Gunroom-ports._ Are situated in the ship's counter, and are used for stern-chasers, and also for passing a small cable or a hawser out, either to moor head and stern, or to spring upon the cable, &c. (_See_ MOOR and SPRING.)--_Half-port._ A kind of shutter which hinges on the lower side of a port, and falls down outside when clear for action; when closed it half covers the port to the line of metal of the gun, and is firmly secured by iron hooks. The upper half-port is temporary and loose, will not stand a heavy sea, and is merely secured by two light inch-rope laniards.

PORT-SALE. A public sale of fish on its arrival in the harbour.

PORT-SASHES. Half-ports fitted with glass for the admission of light into cabins.

PORT-SHACKLES. The rings to the ports.

PORT-SILLS. In ship-building, pieces of timber put horizontally between the framing to form the top and bottom of a port.

PORT-TACKLES. Those falls which haul up and suspend the lower-deck ports, so that since the admiralty order for using the word _port_ instead of _larboard_, we have _port port-tackle falls_.

PORTUGUESE. A gold coin, value L1, 16_s._, called also _moiadobras_.

PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. A beautiful floating acalephan of the tropical seas; the _Physalia pelagica_.

POSITION. Ground (or water) occupied, or that may be advantageously occupied, in fighting order.

POSITION, GEOGRAPHICAL, of any place on the surface of the earth, is the determination of its latitude and longitude, and its height above the level of the sea.

POSSESSORY. A suit entered in the admiralty court by owners for the seizing of their ship.

POST. Any ground, fortified or not, where a body of men can be in a condition for defence, or fighting an enemy. Also, the limits of a sentinel's charge.

POST-CAPTAIN. Formerly a captain of three years' standing, now simply captain, but equal to colonel in the army, by date of commission.

POSTED. Promoted from commander to captain in the navy; a word no longer officially used.

POSTERN. A small passage constructed through some retired part of a bastion, or other portion of a work, for the garrison's minor communications with the town, unperceived by the enemy.

POSTING. Placing people for special duty. Also, publicly handing out a bad character.

POST OF HONOUR. The advance, and the right of the lines of any army.

POUCH. A case of strong leather for carrying ammunition, used by soldiers, marines, and small-arm men. Also, the crop of a shark.

POUCHES. Wooden bulk-heads across the hold of cargo vessels, to prevent grain or light shingle from shifting.

POULDRON. A shoulder-piece in armour. Corrupted from _epauldron_.

POULTERER. Called "Jemmy Ducks" on board ship; he assists the butcher in the feeding and care of the live stock, &c.

POUND. A lagoon, or space of water, surrounded by reefs and shoals, wherein fish are kept, as at Bermuda.

POUND-AND-PINT-IDLER. A sobriquet applied to the purser.

POUNDER. A denomination applied to guns according to the weight of the shot they carry; at present everything larger than the 100-pounder is described by the diameter of its bore, coupled with its total weight.

POW. A name on the Scotch shores for a small creek. Also, a mole.

POWDER. _See_ GUNPOWDER.

POWDER, TO. To salt meat slightly; as Falstaff says, "If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me too, to-morrow."--_Powdering-tub._ A vessel used for pickling beef, pork, &c.

POWDER-BAGS. Leathern bags containing from 20 to 40 lbs. of powder; substituted for petards at the instance of Lord Cochrane, as being more easily placed. They have lately been called Ghuznee bags.

POWDER-HOY. An ordnance vessel expressly fitted to convey powder from the land magazine to a ship; it invariably carries a red distinguishing flag, and warns the ship for which the powder is intended, to put out all fires before she comes alongside.

POWDER-MAGAZINE. The prepared space allotted for the powder on board ship.

POWDER-MONKEY. Formerly the boy of the gun, who had charge of the cartridge; now powder-man.

POWDER-VESSEL. A ship used as a floating magazine.

POWER. Mechanical force; in the steam-engine it is esteemed effective, expansive, or full. (_See_ HORSE-POWER.)

POZZOLANA. Volcanic ashes, used in cement, especially if required under water.

PRACTICABLE. Said of a breach in a rampart when its slope offers a fair means of ascent to an assaulting column.

PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY. A branch of science which includes the determination of the magnitude, distance, and phenomena of the heavenly bodies; the ready reduction of observations for tangible use in navigation and geography; and the expert manipulation of astronomical instruments.

PRAECURSORIAE. Ancient vessels which led or preceded the fleets.

PRAEDATORIAE, OR PRAEDATICAE. Long, swift, light ancient pirates.

PRAHU. [Malay for boat.] The larger war-vessels among the Malays, range from 55 to 156 feet in length, and carry 76 to 96 rowers, with about 40 to 60 fighting men. The guns range from 2 inches to 6 inches bore, are of brass, and mounted on stock-pieces, four to ten being the average. These boats are remarkable for their swiftness.

PRAIA [Sp. _playa_]. The beach or strand on Portuguese coasts.

PRAIRIE. The natural meadows or tracts of gently undulating, wonderfully fertile land, occupying so vast an extent of the great river-basins of North America.

PRAM, OR PRAAM. A lighter used in Holland, and the ports of the Baltic, for loading and unloading merchant ships. Some were fitted by the French with heavy guns, for defending the smaller ports.

PRANKLE. A Channel term for the _prawn_.

PRATIQUE. A Mediterranean term, implying the license to trade and communicate with any place after having performed the required quarantine, or upon the production of a clean bill of health.

PRAWN. A marine crustacean larger than a shrimp, much esteemed as an article of food.

PRAYER-BOOK. A smaller hand-stone than that which sailors call "bible;" it is used to scrub in narrow crevices where a large holy-stone cannot be used. (_See_ HOLY-STONE.)

PRECEDENCE. The order and degree of rank among officers of the two services. (_See_ RANK.)

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES. A slow motion of the equinoctial points in the heavens, whereby the longitudes of the fixed stars are increased at the present rate of about 50-1/4" annually, the equinox having a retrograde motion to this amount. This effect is produced by the attraction of the sun, moon, and planets upon the spheroidal figure of the earth; the luni-solar precession is the joint effect of the sun and moon only.

PREDY, OR PRIDDY. A word formerly used in our ships for "get ready;" as, "Predy the main-deck," or get it clear.

PRE-EMPTION. A right of purchasing necessary cargoes upon reasonable compensation to the individual whose property is thus diverted. This claim is usually restricted to neutrals avowedly bound to the enemy's ports, and is a mitigation of the former practice of seizing them. (_See_ COMMEATUS.)

PREMIUM. Simply a reward; but in commerce it implies the sum of money paid to the underwriters on ship or cargo, or parts thereof, as the price of the insurance risk.

PREROGATIVE. A word of large extent. By the constitution of England the sovereign alone has the power of declaring war and peace. The crown is not precluded by the Prize Act from superseding prize proceedings by directing restitution of property seized, before adjudication, and against the will of the captors.

PRESENT! The military word of command to raise the musket, take aim, and fire.

PRESENT ARMS! The military word of command to salute with the musket.

PRESENT USE. Stores to be immediately applied in the fitting of a ship, as distinguished from the supply for future sea use.

PRESERVED MEAT AND VEGETABLES. The occasional use of such food and lime-juice at sea, is not only a great luxury, but in many cases essential to the health of the crew, as especially instanced by the increase of scurvy in ships where this precaution is neglected.

PRESIDENT. At a general court-martial it is usual for the authority ordering it to name the president, and the office usually falls upon the second in command.

PRESS, TO. To reduce an enemy to straits. (_See_ IMPRESSMENT.)

PRESS-GANG. A party of seamen who (under the command of a lieutenant) were formerly empowered, in time of war, to take any seafaring men--on shore or afloat--and compel them to serve on board men-of-war. Those who were thus taken were called _pressed men_.

PRESS OF SAIL. As much sail as the state of the wind, &c., will permit a ship to carry.

PRESSURE-GAUGE. The manometer of a steam-engine.

PREST. Formerly signified quick or ready, and a _prest man_ was one willing to enlist for a stipulated sum--the very reverse of the _pressed man_ of later times. (_See_ PRESS-GANG.)

PRESTER. An old name for a meteor.

PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. Is such as by a fair and reasonable interpretation is deducible from the facts of a case.