Part 48
1. A feather; esp., a soft, downy feather, or a long, conspicuous, or handsome feather.
Wings . . . of many a colored plume.
Milton.
2. (Zoˆl.) An ornamental tuft of feathers.
3. A feather, or group of feathers, worn as an ornament; a waving ornament of hair, or other material resembling feathers.
His high plume, that nodded o'er his head.
Dryden.
4. A token of honor or prowess; that on which one prides himself; a prize or reward. "Ambitious to win from me some plume." Milton.
5. (Bot.) A large and flexible panicle of inflorescence resembling a feather, such as is seen in certain large ornamental grasses.
Plume bird (Zoˆl.), any bird that yields ornamental plumes, especially the species of Epimarchus from New Guinea, and some of the herons and egrets, as the white heron of Florida (Ardea candidissima). -- Plume grass. (Bot) (a) A kind of grass (Erianthus saccharoides) with the spikelets arranged in great silky plumes, growing in swamps in the Southern United States. (b) The still finer E. RavennÊ from the Mediterranean region. The name is sometimes extended to the whole genus. -- Plume moth (Zoˆl.), any one of numerous small, slender moths, belonging to the family PterophoridÊ. Most of them have the wings deeply divided into two or more plumelike lobes. Some species are injurious to the grapevine. -- Plume nutmeg (Bot.), an aromatic Australian tree (Atherosperma moschata), whose numerous carpels are tipped with long plumose persistent styles.
Plume, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plumed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pluming.] [Cf. F. plumer to pluck, to strip, L. plumare to cover with feathers.] 1. To pick and adjust the plumes or feathers of; to dress or prink.
Pluming her wings among the breezy bowers.
W. Irving.
2. To strip of feathers; to pluck; to strip; to pillage; also, to peel. [Obs.] Bacon. Dryden.
3. To adorn with feathers or plumes. "Farewell the plumed troop." Shak.
4. To pride; to vaunt; to boast; -- used reflexively; as, he plumes himself on his skill. South.
Plumed adder (Zoˆl.), an African viper (Vipera, or Clotho cornuta), having a plumelike structure over each eye. It is venomous, and is related to the African puff adder. Called also horned viper and hornsman. -- Plumed partridge (Zoˆl.), the California mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus). See Mountain quail, under Mountain.
Plume"less (?), a. Without plumes.
Plume"let (?), n. [Plume + - let.] A small plume.
When rosy plumelets tuft the larch.
Tennyson.
Plum"er*y (?), n. Plumes, collectively or in general; plumage. [R.] Southey.
Plu"mi*corn (?), n. [L. pluma feather + cornu horn.] (Zoˆl.) An ear tuft of feathers, as in the horned owls.
Plu*mig"er*ous (?), a. [L. plumiger; pluma a feather + gerere to bear.] Feathered; having feathers. Bailey
Plu*mil"i*form (?), a. [L. plumula, or plumella a little feather (dim. of pluma feather) + -form.] Having the of a plume or feather. [R.]
Plu"mi*ped (?), a. [L. plumipes, -edis; pluma a feather + pes: cf. F. plumipËde.] (Zoˆl.) Having feet covered with feathers. -- n. A plumiped bird.
Plum"met (?), n. [OE. plommet, OF. plommet, fr. plom, plum, lead, F. plomb. See Plumb.] 1. A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water.
I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.
Shak.
2. A plumb bob or a plumb line. See under Plumb, n.
3. Hence, any weight.
4. A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing.
Plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line.
Plum"ming (?), n. [See Plumb.] (Min.) The operation of finding, by means of a mine dial, the place where to sink an air shaft, or to bring an adit to the work, or to find which way the lode inclines.
Plum"my (?), a. [From Plum.] Of the nature of a plum; desirable; profitable; advantageous. [Colloq.] "For the sake of getting something plummy." G. Eliot.
{ Plu*mose" (?), Plu"mous (?), } a. [L. plumosus, fr. pluma feather: cf. F. plumeux.]
1. Having feathers or plumes.
2. Having hairs, or other p·rts, arranged along an axis like a feather; feathery; plumelike; as, a plumose leaf; plumose tentacles.
Plu"mo*site (?), n. (Min.) Same as Jamesonite.
Plu*mos"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being plumose.
Plump (plmp), a. [Compar. Plumper (-r); superl. Plumpest.] [OE. plomp rude, clumsy; akin to D. plomp, G., Dan., & Sw. plump; probably of imitative origin. Cf. Plump, adv.] Well rounded or filled out; full; fleshy; fat; as, a plump baby; plump cheeks. Shak.
The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.
T. Carew.
Plump, n. A knot; a cluster; a group; a crowd; a flock; as, a plump of trees, fowls, or spears. [Obs.]
To visit islands and the plumps of men.
Chapman.
Plump, v. i. [Cf. D. plompen, G. plumpen, Sw. plumpa, Dan. plumpe. See Plump, a.] 1. To grow plump; to swell out; as, her cheeks have plumped.
2. To drop or fall suddenly or heavily, all at once."Dulcissa plumps into a chair." Spectator.
3. To give a plumper. See Plumper, 2.
Plump, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plumped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plumping.] 1. To make plump; to fill (out) or support; -- often with up.
To plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles.
Fuller.
2. To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily; as, to plump a stone into water.
3. To give (a vote), as a plumper. See Plumper, 2.
Plump, adv. [Cf. D. plomp, interj., G. plump, plumps. Cf. Plump, a. & v.] Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly. "Fall plump." Beau. & Fl.
Plump"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, plumps or swells out something else; hence, something carried in the mouth to distend the cheeks.
2. (English Elections) A vote given to one candidate only, when two or more are to be elected, thus giving him the advantage over the others. A person who gives his vote thus is said to plump, or to plump his vote.
3. A voter who plumps his vote. [Eng.]
4. A downright, unqualified lie. [Colloq. or Low]
Plump"ly, adv. Fully; roundly; plainly; without reserve. [Colloq.]
Plump"ness, n. The quality or state of being plump.
Plump"y (?), a. Plump; fat; sleek. "Plumpy Bacchus." Shak.
||Plu"mu*la (?), n.; pl. L. Plumule (#), E.-las (#). [L. See Plumule.] ||1. (Bot.) A plumule.
2. (Zoˆl.) A down feather.
Plu`mu*la"ceous (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Downy; bearing down.
Plu"mu*lar (?), a. (Bot.) Relating to a plumule.
||Plu`mu*la"ri*a (?), n.; pl. L. PlumularlÊ (#), E. Plumularias (#). ||[NL.] (Zoˆl.) Any hydroid belonging to Plumularia and other genera of ||the family PlumularidÊ. They generally grow in plumelike forms.
Plu`mu*la"ri*an (?), n. (Zoˆl.) Any Plumularia. Also used adjectively.
Plu"mule (?), n. [L. plumula, dim. of pluma a feather; cf. F. plumule.] 1. (Bot.) The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See Illust. of Radicle. Gray.
2. (Zoˆl.) (a) A down feather. (b) The aftershaft of a feather. See Illust. under Feather. (c) One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.
Plu"mu*lose" (?), a. Having hairs branching out laterally, like the parts of a feather.
Plum"y (?), a. Covered or adorned with plumes, or as with plumes; feathery. "His plumy crest." Addison. "The plumy trees." J. S. Blackie.
Plun"der (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plundered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plundering.] [G. pl¸ndern to plunder, plunder frippery, baggage.] 1. To take the goods of by force, or without right; to pillage; to spoil; to sack; to strip; to rob; as, to plunder travelers.
Nebuchadnezzar plunders the temple of God.
South.
2. To take by pillage; to appropriate forcibly; as, the enemy plundered all the goods they found.
Syn. -- To pillage; despoil; sack; rifle; strip; rob.
Plun"der (?), n. 1. The act of plundering or pillaging; robbery. See Syn. of Pillage.
Inroads and plunders of the Saracens.
Sir T. North.
2. That which is taken by open force from an enemy; pillage; spoil; booty; also, that which is taken by theft or fraud. "He shared in the plunder." Cowper.
3. Personal property and effects; baggage or luggage. [Slang, Southwestern U.S.]
Plun"der*age (?), n. (Mar. Law) The embezzlement of goods on shipboard. Wharton.
Plun"der*er (?), n. One who plunders or pillages.
Plunge (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plunged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plunging (?).] [OE. ploungen, OF. plongier, F. plonger, fr. (assumed) LL. plumbicare, fr. L. plumbum lead. See Plumb.] 1. To thrust into water, or into any substance that is penetrable; to immerse; to cause to penetrate or enter quickly and forcibly; to thrust; as, to plunge the body into water; to plunge a dagger into the breast. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge a nation into war. "To plunge the boy in pleasing sleep." Dryden.
Bound and plunged him into a cell.
Tennyson.
We shall be plunged into perpetual errors.
I. Watts.
2. To baptize by immersion.
3. To entangle; to embarrass; to overcome. [Obs.]
Plunged and graveled with three lines of Seneca.
Sir T. Browne.
Plunge, v. i. 1. To thrust or cast one's self into water or other fluid; to submerge one's self; to dive, or to rush in; as, he plunged into the river. Also used figuratively; as, to plunge into debt.
Forced to plunge naked in the raging sea.
Dryden.
To plunge into guilt of a murther.
Tillotson.
2. To pitch or throw one's self headlong or violently forward, as a horse does.
Some wild colt, which . . . flings and plunges.
Bp. Hall.
3. To bet heavily and with seeming recklessness on a race, or other contest; in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. [Cant]
Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.
Plunge, n. 1. The act of thrusting into or submerging; a dive, leap, rush, or pitch into, or as into, water; as, to take the water with a plunge.
2. Hence, a desperate hazard or act; a state of being submerged or overwhelmed with difficulties. [R.]
She was brought to that plunge, to conceal her husband's murder or accuse her son.
Sir P. Sidney.
And with thou not reach out a friendly arm, To raise me from amidst this plunge of sorrows?
Addison.
3. The act of pitching or throwing one's self headlong or violently forward, like an unruly horse.
4. Heavy and reckless betting in horse racing; hazardous speculation. [Cant]
Plunge bath, an immersion by plunging; also, a large bath in which the bather can wholly immerse himself. -- Plunge, or plunging, battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.
Plun"ger (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, plunges; a diver.
2. A long solid cylinder, used, instead of a piston or bucket, as a forcer in pumps.
3. One who bets heavily and recklessly on a race; a reckless speculator. [Cant]
4. (Pottery) A boiler in which clay is beaten by a wheel to a creamy consistence. Knight.
5. (Gun.) The firing pin of a breechloader.
Plunger bucket, a piston, without a valve, in a pump. -- Plunger pole, the pump rod of a pumping engine. -- Plunger pump, a pump, as for water, having a plunger, instead of a piston, to act upon the water. It may be single-acting or double-acting
Plun"ket (?), n. A kind of blue color; also, anciently, a kind of cloth, generally blue.
Plu"per`fect (?), a. [L. plus more + perfectus perfect; cf. F. plus-que-parfait, L. plusquamperfectum.] More than perfect; past perfect; -- said of the tense which denotes that an action or event was completed at or before the time of another past action or event. -- n. The pluperfect tense; also, a verb in the pluperfect tense.
Plu"ral (?), a. [L. pluralis, from plus, pluris, more; cf. F. pluriel, OF. plurel. See Plus.] Relating to, or containing, more than one; designating two or more; as, a plural word.
Plural faith, which is too much by one.
Shak.
Plural number (Gram.), the number which designates more than one. See Number, n., 8.
Plu"ral, n. (Gram.) The plural number; that form of a word which expresses or denotes more than one; a word in the plural form.
Plu"ral*ism (?), n. 1. The quality or state of being plural, or in the plural number.
2. (Eccl.) The state of a pluralist; the holding of more than one ecclesiastical living at a time. [Eng.]
Plu"ral*ist, n. (Eccl.) A clerk or clergyman who holds more than one ecclesiastical benefice. [Eng.]
Of the parochial clergy, a large proportion were pluralists.
Macaulay.
Plu*ral"i*ty (?), n.; pl. pluralities (#). [L. pluralitas: cf. F. pluralitÈ.] 1. The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as, a plurality of worlds; the plurality of a verb.
2. The greater number; a majority; also, the greatest of several numbers; in elections, the excess of the votes given for one candidate over those given for another, or for any other, candidate. When there are more than two candidates, the one who receives the plurality of votes may have less than a majority. See Majority.
Take the plurality of the world, and they are neither wise nor good.
L'Estrange.
3. (Eccl.) See Plurality of benefices, below.
Plurality of benefices (Eccl.), the possession by one clergyman of more than one benefice or living. Each benefice thus held is called a plurality. [Eng.]
<! p. 1103 !>
Plu`ral*i*za"tion (?), n. The act of pluralizing. H. Spencer.
Plu"ral*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pluralized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pluralizing (?).] 1. To make plural by using the plural termination; to attribute plurality to; to express in the plural form.
2. To multiply; to make manifold. [R.]
Plu"ral*ize, v. i. 1. To take a plural; to assume a plural form; as, a noun pluralizes. Earle.
2. (Eccl.) To hold more than one benefice at the same time. [Eng.]
Plu"ral*i`zer (?), n. (Eccl.) A pluralist. [R.]
Plu"ral*ly, adv. In a plural manner or sense.
Plu"ri- (?). [See Plus.] A combining form from L. plus, pluris, more, many; as pluriliteral.
||Plu"ri*es (?), n. [So called from L. pluries many times, often, which ||occurs in the first clause.] (Law) A writ issued in the third place, ||after two former writs have been disregarded. Mozley & W.
Plu`ri*fa"ri*ous (?), a. [L. plurifarius, fr. L. plus, pluris, many. Cf. Bifarious.] Of many kinds or fashions; multifarious.
Plu`ri*fo"li*o*late (?), a. [Pluri- + foliolate.] (Bot.) Having several or many leaflets.
Plu`ri*lit"er*al (?), a. [Pluri- + literal.] Consisting of more letters than three. - - n. A pluriliteral word.
Plu`ri*loc"u*lar (?), a. [Pluri- + locular.] Having several cells or loculi; specifically (Bot.), having several divisions containing seeds; as, the lemon and the orange are plurilocular fruits.
Plurilocular sporangia (Bot.), many- celled sporangia, each cell containing a single spore, as in many algÊ.
Plu*rip"a*rous (?), a. [Pluri- + L. parere to bring forth.] Producing several young at a birth; as, a pluriparous animal.
Plu`ri*par"tite (?), a. [Pluri- + partite.] (Bot.) Deeply divided into several portions.
Plu`ri*pres"ence (?), n. [Pluri- + presence.] Presence in more places than one. [R.] Johnson.
Plu"ri*sy (?), n. [L. plus, pluris, more.] Superabundance; excess; plethora. [Obs.] Shak.
Plus (?), a. [L., more; akin to Gr. &?;, &?;, and E. full. See Full, a., and cf. Pi˘, Pleonasm.]
1. (Math.) More, required to be added; positive, as distinguished from negative; -- opposed to minus.
2. Hence, in a literary sense, additional; real; actual.
Success goes invariably with a certain plus or positive power.
Emerson.
Plus sign (Math.), the sign (+) which denotes addition, or a positive quantity.
Plush (?), n. [F. pluche, peluche (cf. It. peluzzo), fr. L. pilus hair. See pile hair, and cf. Peruke.] A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet. Cowper.
Plush"y (?), a. Like plush; soft and shaggy. H. Kingsley.
Plu"tar*chy (?), n. [Gr. &?; wealth + -archy.] Plutocracy; the rule of wealth. [R.]
Plu"te*al (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to a pluteus.
||Plu"te*us (?), n.; pl. L. Plutei (#), E. Pluteuses (#). [L., a shed.] ||(Zoˆl.) The free-swimming larva of sea urchins and ophiurans, having ||several long stiff processes inclosing calcareous rods.
Plu"to (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;.] (Class. Myth.) The son of Saturn and Rhea, brother of Jupiter and Neptune; the dark and gloomy god of the Lower World.
Pluto monkey (Zoˆl.), a long- tailed African monkey (Cercopithecus pluto), having side whiskers. The general color is black, more or less grizzled; the frontal band is white.
Plu*toc"ra*cy (?), n. [Gr. &?;; &?; wealth + &?; to be strong, to rule, fr.&?; strength: cf. F. plutocratie.] A form of government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the wealthy classes; government by the rich; also, a controlling or influential class of rich men.
Plu"to*crat (?), n. One whose wealth gives him power or influence; one of the plutocracy.
Plu`to*crat"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to plutocracy; as, plutocratic ideas. Bagehot.
Plu*tol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?; wealth + -logy.] The science which treats of wealth.
Plu*to"ni*an (?), a. [L. Plutonius, Gr. &?;: cf. F. plutonien.] Plutonic. Poe.
Plu*to"ni*an (?), n. (Geol.) A Plutonist.
Plu*ton"ic (?), a. [Cf. F. plutonique. See Pluto.] 1. Of or pertaining to Pluto; Plutonian; hence, pertaining to the interior of the earth; subterranean.
2. Of, pertaining to, or designating, the system of the Plutonists; igneous; as, the Plutonic theory.
Plutonic action (Geol.), the influence of volcanic heat and other subterranean forces under pressure. -- Plutonic rocks (Geol.), granite, porphyry, and some other igneous rocks, supposed to have consolidated from a melted state at a great depth from the surface. Cf. Intrusive rocks, under Intrusive. -- Plutonic theory. (Geol.) See Plutonism.
Plu"to*nism (?), n. [Cf. F. plutonisme.] The theory, early advanced in geology, that the successive rocks of the earth\'b6s crust were formed by igneous fusion; -- opposed to the Neptunian theory.
Plu"to*nist (?), n. [Cf. F. plutoniste.] One who adopts the geological theory of igneous fusion; a Plutonian. See Plutonism.
Plu"tus (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;.] (Class. Myth.) The son of Jason and Ceres, and the god of wealth. He was represented as bearing a cornucopia, and as blind, because his gifts were bestowed without discrimination of merit.
Plu"vi*al, a. [L. pluvialis, fr. pluvia rain: cf. F. pluvial. See Plover.] 1. Of or pertaining to rain; rainy. [R.]
2. (Geol.) Produced by the action of rain.
Plu"vi*al, n. [LL. pluviale a garment which keeps off the rain: cf. F. pluvial.] A priest's cope.
Plu`vi*am"e*ter (?), n. See Pluviometer.
Plu`vi*a*met"ric*al (?), a. See Pluviometrical.
Plu"vi*an (?), n. (Zoˆl.) The crocodile bird.
Plu`vi*om"e*ter (?), n. [L. pluvia rain + -meter: cf. F. pluviomËtre.] An instrument for ascertaining the amount of rainfall at any place in a given time; a rain gauge.
Plu`vi*o*met"ric*al (?), a. [Cf. F. pluviomÈtrique.] Of or pertaining to a pluviometer; determined by a pluviometer.
||Plu`vi`Ùse" (?), n. [F. See Pluvious.] The fifth month of the French ||republican calendar adopted in 1793. It began January 20, and ended ||February 18. See VendÈmiaire.
Plu"vi*ous (?), a. [L. pluviosus, pluvius, fr. pluvia rain: cf. F. pluvieux. See Pluvial, a.] Abounding in rain; rainy; pluvial. Sir T. Browne.
Ply (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plied (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plying (?).] [OE. plien, F. plier to fold, to bend, fr. L. plicare; akin to Gr. &?;, G. flechten. Cf. Apply, Complex, Display, Duplicity, Employ, Exploit, Implicate, Plait, Pliant, Flax.] 1. To bend. [Obs.]
As men may warm wax with handes plie.
Chaucer.
2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink.
And plies him with redoubled strokes
Dryden.
He plies the duke at morning and at night.
Shak.
3. To employ diligently; to use steadily.
Go ply thy needle; meddle not.
Shak.
4. To practice or perform with diligence; to work at.
Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply.
Waller.
Ply, v. i. 1. To bend; to yield. [Obs.]
It would rather burst atwo than plye.
Chaucer.
The willow plied, and gave way to the gust.
L'Estrange.
2. To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports.
Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily).
Milton.
He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter.
Addison.
The heavy hammers and mallets plied.
Longfellow.
3. (Naut.) To work to windward; to beat.
Ply, n. [Cf. F. pli, fr. plier. See Ply, v.] 1. A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord. Arbuthnot.
2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.
The late learners can not so well take the ply.
Bacon.
Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not understand the secret plies of his character.
W. Irving.
The czar's mind had taken a strange ply, which it retained to the last.
Macaulay.
Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs interwoven; as, a three-ply carpet.
Ply"er (?), n. One who, or that which, plies; specifically: (a) pl. A kind of balance used in raising and letting down a drawbridge. It consists of timbers joined in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. (b) pl. See Pliers.
Plyght (?), v. & n. See Plight. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Plym"outh Breth"ren (?). The members of a religious sect which first appeared at Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called Brethren, Christian Brethren, Plymouthists, etc. The Darbyites are a division of the Brethren.
Pne*om"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. &?; to breathe + -meter.] (Physiol.) A spirometer.
{ Pneu*mat"ic (?), Pneu*mat"ic*al (?), } a. [L. pneumaticus, Gr. &?;, fr. &?;, &?;, wind, air, &?; to blow, breathe; cf. OHG. fnehan: cf. F. pneumatique. Cf. Pneumonia.] 1. Consisting of, or resembling, air; having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or solid.
The pneumatical substance being, in some bodies, the native spirit of the body.
Bacon.
2. Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties; pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments. "Pneumatical discoveries." Stewart.
3. Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic instrument; a pneumatic engine.
4. (Biol.) Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.
Pneumatic action, or Pneumatic lever (Mus.), a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them. -- Pneumatic dispatch, a system of tubes, leading to various points, through which letters, packages, etc., are sent, by the flow and pressure of air. -- Pneumatic elevator, a hoisting machine worked by compressed air. -- Pneumatic pile, a tubular pile or cylinder of large diameter sunk by atmospheric pressure. -- Pneumatic pump, an air-exhausting or forcing pump. -- Pneumatic railway. See Atmospheric railway, under Atmospheric. -- Pneumatic syringe, a stout tube closed at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances. -- Pneumatic trough, a trough, generally made of wood or sheet metal, having a perforated shelf, and used, when filled with water or mercury, for collecting gases in chemical operations. -- Pneumatic tube. See Pneumatic dispatch, above.
Pneu`ma*tic"i*ty (?), n. (Biol.) The state of being pneumatic, or of having a cavity or cavities filled with air; as, the pneumaticity of the bones of birds.
Pneu*mat"ics (?), n. [Cf. F. pneumatique.]