%pest%

n. [ L. anapaestus, Gr. &unr_; an anapest, i.e., a dactyl reserved, or, as it were, struck back; fr. &unr_;; 'ana` back + &unr_; to strike. ] 1. (Pros.) A metrical foot consisting of three syllables, the first two short, or unaccented, the last long, or accented (˘ ˘ -); the reverse of the dactyl. In Latin d&ebreve_;-&ibreve_;-tās, and in English in-ter-vene&bprime_;, are examples of anapests. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A verse composed of such feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. anapaesticus, Gr. 'anapaistiko`s. ] Pertaining to an anapest; consisting of an anapests; as, an anapestic meter, foot, verse. -- n. Anapestic measure or verse. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Anapestic. [ 1913 Webster ]

A piece of linen about 1 ft. 8 in. wide by 213 ft. long, covered with embroidery representing the incidents of William the Conqueror's expedition to England, preserved in the town museum of Bayeux in Normandy. It is probably of the 11th century, and is attributed by tradition to Matilda, the Conqueror's wife. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Hungary. Population (2000) = 2, 008, 546. [ PJC ]

{ } a. [ L. campester, fr. campus field. ] Relating to an open field; growing in a field, or open ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Arch.) A stone for coping. See Coping. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A seed of the grape. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A genus of carnivores including the mongooses.
Syn. -- genus Herpestes. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. An unexplained epithet used by Chaucer in reference to ships. By some it is defined as “dancing (on the wave)”; by others as “opposing, ” “warlike.” T. R. Lounsbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To affict with pestilence; to infect, as with plague. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Pester. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. intempestivus: cf. F. intempestif. See In- not, and Tempestive. ] Out of season; untimely. [ Obs. ] Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Intempestive bashfulness gets nothing. Hales. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Unseasonably. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. intempestivitas: cf. F. intempestivité. ] Unseasonableness; untimeliness. [ Obs. ] Hales. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To pester exceedingly or excessively. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. pestis: cf. F. peste. ] 1. A fatal epidemic disease; a pestilence; specif., the plague. [ 1913 Webster ]

England's sufferings by that scourge, the pest. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything which resembles a pest; one who, or that which, is troublesome, noxious, mischievous, or destructive; a nuisance. “A pest and public enemy.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Belonging to, or characteristic of, a system of elementary education which combined manual training with other instruction, advocated and practiced by Jean Henri Pestalozzi (1746-1827), a Swiss teacher. -- n. An advocate or follower of the system of Pestalozzi. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The system of education introduced by Pestalozzi. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pestered p. pr. & vb. n. Pestering. ] [ Abbrev. fr. impester, fr. OF. empaistrier, empestrer, to entangle the feet or legs, to embarrass, F. empêtrer; pref. em-, en- (L. in in) + LL. pastorium, pastoria, a fetter by which horses are prevented from wandering in the pastures, fr. L. pastorius belonging to a herdsman or shepherd, pastor a herdsman. See In, and Pasture, Pastor. ] 1. To trouble; to disturb; to annoy; to harass with petty vexations. [ 1913 Webster ]

We are pestered with mice and rats. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

A multitude of scribblers daily pester the world. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To crowd together in an annoying way; to overcrowd; to infest. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

All rivers and pools . . . pestered full with fishes. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances; as, the exasperation of a pestered animal.
Syn. -- annoyed, harassed, harried. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who pesters or harasses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of pestering, or the state of being pestered; vexation; worry. “The trouble and pesterment of children.” B. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Inclined to pester. Also, vexatious; encumbering; burdensome. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pestiferous. “After long and pestful calms.” Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A house or hospital for persons who are infected with any pestilential disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. pestis pest + ductus a leading, fr. ducere to lead. ] That which conveys contagion or infection. [ Obs. ] Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pestiferus, pestifer; pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestifère. ] 1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. “Poor, pestiferous creatures begging alms.” Evelyn. “Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious; hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pestiferous manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. pestilence, L. pestilentia. See Pestilent. ] 1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pestilence that walketh in darkness. Ps. xci. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pestilens, -entis, fr. pestis pest: cf. F. pestilent. ] Pestilential; noxious; pernicious; mischievous. “Corrupt and pestilent.” Milton. “What a pestilent knave is this same!” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. pestilentiel. ] 1. Having the nature or qualities of a pestilence. “Sends the pestilential vapors.” Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally destructive. [ 1913 Webster ]

So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Pestilently. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pestilential. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pestilent manner; mischievously; destructively. “Above all measure pestilently noisome.” Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being pestilent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. pestillum, L. pistillum. See Pestle. ] The act of pounding and bruising with a pestle in a mortar. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. pestel, OF. pestel, LL. pestellum, L. pistillum, pistillus, a pounder, pestle, fr. pisere, pinsere, to pound, crush, akin to Gr. pti`ssein, Skr. pish. Cf. Pistil. ] 1. An implement for pounding and breaking or braying substances in a mortar; as, to grind with a mortar and pestle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A constable's or bailiff's staff; -- so called from its shape. [ Obs. ] Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The leg and leg bone of an animal, especially of a pig; as, a pestle of pork. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Pestled p. pr. & vb. n. Pestling ] To pound, pulverize, bray, or mix with a pestle, or as with a pestle; to use a pestle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ It. pesto, pounded, from pestare to pound, crush, fr. LL. pistare, fr. pinsere. See also pestle. ] (Cookery) A sauce used in Italian cuisine, typically made by blending olive oil, basil, garlic, pine nuts, and grated parmesan cheese; it is served hot or cold over pasta, meat, or fish. Where pine nuts are expensive, sunflower seeds are sometimes substituted. [ PJC ]

n. The hollow stem or tube of a pipe used for smoking tobacco, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Took a long reed for a pipestem. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of clay slate, carved by the Indians into tobacco pipes. Cf. Catlinite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G., fr. rind, pl. rinder, cattle + pest pest, plague. ] A highly contagious distemper or murrain, affecting neat cattle, and less commonly sheep and goats; -- called also cattle plague, Russian cattle plague, and steppe murrain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tapestries [ F. tapissere, fr. tapisser to carpet, to hang, or cover with tapestry, fr. tapis a carpet, carpeting, LL. tapecius, fr. L. tapete carpet, tapestry, Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;. Cf. Tapis, Tippet. ] A fabric, usually of worsted, worked upon a warp of linen or other thread by hand, the designs being usually more or less pictorial and the stuff employed for wall hangings and the like. The term is also applied to different kinds of embroidery. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tapestry carpet, a kind of carpet, somewhat resembling Brussels, in which the warp is printed before weaving, so as to produce the figure in the cloth. --
Tapestry moth. (Zool.) Same as Carpet moth, under Carpet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tapestried p. pr. & vb. n. Tapestrying. ] To adorn with tapestry, or as with tapestry. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Trosachs wound, as now, between gigantic walls of rock tapestried with broom and wild roses. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A small black dermestoid beetle (Attagenus piceus) whose larva feeds on tapestry, carpets, silk, fur, flour, and various other goods. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ See Tapster. ] A female tapster. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. tempeste, F. tempête, (assumed) LL. tempesta, fr. L. tempestas a portion of time, a season, weather, storm, akin to tempus time. See Temporal of time. ] 1. An extensive current of wind, rushing with great velocity and violence, and commonly attended with rain, hail, or snow; a furious storm. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ We ] caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
Each on his rock transfixed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Any violent tumult or commotion; as, a political tempest; a tempest of war, or of the passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A fashionable assembly; a drum. See the Note under Drum, n., 4. [ Archaic ] Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Tempest is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tempest-beaten, tempest-loving, tempest-tossed, tempest-winged, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Storm; agitation; perturbation. See Storm. [ 1913 Webster ]