Pine-tree State. Maine, from the pine-tree distinguished in her arms, symbolical of her glorious forests.
Pin Money. The allowance made by a husband to his wife in order to purchase pins for the current year. Such articles were at one time neither abundant nor cheap.
Pin your Faith on it. An expression derived from the days of feudalism, when all the dependents of a baron or feudal lord displayed his badge pinned on the sleeve. Sometimes while on a predatory expedition of their own these vassals exchanged the badge for another to prevent recognition. This gave rise to the saying: “You may wear the badge, but I cannot pin my faith on your sleeve. I require some further evidence whence you came.”
Pipeclay. The fine white clay out of which clay pipes are made.
Pistol. From Pistoja in Italy, where this kind of small firearm was first introduced in 1545.
Pit. The floor of a theatre bears this name because the original Drury Lane Theatre was built by Killigrew on the site of the famous cockpit in Drury Lane.
Pitcairn Island. Discovered by Captain Cartaret in 1767, and named by him after one of his officers.
Pitchfork. A fork for pitching hay; also one for determining the correct pitch of a musical note.
Pitt Diamond. After Thomas Pitt, grandfather of the first Lord Chatham, who, while Governor of Fort St George in India, purchased it for £24,000. On coming to England he sold this gem, weighing 136¾ carats in its cut state, to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, for £130,000, on which account it bears the name also of the “Regent Diamond.” It decorated the sword hilt of Napoleon I., and after the battle of Waterloo passed into the hands of the Prussians.
Pittsburg. This city was built on the site of the French Fort Duquesne. When, after a sanguinary engagement, it was taken from the allied French and Indians in 1758 by General Forbes, he gave it the name of Fort Pitt, after the English statesman, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.