Puppet, pup′et, n. a small doll or image moved by wires in a show: a marionette: one who acts just as another tells him.—ns. Pupp′etry, finery, affectation: a puppet-show; Pupp′et-show, -play, a mock show or drama performed by puppets; Pupp′et-valve, a valve like a pot-lid attached to a rod, and used in steam-engines for covering an opening. [O. Fr. poupette, dim. from L. pupa.]
Puppy, pup′i, n. a doll: a young dog: a whelp: a conceited young man.—adj. Pupp′y-head′ed (Shak.), stupid.—n. Pupp′yhood, the condition of being a puppy.—adj. Pupp′yish.—n. Pupp′yism, conceit in men. [Fr. poupée, a doll or puppet—L. pupa.]
Pur. See Purr.
Purana, pōō-rä′na, n. one of a class of sacred poetical books in Sanscrit literature, forming with the Tantras the main foundation of the actual popular creed of the Brahmanical Hindus.—adj. Puran′ic. [Sans. purāna—purā, ancient.]
Purblind, pur′blīnd, adj. nearly blind, near-sighted: (orig.) wholly blind.—adv. Pur′blindly.—n. Pur′blindness. [For pure-blind—i.e. wholly blind; the meaning has been modified, prob. through some confusion with the verb to pore.]
Purchase, pur′chās, v.t. to acquire by seeking: to obtain by paying: to obtain by labour, danger, &c.: (law) to get in any way other than by inheritance: to raise or move by mechanical means: (Shak.) to expiate by a fine or forfeit.—n. act of purchasing: that which is purchased or got for a price: value, advantage, worth: any mechanical power or advantage in raising or moving bodies.—adj. Pur′chasable, that may be purchased: (hence of persons) venal, corrupt.—n. Pur′chaser.—Purchase money, the money paid, or to be paid, for anything; Purchase shears, a very strong kind of shears, with removable cutters, and a strong spring at the back; Purchase system, the method by which, before 1871, commissions in the British army could be bought.—(So many) years' purchase, a price paid for a house, an estate, &c. equal to the amount of the rent or income during the stated number of years. [O. Fr. porchacier (Fr. pourchasser), to seek eagerly, pursue—pur (L. pro), for, chasser, to chase.]
Purdah, pur′dä, n. a curtain screening a chamber of state or the women's apartments: the seclusion itself. [Hind. parda, a screen.]
Pure, pūr, adj. (comp. Pur′er; superl. Pur′est) clean: unsoiled: unmixed: not adulterated: real: free from guilt or defilement: chaste: modest: mere: that and that only: complete: non-empirical, involving an exercise of mind alone, without admixture of the results of experience.—n. purity.—adv. quite: (obs.) entirely.—v.t. to cleanse, refine.—adv. Pure′ly, without blemish: wholly, entirely: (dial.) wonderfully, very much.—n. Pure′ness.—Pure mathematics (see Mathematics); Pure reason, reason alone, without any mixture of sensibility; Pure science, the principles of any science considered in themselves and their relation to each other, and not in their application to the investigation of other branches of knowledge, as pure mathematics, pure logic, &c. [Fr. pur—L. purus, pure.]
Purée, pü-rā′, n. a soup, such as pea-soup, in which there are no pieces of solids. [Fr.]
Purfle, pur′fl, v.t. to decorate with a wrought or flowered border: (archit.) to decorate with rich sculpture: (her.) to ornament with a border of ermines, furs, &c.—ns. Pur′fle, Pur′flew, a border of embroidery: (her.) a bordure of ermines, furs, &c.; Pur′fling.—adj. Pur′fly (Carlyle), wrinkled. [O. Fr. pourfiler—L. pro, before, filum, a thread.]