PUHUR Din, Ind. Watches kept in the day; of which there are four; a similar number is kept in the night, called Puhurraat.
PUISANT, Fr. a well built of dry stones, or made in a wall to serve as a reservoir for water.
PUISSANCE, Fr. in algebra and geometry, powers of lines and quantities.
PUISOIR, Fr. a copper vessel which is used in making saltpetre.
PUITS, Fr. A well.
PUITS de mineur, Fr. a perpendicular opening, about four feet square, which is made in the earth for miners to let themselves down, as deep as may be judged expedient, in order to push the subterraneous galleries beneath the covert way, or under any other works constructed by the besieged or besieger.
PULK, a tribe, a particular body of men. This word is chiefly used in Russia; as a Pulk of cossacks.
PULVERIN, Fr. priming powder.
PULVIS fulminans, the thundering powder, a mixture of three parts of saltpetre, two of tartar, and one of brimstone; all finely powdered. A small part, even a single dram of this being put into a shovel over a gentle fire, till it melts by degrees and changes color, will go off or explode as loud as a musquet. But it will not do any injury, because its force tends chiefly downward.
PULLEY, in military mechanics. See [Mechanics].