If God be infinitely holy, just, and good, he must take delight in those creatures that resemble him most in these perfections. Atterbury. 4. Exact resemblance.

TO PERFECTIONATE.v.a. [perfectionner, Fr. from perfection.] To make perfect; to advance to perfection. A word proposed by Dryden, but not received, nor worthy of reception.

Painters and sculptors, chusing the most elegant natural beauties, perfectionate the idea, and advance their art above nature itself in her individual productions; the utmost mastery of human performance.

Dryden.

Dryden.

He has founded an academy for the progress and perfectionating of painting. PERFECTIVE. adj. [from perfect.] Conducing to bring to perfection: with of. Praise and adoration are actions perfective of

our souls.

More.

Tell me, perfitious, was it fit

To make my cream a perquisite,

And steal to mend your wages. Widow and Cat. 2. Expressing treachery; proceeding from treachery.

O spirit accurs'd,
Forsaken of all good, I see thy fall
Determin'd, and thy hapless crew involv'd
In this perfidious fraud.

Miltor.

PERFIDIOUSLY. adv. [from perfidious.] Treacherously; by breach of faith. Perfidiously

He has betray'd your business, and given up, For certain drops of salt, your city Rome.

Shakspeare.

They eat perfidiously their words, And swear their ears through two inch boards. Hudibras.

Can he not deliver us possession of such places as would put him in a worse condition, whenever he should perfidiously renew the war? Swift. PERFIDIOUSNESS. n. s. [from perfidious.] The quality of being perfidious.

Some things have a natural deformity in them as perjury, perfidiousness, and ingratitude.

Tillotson.

The first consideration in building of cities, is to make them open, airy, and well perfluted. Arbuthnot. PERFLATION. n.s. [from perflate.] The act of blowing through.

Miners, by perflations with large bellows, give motion to the air, which ventilates and cools the mines. Woodward.

To PERFORATE. v. a. [perforo, Lat.] To pierce with a tool; to bore.

Boyle.

Draw the bough of a low fruit tree newly budded without twisting, into an earthen pot perforate at the bottom, and then cover the pot with earth, it will yield a very large fruit. Bacon. A perforated bladder does not swell. The labour'd chyle pervades the pores, In all the arterial perforated shores. Blackmore. The aperture was limited by an opaque circle placed between the eve-glass and the eye, and perforated in the middle with a little round hole for the rays to pass through to the eye. Newton. Worms perforate the guts. Arbuthnot. PERFORATION. n.s. [from perforate.] I. The act of piercing or boring.

The likeliest way is the perforation of the body of the tree in several places one above another, and the filling of the holes.

Bacon.

The industrious perforation of the tendons of the second joints of fingers and toes, and the drawing the tendons of the third joints through

them.

Colossians.

2. Hole; place bored

Shakspeare.

adj. [perfidus,

Lat. per

Is this your perfectness?

PERFIDIOUS.

fide, French.]

1. Treacherous: false to trust; guilty of

violated faith.

VOL. III.

More.

That the nipples should be made spongy, and with such perforations as to admit passage to the milk, are arguments of providence.

Ray.

PERFORATOR. n.s. [from perforate.] The instrument of boring.

The patient placed in a convenient chair,

Kk

dipping the trocar in oil, stab it suddenly through the teguments, and withdrawing the perforator, leave the waters to empty by the canula. Sharp. PERFORCE. adv. [per and force.] By violence; violently.

Guyon to him leaping, staid His hand, that trembled as one terrify'd; And though himself were at the sight dismay'd, Yet him perforce restrain'd. Spenser.

Jealous Oberon would have the child, But she perforce withholds the loved boy. Shaks.

She amaz'd, her cheeks

All trembling and arising, full of spots, And pale with death at hand, perforce she breaks Into the inmost rooms. Peaibam on Poetry. To PERFORM. v. a. [performare, Ital.] To execute; to do; to discharge; to achieve an undertaking; to accomplish. All three set among the foremost ranks of fame for great minds to attempt, and great force to perform what they did attempt. Sidney.

Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point the tempest that I bad thee? SLakspeare. What cannot you and I perform upon Th' unguarded Duncan? Shakspeare.

I will cry unto God that performeth all things for me. Psalms.

Let all things be performed after the law of God diligently. 1 Esdras.

Thou, my love, Perform his fun'rals with paternal care. Dryd. You perform her office in the sphere, Born of her blood, and make a new Platonick Dryden.

year.

He effectually performed his part, with great integrity, learning, and acuteness; with the exactness of a scholar, and the judgment of a complete divine. Waterland. TO PERFORM. v. n. To succeed in an attempt.

Watts.

When a poet has performed admirably in several illustrious places, we sometimes also admire his very errours. PERFORMABLE. adj. [from perform.] Practicable; such as may be done.

Men forget the relations of history, affirming that elephants have no joints, whereas their actions are not performal ke without them. Brown. PERFORMANCE. n.s. [from perform.] 1. Completion of something designed; exccution of something promised.

His promises were, as he then was, mighty; But his performance, as he now is, nothing.

Sbakspeare. Promising is the very air o' th' time; it opens the eyes of expectation: performance is ever the duller for his act, and but in the plainer kind of people, the deed is quite out of use.

Shaksp.

Perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance. 2 Corinthians.

The only means to make hira successful in the performance of these great works, was to be above contempt.

South.

Men may, and must differ in their employments; but yet they must all act for the same ends, as dutiful servants of God, in the right and pious performance of their several cailings. Larw. 2. Composition; work.

In the good poems of other men, I can only be sure, that 'tis the hand of a good master; but in your performances 'tis scarcely possible for me

to be deceived.

Dryden.

Few of our comic performances give good examples.

3. Action; something done,

Clarissa.

In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances, what have you heard her say? Sbakspeare. PERFORMER. N.S. [from perform.] 1. One that performs any thing.

Dict.

The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer. Shakspeare. 2. It is generally applied to one that makes a publick exhibition of his skill. To PERFRICATE. v. n. [perfrico, Lat.] To rub over. PERFUMATORY. adj. [from perfume.] That which perfumes. PERFUME. n. s. [parfume, French.] 1. Strong odour of sweetness used to give scents to other things.

Pomanders and knots of powders for drying rheums are not so strong as perfumes; you mav have them continually in your hand, whereas perfumes you can take but at tinies.

bace.

Perfumes, though gross bodies that may be sensibly wasted, yet fill the air, so that we can put our nose in no part of the room where a perfume is burned, but we smell it.

z. Sweet odour; fragrance.

Digby.

Ev'r the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom,

And trodden weeds send out a rich perfume.

Addison.

No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field, Nor fragrant herbs their native incense yield.

Pinks and roses bloom,

And ev'ry bramble sheds perfume.

Pope

Gay.

To PERFUME. v. a. [from the noun.] To scent; to impregnate with sweet

scent.

PERFUNCTORY.adj. [perfunctoriè, Lat.] Slight; careless; negligent.

A transient and perfunctory examination of things leads men into considerable mistakes, which a more correct and rigorous scrutiny would have detected. Woodward.

TO PERFU'SE. v. a. [perfusus, Latin. [To tincture; to overspread.

These dregs immediately perfuse the blood with melancholy, and cause obstructions. Harv. PERHAPS. adv. [per and bap.] Peradventure; it may be.

Perbaps the good old man that kiss'd his son,
And left a blessing on his head,
His arms about him spread,

Hopes yet to see him ere his glass be run.

Flatman.

Law.

It is not his intent to live in such ways, as, for ⚫ught we know, God may perhaps pardon, but to be diligent in such ways, as we know that God will infallibly reward. PERIAPT. n.s. [περιαπτω.] Amulet; charm worn as preservative against discase or mischief. Hanmer.

The regent conquers and the Frenchmen fly; Now help, ye charming spells and periapts. Shakspeare. PERICARDIUM. n. 5. [wegs and καρδια : pericarde, Fr.] A thin membrane of a conick figure that resembles a purse, and contains the heart in its cavity: its basis is pierced in five places, for the passage of the vessels which enter and come out of the heart: the use of the pericardium is to contain a small quantity of clear water, which is separated by small glands in it, that the surface of the heart may not grow dry by its continual motion.

Quincy. PERICARPIUM. n. 5. [περι and καρπος; pericarpe, Fr.] In botany, a pellicle or thin membrane encompassing the fruit or grain of a plant, or that part of a fruit that envelopes the seed.

Besides this use of the pulp or pericarpium for the guard of the seed, it serves also for the sus tenance of animals.

Ray.

PERICLITATION. n.s. [from periclitor,

Latin; pericliter, French.]

1. The state of being in danger.

a. Trial; experiment.

PERICRA'NIUM. n. s. [from περι and credi nium; pericrane, Fr.) The membrane that covers the skull: it is a very thin and nervous membrane of an exquisite sense, such as covers immediately not only the cranium, but all the bones of the body, except the teeth; for which reason it is also called the periosteum. Quincy.

Having divided the pericranium, I saw a fissur running the whole length of the wound. Wisem. PERÍCULOUS. adj. [periculosus, Latin.) Dangerous; jeopardous; hazardous, Not in use.

As the moon every seventh day arriveth unto a contrary sign, so Saturn, which remaineth about as many years in one sign, and holdeth the same consideration in years as the moon in days, doth cause these periculous periods. PERIERGY. n. 5. [περι and εργον.] Needless caution in an operation; unnecessary diligence.

Broruns

PERIGE E. n. 5. [περι and yn ; perigée, PERIGE'UM. Fr.] That point in the heavens, wherein a planet is said to be in its nearest distance possible from the

earth.

Harris.

By the proportion of its motion, it was at the creation, at the beginning of Aries, and the perigeum or nearest point in Libra. Brorun.

PERIHELIUM. n. 5. [περι and ηλιο; peribelie, Fr.] That point of a planet's orbit, wherein it is nearest the sun.

Harris.

Sir Isaac Newton has made it probable, that the comet, which appeared in 1680, by approaching to the sun in its peribelium, acquired such a degree of heat, as to be 50000 years a cooling.

Cheyne.

PERIL. n. s. [peril, Fr. perikel, Dut. periculum, Latin.] 1. Danger; hazard; jeopardy.

Dear Pirocles, be liberal unto me of those things, which have made you indeed precious to the world, and now doubt not to tell of your por Sidney.

rils.

How many perils do infold The righteous man to make him daily fall?

Spenser

In the act what perils shall we find, If either place, or time, or other course, Cause us to alter th' order now assign'd. Daniele

The love and pious duty which you pay, Have pass'd the perils of so hard a way. Dryden. Strong, healthy, and young people are more int peril by pestilential fevers, than the weak and old. Arbuthnots

2. Denunciation; danger denounced.

I told her,

On your displeasure's peril, She should not visit you.

Shakspeares

And like a qulver'd nymph with arrows keen May trace huge forests and unharbour'd heaths, Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds. Milton.

Dictate propitious to my duteous ear, What arts can captivate the changeful seer: For perilous th' assay, unheard the toil T' elude the prescience of a God by guile. Pope. 2. It is used by way of emphasis, or ludicrous exaggeration of any thing bad. Thus was th' accomplish'd squire endu'd

With gifts and knowledge per'lous shrewd.

Hudibras.

Light-conserving stones must be set in the sun before they retain light, and the light will appear greater or lesser, until they come to their utmost period. Digby.

6. Length of duration.

Some experiment would be made how by art to make plants more lasting than their ordinary period; as to make a stalk of wheat last a whole year.

Bacon.

think, only applied to children, and

to another.

probably obtained its signification from the notion, that children eminent for wit do not live; a witty boy was there

fore a perilous boy, or a boy in danger. It is vulgarly parlous.

Is this the confidence you gave me? Lean on it safely, not a period Shall be unsaid for me.

"Tis a per'lous boy, Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable; He's all the mother's from the top to toe.

Shakspeare.

Milten.

Syllogism is made use of to discover a fallacy, cunningly wrapt up in a smooth period. Locke. For the assistance of memories, the first words of every period in every page may be written in distinct colours.

Watts.

4. The end or conclusion.

Holder on Time.

If my death might make this island happy, And prove the period of their tyranny, I would expend it with all willingnes; But mine is made the prologue to their play. Sbakspeare.

There is nothing so secret that shall not be brought to light within the compass of our world; whatsoever concerns this sublunary world in the whole extent of its duration, from the chaos to the last period. Burnet's Theory.

What anxious moments pass between The birth of plots and their last fatal periods! Oh! 'tis a dreadful interval of time. Addison, 5. The state at which any thing terminates.

Four moons perpetually roll round the planet Jupiter, and are carried along with hun in he periodical circuit round the sun. 2. Happening by revolution at some stated time.

Astrological undertakers would raise men out of some slimy soil, impregnated with the into ence of the stars upon some remarkable and pr riodical conjunctions. Bentley 3. Regular; performing some action at stated times.

The confusion of mountains and hollows furnished me with a probable reason for those pr riodical fountains in Switzerland, which flow only at such particular hours of the day. Adduen.

4. Relating to periods or revolutions. It is implicitly denied by Aristotle in his po liticks, in that discourse against Plato, who measured the vicissitude and mutation of states by a periodical fatality of number. PERIODICALLY. adv. [from periodical.] At stated periods.

Bromen.

The three tides ought to be understood of the space of the night and day, then there will be a regular flux and reflux thrice in that time every eight hours periodically. Broome. PERIO'STEUM. n. 5. [περι and οστεον; με rioste, French.]

All the bones are covered with a very sensible membrane, called the periosteum. Cheyne PERIPHERY. n. 5. (περι and spw; peri pberie, Fr.] Circumference.

They make the gates of Thebes and the mouths of this river a constant periphrasis for this number seven. Brown.

They shew their learning uselessly, and make a long periphrasis on every word of the book they explain. Watts.

The peripbrases and circumlocutions, by which Homer expresses the single act of dying, have supplied succeeding poets with all their manners of phrasing it.

Pope. PERIPHRA STICAL. adj. [from periphrasis.] Circumlocutory; expressing the sense of one word in many. PERIPNEUMONY. } n. 5. [περι and πνευPERIPNEUMONIA.S μων; peripneumonie, Fr.] An inflammation of the lungs. Lungs oft imbibing phlegmatick and melancholick humours, are now and then deprehended schirrous, by dissipation of the subtiler parts, and lapidification of the grosser that may be left indurated, through the gross reliques of peripneumonia or inflammation of the lungs. Harvey.

A peripneumony is the last fatal symptom of every disease; for no body dies without a stagnation of the blood in the lungs, which is the total extinction of breath.

Arbuthnot.

Loske

sion; as expansion is the idea of lasting distance, all whose parts exist together. 3. To be lost eternally.

These, as natural brute beasts made to be destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not, and shall utterly perish.

2 Peter.

O suffer me not to perish in my sins: Lord carest thou not that I perish, who wilt that all should be saved, and that none should perish? Moreton.

To PE'RISH. v. α. Το destroy; to decay. Not in use.

The splitting rocks cow'r'd in the sinking sands, And weuld not dash me with their ragged sides; Because thy flinty heart more hard than they, Might in thy palace perish Margaret. Shaksp. Rise, prepar'd in black, to mourn thy perish'd Dryden.

lord.

He was so reserved, that he would impart his secrets to nobody; whereupon this closeness did a little perish his understandings. Collier, Familiar now with grief your ears refrain, And in the public woe forget your own, You weep not for a perish'd lord alone. PERISHABLE. adj. [from perish.] Liable to perish; subject to decay; of short duration.

Pope.

We derogate from his eternal power to aseribe to them the same dominion over our immortal souls, which they have over all bodily substances and perishable natures. Raleigh.

To these purposes nothing can so much contribute as medals of undoubted authority not perishable by time, nor confined to any certain Addison. place.

It is princes greatest present felicity to reign in their subjects hearts; but these are too perishable to preserve their memories, which can only be done by the pens of faithful historians. Swift.

Human nature could not sustain the reflection of having all its schemes and expectations to determine with this frail and perishable composition of flesh and blood. Rogers.

Thrice has he seen the perishable kind Of men decay.

Pope. PERISHABLENESS.n.s. [from perishable.] Liableness to be destroyed; liableness to decay.

Suppose an island separate from all commerce, but having nothing because of its commonness and perishableness fit to supply the place of money; what reason could any have to enlarge possessions beyond the use of his family? PERISTALTICK. adj. [περιςελλω ; peristaltique, Fr.]

Locke.