About one hundred and seventy species are known, nearly all of them natives of South Africa, and many
having very beautiful blossoms. See the Note under Geranium.
Pelasgian
(Pe*las"gi*an Pe*las"gic) a. [L. Pelasgus, Gr. a Pelasgian.]
1. Of or pertaining to the Pelasgians, an ancient people of Greece, of roving habits.
2. (Zoöl.) Wandering.
Pelecan
(Pel"e*can) n. (Zoöl.) See Pelican.
Pelecaniformes
(||Pel`e*can`i*for"mes) n. pl. [NL. See Pelican, and -form.] (Zoöl.) Those birds that are
related to the pelican; the Totipalmi.
Pelecoid
(Pel"e*coid) n. [Gr. a hatchet + -oid.] (Geom.) A figure, somewhat hatched-shaped, bounded
by a semicircle and two inverted quadrants, and equal in area to the square ABCD inclosed by the
chords of the four quadrants. [Written also pelicoid.] Math. Dict.
Pelecypoda
(||Pel`e*cyp"o*da) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. a hatchet + -poda.] (Zoöl.) Same as Lamellibranchia.
Pelegrine
(Pel"e*grine) a. See Peregrine. [Obs.]
Pelerine
(Pel"er*ine) n. [F. pèlerine a tippet, fr. pèlerin a pilgrim, fr. L. peregrinus foreign, alien. See
Pilgrim.] A woman's cape; especially, a fur cape that is longer in front than behind.
Pelf
(Pelf) n. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
Money; riches; lucre; gain; — generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no
plural. "Mucky pelf." Spenser. "Paltry pelf." Burke.
Can their pelf prosper, not got by valor or industry?
Fuller. Pelfish
(Pelf"ish), a. Of or pertaining to pelf. Stanyhurst.
Pelfray
(Pel"fray Pel"fry) n. Pelf; also, figuratively, rubbish; trash. [Obs.] Cranmer.
Pelican
(Pel"i*can) n. [F. pélican, L. pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr. the woodpecker, and also a water bird
of the pelican kind, fr. to hew with an ax, akin to Skr. paraçu.] [Written also pelecan.]
1. (Zoöl.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known.
They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes
are temporarily stored.
The American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and the brown species (P. fuscus) are abundant
on the Florida coast in winter, but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British America.
2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body
for continuous condensation and redistillation.
The principle is still employed in certain modern forms of distilling apparatus.
Frigate pelican (Zoöl.), the frigate bird. See under Frigate. — Pelican fish (Zoöl.), deep-sea fish
(Eurypharynx pelecanoides) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the enormous development of the
jaws, which support a large gular pouch. — Pelican flower (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped
blossom of a climbing plant (Aristolochia grandiflora) of the West Indies; also, the plant itself. — Pelican
ibis (Zoöl.), a large Asiatic wood ibis The head and throat are destitute of feathers; the plumage is white,
with the quills and the tail greenish black. — Pelican in her piety a representation of a pelican in the
