For petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty treason, See Petit.
Syn. — Little; diminutive; inconsiderable; inferior; trifling; trivial; unimportant; frivolous.
Pettychaps
(Pet"ty*chaps) n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of small European singing birds of the
subfamily Sylviinæ, as the willow warbler, the chiff- chaff, and the golden warbler
Pettywhin
(Pet"ty*whin) n. [Petty + whin.] (Bot.) The needle furze. See under Needle.
Petulance
(Pet"u*lance Pet"u*lan*cy) n. [L. petulania: cf. F. pétulance. See Petulant.] The quality or
state of being petulant; temporary peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. "The petulancy of our
words." B. Jonson.
Like pride in some, and like petulance in others.
Clarendon.
The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown.
Cowper. Syn. — Petulance, Peevishness. — Peevishness implies the permanence of a sour, fretful temper;
petulance implies temporary or capricious irritation.
Petulant
(Pet"u*lant) a. [L. petulans, -antis, prop., making slight attacks upon, from a lost dim. of petere
to fall upon, to attack: cf. F. pétulant. See Petition.]
1. Forward; pert; insolent; wanton. [Obs.] Burton.
2. Capriciously fretful; characterized by ill- natured freakishness; irritable. "Petulant moods." Macaulay.
Syn. — Irritable; ill-humored; peevish; cross; fretful; querulous.
Petulantly
(Pet"u*lant*ly), adv. In a petulant manner.
Petulcity
(Pe*tul"ci*ty) n. [See Petulcous.] Wantonness; friskiness. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
Petulcous
(Pe*tul"cous) a. [L. petulcus. Cf. Petulant.] Wanton; frisky; lustful. [Obs.] J. V. Cane.
Petunia
(Pe*tu"ni*a) n. [NL., fr. Braz. petun tobacco.] (Bot.) A genus of solanaceous herbs with funnelform
or salver-shaped corollas. Two species are common in cultivation, Petunia violacera, with reddish purple
flowers, and P. nyctaginiflora, with white flowers. There are also many hybrid forms with variegated
corollas.
