📖 P — The English dictionary · page 21

perishable — Everyday, meaning 1: Perishable food goes bad or rotten quickly, like milk, meat and fruit.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (noun, plural) Perishables are foods or goods that go off quickly.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Something that can decay or die is perishable, and does not last for ever, like living bodies.↗ Example: Milk is perishable, so keep it in the fridge.↗ · Perishable food needs a cool place.↗ · Tinned beans are not perishable.↗ · The lorry carried perishable goods.↗ · Put the perishables in the cool bag.↗ · Strawberries are very perishable.↗ · Throw away perishable food after its use-by date.↗

periwinkle — Everyday, meaning 1: A periwinkle is a small sea snail with a spiral shell, found on rocks at the seashore.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A periwinkle is also a low garden plant with blue or purple flowers.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Periwinkle is a soft blue-purple colour.↗ Example: We found periwinkles in the rock pool.↗ · A periwinkle clings to the rock when the tide goes out.↗ · The periwinkle flowers were blue.↗ · My new jumper is periwinkle blue.↗ · Seagulls sometimes eat periwinkles.↗ · Periwinkles eat tiny plants on the rocks.↗ · Some people cook and eat periwinkles, called winkles.↗ · Dark as were his thoughts his blue eyes were as soft as the periwinkle.↗

perjury — Everyday, meaning 1: (law) Perjury is the crime of telling a lie in court after promising to tell the truth.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It can also mean breaking a solemn promise.↗ Example: Lying in court is called perjury.↗ · The witness was charged with perjury.↗ · Perjury can be punished with prison.↗ · Before speaking, witnesses swear to tell the truth.↗ · If you commit perjury, the trial may be unfair.↗ · The judge warned him about perjury.↗

perky — Everyday, meaning 1: Cheerful, lively and full of energy.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Standing up straight and bright: «perky ears».↗ Example: You look very perky this morning!↗ · The puppy had perky ears.↗ · A perky robin hopped across the lawn.↗ · After a nap Grandma felt perky again.↗ · The flowers looked perky after the rain.↗ · She gave a perky little wave.↗

permafrost — Everyday, meaning 1: Ground that stays frozen all year round for at least two years in a row, found in very cold places like the Arctic, Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada.↗ Example: In northern Canada, the ground under the moss is permafrost.↗ · Scientists found a baby mammoth frozen in the permafrost.↗ · Houses in Siberia are built on stilts above the permafrost.↗ · As the climate warms, the permafrost is thawing.↗ · Trees cannot grow deep roots in permafrost.↗ · Thawing permafrost lets out greenhouse gases.↗

permanent — Everyday, meaning 1: Lasting for ever or for a very long time; not changing: «a permanent marker».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of a job or home) Lasting with no planned end: «a permanent job».↗ Example: Don't use a permanent marker on the whiteboard!↗ · Burning paper is a permanent change.↗ · Your adult teeth are permanent, so look after them.↗ · The kitten found a permanent home.↗ · The ink stain looks permanent.↗ · Is the new teacher permanent or just for this term?↗ · And both crows bowed and asked for a permanent appointment, for they thought of their old age.↗

permanently — Everyday, meaning 1: For ever, or for a very long time, without changing or ending.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: All the time; always (permanently tired — informal exaggeration).↗ Example: The shop has closed permanently.↗ · Loud noise can permanently damage your hearing.↗ · They moved to Canada permanently.↗ · Never look at the Sun — it can permanently hurt your eyes.↗ · Burning paper changes it permanently.↗ · (informal) My brother is permanently hungry.↗ · After the miraculous passage of the Argo, the Symplegades became permanently united, and attached to the bottom of the sea.↗

permeate — Everyday, meaning 1: To spread through every part of something.↗ e.g. "The smell of bread permeated the house."↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) To pass through a material or a membrane.↗ e.g. "Water permeates the soil."↗ Example: The smell of baking permeated the whole street.↗ · Rainwater permeates the sandy soil quickly.↗ · A feeling of excitement permeated the school before the holidays.↗ · Damp permeated the walls of the old house.↗ · Music permeated every corner of the hall.↗ · Ink permeated the paper towel in our experiment.↗

permissible — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) Permissible means allowed by the rules or by law.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) Permissible means acceptable.↗ Example: (formal) Calculators are permissible in this exam.↗ · Is it permissible to bring a drink into the library?↗ · The maximum permissible load is 500 kg.↗ · Talking is not permissible during the test.↗ · (formal) It is permissible to round your answer to one decimal place.↗ · Dogs are permissible on the beach after six.↗

permission — Everyday, meaning 1: Permission is when someone in charge says yes, you are allowed to do something.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To ask permission means to ask if you may do something.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A permission slip is a form a parent signs to say a child can go on a trip.↗ Example: You need permission to leave the classroom.↗ · Did you ask permission to borrow my pencil?↗ · Mum gave me permission to stay up late.↗ · Don't take things without permission.↗ · Bring back your signed permission slip for the zoo trip.↗ · She asked her teacher for permission to go to the toilet.↗ · Always get permission before going to the park.↗ · The app asks for permission to use the camera.↗ · “Please give me permission to leave you today.”↗

permit — Everyday, meaning 1: (verb, formal) To allow someone to do something, or allow something to happen.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (noun) An official paper that gives you permission to do something.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (verb) To make something possible.↗ e.g. "weather permitting".↗ Example: Dogs are not permitted in the café.↗ · Mum permitted us to stay up late.↗ · We'll have a picnic, weather permitting.↗ · You need a permit to fish in this lake.↗ · Running is not permitted in the corridors.↗ · Dad showed his parking permit.↗ · Time did not permit a second game.↗ · I could not permit such a thing.↗ · These ten Sephiroth which are, moreover, ineffable, have their end even as their beginning, conjoined, even as is a flame to a burning coal: for our God is superlative in his unity, and does not permit any second one.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887)↗ · "Besides, who permitted Rabbi Akiba to write tiie Sefer Yetzirah ?↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

permutation — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A change in the order of things, or one of the different ways of arranging a group of things.↗ Example: 21) The combination of the twenty-two letters without permutation is represented in the following table: (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · 22) The number of combinations of twenty-two letters two and two without any permutation is according to the mathematical formula (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · They are called Double, because each letter presents a contrast or permutation; thus Life and Death; Peace and War (Evil); Wisdom and Folly; Riches and Poverty; Grace and Indignation; Fertility and Solitude (Desolation); Power and Servitude.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

pernicious — Everyday, meaning 1: Very harmful; slowly causing damage, ruin or trouble.↗ Example: The Romans worshipped Nemesis to ward off the pernicious consequences of envy.↗

perpendicularly — Everyday, meaning 1: Straight up and down, or at a right angle (a square corner) to a line or surface.↗ Example: The heroes had their oars held perpendicularly, ready to let fall into the water.↗

perpetrate — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) To do something wrong, harmful or illegal, such as a crime or a trick.↗ Example: The police found who perpetrated the robbery.↗ · Crimes perpetrated during wars must be investigated.↗ · The trick was perpetrated by two clever boys.↗ · "Who perpetrated this mess?" asked Dad.↗ · The fraud was perpetrated over many years.↗ · History remembers those who perpetrated great cruelty.↗

perpetrator — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal, law) A perpetrator is a person who does something wrong or harmful, especially a crime.↗ Example: Police are searching for the perpetrator.↗ · The perpetrator of the prank owned up.↗ · Who was the perpetrator of this mess?↗ · The detective found the perpetrator.↗ · Bullying hurts both the victim and, in the long run, the perpetrator.↗ · The perpetrators were sent to prison.↗

perpetual — Everyday, meaning 1: Lasting forever or for a very long time, never ending.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Happening again and again, so often it seems never to stop: perpetual complaints.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (of a calendar or plant) Working or flowering year after year without needing changing.↗ Example: The mountain tops are covered in perpetual snow.↗ · A perpetual motion machine cannot be built.↗ · The baby's perpetual crying kept us awake.↗ · The lighthouse is a perpetual guard of the coast.↗ · She lived in perpetual fear of spiders.↗ · The waterfall makes a perpetual roar.↗ · The pattern 1, 2, 1, 2 is perpetual — it never ends.↗ · THE WEASELS and the Mice waged a perpetual war with each other, in which much blood was shed.↗ · Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.↗ (Torah EXO.31.16, JPS 1917)↗ · But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.↗ (Torah LEV.25.34, JPS 1917)↗ · And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.↗ (Torah EXO.30.8, JPS 1917)↗ · And He smote His adversaries backward; He put upon them a perpetual reproach.↗ (Writings PSA.78.66, JPS 1917)↗ · Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?↗ (Prophets JER.8.5, JPS 1917)↗ · Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, so that it refuseth to be healed?↗ (Prophets JER.15.18, JPS 1917)↗

perpetually — Everyday, meaning 1: All the time, without stopping; forever.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Again and again, so often it seems constant: he is perpetually late.↗ Example: My little brother is perpetually hungry.↗ · The Earth spins perpetually on its axis.↗ · Our neighbour's dog barks perpetually.↗ · Uncle Joe is perpetually late for dinner.↗ · The tap dripped perpetually all night.↗ · She seemed perpetually cheerful.↗ · The office printer is perpetually broken.↗ · The river flows perpetually to the sea.↗ · A FATHER had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves.↗ · For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that My name may be there for ever; and Mine eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.↗ (Writings 2CH.7.16, JPS 1917)↗

perpetuate — Everyday, meaning 1: To make something continue for a long time, often something bad like a myth, an unfair idea or a problem.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To keep a memory or name alive.↗ e.g. "The statue perpetuates his memory."↗ Example: Jokes like that perpetuate unkind stereotypes.↗ · The film perpetuates the myth that bats are blind.↗ · Sharing fake news perpetuates lies.↗ · The scholarship perpetuates the memory of a kind teacher.↗ · Poverty can perpetuate itself from parents to children.↗ · We must not perpetuate unfair rules.↗ · Or perhaps she had really desired the son instead of the father, and her thwarted desire had perpetuated itself as hate.↗

perpetuity — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal, law) Lasting for ever or for an endless time; mostly in the phrase «in perpetuity» (for ever).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (money) A payment that goes on for ever.↗ Example: The land was given to the town in perpetuity.↗ · The grave is kept in perpetuity.↗ · The charity owns the park in perpetuity.↗ · The rights to the song belong to her in perpetuity.↗ · They promised to protect the forest in perpetuity.↗ · A perpetuity pays the same amount every year, for ever.↗ · And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and settlers with Me.↗ (Torah LEV.25.23, JPS 1917)↗

perplexed — Everyday, meaning 1: Puzzled and unsure, not able to understand something.↗ Example: The yokel awaking is perplexed.↗ · "Please, you must not joke with me, I am greatly perplexed."↗ · Then was king Belshazzar greatly affrighted, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.↗ (Writings DAN.5.9, JPS 1917)↗ · How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.↗ (Prophets JOL.1.18, JPS 1917)↗ · The posts went forth in haste by the king's commandment, and the decree was given out in Shushan the castle; and the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.↗ (Writings EST.3.15, JPS 1917)↗

perplexity — Everyday, meaning 1: Perplexity is a state of being puzzled and not knowing what to think or do.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) A puzzling thing or problem.↗ Example: He stood in great perplexity, unable to work out the answer.↗ · To her perplexity, the door would not open.↗ · The puzzle caused him much perplexity.↗ · For it is a day of trouble, and of trampling, and of perplexity, from the Lord, the GOD of hosts, in the Valley of Vision; Kir shouting, and Shoa at the mount.↗ (Prophets ISA.22.5, JPS 1917)↗ · The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge; the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.↗ (Prophets MIC.7.4, JPS 1917)↗

persecute — Everyday, meaning 1: To persecute people is to treat them cruelly and unfairly for a long time, especially because of their religion, race, beliefs or who they are.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To persecute someone can also mean to keep annoying or bothering them.↗ Example: Many families fled their country because they were persecuted for their religion.↗ · (Bible) Before he became Paul, Saul persecuted the followers of Jesus.↗ · The early Christians were persecuted by Roman emperors.↗ · People should never be persecuted for the colour of their skin.↗ · Refugees often escape from being persecuted.↗ · The bullies persecuted him with nasty messages for weeks.↗ · Nevertheless, he does not cease to persecute me and to kill my subjects.↗ · And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee.↗ (Torah DEU.30.7, JPS 1917)↗ · When wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?↗ (Writings PSA.119.84, JPS 1917)↗ · All Thy commandments are faithful; they persecute me for nought; help Thou me.↗ (Writings PSA.119.86, JPS 1917)↗ · Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?↗ (Writings JOB.19.22, JPS 1917)↗