Chapter Pirie's Chair to Planets of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Pitchers Little pitchers have long ears. Little folk or children hear what is said when you little think it. The ear of a pitcher is the handle, made in the shape of a man's ear. The handle of a cream-ewer and of other small jugs is quite out of proportion to the size of the vessel, compared with the handles of large jars.

Pithos A large jar to keep wine or oil in. Winckelmann has engraved a copy of a curious bas-relief representing Diogenes occupying a pithos and holding conversation with Alexander the Great. (Greek pithos, a large wine jar.)

Pitri (plur. PITARAS). An order of divine beings in Hindu mythology inhabiting celestial regions of their own, and receiving into their society the spirits of those mortals whose funeral rites have been duly performed.

Pitt Diamond or The Regent. Called Pitt diamond because it once belonged to Mr. Pitt, grandfather of the famous Earl of Chatham. Called the Regent diamond from the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, who purchased it. This famous diamond was worn in the sword-hilt of Napoleon, and now belongs to the King of Prussia.

Pitt's Mark The printer's name and place of business affixed to printed books, according to William Pitt's Act, 39 Geo. III., c. 79.

Pitt's Pictures or Billy Pitt's Pictures. Blind windows; so called because many windows were blocked up when William Pitt augmented the Window Tax in 1784, and again in 1797.

Pittacus (Greek, Pittakos). One of the “Seven Sages” of Greece. His great sayings were: (1) “Know the right time” (“Gnothi kairon”), and (2) “'Tis a sore thing to be eminent” (“chalepon esthlon emmenai”).

Pittance An allowance of victuals over and above bread and wine. Anthony du Pinet, in his translation of Pliny, applies the term over and over again to figs and beans. The word originally comes from the people's piety in giving to poor mendicants food for their subsistence. (Probably connected with pietas. Monkish Latin, pietancia; Spanish, pitar, to distribute a dole of food; pitancero, one who distributes the dole, or a begging friar who subsists by charity.)

Pixies (2 syl.). The Devonshire Robin Goodfellows; said to be the spirits of infants who have died before baptism. The Pixy monarch holds his court like Titania, and sends his subjects on their several tasks. The word is a diminutive of Pix, probably the same as Puck. (Swedish, pyke; old English, pouk, bug, bogie; Danish, pog and pokker.)

“Ne let the pouke nor other evil sprites ...
Fray us with things that be not.”
Spenser: Epithalamion.

Pixy-led (Devonshire), Poake-ledden (Worcestershire). Misled into bogs and ditches.

Place aux Dames Make way for the ladies; give place to the ladies; the ladies first, if you please. Indirectly it means women beat the men hollow in every contest.

Placebo One of the brothers of January, an old baron of Lombardy. When January held a family council to know whether he should marry, Placebo very wisely told him to do as he liked, for says he-

“A ful gret fool is eny counselour;
That servith any lord of high honour;
That dar presume, or oonës [once] thenken it.
That his counseil schuld pass his lordës wit.”
Chaucer: The Marchaundes Tale, line 9, 121, etc.

   To sing Placebo. To seek to please; to trim in order not to offend. The word Placebo is often used to denote vespers for the dead, from the fact that it is the first word of the first Antiphon of that Office.

Plagiarist means strictly one who kidnaps a slave. Martial applies the word to the kidnappers of other men's brains. Literary theft unacknowledged is called plagiarism. (Latin, plagrarius.)