peba

[Native name.] Zool.: Dasypus ( Tatusia ) peba, called also the Black Tatou, an armadillo ranging from Texas southward to Paraguay. The ears are large, long, and close together; the head small, long, and straight; mouth large. Scales hexagonal; the bands vary in number, increasing with the age of the burrower. Its flesh is said to resemble sucking-pig animal. It is nocturnal, swift of foot, and a good in flavor, and the native women attribute imaginary virtues to the shell. pěb-ble, *pea-ble, *pib-bil, *pob-ble, s . [A. S. papol - stán a pebble-stone; prob. from its roundne ; cf. Lat. papula , papilla =a little pustule.] I. Ord. Lang .: A small round stone; a stone worn and rounded by the action of water. "My fords with pebbles, clear as orient pearls, are strow'd." Drayton: Polyolbion, s. 25. II. Technically : 1. Jewel.: An agate; a name given to rounded nodules of silicoous minerals, more especially to varieties of agate and rock-crystals. 2. Optics : A lens made of rock-crystal, used as a substitute for gla in spectacles. pebble-bed, s. 1. Ord. Lang.: Flour made from peas. 2. Founding : Pease-flour, dusted on as facing on molds for bra work. Used also sometimes to give tenacity to very weak sand.