piaster, piastre (piaster)

[ ment; expiation. Imp. Dict. piazza (pi-az'ä; It. pron. piat'sä), n. [ Din'd at my Lo. Treasurer's, the Earle of Southampton, in Blomesbury, where he was building a noble square or piazza , a little towne. Evelyn , Diary, Feb. 9, 1665. The benediction was much finer than on Thursday, the day magnificent, the whole piazza filled with a countle multitude, all in their holiday dre es. Greville, Memoirs, April 11, 1830. 2. An arcaded or colonnaded walk upon the exterior of a building; a veranda; a gallery. [A le correct use.] IMG:content-0119.png:[blocks in formation] piazza. Where in Pluto's gardens palatine Mulciber's columns gleam in far piazzian line. Keats , Lamia, i. pibblet, n. An obsolete form of pebble . pibble-pabble (pib'l-pab'l), n . [An imitative word, a varied reduplication of * pabble , equiv. to babble .] Tattle; babble. Worcester . pibroch (pēʼbroch), n. [ piobaireachd , the art of playing on the bagpipe, pipe-music, piobair , a piper, piob , a pipe, bagpipe (see pipel ), + fear , a man.] A wild, irregular kind of music, peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, performed upon the bagpipe. It consists of a ground-theme or air called the urlar, followed by several variations, generally three or four, the whole concluding with a quick movement called the creanduidh. Pibrochs usually increase in difficulty from the beginning to the end, and are profusely ornamented with grace-notes called warblers. They are generally intended to excite a martial spirit. They also often constitute a kind of programna music, intended to represent the various phases of a battle-the march, the attack, the conflict, the flight, the pursuit, and the lament for the fallen. The names they bear are often derived from historical or legendary events. as "The Raid of Kilchrist," attributed to the piper of Mac donald of Glengarry, and supposed to have been composed in 1603. The term is sometimes used figuratively by poets to denote the bagpipe itself. IMG:content-0120.png:[blocks in formation] picaresque