perselt

A Middle English form of pierce. perse2, a. and n. [ME. pers, perse, The water was more sombre far than perse. Long fellow , tr. of Dante's Inferno, vii. 103. 2. A kind of cloth, of a bluish-gray color. A long surcote of pers upon he hadde. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 617. 3. Printed calico or cambric. [Obsolete or archaic in all uses.] perse3t, v. An obsolete form of parsel . per se (per sē). See per . Persea (per'sē-ä), n . [NL. (Gaertner, 1805), perse a , μηλέα Περσική ), and referred doubtfully to Πέρσης , Persian.] A genus of apetalous trees and shrubs of the order Laurineæ ( Lauraceæ ), the laurel family, type of the tribe Perseaceæ , and characterized by the four-celled anthers, nine perfect stamens, and calyx either somewhat closely persistent under the fruit or entirely deciduous. There are about 100 species, natives chiefly of the tropics, widely diffused in Asia, and in America from Virginia to Chili. They bear alternate or scattered rigid leaves, small panicled flowers IMG:content-2752.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2753.png:[graphic] Shak ., Lear, ii. 3. 12. 3. A time of general or systematic oppre ion or infliction of torture, death, etc., on account of religious opinion or belief: as, the ten per secutions of Christians under the Roman emperors.