police (poles′)

[F. police = Sp. policía = Pg. policia = It. polizia, pulizia = D. policie, politie = MLG. policie, polici, pollicic = G. pol i zei, police i = Sw. Dan. politi, civil government, police; But here are no idle young Fellows and Wenches begging about the Streets, as with you in London, to the Disgrace of all Order, and, as the French call it, Police . Burt , Letters from the North of Scotland (1720), quoted in [N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 346. Rome the centre which radiated to De Quincey, Philos. of Roman Hist. ordinary police powers within the limits of the parish, such as prescribing regulations for ways, fences, cattle, taverns, drains, quarantine, support of the poor, etc.Police magistrate, a judge who presides at a police court. Police office. Same as police station. Police officer, a policeman; a police constable. - Police power, in constitutional law, in a comprehensive sense, the whole system of internal regulation of a state, which the state seeks not only to preserve the public order and to prevent offenses against the state, but also to es tablish for the intercourse of citizens with citizens those rules of good manners and good neighborhood which are calculated to prevent a conflict of rights and to insure to each the uninterrupted enjoyment of his own so far as is reasonably consistent with a like enjoyment of rights by others. ( Cooley.) Definitions of the police power must be taken subject to the condition that the State cannot, in its exercise, for any purpose whatever, encroach upon the powers of the general government, or rights granted or secured by the supreme law of the land. ( Supreme Court of U. S. ) The question as to what are the proper limits of the police power in the United States is a judicial one, depending in each case upon the relation of the act in question to the situation of the people and the condition of the federal legislation. In a long and fluctuating line of decisions it has been held to include quarantine laws, fire and building laws, laws for draining marshes, licensing slaughter-houses, excluding paupers and immigrants, caring for the poor, regulating highways, bridges, carriers, peddlers, etc., within the limits of the State (so far as not interfering with interstate commerce or an equality of freedom), laws prohibiting and abating nuisances, prohibiting lotteries, the sale of adulterated and simulated food-products, and the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, but not, however, the sale in the original package of articles of interstate commerce, nor discriminating against sales by persons from without the State as compared with those within it. - Police rate, a tax levied for the purposes of the police. [Brit.] - Police sergeant, a petty officer of police. Police station, the station or headquarters of the police force in a municipality or district thereof, usually, if not always, containing a lock-up for the temporary detention of accused or suspected per sons, and accommodations for officers and magistrate. Also police office. Prefect of police. See prefect. police (pō-lēs'), v. t.; pret. and pp. policed, ppr. policing. [ IMG:content-0557.png:[blocks in formation] 2. To clean up; clear out; put in order: as, to police the parade-ground. [U. S.] Where Church and State are habitually a ociated, it is natural that minds even of a high order should uncon sciously come to regard religion as only a subtler mode of police. Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 77. 2. An organized civil force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime, and enforcing the laws; the body of men by whom the municipal laws and regulations of a city, incorporated town or borough, or rural district are enforced. (-men). 1. One of the ordinary police, whose duty it usually is to patrol a certain beat for a fixed period, for the protection of property and for the arrest of offenders, and to see that the peace is kept.-2. In entom., a soldier-ant. Pascoe.-3. In coal- mining, a wood or iron guard around or covering the mouth of a pit, or placed at mid-workings.-4. A kind of swab, used for cleaning vials, etc., made by slipping a piece of rubber tubing over the end of a gla An open police is a body of officers dre ed in uniform, and known to everybody; a secret police consists of oft i- cers whom it may be difficult or impo ible to distinguish from ordinary citizens, the dre and manners of whom they may think it expedient to a ume, in order that they may the more easily detect crimes, or prevent the com- police-nippers (pō-lēsʼnip"ėrz), n. pl. Handcuffs or foot-shackles. Compare nipper1, 5 ( j ). [Slang.] policial (po-lish'al), a. [=Pg. policial; policiant, n. [Early mod. E., written pohtien ; politien ; policien , a public man, a statesman, policie , police , government, policy: see police , policy. An officer of state. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 122. pol i clinic (pol-i-klin'ik), n . [=G. poliklinik ; as Gr. πόλις, city, + E. clinic . Sometimes written polyclinic (F. (= F. polyclin poly clinique ), as if a clinic for many many'; as Gr. πολύς , many, + E. clinic.] A general city hospital or dispensary. or policy1 (pol'i-si), n . [Early mod. E. also policie , pollicie ; policie , cie , policie , L. po- litia , πολιτεία , polity: see police , ιτεία, μόλ police , polity .] 11. Polity; administration; public busine . 2. Object or course of conduct, or the principle or body of principles to be observed in conduct; specifically, the system of measures or the line of conduct which a ruler, minister, government, or party adopts and pursues as best for the in- terests of the country, as regards its foreign or its domestic affairs: as, a spirited foreign pol i- cy ; the commercial policy of the United States; a policy of peace; public policy . As he is a Spirit, vnseen he sees The plots of Princes, and their Policies . A policy of insurance is a contract between A. and B. that, upon A.'s paying a premium equivalent to the hazard run, B. will indemnify or insure him against a particular event. Black stone , Com., II. xxx. 2. A ticket or warrant for money in the pub- lie funds. [Eng.] -3. A form of gambling in which bets are made on numbers to be drawn by lottery. [U. S.] - Endowment policy. See en- dowment. Open policy, a policy of insurance in which the value of the ship or goods insured is not fixed, but left to be ascertained in case of lo ; or in which the subject of insurance is not limited, so that other things may be added from time to time. - Time policy, a policy of in- interest in the thing insured, and can therefore sustain no lo by the happening of any of the misfortunes in- sured against. Such insurances were often expre ed by the words "interest or no interest." Notwithstanding the at common law; and the gambling thus legalized became so prevalent and injurious that wager policies, as above defined, were prohibited by statute 19 Geo. III., c. 37, and are generally invalid in the United States. Wager Policies are such as are "founded upon a mere hope and expectation, and without some interest," and "are objectionable as a species of gaming." policy-holder lder (pol'i-si-hōl"dėr), n . One who holds a policy or contract of insurance. policy-shop (pol'i-si-shop), n. A place for gam- Polioptilinæ (pol-i-op-ti-līnē), n. pl . [NL. (Sclater, 1862), Polioptila + -inæ.] A sub- family of birds, represented by the genus Po- lioptila , formerly referred to the Paridæ , now a ociated with the sylviine Pa eres . The bill is muscicapine, with well-developed rictal bristles and ex- posed nostrils; the tarsi are scutellate; the toes are short; the primaries are ten, the first of which is spurious; the wings are rounded; and the tail is graduated. The size is very small, and the coloration is bluish-gray above, white below, the tail black, with white lateral feathers. poliorcetics (pol i-ôr-sē'tiks), n . [= F. polior- cétique , πολιορκητικός , concerning besieg- ing, κητής , taker of cities, πολιορκεῖν , besiege, πόλις , city, + έρκος , fence, inclosure.] The art or science of besieging towns. De Quin- cey . [Rare.] polios is (pol-i-ō'sis), n. [NL., πολίωσις , α Pma making or becoming gray, πολι πολιοῦν , make gray, IMG:content-0558.png:[blocks in formation] bling by betting on the drawing of certain num- bers in a lottery. [U. S.] policy-slip (pol'i-si-slip), n . on a stake of money at a policy-shop. [U. S.] pol i encephalitis (pol i-en-sef-a-li'tis), n. [NL., πολιός , gray, + ἐγκέφαλος , the brain, + -it is .] Inflammation of the gray matter of the IMG:content-0559.png:[blocks in formation] The act of using a pole for any purpose.-2. A proce used in toughening copper. It con- sists in plunging a long pole of green wood (birch is pre- ferred) into the fused metal on the floor of the refining furnace. This proce reduces the oxid which the re- fined metal still holds, and brings the copper to what is called "tough pitch," or to the highest attainable degree of malleability. A somewhat similar proce , known by the same name, is employed in the refining of tin. 3. In hort . , the operation of scattering worm- casts on garden-walks with poles.-4. The boards (collectively) used to line the inside of a tunnel during its construction, to prevent the falling of the earth or other loose material. -5. Cramming for examination; hard study. IMG:content-0560.png:[blocks in formation] Same as pol i encephalitis . poliomyelepathy (pol i-o-mi-e-lep'a-thi), n. [NL., μυελός , marrow, + -παθία, παθεῖν , 2d aor. of πάσχειν , suffer: see pathos .] Disease of the gray matter of the spinal cord. poliomyelitis (pol i-o-mi-e-liʼtis), n . [NL., μυελός , marrow, + -it is .] Inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord. Anterior poliomyelitis, inflammation of the anterior horns of the gray matter of the spinal cord. In children called infantile paralysis . Polioptila (pol-i-op'ti-lä), n. 1854), πολιός , gray, + πτίλον , wing, = Ε. feather .] An isolated genus of oscine pa er- ine birds, typical of the subfamily Polioptilinæ ; the American gnatcatchers: so called from the hoary edgings of the wings. P. cærule a is the blue-gray gnatcatcher, a very common small migratory insectivorous bird of eastern parts of the United States and Canada. P. plumbea inhabits the southwestern United States. P. melanura and about ten others are found in warmer parts of America. Also called Culicivora . See cut under gnatcatcher . 2. Figuratively, to render smooth, regular, uni- form, etc.; remove roughne , inelegance, etc., from; especially, to make elegant and polite. Rules will help, if they be laboured and polished by prac- tice. Bacon , Advancement of Learning, ii. 247. Such elegant entertainments as these would polish the town into judgment in their gratifications. Steele , Spectator, No. 370. 3. To beat; chastise; punish. [Slang.] To pol- adversary, etc. [Slang.] 2. A substance used to give smoothne or to help in giving smoothne to any surface. See French polish, varnish - polish , etc., below.-3. Smoothne ; regularity; elegance; refinement; especially, elegance of style or manners. What are these wondrous civilizing arts, This Roman polish , and this smooth behaviour? Add is on , Cato, i. 4. 10,000,000 persons in western Ru ia, eastern Pru ia, and eastern Austria. 2. Same as Polish checkers . Fro that Temple, to war des the Southe, right nyghe, is the Temple of Salomon, that is righte fair and wel pol- li cht . Mandeville , Travels, p. 88. Gentleman in white pantaloons, polished boots, and Ber- Forster , Dickens, II. 259. 2. Having naturally a smooth, lustrous surface, in entom ., smooth and shining, but without metallic luster. Bright polish'd amber precious from its size, Or forms the fairest fancy could devise. IMG:content-0561.png:[blocks in formation] polishing-jack (pol'ish-ing- jak), n . A polishing-machine armed with a lignum-vitæ slicker, for polishing leather Laundry Polishing-iron. when considerable pre ure a, polishing-iron; &, pol- is required. E. H. Knight . polishing-machine (polish-ing-ma-shēn"), n. A machine which operates a rubbing-surface for bringing to a polish the surfaces of mate- rials or articles to which a polish is desired to be given, as in polishing metals, stone, gla , wood, horn, or articles made from these or other materials. The rubbing may be reciprocatory or rotary; or it may be irregular, as where small articles are polished by the tumbling proce , in a rotating cylin- cifically-( a ) A machine for grinding and polishing plate- der containing abrasive or smoothing substances. Spe- gla . In one form of gla -polishing machine, the plate is supported on a bed which has a slow reciprocating motion, and the polishing is effected by rubbers carried in a frame moved by a reciprocating arm. The rubbing- grades of emery are used for grinding. The polishing- final polish is given by hand with tripoli, crocus, or dry putty-powder. (b) In stone - working , a polishing-bed. (c) In agri , and milling , a machine for removing by tritura- tion the inner cuticle of rice or barley; a whitening-ma- chine. (d) In cotton - manuf . , a machine for smoothing or burnishing cotton threads by brushing after the sizing. (e) In wood - working , a machine for smoothing wood sur- faces, employing an emery-wheel, or a wheel armed with sand-paper or emery-paper. polishing-mill (pol'ish-ing-mil), n . A lap of metal (lead, iron, or copper), leather, list, or wood used by lapidaries in polishing es in polishing gems. Thus we have the slitting-mill, the roughing-mill, the smoothing-mill, and the polishing - mill , all generally of metal. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 197. polishing-paste (pol'ish-ing-pāst), n . Polish of any kind made in the form of a paste. polishing-powder (pol'ish-ing-pou"dėr), n. 1. Any pulverized material used to impart a smooth surface by abrasive or wearing action, as corundum, emery, Venetian pink, crocus, tripoli, putty-powder, or oxid of tin for gla - polishing; whiting for cleaning and polishing mirrors and window-gla ; corundum, emery, and the dust of diamonds, sapphires, and rubies for lapidaries' work; corundum, emery, pum- ice-stone, rottenstone, chalk, rouge, and whit- ing for metals; and pumice-stone for wood. Powders which, like plumbago and its various compounds, adhere to other surfaces to form a superimposed polished surface are generally called polishes , as stove-polish. Specifically-2. Same as plate - powder . I halde the polysed of that plyzt, & pured as clene As thou hadez neuer for feted, sythen thou watz fyrst borne. ticles removed from a surface by polishing; particularly, the dust produced in polishing ar- ticles made from precious metals, which is saved, and reduced again to concrete form; also, particularly, the dust produced in cutting hard precious stones, which is saved, and used for arming tools in lapidary work. polishing-slate (pol'ish-ing-slāt), n . 1. Aslate, usually gray or yellow, composed of microscopic infusoria, found in the coal-measures of Bohe- mia and in Auvergne in France, and used for polishing gla , marble, and metals.-2. A kind of whetstone used for sharpening or polishing the edges of tools after grinding on a revolving grindstone. polishing-snake (pol'ish-ing-snāk), n. A kind of serpentine quarried near the river Ayr in Scotland, and formerly used for polishing the surfaces of lithographic stones. polishing-stone (pol'ish-ing-stōn), n . Same as polishing- slate . - Blue polishing-stone, a dark slate of uniform density, used by jewelers, clock-makers, silver. smiths, etc. - Gray polishing-stone, a slate similar in character to the blue, but paler and of coarser texture. See honest one and hone1 . polishing-tin (pol'ish-ing-tin), n. A thin plate of tinned iron, usually the full size of the leaf, placed between the cover and first leaf and be- tween the cover and last leaf of a book, to pre- vent the progre of dampne in a newly pasted- up book, and to keep the linings smooth. polishing-wheel (pol'ish-ing-hwel), n. 1. A wheel armed with some kind of abrasive mate- rial, as sandpaper, emery, corundum, etc., and polish-powder (pol'ish-pou"der), n . Same as polishing -powder. poli oir (F. pron. po-le-swor'), n . [F., polir , polish: see polish1 .] In gla - manuf ., an imple- ment, consisting of a smooth block of wood with a rod of iron for a handle, used for flat- tening sheet-gla while hot on the polishing- stone. Also called flattener . The flattener now applies another instrument, a polis- soir, or rod of iron furnished at the end with a block of wood. Gla - making , p. 129. IMG:content-0562.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0563.png:[merged small][ocr errors] Add is on , Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), L. 507. He is just polite enough to be able to be very unman- nerly with a great deal of good breeding. Colman , Jealous Wife, ii. 3. Polished or refined in style, or employing such a style: now rarely applied to persons: as, polite learning; polite literature (that is, belles- lettres). polite zen; it may mean simply not rude, or observant of the external courtesies of intercourse, or quick to do and say gratifying and complimentary things. Polite applies to one who shows a polished civility, who has a higher training in ease and gracefulne of manners; politene is a deeper, more comprehensive, more delicate, and perhaps more genuine thing than civility. Polite, though much abused, is becoming the standard word for the bearing of a refined and kind person toward others. Courteous, literally, expre es that style of politene which belongs to courts: a courteous man is one who is gracefully respectful in his addre and manner-one who exhibits a union of dignified complaisance and kindne . The word applies to all sincere kindne and attention. Urbane, literally city-like, expre es a sort of politene which is not only sincere and kind, but peculiarly suave and agreeable. Com plaisant applies to one who pleases by being pleased, or obliges and is polite by yielding personal preferences; it may represent mere fawning, but generally does not. See genteel. A man of sober life, Fond of his friend, and civil to his wife. Pope , Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 189. A polite country esquire shall make you as many bows in half an hour as would serve a courtier for a week. Add is on, Spectator, No. 119. Like a very queen herself she bore Among the guests, and courteous was to all. William Morris , Earthly Paradise, II. 303. So I the world abused -in fact, to me Urbane and civil as a world could be. Crabbe, Works, VIII. 169. He was a man of extremely complaisant presence, and suffered no lady to go by without a compliment to her complexion, her blonde hair, or her beautiful eyes, whichever it might be. Howells , Venetian Life, xx. politet (po-līt'), v . t . [L. politus , pp. of polire , polish: see polish1 , v .] To polish; refine. Those exercises which polite men's spirits, and which abate the uneasine of life. Ray , Works of Creation, i. politely (po-lītʻli), adv . 1†. Smoothly; with a polished surface. .. IMG:content-0564.png:[blocks in formation] Forgetting politene in his sullen rage, Malone pushed into the parlour before Mi Keeldar. Charlotte Brontë , Shirley, xv. Politene has been well defined as benevolence in small things. Macaulay , Samuel Johnson. =Syn. 2. Courtesy, civility, urbanity, suavity, courtline . See polite . polite e (pol-i-tes′), n. [F. polite e = Pg. polidez, I insisted upon presenting him with a single sous, merely for his polite e . Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 37. politic (pol'i-tik), a . and n. Dan. [I. a. Formerly also politick, politique; I will be proud, I will read politic authors. Shak ., T. N., ii. 5. 174. 21. Of or pertaining to civil as distinguished from religious or military affairs; civil; politi cal. 4595 When the Orater shall practize his schollers in the exercize thereof, he shall chiefly do yt in Orations made in English, both politique and mil it are. Sir H. Gilbert , Queene Elyzabethes Achademy (E. E. T. S., [extra ser., III. i. 2). He made Religion conform to his politick interests. Milton , Reformation in Eng., ii. Hence-3t. Of or pertaining to officers of state; official; state. I hope We shall be call'd to be examiners, Wear politic gowns garded with copper lace, Making great faces full of fear and office. Beau . and Fl . , Woman-Hater, iii. 2. 4. That constitutes the state; consisting of citizens: as, the body politic (that is, the whole body of the people as constituting a state). We, the loyal subjects of... King James, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politick. Covenant of Plymouth Colony, in New England's Memo[rial, p. 37. 5. Existing by and for the state; popular; constitutional. The politic royalty of England, distinguished from the government of absolute kingdoms by the fact that it is rooted in the desire and institution of the nation, has its work set in the task of defence against foreign foes in the maintenance of internal peace. Stubbs , Const. Hist., § 365. 6. In keeping with policy; wise; prudent; fit; proper; expedient: applied to actions, measures, etc. This land was famously enrich'd With politic grave counsel. Shak., Rich. III., ii. 3. 20. It would be politic to use them with ceremony. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5. Pillage and devastation are seldom politic , even when they are supposed to be just. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 130. 7. Characterized by worldly wisdom or craftine ; subtle; crafty; scheming; cunning; artful: applied to persons or their devices: as, a politic prince. I have flattered a lady; I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy. Shak ., As you Like it, v. 4. 46. Cart hag in i an Hanniball, that stout And politicke captaine. Times ' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 100. It is not quite clear that Xenophon was honest in his credulity; his fanaticism was in some degree politic . Macaulay , History. Syn. 6 and 7. Dis Political goes with Body politic. See def. 4 and body. creet, wary, judicious, shrewd, wily. politics and the older meaning of polity; politic chiefly with the lower meaning of policy. See policy1. II. n. A politician. IMG:content-0565.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Po e ing ing a a definite tep polity or system of government; administering a definite polity. The next a ertion is that, in every independent political community, that is, in every independent community nei ther in a state of nature on the one hand nor a state of anarchy on the other, the power of using or directing the irresistible force stored up in the society resides in some person or combination of persons who belong to the society themselves. Maine, Early Hist. of Institutions, p. 358. olicy and 3. Relating to or concerned in public policy the management of the affairs of the state or nation; of or pertaining to civil government, or the enactment of laws and the administration of civil affairs: as, political action; political rights; a political system; political parties; a politic a political officer. The distinct nationalities that composed the empire [Rome], gratified by perfect municipal and by perfect in tellectual freedom, had lost all care for political freedom. Lecky , Europ. Morals, I. 310. Within any territory which appears on the map as a Roman province there was a wide difference of political conditions; all that appears geographically as the province was not in the provincial condition. E. A. Freeman , Amer. Lects., p. 321. 41. Politic; sagacious; prudent; artful; skilful. I cannot beget a project with all my political brain yet. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1. Orthodox school in political economy, that school of economists which follows the doctrines laid down by politician Adam Smith, Ricardo, J. S. Mill, and their disciples. Political arithmetic. See arithmetic. Political a e ments. See a e ment. - Political economist, one who is versed in political economy; a teacher or writer on economic subjects; an economist. - Political economy, the science of the laws and conditions which regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of all products, nece ary, useful, or agreeable to man, that have an exchangeable value; the science of the material welfare of human beings, particularly in modern society, considered with reference to labor, and the production, distribution, and accumulation of wealth. It includes a knowledge of the conditions which affect the existence and prosperity of useful industry, and the laws or generalizations which are deduced from an observation of the relations between the industrial and commercial methods of a people and their prosperity and physical well-being. The principal topics discu ed in political economy are-(1) labor (including the distinction between productive and unproductive labor), wages, increase of population (or the Mal thus i an doctrine), production on a large or on a small scale, strikes, etc.; (2) capital, including interest, risk, wages of superintendence, credit, etc.; (3) rent; (4) money, or the circulating medium of exchange; (5) competition and governmental interference with the natural course of trade; (6) value, including price, cost of production, and the relative demand and supply; (7) international trade, including the questions of free trade and protection; (8) the influence of government upon economic relations; and (9) the progre of civilization. - Political geography. See geography. - Political law, that part of jurisprudence which relates to the organization and polity of states, and their relations to each other and to their citizens and subjects. Political liberty, power, etc. See the nouns. Political science, the science of politics, including the consideration of the form of government, of the principles that should underlie it, of the extent to which it should intervene in public and private affairs, of the laws it establishes considered in relation to their effects on the community and the individual, of the intercourse of citizen with citizen as members of a state or political community, etc. Political verse, in medieval and modern Greek poetry, a verse composed without regard to quantity and always having an accent on the next to the last syllable. The name is especially given to a verse of fifteen syllables, an accentual iambic tetrameter catalectic. Lord Byron has compared with this measure the English line, "A captain bold of Halifax, who lived in country quarters." This is the favorite meter in modern Greek poetry. Po litical in this connection means 'common,' 'usual,' 'ordinary.'Syn. See politic. II. n . 1. A political officer or agent, as distinguished from military, commercial, and diplomatic officers or agents; specifically, in India, an officer of the British government who deals with native states or tribes and directs their political affairs.-2. A political offender or prisoner. As the politic als in this part of the fortre are all persons who have not yet been tried, the [Ru ian] Government regards it as extremely important that they shall not have an opportunity to secretly consult one another. G. Kennan , The Century, XXXV. 528.