| picayune | adj. | trifling, insignificant; petty, carping | ||
| piccalilli | n. | East Indian relish of mustard, vegetables, and hot spices | ||
| Pickelhaube | n. | typically Prussian spiked helmet | ||
| piebald | adj. | having two-color patches, usu. black and white | ||
| piezometer | n. | instrument for measuring pressure of fluid, or compressibility of same | ||
| piffle | n. | silly nonsense | ||
| pig it | v. | to live in a slovenly, messy fashion | idiom | |
| pig’s ear | n. | beer | slang | |
| piggin | n. | small wooden pail with one stave left longer than the others to form a handle; milk pail | ||
| pigsney | n. | darling, pet (as term of affection); eye | ||
| pilchard | n. | small sea fish related to the herring; sardine | ||
| pilcrow | n. | paragraph mark, “¶” | ||
| pile | n. | 1 | nap of raised fibers in carpet | |
| pile | n. | 2 | sharp metal head of an arrow, dart, or lance; pointed stake driven into ground; [heraldry] wedge-shape charge upon escutcheon with point downwards | |
| piles | n. | hemorrhoids | ||
| pillock | n. | stupid person | informal | |
| pinchbeck | n. | alloy of copper and zinc supposed to resemble gold; counterfeit, spurious; tawdry | ||
| pindling | adj. | weak, puny | ||
| pinion | n. | 1 | small gear or toothed bar engaging with larger gear or rack | |
| pinion | n. | 2 | wing; outermost wing joint; feather of outermost wing | biology |
| pinion | v. | to restrain from flying by severing or binding the outermost portion of a bird’s wing; to bind a person’s arms | ||
| pink | v. | to perforate, to decorate by scalloping and punching out a pattern; to pierce, to stab | ||
| pinna | n. | visible outer parts of ear in most mammals; wing, fin, or similar structure in animals | biology | |
| pinniped | adj. | of or relating to the order of aquatic carnivorous mammals which includes seals and walruses; such an animal | ||
| piscina | n. | basin with drain used for ablutions, particularly for washing communion vessels | ||
| pismire | n. | ant | ||
| pisstake | n. | parody, pastiche | slang | |
| pistareen | n. | small Spanish coin in wide circulation in 18th-Century America worth perhaps 25¢ | ||
| pixilated | adj. | mentally bewildered, eccentric | ||
| pizzle | n. | animal penis; penis of a bull used for flogging | ||
| placket | n. | slit in skirt or other clothing to facilitate putting on or taking off; pocket, esp. in a skirt; petticoat | ||
| plaice | n. | type of flounder fish | ||
| plangent | adj. | loudly sounding, esp. with a plaintive, metallic sound (as a bell); or making the sound of waves upon a shore | ||
| planticrub | n. | circular stone planter for cabbage or kale | British | |
| planxty | n. | solemn yet convivial Irish air for the harp | ||
| plash | v. | to splash | ||
| plashy | adj. | full of puddles; boggy | ||
| plat | v. | to braid, to plait; to plan out, to sketch a map | ||
| plaudit | n. | marked expression of approval, applause | ||
| plausive | adj. | praiseworthy | ||
| play hob with | v. | to derange, to upset | idiom | |
| play silly beggars | v. | to fool around, to engage in stupid or rash behavior | ||
| pleach | adj. | (of boughs) intertwined, tangled | ||
| Pleistocene | adj. | of or related to the geologic age beginning in the Quaternary period down to about 10,000 years ago | ||
| plenilunar | adj. | of or relating to the full moon | ||
| plenilune | n. | time of the full moon; the full moon | ||
| plenipotent | adj. | invested with or having full power | ||
| plenum | n. | space conceived of as completely filled with matter (usu. opposed to vacuum) | ||
| pleonasm | n. | redundancy | ||
| plexus | n. | network of nerves or blood vessels; web-like structure of networked complexity |
