please the pigs
"Til come on Tuesday — please the pigs"; i.e. if circumstances permit.
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pleased as Punch
Pleased.
Pleased as Punch
Greatly delighted^Our old friend is always singing with self-satisfaction in his naughty ways, and his evident "pleasure" is contagious to the beholders.
pleased with oneself
Feeling satisfied and proud of oneself
pleasure oneself
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
plebs
A term used to stigmatize a tradesman’s son at Westminster School. Latin, PLEBS, the vulgar.
Plimsoll Line
A circle with a hori- zontal line drawn through it, carried on both sides of all British merchant vessels. It in- dicates the maximum depth to which a vessel may be loaded and is named after Samuel Phmsoll (1824-98), M.P. for Derby, who brought about its compulsory adoption m view of the great loss of life at sea owing to overloaded vessels.
plonk
AC Plonk
plonker
A fool.
plop
Excrement.
plop down
To sit or lie down heavily and inelegantly.
plough
To be PLOUGHED is to fail to pass an examination. About twenty years ago "pluck," the word then used, began to be superseded by PLOUGH. It is said to have arisen from a man who could not supply the examiner with any quotation from Scripture, until at last he blurted out, "And the ploughers ploughed on my back, and made long furrows."—University.
plough a lonely furrow
To work or act independently and unconventionally
Plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you will have corn to sell and keep. (Strauss 1994, p. 1001)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
Plough Monday
The first Monday after Twelfth Day is so called because it is the end ol the Christmas holidays, and the day when men return to their plough or daily work. It was customary on this day for farm labourers to draw a plough from door to door of the parish, and solicit "plough-money" to spend m a frolic.
plough money
To invest or spend money, often in a significant amount
plough one's own furrow
To do something independently and unconventionally
plough one's way
to make progress with difficulty
plough the back forty
To urinate, especially in a rural or outdoor setting
ploughed
Drunk.
plow on
To continue doing something with effort and determination
plow one's way
to make progress with difficulty
plow the sands
To waste effort on a futile task
plow with one's heifer
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
pluck
The heart, liver, and lungs of an animal,—all that is PLUCKED away in connexion with the windpipe, from the chest of a sheep or hog.
plucked un
A stout or brave fellow; "he’s a rare PLUCKED UN," i.e., he dares face anything.
plug in
to connect or insert something into an electrical outlet
plug into
connect to a source of power or information
plug ugly
A rowdy, unpleasant character, a term said to have originated in Baltimore.
plug-ugly
Very ugly.
plum
£100,000, usually applied to the dowry of a rich heiress, to a legacy, or to a sum made in business or by a lucky speculation.
plum cash
Prime cost.
plum-cash
Prime cost.—Anglo-Chinese.
plumb
An hundred thousand pounds.
plumber's helper
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
plummy
It is all plummy; i.e. all is right, or as it ought to be.
plummy
Round, sleek, jolly, or fat; excellent, very good, first-rate.
plump
Fat, full, fleshy. Plump in the pocket; full in the pocket. To plump; to strike, or shoot. I'll give you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office: I'll give you a blow in the stomach. Plump his peepers, or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes. He pulled out his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and shot him. A plumper; a single vote at an election. Plump also means directly, or exactly; as, it fell plump upon him: it fell directly upon him.
plump currant
I am not plump currant; I am out of sorts.
plumper
A single vote at an election, not a "split ticket."
plumpers
Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks.
plunder
A common word in the horse trade to express profit. Also an American term for baggage, luggage. In Lower Canada the French packmen call luggage "butin."
plunge in
to start doing something difficult or challenging immediately
plunger
A heavy cavalry-man.—Military slang.
plunk
A dollar.
plus ultra
The motto in the royal arms of Spam. It was 9nce Ne plus ultra ("thus far and no farther"), in allusion to the pillars of Hercules, the ne plus ultra of the world; but after the discovery of America, and when Charles V inherited the crown of Aragon and Castile, with all the vast American possessions, he struck out ne, and assumed the words plus ultra for the national motto, the suggestion being that Spain can go farther.
plutey
plutocratic
Pluto with a three-headed dog
The Fates are three, the Furies three, the Graces three, the Harpies three, the Sibylline books three times three (of which only three survived); the fountain from which Hylas drew water was presided over by three nymphs ; the Muses were
plutocracy
The wealthy classes. The Manchester merchants are often termed a millocracy, and words of a similar character are mobocracy and moneyocracy.
Plutonic Rocks
Granites, certain porphyries and other igneous unstratified crystalline rocks, supposed to have been formed at a great depth and pressure, as distinguished from the vol- canic rocks, which were formed near the sur- face. So called by Lyell from Pluto, as the lord of elemental fire.
plyer
A crutch; also a trader.
Plymouth Brethren
A sect of Evangelical Christians that arose at Plymouth about 1830. They have no regular ministry, holding that national churches are too lax and dissenters too sectarian. Sometimes called "Darbyites" (q.v.) from John Nelson Darby (1800-82), their founder.
po
The police.
po'
Poor.
poacher turned gamekeeper
Someone who used to cause problems now tries to solve them
To put up with. A man who does not resent an affront is said to POCKET it.
pocket battleship
A small, heavily armoured warship built in accordance with the limiting terms of a treaty. By the Treaty of Versailles Germany was forbidden to build battleships of over 10,000 tons. In consequence she constructed several formidable battleships which purported to be within this limit, though it was discovered later that they were not.
pocket borough
A parliamentary borough where the influence of the magnate was so powerful as to be able to control the election of any candidate.
pocket dial
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
pocket judgment
A bond under the hand of a debtor, countersigned by the sovereign. It could be enforced without legal process, but for long has fallen into disuse.