<B>parent, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a father or mother. <BR> <I>Ex. A positive means of prompt baby identification brings peace of mind to parents and hospital administrators alike (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a person who has not produced the offspring but has the legal status of a father or mother, as by adoption. <DD><B> 2. </B>any animal or plant that produces offspring. <BR> <I>Ex. The mother fox was a parent for the first time and became very nervous when the father would come to inspect his new family.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) source; cause; origin. <BR> <I>Ex. Too much leisure is often the parent of mischief.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=parent company.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. American Cable asserted it was prepared, "backed by the full resources of its parent," [International Telephone and Telegraph Corp.] to establish and operate an overseas cable system (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=parental.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="parentage">
<B>parentage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>descent from parents; family line; ancestry. <BR> <I>Ex. His parentage was Italian ancestry, of a grandfather and grandmother who came from Italy many years ago.</I> (SYN) birth. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition or fact of being a parent; parenthood. </DL>
<A NAME="parental">
<B>parental, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with a parent or parents; like a parent's. <BR> <I>Ex. parental advice, parental feelings.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Genetics.) of the generation in which hybrids are produced by crossbreeding. adv. <B>parentally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="parentalia">
<B>Parentalia, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Roman annual festival in honor of deceased parents and relatives, held from the 13th to the 21st of February, marked by the closing of the temples, the visiting of tombs, and the offering of oblations to the shades of the dead. </DL>
<A NAME="parentcompany">
<B>parent company,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a business firm which controls one or more subsidiary firms. <BR> <I>Ex. A clause in its contract ... gives the parent company the right to buy up (at cost) and sell back to the distributor any product that he sells outside his area or to an unauthorized dealer (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parentelement">
<B>parent element,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) an element that yields an isotope or daughter element through radioactive decay or nuclear bombardment. </DL>
<A NAME="parenteral">
<B>parenteral, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Physiology.) not entering by means of or passing through the alimentary canal; not intestinal. An intravenous injection provides parenteral nourishment. adv. <B>parenterally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="parentheses">
<B>parentheses, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> plural of <B>parenthesis.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="parenthesis">
<B>parenthesis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>either or both of two curved lines used to set off a word, phrase, or sentence that explains or qualifies something within a sentence. <DD><B> b. </B>a word, phrase, or sentence inserted within a sentence to explain or qualify something. <DD><B> 2. </B>an interval or digression; interlude; hiatus. <BR> <I>Ex. During the parenthesis of bad government and national tumult which filled the years between the death of Aldfrith ... and the renewed peace and order under Ceolwulf (S. A. Brooke).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parenthesize">
<B>parenthesize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-sized,</B> <B>-sizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to insert as or in a parenthesis. <DD><B> 2. </B>to put between the marks of parenthesis. <DD><B> 3. </B>to put many parentheses in. </DL>
<A NAME="parenthetic">
<B>parenthetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>serving or helping to explain; qualifying; explanatory. <DD><B> 2. </B>enclosed in parentheses. <DD><B> 3. </B>using parentheses. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) occurring in the course of something else. adv. <B>parenthetically.</B> </DL>
<B>parenthood, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being a parent; fatherhood or motherhood. <BR> <I>Ex. Parenthood begins "officially" with the birth or adoption of an infant, but every girl or boy develops a certain background for motherhood or fatherhood during the years leading to maturity and marriage (Sidonie M. Gruenberg).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parenting">
<B>parenting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the process of caring for and raising offspring. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] turns to research on the history of parenting from primates to man ... and concludes, ... Parenting is mostly learned from identification with models (New Republic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parentinlaw">
<B>parent-in-law, </B>noun, pl. <B>parents-in-law.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a father-in-law or mother-in-law. <BR> <I>Ex. All is well at the end for everybody but the interfering parents-in-law (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parentless">
<B>parentless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>without parents. <BR> <I>Ex. He was my own uncle ... he had taken me when a parentless infant to his house (Charlotte Bronte).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) without known parents, author, or source. </DL>
<A NAME="parentteacherassociation">
<B>Parent-Teacher Association,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> See <B>P.T.A.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="parer">
<B>parer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who pares. <DD><B> 2. </B>an instrument for paring. <BR> <I>Ex. an apple parer.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parergon">
<B>parergon, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ga.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> subordinate or secondary work; by-work. <BR> <I>Ex. He and his orchestra played a suite of Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, a parergon of the musical show, and a very distinguished one (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paresis">
<B>paresis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a partial or incomplete paralysis. Paresis affects the ability to move, but does not affect the ability to feel. <DD><B> 2. </B>a progressive disease of the brain caused by syphilis that gradually causes general paralysis. <BR> <I>Ex. General paresis (the result of long-standing syphilitic infection) has yielded spectacularly to treatment with reserpine (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="paresthesia">
<B>paresthesia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an abnormal sensation of prickling, tingling, or itching of the skin. Also, <B>paraesthesia.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paresthetic">
<B>paresthetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, characterized by, or affected with paresthesia. Also, <B>paraesthetic.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="paretic">
<B>paretic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with paresis; caused by paresis. <DD><I>noun </I> a person who has paresis. </DL>
<A NAME="pareu">
<B>pareu, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rectangular piece of printed cotton cloth worn as a skirt or loincloth by the Polynesians. </DL>
<A NAME="pareve">
<B>pareve, </B>noun. =parve.</DL>
<A NAME="parexcellence">
<B>par excellence,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) beyond comparison; above all others of the same sort. <BR> <I>Ex. Michelangelo on the other hand is always in quest of new motifs, and in this sense he is par excellence the modern artist (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parexemple">
<B>par exemple,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) for example. </DL>
<A NAME="parfait">
<B>parfait, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>ice cream with syrup or crushed fruit and whipped cream, served in a tall glass. <DD><B> 2. </B>a rich ice cream containing eggs and whipped cream frozen unstirred. </DL>
<A NAME="parfilage">
<B>parfilage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) the unraveling of textile fabrics, galloons, or lace, especially those containing gold or silver threads, in vogue as a pastime in France and elsewhere in the latter part of the 1700's. </DL>
<A NAME="parfleche">
<B>parfleche, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a kind of very tough rawhide made (originally) by removing the hair from the skin of a buffalo by steeping it in a strong solution of wood ashes (or lye) and water and then drying it in the sun. <DD><B> 2. </B>an article made of this rawhide. <BR> <I>Ex. The Plains Indian parfleche, a large envelope of hide used to store and carry personal possessions, sacred objects, foods, and other objects (Beals and Hoijer).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="parget">
<B>parget, </B>noun, verb, <B>-geted,</B> <B>-geting</B> or <B>-getted,</B> <B>-getting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a gypsum or other stone for making plaster. <DD><B> 2. </B>a type of rough plaster consisting of lime, animal hair, and cow dung, formerly used in chimney flues. <DD><B> 3. </B>plasterwork of an ornamental kind. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=whitewash.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to coat or plaster with parget. <DD><B> 2. </B>to plaster with ornamental designs. </DL>
<A NAME="pargeting">
<B>pargeting</B> or <B>pargetting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of applying parget or plastering ornamentally. <DD><B> 2. </B>ornamental plaster or plasterwork. </DL>
<A NAME="parheliacal">
<B>parheliacal, </B>adjective. =parhelic.</DL>
<A NAME="parhelic">
<B>parhelic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or resembling a parhelion. </DL>
<A NAME="parheliccircle">
<B>parhelic circle</B> or <B>ring,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a horizontal halo or circle of light that appears to pass through the sun. </DL>
<A NAME="parhelion">
<B>parhelion, </B>noun, pl. <B>-helia.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bright circular spot of light, often showing the colors of the spectrum, that is sometimes seen on either side of the sun and level with it on a solar halo; mock sun; sundog. Parhelia are caused by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. </DL>
<A NAME="pariah">
<B>Pariah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a low caste in southern India and Burma. </DL>
<A NAME="pariah">
<B>pariah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any person or animal generally despised; outcast. <BR> <I>Ex. the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard (Mark Twain).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pariahdom">
<B>pariahdom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or condition of being a pariah; degraded position. </DL>
<A NAME="parian">
<B>Parian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of Paros, an island in the Aegean Sea. <BR> <I>Ex. Parian marble.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having to do with or made of a type of fine white porcelain resembling Parian marble. <BR> <I>Ex. Parian statuary.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a native or inhabitant of Paros. <DD><B> 2. </B>Parian porcelain. <DD><B> 3. </B>articles made of Parian porcelain; Parian ware. </DL>
