<B>putamen, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tamina.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a hard or stony endocarp, such as the stone of a peach. <DD><B> 2. </B>the outer zone of the extraventricular portion of the gray matter of the brain, thought by some to be the area of the brain reacting to sensations of pleasure. </DL>
<A NAME="putandtake">
<B>put-and-take, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any gambling game played with a six-sided top or teetotum, in which all the players contribute to the pool from which winnings are taken. <BR> <I>Ex. It has been a game of put-and-take with all the accent on take (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putative">
<B>putative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> supposed; reputed. <BR> <I>Ex. the putative author of a book.</I> adv. <B>putatively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="putdown">
<B>put-down, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>the act of slighting or belittling a person or thing. <BR> <I>Ex. The early church fathers would have examined Adam Ogilvy carefully for horns ... if they had heard his contemptuous put-down of patience, a paramount Christian virtue (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a comment, reply, or action intended to snub or belittle. </DL>
<A NAME="putlog">
<B>putlog, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the short horizontal members that support the flooring of a scaffold. </DL>
<A NAME="putoff">
<B>put-off, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of putting off or postponing; postponement. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or process of getting rid of by evasion or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. I would have asked farther, but Alan gave me the put-off (Robert Louis Stevenson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>an evasion. </DL>
<A NAME="puton">
<B>put-on, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> assumed; affected; pretended. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the put-on atheism of Left Bank beatniks (Time).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a pretension or affectation. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang.) a mischievous joke or trick played for fun; practical joke; hoax. <BR> <I>Ex. "Pop Art" is ... possibly a "put-on" (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putonartist">
<B>put-on artist,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a person skilled in the put-on. <BR> <I>Ex. Though he is usually forthright, he occasionally stirs suspicion that he is a bit of a put-on artist (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putout">
<B>putout, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of putting a player out in baseball or cricket. <BR> <I>Ex. Mantle made all three putouts in his lone inning at short (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putput">
<B>put-put, </B>noun, verb, <B>-putted,</B> <B>-putting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the succession of sharp, explosive noises made by a small gasoline engine. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang.) a boat or vehicle operated by such an engine. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to go or travel by means of such an engine. </DL>
<A NAME="putrefacient">
<B>putrefacient, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> putrefying; putrefactive. <DD><I>noun </I> an agent or substance that produces putrefaction. </DL>
<A NAME="putrefaction">
<B>putrefaction, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the action or process of putrefying; decay; rotting. </DL>
<A NAME="putrefactive">
<B>putrefactive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>causing putrefaction. <DD><B> 2. </B>characterized by or having to do with putrefaction. noun <B>putrefactiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="putrefiable">
<B>putrefiable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> likely to become putrefied. </DL>
<B>putrefy, </B>intransitive verb, transitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to break down by the action of bacteria and fungi, producing bad-smelling gases; rot; decay; decompose. <BR> <I>Ex. The meat putrefied because it was not refrigerated.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to become or cause to be gangrenous. </DL>
<A NAME="putresce">
<B>putresce, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-tresced,</B> <B>-trescing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to begin to putrefy; become putrid. </DL>
<B>putsch, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an uprising; insurrection. <BR> <I>Ex. The common political experience of Eastern Europe between wars was the putsch and persecution at home, jealousy and chauvinism abroad (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putschist">
<B>putschist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who advocates or takes part in a putsch. <BR> <I>Ex. When he first began his guerrilla fight, ... Rodriguez himself laughed off Castro as a petty putschist (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putt">
<B>putt, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to strike (a golf ball) gently and carefully in an effort to make it roll into or near the hole. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the stroke made in putting. <BR> <I>Ex. Bayliss had single putts on the first four greens coming back (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of putting. </DL>
<A NAME="puttee">
<B>puttee, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a long, narrow strip of cloth wound around the leg from ankle to knee, formerly worn especially by sportsmen and soldiers. <BR> <I>Ex. He wore the ... short-sleeved tunic, boots and puttees of the Force Publique (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a gaiter of cloth or leather reaching from ankle to knee, formerly worn especially by soldiers, riders, and many policemenand guards. Also, <B>puttie,</B> <B>putty.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="putter">
<B>putter</B> (1), intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to keep busy in a rather useless way. <BR> <I>Ex. She likes to spend the afternoon puttering in the garden.</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>potter.</B> noun <B>putterer.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="putter">
<B>putter</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a golf player who putts. <DD><B> 2. </B>a golf club used in putting. A putter has an upright face and a short, rigid shaft. </DL>
<A NAME="putter">
<B>putter</B> (3), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that puts. </DL>
<A NAME="putti">
<B>putti, </B>noun, pl. of <B>putto.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Italian.) representations of cupidlike children used in art, especially during the Renaissance. </DL>
<A NAME="puttie">
<B>puttie, </B>noun. <B>=puttee.</B></DL>
<A NAME="puttier">
<B>puttier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who putties, such as a glazier. </DL>
<A NAME="puttinggreen">
<B>putting green,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the smooth turf or sand around the hole into which a player putts a golf ball; that part of a golf course usually within 20 yards of the hole, except the hazards. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar area off the course, used to practice putting. <BR> <I>Ex. He put in another four and a half hours on the putting green.</I> </DL>
<B>putty</B> (1), noun, pl. <B>-ties,</B> verb, <B>-tied,</B> <B>-tying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a soft mixture of powdered chalk and linseed oil, used for fastening panes of glass in window frames and for filling cracks and holes in woodwork. Putty slowly hardens after it is applied. <DD><B> 2. </B>a pipe-joint compound. <DD><B> 3. </B>a very smooth mortar of lime and water mixed, used in plastering. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=putty powder.</B> <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=putty color.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to stop up, fill up, or cover with putty. <BR> <I>Ex. He puttied up the holes in the woodwork before painting it.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putty">
<B>putty</B> (2), noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B> <B>=puttee.</B></DL>
<A NAME="puttycolor">
<B>putty color,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a light gray. </DL>
<B>putty powder,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> fine, abrasive powder, especially tin oxide, used to polish glass, stone, or metal. </DL>
<A NAME="puttyroot">
<B>puttyroot, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a North American orchid, with racemes of brownish flowers; Adam-and-Eve. The corm it produces contains a glutinous matter that has been used as a cement. </DL>
<A NAME="putup">
<B>put-up, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) planned beforehand, or deliberately, in a secret or crafty manner. <BR> <I>Ex. His election was a put-up job by the party bosses.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="putupon">
<B>put-upon, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> imposed upon; taken advantage of; victimized. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a rich, overbearing builder and his put-upon, endlessly complaining family (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="puva">
<B>PUVA, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a method of treating psoriasis with psoralen in combination with exposure to ultraviolet light. </DL>
<A NAME="puy">
<B>puy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small volcanic cone of a type common in Auvergne, central France. </DL>
