Peninsula – Pepin
Peninsula
a piece of land almost surrounded with water, and connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land or isthmus. With the definite article the term is specifically applied to Spain and Portugal.
Penitentiary
a prison in which convicted offenders are confined and subjected to a course of discipline and instruction with a view to their reformation.
Pennywort
a trailing herb (Linaria cymbalaria), with roundish reniform leaves, often cultivated in hanging baskets. Marsh or water pennywort is a name used for any species of the umbelliferous genus hydrocotyle, low herbs with roundish leaves, growing in marshy places.
Penrhyn Islands
a group in the ISLANDS, a group in the W. They are densely wooded and populous. The British lous. The British flag was hoisted on Islands in 1888. land, England, in a picturesque and_fer-
Pensions
MOTHERS'
Pensions
MOTHERS', the granting of state subsidies to widowed, deserted and, sometimes, divorced women with dependent children. Mothers' pensions are entirely of modern origin, and may be considered as a phase of the general tendency toward recognition of the
Pentagon
a figure of five sides and five angles; if the sides and angles be equal it is a regular pentagon; otherwise, irregular.
Pentamera
one of the primary sections into which coleopterous insects (beetles) are divided, including those which have five joints on the tarsus of each leg.
Pentameter
a verse of five feet, used especially in Latin and Greek poetry, in which the first two feet may be either dactyls or spondees, the third on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan Pentateuch was made probably about 330 в. C., though the popular belief is that it is much older.
Pentstemon
or PENTESTEMON, a genus of plants, order Scrophulariaceæ.
They are perennial herbs, rarely having woody stems, branching, paniculate, with opposite leaves; and showy red, violet, blue, or white flowers. P. pubescens, the beard tongue, is a handsome plant growing on river banks, bluffs, hills, and barrens, in the United States.
Peonage
a system of agricultural servitude common in Mexico, and some other parts of Spanish America. The peon in debt to his employer was by the Spanish colonial system bound to labor for his employer till the debt was paid.
Peonage in New Mexico was abolished by Act of Congress in 1867; it was also abolished in the Argentine Republic.
Pepin
grandson of Charlemagne, and son of Louis le Debonnaire, became King of Aquitaine in 817. He died in 838 or 839.