*pam*

a. 1. Affectedly pretty; weakly sentimental; finical; insipid. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Namby-pamby madrigals of love. W. Gifford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Indecisive or weak; lacking firmness or resolve; -- of actions and policies. [ PJC ]

v. t. To pamper excessively; to feed or dress too much. Dryton. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A form of the female given name Pamela. [ PJC ]

n. [ From Palm victory; cf. trump, fr. triumph, and perh. fr. F. pamphile from Pamphile, a man's name. ] 1. The knave of clubs. [ Obs. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A card game in which the jack of clubs is trump. [ PJC ]

n. A pavement. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A plain. See pampas. [ PJC ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] (Zool.) Same as Pompano. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Sp., fr. Peruv. pampa a field, plain. ] Vast grass-covered plains in the central and southern part of the Argentine Republic in South America. The term is sometimes used in a wider sense for the plains east of the Andes extending from Bolivia to Southern Patagonia. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pampas cat (Zool.), a South American wild cat (Felis pajeros). It has oblique transverse bands of yellow or brown. It is about three and a half feet long. Called also straw cat. --
Pampas deer (Zool.), a small, reddish-brown, South American deer (Cervus campestris syn. Blastocerus campestris). --
Pampas grass (Bot.), a very tall ornamental grass (Gynerium argenteum) with a silvery-white silky panicle. It is a native of the pampas of South America. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pampered p. pr. & vb. n. Pampering. ] [ Cf. LG. pampen, slampampen, to live luxuriously, pampe thick pap, and E. pap. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To feed to the full; to feed luxuriously; to glut; as, to pamper the body or the appetite. “A body . . . pampered for corruption.” Dr. T. Dwight. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To gratify inordinately; to indulge to excess; as, to pamper pride; to pamper the imagination. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Fed luxuriously; indulged to the full; hence, luxuriant; as, pampered children. “Pampered boughs.” Milton. “Pampered insolence.” Pope. -- Pam"pered*ness, n. Bp. Hall. [1913 Webster]

n. One who, or that which, pampers. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To pamper. [ R. ] Sydney Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp., fr. pampa a plain. ] A violent wind from the west or southwest, which sweeps over the pampas of South America and the adjacent seas, often doing great damage. Sir W. Parish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl.; sing. Pampero [ Sp. American. ] (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians inhabiting the pampas of South America. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. pamflet, pamfilet, paunflet, possibly fr. OF. palme the palm of the hand, F. paume (see Palm) + OF. fueillet a leaf, dim. of fueil, m., F. feuille, f., fr. L. folium, pl. folia, thus meaning, a leaf to be held in the hand; or perh. through old French, fr. L. Pamphila, a female historian of the first century who wrote many epitomes; prob., however, fr. OF. Pamflette, the Old French name given to Pamphilus, a poem in Latin verse of the 12th century, pamphlets being named from the popularity of this poem. ] 1. A writing; a book. Testament of love. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sir Thomas More in his pamphlet of Richard the Third. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small book consisting of a few sheets of printed paper, stitched together, often with a paper cover, but not bound; a short essay or written discussion, usually on a subject of current interest. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To write a pamphlet or pamphlets. [ R. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A writer of pamphlets; a scribbler. Dryden. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To write or publish pamphlets. [ 1913 Webster ]

By pamphleteering we shall not win. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pampinus a tendril + -form. ] (Anat.) In the form of tendrils; -- applied especially to the spermatic and ovarian veins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. pampre a vine branch, L. pampinus. ] (Sculp.) An ornament, composed of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, used for decorating spiral columns. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pan- + Gr. pro` forward + da`ktylos finger. ] (Zool.) Having all the toes turned forward, as the colies. [ 1913 Webster ]