*puc*

a. [ See Capoch. ] Cover with, or as with, a hood. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. capucin a monk who wears a cowl, fr. It. cappuccio hood. See Capoch. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Eccl.) A Franciscan monk of the austere branch established in 1526 by Matteo di Baschi, distinguished by wearing the long pointed cowl or capoch of St. Francis. [ 1913 Webster ]

A bare-footed and long-bearded capuchin. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A garment for women, consisting of a cloak and hood, resembling, or supposed to resemble, that of capuchin monks. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) A long-tailed South American monkey (Cabus capucinus), having the forehead naked and wrinkled, with the hair on the crown reflexed and resembling a monk's cowl, the rest being of a grayish white; -- called also capucine monkey, weeper, sajou, sapajou, and sai. (b) Other species of Cabus, as Cabus fatuellus (the brown capucine or horned capucine.), Cabus albifrons (the cararara), and Cabus apella. (c) A variety of the domestic pigeon having a hoodlike tuft of feathers on the head and sides of the neck. [ 1913 Webster ]

Capuchin nun, one of an austere order of Franciscan nuns which came under Capuchin rule in 1538. The order had recently been founded by Maria Longa. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Capuchin, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] (Bot.) Spurge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. de + LL. pucella virgin, F. pucelle: cf. F. dépuceler. ] To deflour; to deprive of virginity. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. prépuce, L. praeputium. ] (Anat.) The foreskin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From the American Indian name. ] (Bot.) Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, as the bloodroot and two species of Lithospermum (Lithospermum hirtum, and Lithospermum canescens); also, the pigment itself. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F., fr. puce a flea, L. pulex, pulicis. ] Of a dark brown or brownish purple color. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Pucelle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] Virginity. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., fr. LL. pulicella, fr. L. pullus a young animal. See Pullet. ] A maid; a virgin. [ Written also pucel. ] [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

La Pucelle, the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., from puce a flea. See Puce. ] (Zool.) Any plant louse, or aphis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So named from the Pucher Mine, in Saxony. ] (Min.) Vanadate of bismuth, occurring in minute reddish brown crystals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. pūki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug. ] 1. (Mediæval Myth.) A celebrated fairy, “the merry wanderer of the night;” -- called also Robin Goodfellow, Friar Rush, Pug, etc. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He meeteth Puck, whom most men call
Hobgoblin, and on him doth fall. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The goatsucker. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A disk of vulcanized rubber used in the game of hockey, as the object to be driven through the goals. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖a. [ Written also pukka. ] [ Hind. pakkā cooked, ripe, solid. ] Good of its kind; -- variously used as implying substantial, real, fixed, sure, etc., and specif., of buildings, made of brick and mortar. [ India ]

It's pukka famine, by the looks of it. Kipling. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Puck + ball. ] A puffball. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Puckered p. pr. & vb. n. Puckering. ] [ From Poke a pocket, small bag. ] To gather into small folds or wrinkles; to contract into ridges and furrows; to corrugate; -- often with up; as, to pucker up the mouth. “His skin [ was ] puckered up in wrinkles.” Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A fold; a wrinkle; a collection of folds. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of perplexity or anxiety; confusion; bother; agitation. [ Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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

a. 1. Producing, or tending to produce, a pucker; as, a puckery taste. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Inclined to become puckered or wrinkled; full of puckers or wrinkles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A puffball. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Puck. ] Resembling Puck; merry; mischievous. “Puckish freaks.” J. R. Green. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From a native name in India. ] (Zool.) See Koklass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pg. sapucaya. ] (Bot.) A Brazilian tree. See Lecythis, and Monkey-pot. [ Written also sapucaya. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Sapucaia nut (Bot.), the seed of the sapucaia; -- called also paradise nut. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + pucker. ] To smooth away the puckers or wrinkles of. [ 1913 Webster ]