A tough old cowboy told his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning. The grandson did this religiously, and lived to the age of 93.
When he died he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren… and a 15-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
n. - inflammable waxy or oily hydrocarbon distilled from petroleum or shale, used in liquid form (also paraffin oil) esp. As a fuel.
- chem. = *alkane. [latin, = having little affinity]
- wax n. Paraffin in its solid form.
PARAKEET
n. Small usu. Long-tailed parrot. [french: related to *parrot]
PARALLAX
n. - apparent difference in the position or direction of an object caused when the observer's position is changed.
- angular amount of this. [greek, = change]
PARALLEL
bars n.pl. Pair of parallel rails on posts for gymnastics.
- —adj. - a (of lines or planes) continuously side by side and equidistant. B (foll. By to, with) (of a line or plane) having this relation (to or with another).
- (of circumstances etc.) Precisely similar, analogous, or corresponding.
- a (of processes etc.) Occurring or performed simultaneously. B computing involving the simultaneous performance of operations. —n. - person or thing precisely analogous to another.
- comparison (drew a parallel between them).
- (in full parallel of latitude) a each of the imaginary parallel circles of constant latitude on the earth's surface. B corresponding line on a map (49th parallel).
- printing two parallel lines (||) as a reference mark. —v. (-l-) 1 be parallel, or correspond, to.
- represent as similar; compare.
- cite as a parallel instance. in parallel (of electric circuits) arranged so as to join at common points at each end. parallelism n. [greek, = alongside one another]
PARALYSE
v. (us paralyze) (-sing or -zing) 1 affect with paralysis.
- render powerless; cripple. [greek: related to *para-1, luo loosen]
PARALYZE
v. (brit. Paralyse) (-sing or -zing) 1 affect with paralysis.
- render powerless; cripple. [greek: related to *para-1, luo loosen]
PARAMOUR
n. Archaic or derog. Illicit lover of a married person. [french par amour by love]
PARANOIA
n. - mental disorder with delusions of persecution and self-importance.
- abnormal suspicion and mistrust. paranoiac adj. & n. Paranoiacally adv. Paranoic adj. Paranoically adv. Paranoid adj. & n. [greek: related to *nous]
PARAQUAT
n. A quick-acting highly toxic herbicide. [from *para-1, *quaternary]
PARASITE
n. - organism living in or on another and feeding on it.
- person exploiting another or others. parasitic adj. Parasitically adv. Parasitism n. [greek: related to *para-1, sitos food]
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