A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before.
"You"ll get your chance in court," said the sergeant.
"No, no no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I"ve been trying to do that for years!"
- perfect person, thing, or example. to perfection exactly; completely. [latin: related to *perfect]
PERFORMING
arts n.pl. Drama, music, dance, etc.
PERIHELION
n. (pl. -lia) point of a planet's or comet's orbit where it is nearest the sun's centre. [related to *peri-, greek helios sun]
PERIODICAL
—n. Newspaper, magazine, etc. Issued at regular intervals. —adj. Periodic. periodically adv.
PERIPHERAL
nervous system n. Nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.
- —adj. - of minor importance; marginal.
- of the periphery. —n. Any input, output, or storage device that can be controlled by a computer's central processing unit, e.g. A floppy disk or printer.
PERISHABLE
—adj. Liable to perish; subject to decay. —n. Thing, esp. A foodstuff, subject to rapid decay.
PERITONEUM
n. (pl. -s or -nea) membrane lining the cavity of the abdomen. peritoneal adj. [greek peritonos stretched around]
PERIWINKLE
n. Evergreen trailing plant with blue, purple, or white flowers. [latin pervinca]
- n. = *winkle. [origin unknown]
PERMAFROST
n. Subsoil which remains frozen all year, as in polar regions. [from *permanent, *frost]
PERMISSION
n. (often foll. By to + infin.) Consent; authorization. [latin permissio: related to *permit]
