pacificadj.1n.1
/pəˈsɪfɪk/, U.S. /pəˈsɪfɪk/ A. adj.1† 1. Free from disturbance; (Law) undisputed. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
c1500 Melusine (1895) 68 Thus shall ye be putte in pacyfyque or peesable posessyon of it.
c1600 in G. Stevenson Poems A. Montgomerie (1910) 330 Ane title with ane triennal and pacifick possessioun, vnquarellit in his tyme.
2.
a. Making, or tending to the making of, peace; leading to peace or reconciliation; conciliatory.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > [adjective]
pacific1548
pacifying1552
peacemaking1556
pacificatory1582
peacemongering1808
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > bringing about concord or peace > [adjective]
pacific1548
peacemaking1556
pacificatory1582
irenicala1656
irenic1864
eirenic1885
eirenical1890
1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxlviijv Sore lamentyng..that I did not performe and finally consumate, suche pollitique diuises..in my long life and paciffique prosperitie.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxix. 216 He appointed the pacificque, and friendly Embassages.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Exod. xxix. 28 They are the primitives and beginninges of their pacifique victimes which they offer to the Lord.
1774 T. Blacklock Graham iv. 48 Ye quiver'd Scots, our words attend; Pacific overtures we bring: Shall groans and carnage never end?
1783 W. Thomson in R. Watson & W. Thomson Hist. Reign Philip III v. 354 The marquis of Spinola..had strenuously supported the pacific counsels of Prince Albert at the court of Madrid.
1800 W. Hayley Ess. on Sculpture iv. 111 Though fond, too fond of war and warlike praise, Pacific talents shar'd thy soft'ring rays.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity I. iii. vii. 456 The pacific influence which Gregory obtained in this momentous crisis.
1894 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 2 585 The British unions of today..have chosen to follow a conservative and pacific policy.
1957 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples III. vii. iii. 27 We have seen in our own time similar frightful losses, accepted by the English people because their mood was for the moment pacific and their interests diverted from European affairs.
1995 China Q. Sept. 847 The Mongols resisted pacific overtures from the Ming and continued to raid.
b. Chiefly poetic. Of, relating to, or representing peace or peaceful intent. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > [adjective]
peacefulc1595
togated1634
pacific1667
togate1851
peacetime1862
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 860 An Olive leafe he brings, pacific signe. View more context for this quotation
1739 S. Boyse Deity 32 The skies were clear'd,—the mountain tops were seen, The dove pacific brought the olive-green.
1780 A. Seward in Elegy Capt. Cook 8 To carry a green branch in the hand on landing, is a pacific signal, universally understood by all the islanders in the South Seas.
1837 J. Anster Xeniola 46 And see! the Angel gliding down Through Heaven, with Heaven's pacific crown.
1854 W. H. Carpenter Hist. Tennessee ii. 33 Lured on shore by pacific signs from the Indians, he was taken captive with three others.
1972 Philos. & Public Affairs 1 378 A registrant opposed all war..because he himself was born under a pacific sign.
c. Not violating or infringing peace; not employing force or violence; = peaceful adj. 4.
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society > armed hostility > peace > [adjective] > peaceful (of means)
pacific1788
peaceful1876
1788 A. Hamilton Federalist Papers vii. 34 Different principles would be set up by different states for this purpose; and as they would affect the opposite interests of the parties, they might not easily be susceptible of a pacific adjustment.
1839 J. A. Bolles (title) Essay on a Congress of Nations, for the pacific adjustment of international disputes.
1874 Presbyterian Q. & Princeton Rev. Apr. 310 Negotiation after negotiation had failed to settle these questions in a satisfactory manner, yet, at length, patience and persistency in seeking a pacific settlement of them resulted in a triumph.
1906 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 61/2 It is by their mastery of the policy of ‘pacific penetration’ that the Chinese make themselves such formidable neighbours.
1941 M. Hallgren Landscape of Freedom iv. 106 The Friends had been the most active of all among those who had urged a pacific settlement of the dispute with England.
2002 Jrnl. Women's Hist. (Nexis) 14 9 Speaker after speaker argued for..the formulation of a systematic methodology for the pacific resolution of international disputes.
3. Of a person, disposition, etc.: mild, unaggressive, peaceable; not quarrelsome or excitable.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > pacific character or disposition > [adjective]
peaceable1340
peacefula1400
pacifical?c1500
pacific1582
pacificous1611
flag-furling1802
pacifistic1908
dovish1966
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > [adjective] > peaceable
i-sibsumeOE
grithlyc1300
peaceable1340
peacefula1400
pacifical?c1500
pacific1582
pacificous1611
peaceable-minded1648
peaceably minded1648
pacal1656
peaceably disposed1772
unaggressive1862
inaggressive1878
1582 R. Mulcaster 1st Pt. Elementarie Peroration 252 Sound learning will not so soon be shaken at euerie eager point of controuersie, as the fleter will. Orderlie ascent groweth strong verie soon, & a pacifik conceit is a furtherer to that end.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 189 See whether is more pacifique and charitable, and by consequent whether is the more Euangelicall.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 185. ⁋10 This pacifick and harmless temper.
1774 J. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 40 I saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old grave pacific Quakers.
1879 W. H. Dixon Royal Windsor II. xii. 132 In the end he brought them to a more pacific view.
1881 R. L. Stevenson Virginibus Puerisque iii. 60 You may be as pacific or as cold-blooded as you will, but you cannot help some emotion when you read of well-disputed battles, or meet a pair of lovers in the lane.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 35/2 Long confinement in the palace aloof from state affairs had left him pious, God-fearing and pacific in disposition.
1954 Observer 14 Feb. 7/8 I am inclined to think that only a hungry world can be a peaceful world. If the 450,000,000 people of India were all well-fed and prosperous they might not be pacific as they are now.
2001 C. Coker Humane Warfare i. 7 Grotius was a Christian rationalist and, if not exactly a pacifist, he was a pacific man.
4. Characterized by calmness; tranquil, placid; soothing, quiet. Frequently with reference to the sea or the weather.See also Pacific adj.2
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > fine weather > [adjective] > calm (of weather, climate, or the elements)
smoltc950
lithec1275
still1390
smoothc1402
peaceablec1425
calmc1440
serenousc1440
lownc1485
stormlessc1500
serene1508
calm-winded1577
unwindy1580
calmy1587
sleek1603
halcedonian1611
pacific1633
settled1717
unstormy1823
untempested1846
placable1858
untempestuous1864
unrestless1919
the world > action or operation > inaction > quietness or tranquillity > [adjective]
stillc1275
coyc1330
restful1340
quieta1382
peaceablec1384
peacefula1400
undisturbleda1400
somec1460
quietous1528
reposeda1533
unnoyed1543
calma1568
halcyon1570
calmya1586
quietsome1595
halcyonian1602
undisturbeda1610
halcedonian1611
tranquila1616
tranquillous1638
slumbering1645
halcydon1648
smooth1757
slumberous1765
stilly1776
sleeping1785
unfrenzied1805
Sabbath-like1824
unbustling1826
eddyless1862
restinga1865
pacific1865
Sabbatismal1881
1633 T. James Strange Voy. 55 Pacificke and open Seas.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) i. 32 We found we were got North from the Æquinocticall 19 degrees 40 minutes and longitude from Mohelia 20 degrees, our stearage at that time South East, the Sea pacifique, the wind moderate, but heat offensive.
1741 J. Kelly Levee i. 19 Who can ensure a favourable Breeze; A prosp'rous Voyage and pacific Seas.
1791 M. De Fleury Divine Poems & Ess. 193 It is a mild pacific shower, the clouds drop fatness.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller IV. 8 At low water it is as pacific as any other stream. As the tide rises, it begins to fret.
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia V. xviii. xii. 301 The road has hitherto been mainly pacific.
1912 R. Brooke in E. H. Marsh Georgian Poetry 1911–1912 36 There's peace and holy quiet there, Great clouds along pacific skies.
1989 O. V. Vijayan After the Hanging 140 The green arches of jack and mango have given way to funnels that spew smoke, and the pacific noises of old to the rasping converse of trade.
A peace offering; an offer or overture of peace. Obsolete. rare.
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society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > peace treaty > [noun] > offer of peace
pacific1610
1610 Bible (Douay) II. Ezek. xlv. 15 One ramme of a flocke of two hundred..for holocaust, and for pacifiques [L. in pacifica; 1611 for peace offerings].
1687 Let. from Country 10 If..she persists obstinately to refuse this national Paciffick; the Dissenters, I hope, will consider their honest Interest.
Compounds
pacific blockade n. Law a blockade of the ports of one country by another country which is not officially at war with it.
ΚΠ
a1751 Visct. Bolingbroke Wks. (1841) 289 The depredations and hostilities which..were carried on with redoubled vigor, during the pacific blockade of the galleons.
1869 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) July 587 We hope to make it appear that there is no sufficient authority for the notion of a pacific blockade, that all blockade [sic] known to the law of nations is a belligerent act.
1990 Orlando (Florida) Sentinel Tribune (Nexis) 8 Aug. a13 Unless we are willing to declare war against Iraq, any blockade must be what is known in international law as a ‘pacific blockade’.
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society > law > legal document > authenticating document > [noun] > document certifying bearer > recommending bearer to alms
brief1377
pacific letters1709
society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > [noun] > letters of commendation
pacificatory epistles1582
pacific letters1709
letters pacifical1883
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > ecclesiastical letter > commendation
pacificatory epistles1582
pacific letters1709
letters pacifical1883
1709 J. Johnson Clergy-man's Vade Mecum: Pt. II 85 Let no foreigner be received without pacifick letters. [Note] Pacifick Letters were those given to any whether bishop, clergyman, or layman on any occasion he had to travel to another city.
1748 Duke of Newcastle Let. in T. J. McCann Corr. Dukes of Richmond & Newcastle (1884) 268 I write this night a Pacific Letter to Sandwich, which I am in hopes will please. It is upon my principle of not continuing the War.
Derivatives
paˈcificness n. rare
ΚΠ
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Pacificness.
2002 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 5 Sept. d1 The privacy and pacificness that had always marked the Games had been violated.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
Pacificadj.2n.2
/pəˈsɪfɪk/, U.S. /pəˈsɪfɪk/ A. adj.2
1. Designating the largest of the world's oceans, situated between North and South America to the east and Asia and Australasia to the west; now chiefly in Pacific Ocean.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > Pacific Ocean
South Sea1553
Pacific Ocean1568
Pacific1774
1555 R. Eden Disc. Vyage rounde Worlde in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 220v The sayde sea cauled Pacificum [It. mar Pacifico] (that is) peaceable.]
1568 T. Hacket tr. A. Thevet New Found Worlde lxii. 99 The sea pacifick or peaceable or the sea of Magellan.
a1631 J. Donne Poems (1635) 387 Is the Pacifique Sea my home? Or are The Easterne riches?
1647 J. Hall Poems 65 It may..In th' Pacifique Sea supply The winde that Nature doth deny.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 332 The great pacifick gulph, which may be said one of the calmest Seas of the world.
1737 S.-Carolina Gaz. 29 Oct. 2/1 Extending in Longitude from the North or Atlantick Ocean, unto the Pacifick or South-Sea.
1784 J. Cook Voy. Pacific Ocean II. iii. xii. 221 The islands in the Pacific Ocean, which our late voyages have added to the geography of the globe.
1844 E. S. Wortley Ernest Mountjoy ii. i. 58 I an't at all sure, Peter, my Second Self is not drowned in the great Pacific Ocean!
1868 B. J. Lossing Pictorial Field-bk. War of 1812 xxxii. 724 The terrible voyage from the stormy Atlantic around the dark cape into the Pacific Sea.
1927 Morning Post 19 Aug. 7 The Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii is being combed to-day by aircraft and shipping for signs of the two 'planes.
1998 UFO Mag. Jan. 47/4 The Pacific Ocean's temperature has now risen a further five degrees.
2. Of, relating to, or adjoining the Pacific Ocean, as Pacific coast, Pacific seaboard, etc. Also: of or relating to that part of North America which adjoins this ocean.For use in fixed compounds see Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [adjective] > Pacific Ocean
Pacific1772
Oceanian1822
1772 H. H. Brackenbridge Poem on Rising Glory Amer. 20 The day when Britain's sons shall spread Dominion..Far from th'Atlantic to Pacific shores.
1815 W. Herbert Helga v. 107 Where some lone and barren strand Hears the Pacific waters roll.
1836 G. Back Narr. Arctic Land Exped. 481 The country nearer the Pacific coast.
1889 Wealth & Resources of Oregon & Washington (Union Pacific Railway Co.) 3 The resources and industries of the Pacific Northwest are so varied..as to not only suggest but enforce its consideration in sections.
1949 Los Angeles Times 6 Nov. 1/8 The overall increase for Pacific States is 5,251,000 or 53·9%.
1963 Pix 2 Mar. 38 Peters said that he first encountered the Limbo on his Pacific cruise.
1991 J. Mander In Absence of Sacred iv. xix. 346 It was in Micronesia in 1946..that the U.S. began its massive Pacific nuclear testing program.
3. Originally U.S. Designating a type of steam locomotive, designed to pull express passenger and freight trains, and having wheels in a 4-6-2 arrangement.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [adjective] > type of locomotive
cabless1887
four-coupled1889
Pacific1903
1903 Amer. Engineer & Railroad Jrnl. Oct. 351 (caption) Pacific-4-6-2 Type Passenger Locomotive—Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
1938 L. M. Beebe High Iron iii. 97 The most important U.S.R.A. designs, for present purposes, fall into four wheel arrangements: the 4-6-2 or Pacific, the 4-8-2 or Mountain..and the 2-10-2 or Santa Fe types.
2002 Lincolnshire Echo (Nexis) 22 Oct. 28 In the mid to late 1950s..Pacific locomotives could be seen in Lincoln during diversions of the East Coast Main Line.
B. n.2
1. With the. The Pacific Ocean.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > specific seas > [noun] > Pacific Ocean
South Sea1553
Pacific Ocean1568
Pacific1774
1774 H. Kelly Romance of Hour ii. 25 The sky's cleared up, and your temper as smooth as the Pacific in a trade wind!
1817 J. Keats Poems 89 Like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific.
1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times xi. 355 The islands of the Pacific contain two very distinct races of men.
1946 ‘M. Innes’ From London Far iii. vi. 214 A message from Johannesburg sends a man shooting off to the shores of the Pacific.
1992 New Republic 27 Apr. 12/1 Our presence in the Pacific is reassuring to Japan and the other Asians.
2. A locomotive of the Pacific class or type.
ΚΠ
1910 Westm. Gaz. 25 Jan. 2/1 French railways..built their first ‘Pacific’ not long before ours, and this season most of the ‘Riviera’ expresses will be horsed by these vast machines.
1972 B. C. Blanton 400,000 Miles by Rail iii. 37/1 The Royal Blue was advertised as a solid-vestibuled train... It was headed by a Pacific and carried a Pullman parlor-observation car with open platform.
1995 N. Whittaker Platform Souls (1996) x. 91 West Country pacifics and Great Western Kings shared the same fate as the humblest freight engines.
Compounds
Pacific coaster n. North American a native or inhabitant of the Pacific coast.
ΚΠ
1875 N.Y. Times 16 Oct. 6/3 The fur-seal, it is true, yet—to use a phrase local to the Pacific coasters—‘pans out well’.
1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 943/1 [The completion of the Union Central route has not] given the ‘boost’ to California that the ‘Pacific coasters’ so fondly dreamed of.
2000 SF Weekly (Nexis) 20 Dec. (Food section) Chicago..offers..food unlike anything available to the deprived Pacific-coaster.
Pacific diver n. chiefly British a diver of the Pacific Ocean, Gavia pacifica, which breeds in the Arctic and winters on the north Canadian coast, resembling the great northern diver (common loon) but smaller, with a black neck and pale grey head and nape.
ΚΠ
1858 S. F. Baird Birds (U.S. War Dept.: Rep. Explor. Route Pacific IX) 889 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (33rd Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 91) Colymbus pacificus Lawrence... The Pacific Diver... Head above and hind part of neck dark bluish grey; back, wing coverts, and scapulars blackish brown, margined with greyish white, most conspicuous on the latter; primaries black.
1892 W. Pike Barren Ground Northern Canada xi. 162 The Pacific or Adam's diver.
1999 Biogeography 1 107 Three adults (one male and two females) of the anisakid nematode Contracaecum variegatum (Rudolphi, 1809) were found in the gizzard of the Pacific diver (Gavia pacifica) sampled on the coast of the Japan Sea.
Pacific dogwood n. a dogwood tree, Cornus nuttallii (family Cornaceae), native to the west coast of North America and cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental for its showy white floral bracts and red berries.
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1908 Science 31 July 145 The discovery of the adaptability of the Pacific dogwood..has not aided the eastern manufacturers.
1997 Beautiful Brit. Columbia 12/2 (caption) The Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttali), the provincial flower of British Columbia, is a breathtaking sight when it is in full bloom in June.
Pacific iron n. Nautical an iron fitting around a yardarm.
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1890 Cent. Dict. Pacific iron, an iron band round a lower yard-arm into which the boom-iron screws.
1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 512/1 Pacific iron, iron fitting at the end of a yard, to which the Flemish horse is spliced. The stunsail boom iron is shipped over the Pacific iron.
Pacific Islander n. a native or inhabitant of any of the islands in the (South) Pacific, esp. an indigenous person of Polynesia, a South Sea Islander.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Pacific islands > [noun]
Otaheitan1769
South Sea Islander1777
Pacific Islander1785
Polynesian1807
Fijian1809
Tahitian1825
Pitcairner1831
Rarotongan1837
Micronesian1847
Tongan1853
Samoan1856
Niuean1863
Solomon Islander1864
Lifuan1873
Cook Islander1888
Gilbertese1902
Nauruan1921
Trobriander1922
Pascuan1937
Palauan1946
Marshallese1948
Trobriand Islander1951
Belauan1974
Tuvaluan1975
1785 J. Cook Voy. Pacific Ocean (ed. 2) I. 400 (note) Another of the very few specimens of the dialect of the North Pacific Islanders, preserved by father Cantova, furnishes an additional proof.
1851 Morning Chron. 14 Nov. 4/3 The forces which have driven the Red Indian from his hunting grounds are mercy itself to the instruments which have been employed in the destruction and debasement of the Pacific-islander.
1919 Times 31 Mar. 6/2 Some of them [sc. the New Zealand forwards], especially the Pacific Islander Wilson..handle the ball like backs.
1993 This Mag. Aug. 34/1 Miss Saigon is the latest in a long list of near-identical productions about Asian and Pacific Islander people written by non-Asians.
Pacific loon n. chiefly North American the Pacific diver, Gavia pacifica.
ΚΠ
1926 V. E. Shelford et al. Naturalist's Guide to Americas iii.b 60 Breeding birds whose habitat is limited to the presence of water..include the following: yellow-billed loon, Pacific loon [etc.]
1935 Amer. Midland Naturalist 16 751 The following is a representative list of birds common at Elkhorn Slough in the fall... Common Loon... Pacific Loon [etc.].
1992 Internat. Wildlife May–June 32/1 The Arctic loon, Pacific loon, red-throated loon and yellow-billed loon are largely birds of the Far North, of tundra ponds and icy seacoasts.
Pacific oyster n. a large oyster with a deeply fluted shell, Crassostrea gigas, native to north-eastern Asia and now found widely elsewhere, chiefly as a cultivated species of tropical and temperate estuarine waters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > shell-fish or mollusc > oyster
oystereOE
Colchesterc1625
green oyster1667
mangrove oyster1683
pandore1701
Milton1749
sickle-oyster1758
bluepoint1789
native1815
powldoody1819
Red Bank oyster1830
raccoon oyster1834
sauce oyster1851
Portuguese oyster1881
relay1889
Portugal oyster1890
Malpeque1901
Marennes1905
Belon1908
Olympia oyster1908
Pacific oyster1912
Whitstable1940
Portugaise1942
Olympia1961
1912 Amer. Naturalist 46 36 The most interesting feature in connection with the Pacific oyster of Canada is its divergence in some respects from the mode of breeding of our Atlantic species.
1950 H. M. Corning New Washington: Guide to Evergreen State (ed. 3) 559 The meandering shore lines of Willapa Bay, home of the Pacific Oyster industry, a region of quiet lagoons and great oyster flats.
1995 Independent on Sunday 26 Nov. (Review Suppl.) 77/3 Oyster farmers established new beds using the disease-resistant rock or Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), which has frillier shell, less substantial, rather fatty flesh and a non-unpleasant metallic flavour.
Pacific ridley n. a small Indo-Pacific sea turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea, with a heart-shaped olive-brown carapace; also called olive ridley.
ΚΠ
1960 Systematic Zool. 9 143/1 The Pacific ridley, Lepidochelys olivacea..has not been recorded down the west side of the peninsula, but..during the recent warm period one appeared in northern California.
2001 Seattle Times 18 Oct. b3 A rare Pacific Ridley sea turtle is recuperating at the Seattle Aquarium after being found by a couple of beach patrollers near Ocean Shores last week.
Pacific Rim n. the countries and regions which border the Pacific Ocean, esp. (collectively) the small nations of east Asia, considered as a group with shared political, economic, and environmental interests.
ΚΠ
1899 W. E. Griffis Amer. in East xxix. 205 The United States..has a total coast-line of 21,354 miles, of which 3,251 miles front the Pacific rim.
1926 Washington Hist. Q. 17 77 The Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association held its twenty-first annual meeting in Seattle on November 27–28, 1925. The general theme was the Pacific Rim.
1975 Business Week (Nexis) 14 Apr. 50 The situation comes just when Canada is trying to establish a major position in ‘Pacific Rim’ trade with Japan, Korea, and India.
1995 Independent 19 Oct. (Suppl.) 14/1 Competition..is beginning to hit Western economies from low-wage, fast-learning countries in eastern Europe and the Pacific rim.
Pacific sardine n. a sardine, Sardinops sagax caeruleus (family Clupeidae), of the eastern Pacific, which forms large schools along the coast of North America.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > sardine
sardinec1430
shark1916
Pacific sardine1947
1947 Fish Bull. No. 65. (title) Analysis of populations of the Pacific sardine on the basis of vertebral counts.
1967 Ecology 48 733 The Pacific Sardine population, at least the northern race, collapsed after two consecutive highly unsuccessful spawnings (1949 and 1950).
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes xxv. 463/1 Neither the Pacific sardine nor the Peruvian anchovy has been driven close to extinction.
ΚΠ
1868 N.Y. Times 12 Sept. 7 (advt.) They will produce an original Opera Bouffe, entitled Barber Brown, or The Pacific Sloper.
1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 648/1 ‘Well,’ said the Pacific sloper, ‘if it's a private funeral, what do they call it a reception for?’
Pacific Standard Time n. (also Pacific standard time) chiefly North American the standard time in a zone including British Columbia and the west coast region of the U.S., based on the mean solar time at longitude 120° W, eight hours behind Greenwich Mean Time; abbreviated PST.
ΚΠ
1883 W. F. Allen Outl. Map Standard Railway Time in J. S. Allen Standard Time in Amer. (1951) 10 Pacific Standard Time 120th Meridian.
1885 Science 13 Feb. 142/1 ‘The Pacific coaster's nautical almanac’..gives..in addition to astronomiconautical data, the times of high water at San Francisco..in Pacific standard time.
1906 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 38 498 The time of the beginning of the earthquake as recorded in the Observatory at Berkeley was 5h. 12m. 6 s. A. M., Pacific Standard time.
1978 J. M. Pasachoff & M. L. Kutner University Astron. v. 125 One..must subtract..8 hours to get Pacific Standard Time.
2003 Weekly Standard (Nexis) 15 Jan. The Washington-New York bookers are generally unfamiliar with the rising stars of political debate, and they are especially so when those stars are working in Pacific Standard Time.
Pacific time n. (also Pacific Time) = Pacific Standard Time n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > reckoning of time > [noun] > systems of reckoning time of day
time1646
apparent time1694
local timea1703
Greenwich Mean Time1782
sun time1837
GMT1840
railway time1847
railroad time1849
Greenwich time1861
Eastern time1878
Pacific time1880
Universal Time1882
Eastern Standard Time1883
Mountain time1883
British Standard Time1908
daylight saving1908
zone time1908
LMT1909
British Summer Time1916
summertime1916
U.T.1929
B.S.T.1930
EST1935
British Double Summer Time1941
war time1942
B.D.S.T.1943
ephemeris time1950
1880 Science 4 Dec. 279/2 The merchant, remembering that Pacific time is three hours slow of Atlantic time, knows that it is half-past two in San Francisco when it is half-past five in New York.
1883 N.Y. Herald 18 Nov. 12/3 In the United States the standards will be known as the ‘Eastern’, ‘Central’, ‘Mountain’ and ‘Pacific’ times.
1958 ‘J. Castle’ & A. Hailey Flight into Danger ii. 36 ‘How soon do you expect to land?’ ‘About five a.m., Pacific Time.’
2000 Red Herring Mar. 52/3 She and her staff pick tracks..to play live between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. Pacific time.
Pacific yew n. a shrubby yew, Taxus brevifolia (family Taxaceae), of eastern North America.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > conifers > yew trees > [noun]
yeweOE
yew treea1398
tax1541
vew1570
shin wood1778
ground-hemlock1807
taxad1846
Pacific yew1903
1903 S. B. Green Princ. Amer. Forestry 279 Pacific yew. California to British Columbia to Montana [wood] heavy, hard, strong, brittle, close-grained, very durable in contact with the soil.
1952 Amer. Midland Naturalist 48 221 Grand fir..and Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) was present in some habitats.
2001 Univ. Oxf. Bot. Garden News Spring 2/1 Paclitaxel.., an anti-tumour agent isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1n.1c1500
adj.2n.21568- portendment
- portends
- portent
- pneumaticities
- pneumaticity
- pneumatico
- pneumatico-
- pneumatico-hedonistics
- pneumatico-hydraulic
- pneumaticohedonistics
- pneumaticohydraulic
- pneumatics
- pneumaticshod
- pneumatictyred
- pneumatique
- pneumatism
- pneumatist
- pneumatization
- pneumatize
- pneumatized
- pneumatizing
- pneumato
- pneumato-
- pneumato-chemical
- pneumato-chemical trough