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Peter

noun
/ˈpiːtə/UK/ˈpiːtə//ˈpitɚ/US

Etymology

Unknown; the following etymologies have been suggested: * From peter (“to stop (doing or saying something)”) (slang, obsolete, rare). * Since the word was first used in mining contexts, either: ** from French péter (“to explode; to break wind, fart”) (slang), from pet (“emission of digestive gases from the anus, flatus, fart”) (slang), from Latin pēditum (“flatus, fart”), from pēdō (“to break wind, fart”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind softly”), probably imitative; or ** from (salt)peter, a variant of saltpetre (“potassium nitrate”) (the key ingredient in gunpowder), from Middle English salpeter, salpetre [and other forms] with the first element influenced by salt, from Old French salpetre (modern French salpêtre), from Medieval Latin salpetra, from Latin sāl petrae (literally “salt of stone”) (as potassium nitrate occurs encrusted on some stones), from sāl (“salt”) + petrae (the nominative or vocative plural of petra (“rock; stone”), from Ancient Greek πέτρᾱ (pétrā, “rock formation; stone”)).

  1. derived from πέτρᾱ — “rock formation; stone”
  2. derived from sāl petrae
  3. derived from salpetra
  4. derived from salpetre
  5. inherited from salpeter
  6. derived from *pesd-✻ — “to break wind softly”
  7. derived from pēditum — “flatus, fart”
  8. derived from péter — “to explode; to break wind, fart”

Definitions

  1. radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter P.

  2. A male given name from Ancient Greek.

    • What splendid names for boys there are! / There's Carol like a rolling car, / And Martin like a flying bird, / And Adam like the Lord's First Word, / And Raymond like the Harvest Moon, / And Peter like a piper's tune,

  3. The leading Apostle in the New Testament

    The leading Apostle in the New Testament: Saint Peter.

  4. ›+ 8 more definitions

    1. The epistles of Peter in the New Testament of the Bible, 1 Peter and 2 Peter attributed…

      The epistles of Peter in the New Testament of the Bible, 1 Peter and 2 Peter attributed to St. Peter.

    2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

    3. A census-designated place in Cache County, Utah, United States, named after Peter Maughan.

    4. The penis.

      • You smile, act polite, shake their hands, then cut off their peters and put them in your pocket.” “Yes, Mr. President,” answered O'Brien.
      • ... and you were there, and they acted like you weren't even born yet?' "I'd say, 'Yes, their memories are as long as their peters.'"
      • “It's to put on their peters when they don't want to make babies,” she said.

    5. A safe.

      • It used to be simple to 'crack a peter'. Safe-breaking (blowing or cracking a 'peter') in the past three or four years shows that the expert cracksman knows his job.
      • The forty quid! Gone! ’Ow could she ’ave gotten in there? The peter ain’t broke, no sign of it bein’ bettied, and I the only one w’ the key.

    6. A prison cell.

    7. Chiefly followed by out

      Chiefly followed by out: originally (mining), of a vein of ore: to be depleted of ore; now (generally), to diminish to nothing; to dwindle, to trail off.

      • I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft.
      • Mersey Street is particularly attractive. Running up from the bay, it passes between terraced cottages before petering into a footpath that leads over the headland to a golf course and the dune-backed sands of Black Rock.
      • Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.

    8. Synonym of blue peter

      Synonym of blue peter; to call for trump by throwing away a high card while holding a lower one.

The neighborhood

Derived

Ayot St Peter, Blue Peter, Chalfont St Peter, Charlton St Peter, Peter boat, Peterborough, Peterchurch, Peter Funk, Peter Island, Peterloo, Peter Pan, Peter Parker principle, Peter pence, Peter's pence, Peter principle, Petersburg, Peter's fish, Peters Marland, Peter's penny, Peter the Great, Petrine, rob Peter to pay Paul, Saint Peter, Saint Peter Port, St. Peter, St Peters, St Peter's, Thorpe St Peter, Willie Peter, peterman

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Peter. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA