pith

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts

   The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts; specifically, the parenchyma in the centre of the roots and stems of many plants and trees.

2. 2

   The albedo (“whitish inner portion of the rind”) of a citrus fruit.

3. 3

   Senses relating to humans and animals.

4. ›+ 11 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      The soft inner portion of a loaf of bread.

      • Buck Mulligan slit a steaming scone in two and plastered butter over its smoking pith. He bit off a soft piece hungrily.
   2. 5

      The central or innermost part of something

      The central or innermost part of something; the core, the heart.

      • In these days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs.
   3. 6

      The essential or vital part of something

      The essential or vital part of something; the essence.

      • The pith of my idea is that people should choose their own work hours.
      • Of the thyngꝭ [thyngs] which we have ſpoken⸝ this is the pyth: […]
      • Maſter, you look'd ſo longly on the maide, / Perhaps you mark'd not vvhat's the pith of all. […] Mark'd you not hovv hir ſiſter / Began to ſcold, and raiſe vp ſuch a ſtorme, / That mortal eares might hardly indure the din.
   4. 7

      Physical power or strength

      Physical power or strength; force, might.

      • But thy auld tail thou vvad hae vvhiſkit, / An' ſpread abreed thy vveel-fill'd briſket, / VVi' pith an' povv'r, […]
   5. 8

      A quality of courage and endurance

      A quality of courage and endurance; backbone, mettle, spine.

   6. 9

      The energy, force, or power of speech or writing

      The energy, force, or power of speech or writing; specifically, such force or power due to conciseness; punch, punchiness.

   7. 10

      Chiefly in of (great) pith and moment

      Chiefly in of (great) pith and moment: gravity, importance, substance, weight.

      • For though my ryme be ragged, / Tattered and iagged, / Rudely rayne beaten, / Rusty and moughte eaten, / If ye take well therwith, / It hath in it some pyth.
   8. 11

      To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by…

      To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.

   9. 12

      To extract the pith from (something or (figurative) someone).

      • And yet, instead of exclaiming "Send this inconceivable Satanist to the stake," the respectable newspapers pith me by announcing "another book by this brilliant and thoughtful writer."
   10. 13

       The ordinal form of the number pi (π

       The ordinal form of the number pi (π; approximately 3.14159…).

       • The pith root of pi is approximately 1.439…
       • (e^pi*i*i/2), or e^(-pi/2), which is the reciprocal of the square root of e to the pith power.
       • That's nothing. I have an IMEI changer that will do all of the above and beat you off at the same time, while whistling the adaggio from Spartacus in Armenian and calculating pi to the pith power in swahili.
   11. 14

       One divided by pi, that is, 1/π (approximately 0.31831…).

       • thought it was the two-sixths power of pi, and teh^([sic]) secondpower of six piths
       • of course, although a pith is less than a third, hence pi is more than three, say, thirty-one tenths, but 22/7 is still less than pi, and that's a rather small gore

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