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4274 entries found
pug-nose (n.)
1778, from pug (n.) based on fancied similarity to the nose of either the monkey or the dog. Related: Pug-nosed.
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pugilism (n.)
1789, from Latin pugil "boxer, fist-fighter," related to pugnus "fist" (from suffixed form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick") + -ism. Pugilation "fighting with fists," now obsolete, is recorded from 1650s.
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pugilist (n.)
1789, from Latin pugil "boxer, fist-fighter," related to pugnus "a fist" (from suffixed form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick") + -ist. Related: Pugilistic (1789); pugilistically. Pugil occasionally turns up in English as "boxer, fist-fighter" (from 1640s), but it has not caught on. Pugil stick (1962) was introduced by U.S. military as a substitute for rifles in bayonet drills.
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pugnacious (adj.)
1640s, a back-formation from pugnacity or else from Latin pugnacis, genitive of pugnax "combative, fond of fighting," from pugnare "to fight," especially with the fists, "contend against," from pugnus "a fist," from PIE *pung-, nasalized form of root *peuk- "to prick."
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pugnacity (n.)
c. 1600, from Latin pugnacitas "fondness for fighting," from pugnax (genitive pugnacis) "combative," from pugnare "to fight," especially with the fists, "contend against," from pugnus "a fist," from PIE *pung-, nasalized form of root *peuk- "to prick."
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puisne (adj.)
"junior," c. 1300 in Anglo-Latin, from Old French puisné "born later, younger, youngest" (see puny).
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puissance (n.)
early 15c., "power, strength, authority," from Old French puissance, poissance "power, might" (12c.), from puissant (see puissant).
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puissant (adj.)
mid-15c., from Middle French puissant "strong, mighty, powerful," earlier poissant (12c.), from stem of Old French poeir "to be able" (see power (n.)). Related: Puissantly.
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puka 
type of necklace made from small shell fragments (or plastic imitations), by 1974, from Hawaiian puka, said to mean literally "hole," in references to small shell fragments with naturally occurring holes through them, suitable for stringing, found on beaches.
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puke (v.)
1600, probably of imitative origin (compare German spucken "to spit," Latin spuere); first recorded in the "Seven Ages of Man" speech in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Related: Puked; puking.
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