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.Seven or eight soldiers could be putunder cover beneath them. lie furtheradds, that these machines were coveredwith bull hides.
The moderns have imitated theseplutei by adopting mantelets. The Che-valier Folard mentions having seen oneat the siege of Philippeville , of a triangu-lar figure, made of cork, interlaced be-tween two boards, and supported bythree wheels that turned upon a pivot.
PNEUMATICS , (pneumatique, Fr.)the doctrine of the air, or the lawswhereby it is condensed, rarefied, gravi-tated, &c.
Pneumatic Engine denotes the airpump.
PODESTAT, Fr. a magistrate in afree town or city; particularly in Italy .
POELE, or POILE, Fr. a stove.
P(ENiE Mililares, Lat. military pu-nishments.
POETRY, (poesie, Fr.) See Mar-tial Songs.
POGE, Fr. starboard ; the right sideof a ship.
Poids deMarc, Fr. avoirdupois weight.
Poids Romain , Fr. troy weight.
Poids a peser Veau, Fr. waterpoise.
Etre de Poids, Fr. to weigh.
Avec- Poids et mesure, Fr. with careand circumspection.
POIGNARD, Fr. dagger, poniard.
Coup de Poignard, Fr. a stab.
POIGNEE, Fr. handful. Foignted'hommes, a handful of men; a smallnumber.
Poignee, Fr. handle of a sword.
La Poignee, Fr. the handle.
POIL, Fr. hair about the body. TheFrench make a distinction between thehair which covers animals and the bodiesof human creatures, and that whichgrows upon the head of the human spe-cies. They say, cheveux de la tite r andpoll du corps. They also apply the wordcrins to the hair of a horse, particularlyto the mane and tail.
Monter m cheval a Foil, Fr. to ridea horse without a saddle.
TJn braved trois Poils , Fr. a figura-tive expression to describe a bully, orgasconading fellow.
POIN^ON, Fr. a puncheon; bodkin.It is likewise an instrument which isused in the making of artificial fire-works, beii.g called poinqon d arret,from a piece of iron running cross-wavs
near the point, to prevent it from en-tering too far.
Poin^on, ou Aiguille, Fr. an uprightpiece of wood, w hereat all the smallerrafters meet in a point. Foin ^on alsosignifies the tree or spindle of a machine,upon which it turns in a vertical direc-tion, as is the case in a crane.
PoiNfON d'une tour, Fr. the ball, ormiddle of the top, of a round tower;that part whereon a weathercock isusually planted.
POING, Fr. the fist.
Coup de Poing, Fr. a blow given withthe fist.
POINSON, from the French poinqon,a little sharp pointed iron, fixed in awooden handle, which the horsemanholds in the right hand, to prick a leap-ing horse in the croupe, to make himyerk out behind.
POINT, a steel instrument, of varioususes in several arts.. Engravers, etchers,wood-cutters, stone-cutters, &c. usepoints to trace their designs on copper,wood, or stone.
Point. This term is frequently usedin a military sense, as point of intersec-tion, intermediate point, 4'C.—The seve-ral applications of which may seen inthe General Rules and Regulations.’
Point, particular place to which anything is directed. Hence, to concentrateall your forces, and to bring them tobear upon one point.
Point, in geometry, according toEuclid, is a quantity which has no parts,being indivisible; and according toothers, that which terminates itself onevery side, and which has no boundariesdistinct from itself. This is a mathe-matical point, and is only conceived bythe imagination ; yet herein all magni-tude begins and ends, its flux generatinga line, that of a line a surface, &c. Aline can only cut another in a point.
Point, or points of distance, in per-spective, is a point, or points, (for thereare sometimes two of them,) placed atequal distances from the point of sight.
Accidental Points, or ContingentPoints, in perspective, are certain pointswherein such objects as may he thrownnegligently, and without order, underthe plan, do tend to terminate.—For thisreason they are not drawn to the pointof sight, nor the points of distance, butmeet accidentally, or at random, in thehorizon.
Point of the Front , in perspective,402