Sekirov Dictionary

pith

/pɪθ/

noun 13
verb 2
/paɪθ/ adjective 1
/paɪθ/ noun 1
forms 3

noun13

The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts; specifically, the parenchyma in the centre of the roots and stems of many plants and trees.
The albedo (“whitish inner portion of the rind”) of a citrus fruit.
The soft tissue inside a human or animal body or one of their organs; specifically, the spongy interior substance of a horn or the shaft of a feather.
Chiefly of animals: the soft tissue inside a spinal cord; the spinal marrow; also, the spinal cord itself.
•
(Ireland) 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. — 1922
•
(figurative) 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. — 1886
•
(figurative) The essential or vital part of something; the essence.
- The pith of my idea is that people should choose their own work hours.
•
(figurative) 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, […] — 1786
(figurative) The energy, force, or power of speech or writing; specifically, such force or power due to conciseness; punch, punchiness.
•
(figurative) 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. — 1521
(figurative) A quality of courage and endurance; backbone, mettle, spine.
(no longer used, rare) The soft tissue of the brain.
(no longer used) Synonym of diploe (“the thin layer of soft, spongy, or cancellate tissue between the bone plates which constitute the skull”).

verb2

•
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." — 1901
To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the spinal cord.

pith

/paɪθ/

adjective1

•
The ordinal form of the number pi (π; approximately 3.14159…).
- The pith root of pi is approximately 1.439…

noun1

•
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 — 2016

forms

pithed · pithing · piths

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