Adjacent Words

Pith definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PITH, n.
1. The soft spungy substance in the center of plants and trees.
2. In animals, the spinal marrow.
3. Strength or force.
4. Energy; cogency; concentrated force; closeness and vigor of thought and style.
5. Condensed substance or matter; quintessence. The summary contains the pith of the original.
6. Weight; moment; importance.
Enterprises of great pith and moment.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: soft spongelike central cylinder of the stems of most flowering plants
2: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" [syn: kernel, substance, core, center, centre, essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty- gritty] v
1: remove the pith from (a plant)

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English pitha; akin to Middle Dutch & Middle Low German pit pith, pit Date: before 12th century 1. a. a usually continuous central strand of spongy tissue in the stems of most vascular plants that probably functions chiefly in storage b. any of various loose spongy plant tissues that resemble true pith c. the soft or spongy interior of a part of the body 2. a. the essential part ; core b. substantial quality (as of meaning) 3. importance II. transitive verb Date: 1805 1. a. to kill (as cattle) by piercing or severing the spinal cord b. to destroy the spinal cord or central nervous system of (as a frog) usually by passing a wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal 2. to remove the pith from (a plant stem)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 spongy white tissue lining the rind of an orange, lemon, etc. 2 the essential part; the quintessence (came to the pith of his argument). 3 Bot. the spongy cellular tissue in the stems and branches of dicotyledonous plants. 4 a physical strength; vigour. b force; energy. 5 archaic spinal marrow. --v.tr. 1 remove the pith or marrow from. 2 slaughter or immobilize (an animal) by severing the spinal cord. Phrases and idioms: pith helmet a lightweight sun-helmet made from the dried pith of the sola etc. Derivatives: pithless adj. Etymology: OE pitha f. WG

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pith Pith, n. [AS. pi?a; akin to D. pit pith, kernel, LG. peddik. Cf. Pit a kernel.] 1. (Bot.) The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue. 2. (a) (Zo["o]l.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.) The spinal cord; the marrow. 3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith. Enterprises of great pith and moment. --Shak. Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pith Pith, v. t. (Physiol.) To destroy the central nervous system of (an animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

The pith of an orange, lemon, or similar fruit is the white substance between the skin and the inside of the fruit. N-UNCOUNT: usu the N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. (Anat.) Marrow, spinal cord. 2. Essence, quintessence, substance, gist, soul, chief part, essential part, vital part, heart, marrow. 3. Weight, moment, importance. 4. Force, strength, energy, vigor. 5. Energy, cogency, force, vigor, closeness of thought.

Moby Thesaurus

affective meaning, axiom, axis, backbone, bearing, bench mark, bottom, burden, butter, cardinal point, cataplasm, center, center of action, center of gravity, centroid, centrum, chief thing, chutzpah, climax, coloring, connotation, consequence, core, cornerstone, courage, crisis, critical point, crush, crux, dead center, denotation, dental pulp, depth, distillate, distillation, drift, effect, elixir, epicenter, essence, essential, essential matter, essentiality, extension, fabric, flower, focal point, focus, force, fulcrum, fundamental, gameness, gist, grammatical meaning, gravamen, gravity, great point, grit, guts, gutsiness, guttiness, heart, heart of oak, high point, hub, hypostasis, idea, impact, implication, import, importance, important thing, inner essence, intension, intestinal fortitude, issue, kernel, keystone, landmark, lexical meaning, literal meaning, magnitude, main point, main thing, marrow, mash, material, material point, matter, meaning, meaningfulness, meat, medium, medulla, metacenter, mettle, mettlesomeness, middle, milestone, moment, momentousness, moxie, mush, nave, navel, nerve, nub, nucleus, nuts and bolts, omphalos, overtone, paper pulp, paste, pertinence, pivot, plaster, pluck, pluckiness, point, porridge, postulate, poultice, practical consequence, principle, pudding, pulp, pulp lead, pulpwood, purport, quick, quid, quiddity, quintessence, quintessential, rag pulp, range of meaning, real issue, real meaning, recap, recapitulation, reference, referent, relation, relevance, resume, rock bottom, root, run-through, rundown, salient point, sap, sauce, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, short, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, sine qua non, smash, soul, span of meaning, spirit, sponge, spunk, spunkiness, squash, stamina, storm center, stout heart, structural meaning, stuff, substance, substantive point, sulfate pulp, sulfite pulp, sum, sum and substance, summary, summation, symbolic meaning, tenor, the bottom line, the nitty-gritty, the point, thrust, totality of associations, toughness, transferred meaning, true grit, turning point, umbilicus, unadorned meaning, undertone, upshot, value, virtuality, weight, weightiness, white lead, wood pulp