Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pea.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pea. See pea.
  • noun Peas collectively. For the distinction between peas and pease, see pea.
  • noun A small size of coal: same as pea-coal.
  • Same as peace.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A pea.
  • noun A plural form of Pea. See the Note under Pea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic form of pea, then later of peas
  • verb obsolete To make peace between (conflicting people, states etc.); to reconcile.
  • verb obsolete To bring (a war, conflict) to an end.
  • verb obsolete To placate, appease (someone).

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English; see pea.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English pise, from Late Latin pisa, variant of Latin pisum ("pea"), from Ancient Greek πίσον (pison), variant of πίσος (pisos).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman paiser, pesser et al., Old French paisier, aphetic form of apaisier ("to appease"). Probably also partly from aphetic use of appease.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Wordies, can we try to revive this elegant old spelling?

    June 21, 2008

  • Pretty pease?

    June 21, 2008

  • Why does it need reviving? Is it dying?

    June 21, 2008

  • It's a Christmasy way to ask politely.

    (No L.)

    June 21, 2008

  • I'd like to help the cause, bilby. Really I would. But I'm not sure how. Anyway, I have always liked peas, being a back-formation and all.

    June 21, 2008

  • I would just get a kick out of seeing the spelling pease in general use rather than peas.

    All I am saying is give pease a chance.

    June 21, 2008

  • Is whirled pease any different than whirled peas?

    (And of what is pea a back-formation?)

    June 21, 2008

  • There is a T-shirt with the same phrase somewhere in the web.

    June 21, 2008

  • Pease porridge hot,

    Pease porridge cold,

    Pease porridge in the pot

    Nine days old.

    Some like it hot,

    Some like it cold,

    Some like it in the pot

    Nine days old.

    June 21, 2008

  • Asat, pea is a back-formation of pease, which used to be standard name of the legume Pisum sativum (a relation of yours, perhaps?). The seeds of the pease were served as a dish (or a porridge, as dontcry reminds us), which was naturally called "pease", but then people started thinking, "Well, if these tasty green seeds are called 'pease', then one of these seeds must be a 'pea'!" Hence the modern word.

    June 22, 2008

  • The man in the moon

    Came tumbling down

    And asked the way to Norwich.

    They told him south,

    He burnt his mouth,

    Eating cold pease porridge


    Pease pudding is the ideal accompaniment to boiled bacon, and can be bought in cans if you don't know (or can't be arsed) to make it.

    June 22, 2008

  • I learned it this way:

    "The man in the moon

    Came down too soon,

    Inquiring the way to Norwich.

    The man from the south

    He burnt his mouth

    From eating cold plum porridge."

    June 22, 2008

  • Thanks rolig! My new favorite backformation. And clearly porridge hasn't been getting its due of late, at least this side of the Atlantic. Why ever did it fall out of favor?

    June 23, 2008

  • If only it ended in -udgeon or had something to do with smelly toes it would have been listed 5 times already *sigh*

    June 23, 2008

  • I feel for you, bilby. Really I do. What's a word gotta do to get some real attention around here?

    June 23, 2008

  • Porridge is a pretty word for some less than satisfactory eats. Maybe if porridge denoted a fried bread product, we'd hear it more often.

    June 23, 2008

  • I bet you could fry porridge.

    June 23, 2008

  • This is good thinking. In the People's Democratic Republic of The Porch, we can deep fry anything.

    A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.

    June 23, 2008

  • Ew. It still wouldn't satisfy the "bread product" requirement, and it certainly wouldn't qualify as fried *goodness*.

    bilby: Is the People's Democratic Republic of The Porch accepting new citizenship applications at this time?

    June 23, 2008

  • You-betcha-by-golly-wow we are. All applications in nullicate to Ambassador dontcry. Preferred Porchist citizens are those who can whistle Dixie, rock, knit, play cricket, suck apples, tell tall tales and/or improvise toejam/Uranus jokes.

    The bar has been set yay high.

    June 23, 2008

  • Wow, there sure is a lot of interest in this former Air Force base in New Hampshire.

    June 23, 2008

  • jenn: open mind, please. "Porridge" is nothing more than oats, (in my part of the world an others) or a form of rice or semolina that is cooked and served, usually but not always, for breakfast It can be served sweet or savory, hot or cold, and yes, even fried!

    Perhaps you've head of grits, polenta, kasha? All types of "porridge."

    Pease, jenn, give porridge a chance.

    June 23, 2008

  • dc: I wish I could say that I was a fan of mushy foods, such as porridge, oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc., but it is not so. Much like Sunny Baudelaire, I prefer my breakfast foods on the crunchy side.

    b: I can whistle, rock, knit, play *with* crickets, eat apples, and tell tall tales. Do I pass???

    June 24, 2008

  • You're in. We may even have a job vacancy for you in the Ministry of Crosswords.

    June 24, 2008

  • b - Crosswords generally are done during the breakfast part of the porch day. Do you think jenn can handle the, um, mushiness?

    June 24, 2008

  • Oh well, we can allocate her a mush puppy to help out.

    June 24, 2008

  • I believe frying your pease porridge would help minimize the mushiness, no?

    dontcry: I think your exhortation to jennaren qualifies as some kind of Wordie trifecta. Beautifully done.

    June 24, 2008

  • Yes, Asa, it would! Especially if you deep fry it, as bilby suggests. Thanks for the kudos on the hat trick! *takes a victory lap around the porch*

    June 24, 2008

  • Now, here's a question: Is the porch attached to an actual house, or is it a free-standing structure, a la Scrubs?

    June 24, 2008

  • John: You do know that they actually fly pease there, right?

    *sits back on porch to finish waffles*

    June 24, 2008

  • Why the porch practically wraps around the whole house, giving it a big hug! Waffle? I can burn it so it's crunchy...

    June 24, 2008

  • More Gruel?

    June 25, 2008

  • From "C. Musonius Rufus" by Guy Davenport

    January 19, 2010