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Webster 1913 Edition


Peat

Peat

(pēt)
,
Noun.
[Cf.
Pet
a fondling.]
A small person; a pet; – sometimes used contemptuously.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Peat

,
Noun.
[Prob. for
beat
, prop., material used to make the fire burn
better
, fr. AS.
bētan
to better, mend (a fire),
bōt
advantage. See
Better
,
Boot
advantage.]
A substance of vegetable origin, consisting of roots and fibers, moss, etc., in various stages of decomposition, and found, as a kind of turf or bog, usually in low situations, where it is always more or less saturated with water. It is often dried and used for fuel.
Peat bog
,
a bog containing peat; also, peat as it occurs in such places; peat moss.
–
Peat moss
.
(a)
The plants which, when decomposed, become peat
.
(b)
A fen producing peat
.
(c)
(Bot.)
Moss of the genus
Sphagnum
, which often grows abundantly in boggy or peaty places.
–
Peat reek
,
the reek or smoke of peat; hence, also, the peculiar flavor given to whisky by being distilled with peat as fuel.
[Scot.]

Webster 1828 Edition


Peat

PEAT

,
Noun.
A substance resembling turf, used as fuel. It is found in low grounds or moorish lands, and is of several species; one is of a brown or yellowish brown color, and when first cut has a viscid consistence, but hardens when exposed to the air; another consists chiefly of vegetable substances, as branches of trees, roots, grass,&c.

PEAT

. [See Pet.]