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Synonyms

perpend

1 American  
[pur-puhnd] / ˈpɜr pənd /

noun

  1. a large stone passing through the entire thickness of a wall.

perpend 2 American  
[per-pend] / pərˈpɛnd /

verb (used with object)

  1. to consider.

verb (used without object)

  1. to ponder; deliberate.

perpend 1 British  
/ ˈpɜːpənd /

noun

  1. Also called: parpend.   perpend stone.  a large stone that passes through a wall from one side to the other

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
perpend 2 British  
/ pəˈpɛnd /

verb

  1. an archaic word for ponder

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of perpend1

1225–75; variant of parpen, parpend, Middle English perpein, parpein ( late Middle English perpend- in compound) a stone dressed on more than one side < Old French perpein, parpain, perhaps representing Medieval Latin parpanus < ?

Origin of perpend2

1520–30; < Latin perpendere to weigh carefully, ponder, equivalent to per- per- + pendere to weigh

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Learn of the wise, and perpend: civet is     of a baser birth than tar- the very uncleanly flux of a cat.

From The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by Shakespeare, William

If he meets with only conscripts and militia he may penetrate as far as Harrisburg, and then let Europe perpend!

From A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital by Jones, John Beauchamp

Therefore, to begin his work the better, he requested a learned physician of that time, called Master Theodorus, seriously to perpend, if it were possible, how to bring Gargantua into a better course.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 1 by Motteux, Peter Anthony

"We shall perpend the point of receiving her," replied the King, gravely.

From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by Ainsworth, William Harrison

“Let the reader therefore perpend how great and what manner of man this same blessed personage was, who, having so great prophetic knowledge, could command, by invoking the name of Christ, the winds and ocean.”

From The Hermits by Kingsley, Charles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.