Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The skin of a sheep or goat prepared as a material on which to write or paint.
- n. A written text or drawing on a sheet of this material.
- n. Paper made in imitation of this material.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The skin of sheep or goats prepared for use as a writing-material and for other purposes. The skins are first soaked in lime to remove the hair, and are then shaved, washed, dried, stretched, and ground or smoothed with fine chalk or lime and pumice-stone. Vellum is a fine parchment made from the skins of calves, kids, and still-born lambs. Other skins prepared in the same way are used for other purposes: as those of the he-goat and wolf for drum-heads, and the skin of the ass for covering battledores. A kind of parchment is made by the Eskimos from the entrails of seals, and is used for bags, blankets, clothing, etc. The skin of the fur-seal is sometimes dressed as parchment and used for making cases for holding valuable papers, etc.
- n. The cartilaginous sheath or hull of the coffee-bean.
- n. A document written on parchment.
- To convert into parchment; parchemin.
- To cause to become hard, tough, and wrinkled, as the skin in certain diseases.
Wiktionary
- n. A material, made from the polished skin of a calf, sheep, goat or other animal, used like paper for writing.
- n. A document made on such material.
- n. A diploma (traditionally written on parchment).
- n. Stiff paper imitating that material.
- n. The creamy to tanned color of parchment
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The skin of a lamb, sheep, goat, young calf, or other animal, prepared for writing on. See vellum.
- n. The envelope of the coffee grains, inside the pulp.
WordNet 3.0
- n. skin of a sheep or goat prepared for writing on
- n. a superior paper resembling sheepskin
Etymologies
- Middle English parchemin, parchement (influenced by Medieval Latin pergamentum), from Old French parchemin, from Late Latin pergamīna, variant of Latin pergamēna, from feminine of Pergamēnus, of Pergamum, from Greek Pergamēnos, after Pergamon (Pergamum).
Examples
“_parchment_? that parchment, being _scribbled o'er_, should undo a man?”
“There is Chilean sea bass steamed in parchment a French word on the menu and wands of asparagus, disposable cameras like so many breeding robotic crabs and a trick using South African coins, arguments over an "upset" boxing match, a pair of shoes whose owner cannot be found, and a child who wants her to see him pee.”
“For written on that piece of yellowed parchment is not only the bold assertion that thirteen former British colonies were and forever would remain free and independent states, but also the once radical idea that history has a right side and a wrong side, and that Americans stood and would always stand on the right side.”
“Preparation: Broiled, saut é ed, baked in parchment paper (en papillote).”
“The parchment is really a good idea with this recipe, I guess greased foil would work but you need to take the bars out of the pan to cut them.”
“• To keep meat and fish juicy with no added fat, remember to cook in parchment paper or aluminum foil.”
“His original birth record, on parchment, is in Taunton.”
“He called the parchment "a very, very important document in Maryland history," adding that "we're taking great pains to protect it.”
The Washington Post: Original 'Star-Spangled Banner' poem leaves Baltimore for the first time
“For example, apples can extend the shelf life of cake, herbs last longer if you treat them like flowers, and hard cheese lasts longer if wrapped loosely in parchment paper.”
Top 10 Tips And Tricks For Making Your Stuff Last Longer | Lifehacker Australia
“Well, I always wanted to try cooking in parchment, I thought.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘parchment’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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color (yellow)
tiara's color lists rebuilt :)
( visual, colors, yellow, descriptive, randomness )yellow, Yellow, Cloud, Straw/Stramineous, Peach, Apricot/Ibis, Lemon, Butter, Mustard, Meline/Canary, Gold(Metallic, Web and 405 more...
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Words sung by: Belle and Sebastian
beguiling, herbaceous, peninsula, suffragette, damascan, hastening, berserk, overtime, leccy, bestow, swathe, arab strap and 193 more...
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Penmanship
Spencerian method, Palmer method, Platt R. Spencer, cursive, round hand, running hand, handwriting, stylus, pen, vellum, penmanship, script and 85 more...

Prolagus
(Calculating bimbo, by Belle and Sebastian) Oct 14, 2010