Meanings
pease1
plural peasen
- alternativearchaicAlternative form of pea (“common plant; its edible seed”).
Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, […]
c. 1760, “Pease Porridge Hot”1 more example
It was fiercely cold, but I was a good deal warmed when the lad who drove me, talking of the crops of the country, spoke of “the peasen.” Thank God! I said to myself, there is still some smack of old England left in the land.
1924, Arthur Machen [pseudonym; Arthur Llewellyn Jones], chapter IV, in The London Adventure or The Art of Wandering, London: Martin Secker, page 113
- archaicpluralplural of pea
3 more examples
The due proportion for any land (except it be a very light blowing ſand) is two beans for one pea; by which means, they will be (without doubt) a ſtanding crop, as the beans will be (as it were, a rodding for the peaſe; in this caſe they are aſſiſtants to each other; for as the peaſe are kept ſtanding, and form (as it were) an arch over the top of the bean, the circulating air is admitted round them to aſſiſt in feeding the corning part thereof.
1770, C[harles] Varley, A New System of Husbandry. From Experiments Never Before Made Public. […], volume II, York: […] [F]or the Author, by N. Nickson, […], pages 274–275Experience ſhows that the common pea, whether white or grey, cannot be reared to perfection in any field which has not been either naturally or artificially impregnated with ſome calcareous matter.—Hence it happens, that peaſe are rarely cultivated univerſally as a field crop, unleſs in thoſe parts of the country where either lime, of marle, or chalk abound. But, on the ſeacoaſt, where ſhell-fiſh are often catched in abundance, we meet with a few exceptions to this general rule. It is pretty remarkable, that a ſoil which could hardly have made one pea come to perfection, although richly manured with dung,—if it ſhall have been once limed, ſhall be capable of producing abundant crops of peaſe ever afterwards, if duly prepared in other reſpects.
1777, James Anderson, Essays Relating to Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] William Creech; and T[homas] Cadell, […], pages 336–337Take a quart of Green Pease, (keep out half a pint of the youngest, boil them separately, and put them in the Soup when it is finished,) put them on in boiling water, boil them tender, and then pour off the water, and set it by to make the Soup with; put the pease into a mortar, and pound them to a mash. Then put them in two quarts of the water you boiled the pease in, stir all well together, let it boil up for about five minutes, and then rub it through a hair sieve or tammis; if the pease are good, it will be as thick and fine a vegetable soup as need be sent to Table.
1821, [William Kitchiner], The Cook’s Oracle: Containing Receipts for Plain Cookery on the Most Economical Plan for Private Families: […], 3rd edition, London: […] A[rchibald] Constable & Co. […]; and Hurst, Robinson, & Co. […], page 255
pease2
present singular third person peases · participle present peasing · participle past peased · past peased
- obsoleteTo bring (a war, conflict) to an end.
Pease3
- A place in the United States:
- A minor city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.
- A township in Belmont County, Ohio.
Origin
pease · noun, noun
- Ancient Greekπίσον
- Latinpisum“pea”
- Late Latinpisa
- Old Englishpise“pea”
- Middle Englishpese“pea”
- Englishpease
From Middle English pese (“pea”), from Old English pise (“pea”), from Late Latin pisa, variant of Latin pisum (“pea”), from Ancient Greek πίσον (píson), variant of πίσος (písos).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →pease · verb
- Old Frenchpaisier
- Anglo-Normanpaiser
- Englishpease
From Anglo-Norman paiser, pesser et al., Old French paisier, aphetic form of apaisier (“to appease”). Probably also partly from aphetic use of appease.
More words from Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pease
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
pease. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pease
“pease.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pease. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pease,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pease.
Source: pease on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.