Definitions

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

  • A prefix used to signify through, throughout, by, for, or as an intensive as perhaps, by hap or chance; perennial, that lasts throughout the year; perforce, through or by force; perfoliate, perforate; perspicuous, evident throughout or very evident; perplex, literally, to entangle very much.
  • (Chem.) Originally, denoting that the element to the name of which it is prefixed in the respective compounds exercised its highest valence; now, only that the element has a higher valence than in other similar compounds; thus, barium peroxide is the highest oxide of barium; while nitrogen and manganese peroxides, so-called, are not the highest oxides of those elements.

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

  • prefix non-productive In verbs: denoting the sense "through", as in perforate.
  • prefix non-productive In verbs: denoting the sense "thoroughly", as in perfect.
  • prefix non-productive In verbs: denoting the sense "to destruction", as in pervert.
  • prefix non-productive In adjectives and adverbs: denoting the sense "extremely", as in perfervid.
  • prefix chemistry Forming nouns and adjectives denoting the maximum proportion of one element in a compound, as in peroxide.
  • prefix chemistry Added to the name of an element in a polyatomic ion denote the number of that element (usually four).
  • prefix non-productive Denoting the sense "by" or "per", as in perchance or perhaps.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin per-

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French per (modern French par)

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Examples

  • Saxena said his best month was in March 2010 when he earned 1.05 million rupees $22,932, about half the per-capita income of the U.S. last year and 29 times the 35,917 rupee average per- capita income in India.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • This was the second quarter in which GE broke out per- share pension costs or benefits.

    unknown title 2011

  • First-quarter per- share earnings will be about $9.30 on sales of about $37 billion, Apple said in the statement.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • "I'm a little shocked" by the cuts to forecasted per- share earnings, said Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston who has a "positive" rating on First Solar.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • First-quarter per- share earnings will be about $9.30 on sales of about $37 billion, Apple said in the statement.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • Salesforce.com , promotes what he calls "the 1 per- cent solution": 1 percent of the company's equity, 1 percent of its profits, and 1 percent of its employees' paid work hours are devoted to philanthropy.

    Forbes.com: News Karl Moore 2011

  • The average per- share profit estimate of 31 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 33 cents.

    unknown title 2011

  • The per- share results topped the average analyst estimate by 1 cent, or 0.8 percent, the smallest margin since the second quarter of 2008.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012

  • First-quarter per- share earnings will be about $9.30 on sales of about $37 billion, Apple said in the statement.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • Lower-than-estimated data on manufacturing and service industries fueled concern that the nation will slip back into a recession, overshadowing an earnings season that has seen per- share profit increase 18 percent among the S&P 500 companies that have released quarterly results since July 11, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

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