| Word/Phrase | Definition | Useage |
|---|
| på | on, upon, at (some place), in (about time) | Swedish |
| Pack Thread Spinner | Operated a thread or twine making machine | UK Occupation |
| Packman | Itinerant seller - carried the goods in his pack | UK Occupation |
| Pad Maker | Made small measuring baskets | UK Occupation |
| Padre | Father | Italian/Spanish |
| PAF | Personal Ancestral File®. A widely used, DOS-based genealogy program created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Colonial Diseases |
| Paintress | Woman who hand painted pottery | UK Occupation |
| Paling Man | Seller of eels | UK Occupation |
| Palingwright | Maker of wooden fencing (paling) for use on rural estates | Scot.Occup |
| Palister | Park keeper | UK Occupation |
| Palsy | Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. It was listed as 'Cause of death' | Medical |
| Pannier Man | Fishmonger | UK Occupation |
| Pannifex | Worker in the cloth trade | UK Occupation |
| Pansmith | 1)Pan maker and/or repairer- metal worker 2) Made and maintained the large, shallow pans in which salt was boiled | UK Occupation |
| Panter | Keeper of the pantry | UK Occupation |
| Pantler | Butler | UK Occupation |
| Pantographer | An engraver who used a Pantograph to transfer the pattern from a drawing to the engraving surface. | UK Occupation |
| Papaya Man | Involved in trade with New Guinea (derived from Papua, New Guinea) | UK Occupation |
| Paper Ruler | Operator of a printing machine who set up inking pens to draw on paper | Scot.Occup |
| Paper Stainer | Printed wallpaper | UK Occupation |
| Paperer | Inserted sewing needles into paper packets ready for sale | UK Occupation |
| Paralysis | Loss of muscle function due to nerve damage | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Paralytic ileus | Paralysis of the bowel wall resulting in blockage of the bowel | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Pardoner | Licensed seller of indulgences | UK Occupation |
| Pargeter | Applied pargetting (ornamental plaster) to buildings | UK Occupation |
| Parish Apprentice | Working child of the workhouse | UK Occupation |
| Paritor | Church official attending courts to execute their orders | UK Occupation |
| Parker | Park keeper, usually a game park | UK Occupation |
| Parminster | Worked with Cotswold stone roofing tiles | UK Occupation |
| Paroxysm | Convulsion | Medical |
| påsk | Easter | Swedish |
| Passage Keeper | Cleaned the local passageways and alleyways | UK Occupation |
| Passenger list | A ships list of passengers, usually referring to those ships arriving in the US or Canada, from Europe. | General |
| passion | suffering | Swedish |
| påssjuka | mumps | Swedish |
| Pasteler | Pastry chef | UK Occupation |
| pastor | parish minister | Swedish |
| Pastor | Shepherd | UK Occupation |
| pastorat | parish | Swedish |
| pastorsexpedition | parish office | Swedish |
| Patent | Grant of land from a government to an individual. | General |
| pater | father | Latin |
| Paternal ancestor | An ancestor on the father's side of the family. | Genealogy |
| Paternal | Related to one's father. Paternal grandmother is the father's mother. | General |
| Paternosterer | Maker of Rosaries | UK Occupation |
| Patriot | One who loves his country and supports its interests. | General |
| Patten Maker/ Pattener | Made 'pattens' to fit under normal shoes for wet/muddy use. Clog-maker | UK Occupation |
| Pattern Card Maker | Made the cards that set the pattern on weaving looms - the 'jacquard' method | UK Occupation |
| Pattern Maker | Makes wood patterns for the construction of steel or other metal objects. eg. Patterns are made for ship construction, for castings etc. | UK Occupation |
| Pauper | Person without money and means of earning a livelihood | Scot.Occup |
| Paver / Paviour / Pavier | Lays paving stones etc. (in use today) also called a Flagger More Info. | UK Occupation |
| Pavior | Layer of masonry slabs and flag-stones, eg making a pavement | Scot.Occup |
| Pavyler | Erected tents, pavilions etc. | UK Occupation |
| Pedascule | Schoolmaster | UK Occupation |
| Pedestrian | A Walker, sometimes athlete, sometimes paid for competing - More Info. | UK Occupation |
| pedigree chart | A report showing an individual along with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. for a specified number of generations. | Colonial Diseases |
| pedigree | 1. A list of ancestors; record of ancestry; family tree 2. Descent; lineage; ancestry 3. A recorded or known line of descent | Colonial Diseases |
| Pedlar | Seller of small goods from door to door | Scot.Occup |
| Pee-dee | A boy employed by the skipper of a Newcastle Keel - a river boat carrying coal down river to ships loading off-shore. See Keeler. | UK Occupation |
| Peeler | Policeman - after Robert Peel, founder of the police | UK Occupation |
| peerage | A book containing a list of peers with their genealogy, history, and titles | Colonial Diseases |
| Pelterer | Worked with animal skins - pelts | UK Occupation |
| Pemphigus | Skin disease of watery blisters | Medical |
| Pendicler | Sub-tenant with some grass and arable land | Scot.Occup |
| Pension | Money paid regularly to an individual, especially by a government as reward for military service during wartime or upon retirement from government service. | General |
| Pensioner | Originally meant someone receiving an Army pension after active service | Scot.Occup |
| Perambulator | Surveyor | UK Occupation |
| Perch | See measurements. | General |
| Perchemear | Parchment maker | UK Occupation |
| Peregrinator | Itinerant wanderer | UK Occupation |
| Pericarditis | Inflammation of heart | Medical |
| Peripneumonia | Inflammation of lungs | Medical |
| Peritonitis | Inflammation of abdominal area | Medical |
| Periwig-maker | Maker of wigs for gentlemen | Scot.Occup |
| personernas | the person\'s | Swedish |
| Peruker / Peruke Maker | A wig maker | UK Occupation |
| Pessoner | Fishmonger - from the French, poisson | UK Occupation |
| pest | plague | Swedish |
| Petardier | Made Petards - explosive devices used for storming castles. More Info. | UK Occupation |
| Petechial Fever | Fever characterized by skin spotting | Medical |
| Peterman | Fisherman - biblical | UK Occupation |
| Pettifogger | A shyster lawyer | UK Occupation |
| Petty Chapman | Peddler - itinerant small goods seller | UK Occupation |
| Peuterer | Worker in pewter | Scot.Occup |
| Pew Opener | Opened the doors to private church pews | UK Occupation |
| Pewterer / Pewtersmith | One whose occupation is to make utensils of pewter; plates, bowls, dishes, tankards, pots for the kitchen and table, also larger vessels for inns and businesses. Almost all old wills leave valuable amounts of pewter to members of the family. More Info. | UK Occupation |
| Philosophical Instrument Maker | Made Scientific instruments | UK Occupation |
| Phonologist | A person versed in Phonology - the science or doctrine of the elementary sounds uttered by the human voice in speech, including the various distinctions, modifications, and combinations of tones; phonetics. Also, a treatise on sounds. | UK Occupation |
| Phrenologist | Read bumps on the head for character assessment | UK Occupation |
| Phthiriasis | Lice infestation | Medical |
| Phthisis | Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis | Medical |
| Phthsis pulmonalis | Tuberculosis of the lungs, consumption . Also spelled phthisis | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Picker Maker | Made the 'Pickers' - strong leather attachments fitted to each side of a weaving loom to drive the shuttle across the loom | UK Occupation |
| Picker | Cast the shuttles on a loom | UK Occupation |
| Pickermaker | Mill worker who made the 'pickers' - leather attachments which drove a shuttle across a weaving loom | Scot.Occup |
| Piece Broker | Dealer in fabric remnants | UK Occupation |
| Piece Worker | Worker paid for by the number of articles finished. Usually home workers, and factory workers | UK Occupation |
| Piecemaster | The middleman between employer and pieceworker, who allocated the work | UK Occupation |
| Piecer / Piecener | Employed to piece together broken threads in weaving. Often children. More Info. | UK Occupation |
| Piecer | Piecers in mills, often children, had to lean over spinning-machines to repair broken threads | Scot.Occup |
| Pig Jobber | Bought pigs and then sold them off for profit. A pig trader. | UK Occupation |
| piga | maid, maiden, servant girl | Swedish |
| Pigmaker | 1) Poured molten metal to make 'pigs' for distribution of raw metals 2) Pottery worker | UK Occupation |
| Pigman | 1) Crockery dealer 2) Pig herd | UK Occupation |
| Pikar | A petty thief | Scot.Occup |
| Pikelet Maker | Baked Pikelets - small crumpet or pancake | UK Occupation |
| Pikeman | 1) Miller's assistant 2) Soldier armed with a pike 3) Turnpike worker | UK Occupation |
| Piker | Tramp, vagrant | UK Occupation |
| Pile / Piler | Fitted arrowheads to their shafts (pile was the old term for arrowhead) | UK Occupation |
| Piller | Robber | UK Occupation |
| Pilot | Ship's steersman | UK Occupation |
| pilt(ebarn) | boy, male child | Swedish |
| Pinder | Dog catcher & pound keeper | UK Occupation |
| Piner | Labourer | UK Occupation |
| pingst | Pentecost, Whitsunday | Swedish |
| Pinner up | 1) Dressmaker's assistant 2) Sold ballads in the street | UK Occupation |
| Pinner | Pin maker | UK Occupation |
| Piper | Innkeeper | UK Occupation |
| Pirn Winder | Mill worker who threaded yarn on weaving looms | Scot.Occup |
| Pistor | Baker | UK Occupation |
| Pit Brow Lass | Female surface worker at the coalmines | UK Occupation |
| Pit Brusher | Coal miner who repaired mine passage roofs and sides | Scot.Occup |
| Pit Roadman | Mine worker preparing and repairing underground passageways | Scot.Occup |
| Pit Sinker | Man contracted to sink new mine shafts | Scot.Occup |
| Pitheadman | Over-ground worker at a coal mine (pit) | Scot.Occup |
| Pitman | Coal miner | UK Occupation |
| Placenta praevia | Condition of pregnancy in which placenta grows too close to cervix | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| plåga | pain | Swedish |
| Plague | An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate | Medical |
| Plain Worker | Plain needle-worker, as distinct from embroidered work | UK Occupation |
| Plaisterer | Plasterer | UK Occupation |
| Plaiter | Make straw plaits for hat making | UK Occupation |
| Planker | 'Planked' or kneaded the felt in hat-making | UK Occupation |
| Platelayer | Laid and maintained railway tracks. The name predates railways, and is derived from the original 'plateways' which existed hundreds of years ago, laid for coal mines. More Info. | UK Occupation |
| Playderer | Made plaid | UK Occupation |
| Pleacher / Plasher / Platcher / Plaicher | Hedge layer. A skilled job | UK Occupation |
| Pleurisy | Any pain in the chest area with each breath | Medical |
| Pleuritis | Pleurisy, an inflammation around the lungs due to bacterial or viral infection | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Plewman | Ploughman | Scot.Occup |
| pliktad | fined | Swedish |
| Plod Weaver / Plaid Weaver | Wove plaid material - Plod was a C16-17th variant of plaid | UK Occupation |
| Ploughboy | Led the oxen pulling a plough | UK Occupation |
| Ploughman | Farm servant with working horse, or team of horses, ploughing the fields | Scot.Occup |
| Ploughwright | Made or repaired ploughs | UK Occupation |
| Plumassier / Plumer | Made ornamental feather plumes or sold feathers - from French, plume | UK Occupation |
| Plumber | Applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or stained glass windows. As lead was the usual material for pipes, the modern term evolved. Plumbium - Latin for lead | UK Occupation |
| Plumbium Worker | Worked with plumbium (lead) - a plumber. from the Latin, plumbium = lead | UK Occupation |
| Plunger | Speculator | UK Occupation |
| Pluralist | A person who had the 'living' of more than one parish, or church | UK Occupation |
| Plush Weaver | Wove Plush, a type of textile which has a nap or pile similar to velvet - used in royal courts | UK Occupation |
| PLW | Power-loom weaver-- weaver working a powered loom in a textile mill | Scot.Occup |
| podager | gout | Swedish |
| Podagra | Gout | Medical |
| Point of entry | The first place (border entry or port) immigrants arrive when entering a country. | Genealogy |
| Pointer / Pin Pointer | 1) Lace-maker 2) Sharpened needles or pins in manufacture | UK Occupation |
| Pointmaker / Pointman | Made the tips of laces | UK Occupation |
| Pointsman | Changed the points to change the track direction of trains | UK Occupation |
| pojke | boy | Swedish |
| Poldave Worker | Made 'poldave' - a coarse fabric | UK Occupation |
| Pole | See measurements. | General |
| Poleman | Surveyor's assistant | UK Occupation |
| Polentarius | Malt maker | Scot.Occup |
| Polenter / Polentier | Poulterer | UK Occupation |
| Police Weigher | At the docks he weighed goods and cargo as it came ashore | Scot.Occup |
| Poliomyelitis | Polio, Potter's asthma - Fibroid pthisis | Medical |
| Poll | List or record of persons, especially for taxing or voting. | General |
| Pollard Dealer | Dealer in pollard, bran sifted from flour. Also flour dealer | UK Occupation |
| Poller / Powler | Barber | UK Occupation |
| Ponderator | Weights and measures inspector | UK Occupation |
| Pony Driver | Usually a child, drove the pit ponies drawing the coal tubs | UK Occupation |
| Port | A city or town having a harbour where ships or boats take on or unload cargo or passengers. | Genealogy |
| Portable Soup Maker | Made dried soup for transporting | UK Occupation |
| Porter | 1) Door or gate keeper 2) Carried baggage in railway stations and other public places | UK Occupation |
| Portioner | Owner of land, previously divided amongst co-heirs | Scot.Occup |
| Portmanteau Maker | Made suitcases / travelling bags | UK Occupation |
| Post Boy | 1) Carried mail 2) Guard who travelled on the mail coach 3) Outrider travelling with the coach or a Postillion | UK Occupation |
| Post | Prefix meaning after, as in post-war economy. | General |
| Poster | Broke rocks in the quarries | UK Occupation |
| Posterity | Descendants; those who come after. | General |
| posthumous | 1. Born after the death of the father 2. Published after the death of the author 3. Following or occurring after death | Colonial Diseases |
| Postillion | Rode as a guide on one of the near pairs of horses drawing a coach or post chaise | UK Occupation |
| Postman | Delivers mail letters and parcels to residential and business addresses. | Scot.Occup |
| Pot Boy/man | 1) Cleared away and washed the pots in a public house 2) A Potman was also a street-seller of porter and stout. | UK Occupation |
| Pot Burner | Placed completed pots into the ovens for firing | UK Occupation |
| Potato Badger | Potato seller | UK Occupation |
| Potter's Asthma | Fibroid pthisis | Medical |
| Potter's Carrier | Chemist or Pharmacist | UK Occupation |
| Potter's Jollier | Jollying is a way of forming a ceramic article by using a rotating mould formed to shape one side of the pot or liner while a metal profile blade mounted on a counterbalanced arm forms the other side | UK Occupation |
| Potter's Presser | Pottery maker, using moulds | UK Occupation |
| Potter's Printer | Printed from an engraved plate that is loaded with oil based colours - printed the transfer pattern on to tissue paper | UK Occupation |
| Potter's Thrower | Potter, using a wheel - 'threw' the clay onto the wheel | UK Occupation |
| Pott's disease | Tuberculosis of spine | Medical |
| Poulter / Poulterer | Poultry seller | UK Occupation |
| Powder Monkey | Young boys - and sometimes women - employed to supply naval guns with their powder charges from the magazines below the waterline. Boys were usually employed because the gun (Orlop) decks were very low for stability reasons, and grown men would have found it difficult to move around at speed in those situations. | UK Occupation |
| Power Loom Tuner | Maintained the weaving looms | UK Occupation |
| Power of attorney | When a person is unable to act for himself, he appoints another to act in his behalf. | General |
| Powler | Barber | UK Occupation |
| Poynter | Lace maker | UK Occupation |
| präst | minister | Swedish |
| prästgård | parsonage | Swedish |
| Pre | Prefix meaning before, as in pre-war military build-up. | General |
| Preceptress | School Master / School Mistress | UK Occupation |
| Pre-emotion rights | Right given by the federal government to citizens, to buy a quarter section of land or less. | General |
| Prentis | Apprentice | UK Occupation |
| Pressman | Operated a printing press | UK Occupation |
| Preventive officer | Customs officer on boat in coastal waters | Scot.Occup |
| Prick Louise | Tailor | UK Occupation |
| Pricker | 1) Witch hunter 2) Pattern Maker 3) Horseman | UK Occupation |
| Prig Napper | Horse Thief | UK Occupation |
| Prima | Cousin (female) | Spanish |
| primary record | A record created at the time of the event (birth, marriage, death, etc.) as opposed to records written years later | Colonial Diseases |
| Primo | Cousin (male) | Spanish |
| primogenitor | ancestor, forefather | Colonial Diseases |
| primogeniture | 1. The state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents 2. An exclusive right of inheritance belonging to the eldest son | Colonial Diseases |
| Print compositor | Person who sets up type for printing | Scot.Occup |
| Print cutter | a) Person who made the blocks for printing b) Cutter of prepared cloth eg. calico | Scot.Occup |
| Printfield worker | Factory worker who dyed and printed calico cloth . | Scot.Occup |
| probate | 1. e action or process of proving in a court of law that a document offered for official recognition and registration as the last will and testament of a deceased person is genuine. 2. The officially authenticated copy of a probated will | Colonial Diseases |
| Proctor | University official | UK Occupation |
| Procurator | Lawyer or advocate | Scot.Occup |
| Procurator-Fiscal | Principal public prosecutor in district | Scot.Occup |
| profoss | flogmaster (military) | Swedish |
| progenitor | An ancestor in the direct line, forefather | Colonial Diseases |
| progeny | Descendants, children | Colonial Diseases |
| Prop Bobby | Checked the pit props in mines | UK Occupation |
| prost | dean | Swedish |
| prosteri | deanery | Swedish |
| Prothonary | Law clerk | UK Occupation |
| Proved will | A will established as genuine by probate court. | General |
| Provost | Elected head of town burgh council. A person appointed to superintend, or preside over something. | Scot.Occup |
| Prow Smith | In shipbuilding, was resposible for laying out the prows and the keel of a vesssel | UK Occupation |
| Proximo | In the following month, in the month after the present one. | General |
| Public domain | Land owned by the government. | General |
| Publican | Innkeeper - still in use | UK Occupation |
| Puddler | Wrought iron or clay worker - see Iron Puddler & Clay Puddler | UK Occupation |
| Puerperal exhaustion | Death due to childbirth | Medical |
| Puerperal fever | Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant | Medical |
| Puerpural septicaemia | Infection in birth canal following childbirth, often causing death within 3 weeks | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Puggard | Thief | UK Occupation |
| Pugger | Trod clay to produce the mix for brick making. Often women & children | UK Occupation |
| Puking fever | Milk sickness | Medical |
| Pull factors | Reasons people choose a new country or location in which to live. | Genealogy |
| Pulmonary ... | Associated with the lungs | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Pulmonary edema | Fluid accumulation and swelling in the lung | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| Punky | Chimney Sweep | UK Occupation |
| Purefinder / Pure Gatherer | Old women & young girls who collected dog droppings used in the tanning industry | UK Occupation |
| Purl Seller | Sold purl by boat to other river craft users. Purl was a potent mixture of beer and gin. | UK Occupation |
| Push factors | Reasons people leave their country or home to move to another. | Genealogy |
| Putrid fever | Diphtheria | Medical |
| Putter | Hauled coal tubs in the mines. | UK Occupation |
| Putter-in | Input materials in mechanical processes - varied. | UK Occupation |
| Pykemonger | Dealer in pike and other freshwater fish. | UK Occupation |
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