What does "perpend" mean?

A brick or stone that has its longest dimension perpendicular to the face of a wall, especially one that extends through the wall's entire thickness.

What is a synonym for "perpend"?

Common synonyms include: be abstracted, brood, chew the cud, consider, contemplate, debate.

//pɚˈpɛnd// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A brick or stone that has its longest dimension perpendicular to the face of a wall, especially one that extends through the wall's entire thickness.
2
A vertical joint (usually mortar) between bricks or blocks in a horizontal course.

Verb

1
To ponder, consider. archaic
"[…] Perpend, / I have a daughter - have while she is mine […]"

"[…] Perpend, / I have a daughter - have while she is mine […]"

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin perpendere, from per- + pendere (“to weigh”).

Etymology 2

From Middle French parpain, see etymology of French parpaing.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.