Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Participle \Par"ti*ci*ple\, n. [F. participe, L. participium,
   fr. particeps sharing, participant; pars, gen. partis, a part
   + capere to take. See {Participate}.]
   1. (Gram.) A part of speech partaking of the nature both verb
      and adjective; a form of a verb, or verbal adjective,
      modifying a noun, but taking the adjuncts of the verb from
      which it is derived. In the sentences: a letter is
      written; being asleep he did not hear; exhausted by toil
      he will sleep soundly, -- written, being, and exhaustedare
      participles.

            By a participle, [I understand] a verb in an
            adjectival aspect.                    --Earle.

   Note: Present participles, called also imperfect, or
         incomplete, participles, end in -ing. Past participles,
         called also perfect, or complete, participles, for the
         most part end in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n. A participle
         when used merely as an attribute of a noun, without
         reference to time, is called an adjective, or a
         participial adjective; as, a written constitution; a
         rolling stone; the exhausted army. The verbal noun in
         -ing has the form of the present participle. See
         {Verbal noun}, under {Verbal}, a.

   2. Anything that partakes of the nature of different things.
      [Obs.]

            The participles or confines between plants and
            living creatures.                     --Bacon.

Source : WordNet®

participle
     n : a non-finite form of the verb; in English it is used
         adjectivally and to form compound tenses [syn: {participial}]