Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter P - Page 59
Phytography (n.) 解說植物學 The science of describing plants in a systematic manner; also, a description of plants.
Phytoid (a.) 植物状的 Resembling a plant; plantlike.
Phytolacca (n.) (Bot.) 商陸屬，美洲商陸；多年生宿根性草本。全株光滑無毛；根塊狀，肉質；莖粗，圓柱形，紫紅色。單葉，互生；卵狀橢圓形；長１０～３０cm，寬５～１５cm；全緣；中肋與葉脈於表面凹入明顯。花兩性，總狀花序，下垂，小花多數，紅色；雄蕊１０；雌蕊１０。漿果扁球形，具稜線和溝，成熟時紫黑色。A genus of herbaceous plants, some of them having berries which abound in intensely red juice; poke, or pokeweed.
Compare: Pokeweed
Pokeweed (n.) [Mass noun]【植】北美商陸木 A North American plant with red stems, spikes of cream flowers, and purple berries.
Phytolacca americana, family Phytolaccaceae.
Poke (n.) (Bot.) A large North American herb of the genus Phytolacca ({Phytolacca decandra), bearing dark purple juicy berries; -- called also garget, pigeon berry, pocan, and pokeweed. The root and berries have emetic and purgative properties, and are used in medicine. The young shoots are sometimes eaten as a substitute for asparagus, and the berries are said to be used in Europe to color wine.
Pokeweed (n.) (Bot.) See Poke, the plant.
Pokeweed (n.) Perennial of the genus Phytolacca.
Phytolacca (n.) Type genus of Phytolaccaceae: pokeweed [syn: Phytolacca, genus Phytolacca].
Phytolite (n.) 植物化石；植物岩 An old name for a fossil plant.
Phytolithologist (n.) 古植物學家； 化石植物學家 One versed in phytolithology; a paleobotanist.
Phytolithology (n.) 植物化石 The branch of science which treats of fossil plants; -- usually called paleobotany, sometimes paleophytology.
Phytological (a.) 植物學的 Of or pertaining to phytology; botanical.
Phytologist (n.) 植物學家 One skilled in phytology; a writer on plants; a botanist. -- Evelyn.
Phytologist (n.) A biologist specializing in the study of plants [syn: botanist, phytologist, plant scientist].
Phytology (n.) 植物學 The science of plants; a description of the kinds and properties of plants; botany. -- Sir T. Browne. Phytomer
Phytology (n.) The branch of biology that studies plants [syn: botany, phytology].
Phytomer (n.) Alt. of Phytomeron.
Phytomeron (n.) (Bot.) An organic element of a flowering plant; a phyton.
Phytons (n. pl. ) of Phyton.
Phyton (n.) (Bot.) One of the parts which by their repetition make up a flowering plant, each being a single joint of a stem with its leaf or leaves; a phytomer.
Phytonomy (n.) The science of the origin and growth of plants.
Phytopathologist (n.) One skilled in diseases of plants.
Phytopathology (n.) The science of diseases to which plants are liable.
Phytophaga (n. pl.) (Zool.) A division of Hymenoptera; the sawflies.
Phytophagic (a.) (Zool.) Phytophagous.
Phytophagic (a.) (Of animals) Feeding on plants [syn: plant-eating(a), phytophagic, phytophagous, phytophilous].
Phytophagous (a.) (Zool.) Feeding on plants; herbivorous; as, a phytophagous animal.
Phytophagous (a.) (Of animals) Feeding on plants [syn: plant-eating(a), phytophagic, phytophagous, phytophilous].
Phytophagy (n.) The eating of plants.
Phytophysiology (n.) Vegetable physiology.
Phytotomist (n.) One versed in phytotomy.
Phytotomy (n.) The dissection of plants; vegetable anatomy.
Phytozoaria (n. pl.) (Zool.) Same as Infusoria.
Phytozoa (n. pl. ) of Phytozoon.
Phytozoon (n.) (Zool.) A plantlike animal. The term is sometimes applied to zoophytes.
Phyz (n.) See Phiz.
Pi (n.) (Chem.) The inorganic orthophoshate ion; -- a symbol used in biochemistry. [acronym]
Pi (n.) (Print.) A mass of type confusedly mixed or unsorted. [Written also pie.]
Pi (n.) A Greek letter ([Pi], [pi]) corresponding to the Roman letter P.
Pi (n.) Specifically: (Math.) The letter [pi], [Pi], as used to denote the number or quotient approximately expressing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter; also, the quotient or the ratio itself. The value of the quotient pi, to twenty decimal places, is 3.14159265358979323846 (see note). The number pi is an irrational number, i.e. it cannot be expressed as the quotient of two integers. It is also a transcendental number, i.e. it cannot be expressed as a root of an algebraic equation with a finite number of terms; and from this fact follows the impossibility of the quadrature of the circle by purely algebraic processes, or by the aid of a ruler and compass.
Pi (n.) A Greek letter ([Pi], [pi]) corresponding to the Roman letter P.
Pi (n.) Specifically: (Math.) The letter [pi], [Pi], as used to denote the number or quotient approximately expressing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter; also, the quotient or the ratio itself. The value of the quotient pi, to twenty decimal places, is 3.14159265358979323846 (see note). The number pi is an irrational number, i.e. it cannot be expressed as the quotient of two integers. It is also a transcendental number, i.e. it cannot be expressed as a root of an algebraic equation with a finite number of terms; and from this fact follows the impossibility of the quadrature of the circle by purely algebraic processes, or by the aid of a ruler and compass.
Pied (imp. & p. p.) of Pi.
Pieing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pi.
Pi (v. t.) (Print.) To put into a mixed and disordered condition, as type; to mix and disarrange the type of; as, to pi a form. [Written also pie.]
Pi (n.) The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle; approximately equal to 3.14159265358979323846...
Pi (n.) Someone who can be employed as a detective to collect information [syn: private detective, PI, private eye, private investigator, operative, shamus, sherlock].
Pi (n.) The scientist in charge of an experiment or research project [syn: principal investigator, PI].
Pi (n.) The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
Pi (n.) An antiviral drug used against HIV; interrupts HIV replication by binding and blocking HIV protease; often used in combination with other drugs [syn: protease inhibitor, PI].
PI, () Placement and Interconnect [system] (VLSI, MIT)
PI, () Portable Interceptor (CORBA).
PI, () An interface between Prolog application programs and the X Window System that aims to be independent from the Prolog engine, provided that it has a Quintus foreign function interface (e.g. SICStus and YAP). PI is mostly written in Prolog and is divided in two libraries: Edipo - the lower level interface to the Xlib functions; and Ytoolkit - the higher level user interface toolkit. (1993-03-02)
Pi, () The greek lower-case letter P.
Pi, () The mathematical constant that is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Pi is written as the greek character pi.
Some have suggested that pi is the wrong choice and a better constant to describe the geometry of circles would have been 2*pi, for which they have proposed the name tau. Most practising mathematicians think this is silly. The xkcd comic strip.
A compromise between pi and tau, namely 1.5*pi or "pau". (2013-12-09)
Piacaba (n.) See Piassava.
Compare: Piassava
Piassava (n.) A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees ({Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia Piassaba), -- used in making brooms, and for other purposes. Called also pia[,c]aba and piasaba.
Piacle (n.) A heinous offense which requires expiation. [R.] -- Howell.
Piacular (a.) Expiatory; atoning. -- Sir G. C. Lewis.
Piacular (a.) Requiring expiation; criminal; atrociously bad. "Piacular pollution." -- De Quincey.
Piacularity (n.) The quality or state of being piacular; criminality; wickedness. -- De Quincey.
Piaculous (a.) Same as Piacular.
Compare: Piacular
Piacular (a.) Expiatory; atoning. -- Sir G. C. Lewis.
Piacular (a.) Requiring expiation; criminal; atrociously bad. "Piacular pollution." -- De Quincey.
Pial (a.) (Anat.) Pertaining to the pia mater.
Pia mater () (Anat.) The delicate and highly vascular membrane immediately investing the brain and spinal cord.
Pia mater (n.) The highly vascular innermost of the 3 meninges.
Pian (n.) (Med.) The yaws. See Yaws.
Compare: Yaws
Yaws (n.) (Med.) A disease, occurring in the Antilles and in Africa, characterized by yellowish or reddish tumors, of a contagious character, which, in shape and appearance, often resemble currants, strawberries, or raspberries. There are several varieties of this disease, variously known as framboesia, pian, verrugas, and crab-yaws.
Pianet (n.) (Zool.) The magpie. [Written also pianate, and pyenate.]
Pianet (n.) (Zool.) The lesser woodpecker. [Obs.] -- Bailey.
Pianette (n.) (Mus.) A small piano; a pianino.
Pianino (n.) (Mus.) A pianette, or small piano.
Pianissimo (a.) (Mus.) Very soft; -- a direction to execute a passage as softly as possible. (Abbrev. pp.)
Pianissimo (adv.) A direction in music; to be played very softly [syn: pianissimo, very softly] [ant: fortissimo, very loudly].
Pianissimo (a.) Chiefly a direction or description in music; very soft.
Pianissimo (n.) (Music) Low loudness [syn: piano, pianissimo].
Pianist (n.) A performer, esp. a skilled performer, on the piano.
Pianist (n.) A person who plays the piano [syn: pianist, piano player].
Piano (a. & adv.) (Mus.) Soft; -- a direction to the performer to execute a certain passage softly, and with diminished volume of tone. (Abbrev. p.) Pianoforte
Piano (n.) Alt. of Pianoforte.
Pianoforte (n.) (Mus.) A well-known musical instrument somewhat resembling the harpsichord, and consisting of a series of wires of graduated length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers moved by keys.
Dumb piano. See Digitorium.
Grand piano. See under Grand.
Square piano, One with a horizontal frame and an oblong case.
Upright piano, One with an upright frame and vertical wires.
Piano (adv.) Used as a direction in music; to be played relatively softly [syn: piano, softly] [ant: forte, loudly].
Piano (a.) Used chiefly as a direction or description in music; "the piano passages in the composition" [syn: piano, soft]
[ant: forte, loud].
Piano (n.) A keyboard instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds [syn: piano, pianoforte, forte-piano].
Piano (n.) (Music) low loudness [syn: piano, pianissimo].
PIANO, (n.) A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by pressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.
Pianograph (n.) (Mus.) A form of melodiograph applied to a piano.
Piapec (n.) (Zool.) A West African pie ({Ptilostomus Senegalensis).
Piarist (n.) (R. C. Ch.) One of a
religious order who are the regular clerks of the Scuole Pie (religious schools),
an institute of secondary education, founded at
Piassava (n.) A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees ({Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia Piassaba), -- used in making brooms, and for other purposes. Called also piacaba and piasaba.
Piaster (n.) A silver coin of Spain and various other countries. See Peso. The Spanish piaster (commonly called peso, or peso duro) is of about the value of the American dollar. The Italian piaster, or scudo, was worth from 80 to 100 cents. The Turkish and Egyptian piasters are now worth about four and a half cents.
Piaster (n.) A fractional monetary unit in Egypt and Lebanon and Sudan and Syria [syn: piaster, piastre].
Piaster (n.) 100 kurus equal 1 lira in Turkey [syn: kurus, piaster, piastre].
Piastre (n.) See Piaster.
Piastre (n.) A fractional monetary unit in Egypt and Lebanon and Sudan and Syria [syn: piaster, piastre].
Piastre (n.) 100 kurus equal 1 lira in Turkey [syn: kurus, piaster, piastre].
Piation (n.) The act of making atonement; expiation. [Obs.]
Piatti (n. pl.) (Mus.) Cymbals. [Written also pyatti.]
Piazzas (n. pl. ) of Piazza.
Piazza (n.) An open square in a European town, especially an Italian town; hence (Arch.), an arcaded and roofed gallery; a portico. In the United States the word is popularly applied to a veranda.
We walk by the obelisk, and meditate in piazzas. -- Jer. Taylor.
Pibcorn (n.) (Mus.) A wind instrument or pipe, with a horn at each end, -- used in Wales.
Pibroch (n.) A Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would either excite or assuage; generally applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they go out to battle. -- Jamieson.
Pibroch (n.) Martial music with variations; to be played by bagpipes.
Pic (n.) A Turkish cloth measure, varying from 18 to 28 inches.
Pic (n.) A form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement; "they went to a movie every Saturday night"; "the film was shot on location" [syn: movie, film, picture, moving picture, moving-picture show, motion picture, motion-picture show, picture show, pic, flick].
Pic (n.) A representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide; recorded by a camera on light-sensitive material [syn: photograph, photo, exposure, picture, pic].
PIC, () Point in Call (IN).
PIC, () Personal Intelligent Communicator.
PIC, () Position Independent Code (DLL).
PIC, () Primary Independent Carrier.
PIC, () Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC).
PIC, () Priority Interrupt Controller (IC).
PIC, () Programmable interrupt controller.
PIC, () A graphics language by Brian Kernighan, for textually describing pictures with troff.
[Featured in "More Programming Pearls", Jon Bentley].
["PIC - A Language for Typesetting Graphics", B.W. Kernighan, Soft Prac & Exp 12(1):1-21 (Jan 1982)].
["PIC - A Graphics Language for Typesetting, Revised User Manual", Bell Labs TR 116, Dec 1984].
(1994-10-28)
PIC, () Personal intelligent communicator.
(2001-04-30)
Pica (n.) (Zool.) The genus that includes the magpies.
Pica (n.) (Med.) A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia.
Syn: allotriophagy.
Pica (n.) (R. C. Ch.) A service-book. See Pie. [Obs.]
Pica (n.) (Print.) A size of type next larger than small pica, and smaller than English.
Note: Pica is twice the size of nonpareil, and is used as a standard of measurement in casting leads, cutting rules, etc., and also as a standard by which to designate several larger kinds of type, as double pica, two-line pica, four-line pica, and the like.
Small pica (Print.), A size of type next larger than long primer, and smaller than pica.
Compare: Allotriophagy
Allotriophagy (n.) (Med.) A depraved appetite; a desire for strange or nonnutritious food, such as clay or starch. Called also pica. -- AS
Pica (n.) An eating disorder, frequent in children, in which non-nutritional objects are eaten persistently.
Pica (n.) A linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing [syn: em, pica em, pica].
Pica (n.) Magpies [syn: Pica, genus Pica].
Picador (n.) [Sp.] A horseman armed with a lance, who in a bullfight receives the first attack of the bull, and excites him by picking him without attempting to kill him.
Picador (n.) The horseman who pricks the bull with a lance early in the
bullfight to goad the bull and to make it keep its head low
Picamar (n.) (Chem.) An oily liquid hydrocarbon extracted from the creosote of beechwood tar. It consists essentially of certain derivatives of pyrogallol.
Picapare (n.) (Zool.) The finfoot.
Picard (n.) (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of Adamites in the fifteenth century; -- so called from one Picard of Flanders. See Adamite.
Picaresque (a.) Applied to that class of literature in which the principal personage is the Spanish picaro, meaning a rascal, a knave, a rogue, an adventurer.
Picaresque (a.) Involving clever rogues or adventurers especially as in a type of fiction; “picaresque novels”; “waifs of the picaresque tradition”; “a picaresque hero.”
Picariae (n. pl.) (Zool.) An extensive division of birds which includes the woodpeckers, toucans, trogons, hornbills, kingfishers, motmots, rollers, and goatsuckers. By some writers it is made to include also the cuckoos, swifts, and humming birds.
Picariae (n.) Term used in some classifications as nearly equivalent to the order Coraciiformes [syn: Picariae, order Picariae].
Picarian (a.) (Zool.) Of or pertaining to Picariae.
Picarian (n.) One of the Picariae.
Picaroon (n.) One who plunders; especially, a plunderer of wrecks; a pirate; a corsair; a marauder; a sharper. --Sir W. Temple.
Picayune (n.) 無價值之物 A small coin of the value of six and a quarter cents. See Fippenny bit. [Local, U.S.]
Picayune (a.) (Informal) 不值錢的；眼光狹小的，氣量小的 Small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, piddling, piffling, petty, picayune, trivial].
Picayune, MS -- U.S. city in Mississippi
Population (2000): 10535
Housing Units (2000): 4568
Land area (2000): 11.763019 sq. miles (30.466079 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.040986 sq. miles (0.106154 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 11.804005 sq. miles (30.572233 sq. km)
FIPS code: 57160
Located within: Mississippi (MS), FIPS 28
Location: 30.528089 N, 89.680182 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 39466
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Picayune, MS
Picayune
Picayunish (a.) Petty; paltry; mean; as, a picayunish business. [Colloq. U.S.] Piccadil
Piccadil (n.) Alt. of Piccadilly
Piccadilly (n.) A high, stiff collar for the neck; also, a hem or band about the skirt of a garment, -- worn by men in the 17th century.
Piccage (n.) (O. Eng. Law) Money paid at fairs for leave to break ground for booths. -- Ainsworth.
Piccalilli (n.) A pickle of various vegetables with pungent species, -- originally made in the East Indies.
Piccalilli (n.) Relish of chopped pickled cucumbers and green peppers and onion.
Compare: Octave
Octave (n.) The eighth day after a church festival, the festival day being included; also, the week following a church festival. "The octaves of Easter." -- Jer. Taylor.
Octave (n.) (Mus.) (a) The eighth tone in the scale; the interval between one and eight of the scale, or any interval of equal length; an interval of five tones and two semitones.
Octave (n.) (Mus.) (b) The whole diatonic scale itself.
Note: The ratio of a musical tone to its octave above is 1:2 as regards the number of vibrations producing the tones.
Octave (n.) (Poet.) The first two stanzas of a sonnet, consisting of four verses each; a stanza of eight lines.
With mournful melody it continued this octave. -- Sir P. Sidney.
Double octave. (Mus.) See under Double.
Octave flute (Mus.), A small flute, the tones of which range an octave higher than those of the German or ordinary flute; -- called also piccolo. See Piccolo.
Octave (n.) A small cask of wine, the eighth part of a pipe.
Piccolo (n.) (Mus.) A small, shrill flute, the pitch of which is an octave higher than the ordinary flute; an octave flute.
Piccolo (n.) (Mus.) A small upright piano.
Piccolo (n.) (Mus.) An organ stop, with a high, piercing tone.
Piccolo (n.) A small flute; pitched an octave above the standard flute.
Pice (n.) A small copper coin of the East Indies, worth less than a cent. -- Malcom.
Picea (n.) (Bot.) A genus of coniferous trees of the northen hemisphere, including the Norway spruce and the American black and white spruces. These trees have pendent cones, which do not readily fall to pieces, in this and other respects differing from the firs.
Picea (n.) A genus of temperate and Arctic evergreen trees (see spruce) [syn: Picea, genus Picea].
Picene (n.) (Chem.) A hydrocarbon (C?H?) extracted from the pitchy residue of coal tar and petroleum as a bluish fluorescent crystalline substance.
Piceous (a.) Of or pertaining to pitch; resembling pitch in color or quality; pitchy.
Pichey (n.) (Zool.) A Brazilian armadillo ({Dasypus minutus); the little armadillo. [Written also pichiy.]
Pichiciago (n.) (Zool.) A small, burrowing, South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus), allied to the armadillos. The shell is attached only along the back. [Written also pichyciego.]
Pichiciago (n.) Very small Argentine armadillo with pale silky hair and pink plates on head and neck [syn: pichiciago, pichiciego, fairy armadillo, chlamyphore, Chlamyphorus truncatus].
Pichurim bean () (Bot.) The seed of a Brazilian lauraceous tree ({Nectandra Puchury) of a taste and smell between those of nutmeg and of sassafras, -- sometimes used medicinally. Called also sassafras nut.
Pici (n. pl.) (Zool.) A division of birds including the woodpeckers and wrynecks.
Picus (n.; pl. Pici.) (Zool.) A genus of woodpeckers, including some of the common American and European species.
Piciform (a.) (Zool.) Of or pertaining to Piciformes.
Piciformes (n. pl.) (Zool.) A group of birds including the woodpeckers, toucans, barbets, colies, kingfishes, hornbills, and some other related groups.
Piciformes (n.) Woodpeckers; jacamars; puffbirds; barbets; honey guides; toucans [syn: Piciformes, order Piciformes].
Picine (a.) (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the woodpeckers ({Pici), or to the Piciformes.
Picked (imp. & p. p.) of Pick.
Picking (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pick.
Pick (v. t.) To throw; to pitch. [Obs.]
As high as I could pick my lance. -- Shak.
Pick (v. t.) To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument; to pierce; to prick, as with a pin.
Pick (v. t.) To separate or open by means of a sharp point or points; as, to pick matted wool, cotton, oakum, etc.