racing for sport the homing pigeon, a specialized variety developed through selective crossbreeding and training for maximum distance and speed in directed flight.
any of several coarse annual plants of cosmopolitan distribution that are often troublesome weeds. Several of them belong to the genus Amaranthus, of the family Amaranthaceae. Prostrate pigweed, or mat ...
extinct Indian people of the southern highlands of Colombia. The Pijao spoke a language of the Chibchan family, related to that of the Paez, their neighbours to the south. They ...
small short-legged and virtually tailless egg-shaped mammal found in the mountains of western North America and much of Asia. Despite their small size, body shape, and round ears, pikas are ...
ancient and medieval infantry weapon consisting of a long, metal-pointed spear with a heavy wooden shaft 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 metres) long. Its use among the Swiss ...
county, northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., bordered by New York state and New Jersey to the northeast and southeast, respectively (the Delaware River constituting the boundary), and Wallenpaupack Creek and Lake Wallenpaupack ...
any of several voracious freshwater fishes, family Esocidae, caught both commercially and for sport. They are recognized by the elongate body, small scales, long head, shovellike snout, and large mouth ...
any of several freshwater food and game fishes of the family Percidae (order Perciformes), found in Europe and North America. Although more elongated and slender than perches, pike perches have ...
American linguist and anthropologist known for his studies of the aboriginal languages of Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, New Guinea, Java, Ghana, Nigeria, Australia, Nepal, and the Philippines. He was also ...
peak in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in El Paso county, Colorado, U.S., 10 miles (16 km) west of Colorado Springs. It ranks 32nd in altitude (14,110 feet ...
city, Wielkopolskie wojewodztwo (province), west-central Poland, on the Gwda River. Its economic growth has been steady since World War II. Industries include lumber mills, railroad workshops, potato-processing ...
in Greco-Roman Classical architecture, shallow rectangular column that projects slightly beyond the wall into which it is built and conforms precisely to the order or style of the adjacent columns. ...
region of northwestern Western Australia, extending south from the De Grey River to the Ashburton River and as far as 450 miles (720 km) inland. It occupies an area of ...
British engineer, aviation pioneer, and glider experimenter. He began the study of heavier-than-air flight in 1895 under the influence of Otto Lilienthal, whom he twice visited in Germany.
chief western tributary of the Paraguay River, south central South America. It rises in the eastern Andes Mountains, in Bolivia, and flows in a southeasterly direction through the Gran Chaco ...
in building construction, a postlike foundation member used from prehistoric times. In modern civil engineering, piles of timber, steel, or concrete are driven into the ground to support a structure; ...
in textiles, the surface of a cloth composed of an infinite number of loops of warp threads, or else of an infinite number of free ends of either warp or ...
genus of herbaceous creeping plants in the nettle family (Urticaceae) but lacking the stinging hairs typical of that family. Of the more than 200 species widespread in temperate and tropical ...
close-fitting, brimless hat worn by the ancient Romans and copied from the Greek sailor's hat called the pilos. In Roman times the head was generally left uncovered, but commoners and ...
vessel with a body varying from an almost full circle, flattened, to a pear shape, with a shortish neck, spreading foot and, generally, two loops on the shoulders. Through the ...
in American colonial history, settlers of Plymouth , Mass., the first permanent colony in New England (1620). Of the 102 colonists, 35 were members of the English Separatist Church (a ...
in Judaism, the three occasions on which male Israelites were required to go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice at the Temple and bring offerings of the produce from their fields. ...
religious allegory by the English writer John Bunyan, a symbolic vision of the good man's pilgrimage through life, at one time second only to the Bible in popularity. Part I ...
in Christianity, journey to a saint's shrine or other sacred place, undertaken for a variety of motives: to gain supernatural help; as an act of thanksgiving or penance; for the ...
(1536), a rising in the northern counties of England, the only overt immediate discontent shown against the Reformation legislation of King Henry VIII. Part of the resentment was caused by ...
the North Downs trackway in southern England. It is a famous prehistoric route between the English Channel and the chalk heartland of Britain in Wessex and survives as minor roads ...
the nut of any tree of the genus Canarium (family Burseraceae), particularly the edible nut of the Philippine tree Canarium ovatum. In the South Pacific the pili nut is a ...
town, administrative headquarters of Pilibhit district, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, northeast of Bareilly, on a tributary of the Ramganga River. It is a rail junction and is linked with ...
standardized form of Tagalog, and one of the two official languages of the Philippines (the other being English). It is a member of the Austronesian language phylum.
any of the terrestrial crustaceans of the families Armadillididae and Armadillidae (order Isopoda). When disturbed, the pill bug rolls itself up into a tiny ball. Like the related sow bug ...
in architecture and building construction, any isolated, vertical structural member such as a pier, column, or post. It may be constructed of a single piece of stone or wood or ...
wooden shelf clock mass-produced in the United States from the second decade of the 19th century onward. The rectangular case is topped by a scroll broken in the centre by ...
a white Holiness church of Methodist antecedence that was organized (1901) in Denver, Colo., U.S., as the Pentecostal Union by Alma Bridwell White, who married a Methodist minister. Her evangelistic ...
(c. 1000), title of a book of reminiscences and impressions by the 11th-century Japanese court lady Sei Shonagon (q.v.). Whether the title was generic and whether Sei Shonagon herself used ...
former American flour miller and food products manufacturer that was acquired by its rival, General Mills, in 2001. Both companies were headquarted in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Through its long history in ...
(Naucrates ductor), widely distributed marine fish of the family Carangidae (order Perciformes). Members of the species are found in the open sea throughout warm and tropical waters.
either of two species of small, slender toothed whales with a round, bulging forehead, a short beaklike snout, and slender, pointed flippers. Pilot whales are about 4-6 metres (13-20 feet) ...
proposed species of extinct hominin (member of the human lineage) whose fossil remains, discovered in England in 1910-12, were later proved to be fraudulent. Piltdown man, whose fossils were sufficiently ...
North American Indians who traditionally lived along the Gila and Salt rivers in Arizona in what was the core area of the prehistoric Hohokam culture (q.v.). The Pima, who speak ...
14th Russian Orthodox patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia. He served as spiritual leader of his church during the final years of official Soviet repression and the subsequent period ...
(genus Anagallis), any of several plants of the primrose family (Primulaceae), consisting of about 30 species of low herbs mostly native to western Europe.
the small, pointed and headed piece of stiff wire used to secure clothing or papers. In mechanical and civil engineering the term pin, or more properly pin fastener, designates a ...
a steel pin, usually cylindrical, that can keep machine parts in proper alignment or fasten them together. The illustration shows several types of pin fasteners in common use.
either of two species of North American ornamental and timber trees belonging to the red oak group of the genus Quercus in the beech family (Fagaceae). The term is especially ...
city in Heilungkiang sheng (province), China, situated on the eastern outskirts of Harbin (Ha-erh-pin). It is the communications centre of a prosperous and productive agricultural district that supplies a large ...
the pine family of conifers, 10 genera of trees (rarely shrubs) native to north temperate regions. Fir (Abies), Keteleeria, Cathaya, Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), hemlock (Tsuga), spruce (Picea), golden larch (Pseudolarix), ...
a picture gallery in either ancient Greece or ancient Rome. The original pinacotheca, which housed the tablets or pictures honouring the gods, formed the left wing of the Propylaea of ...
provincia, western Cuba, bounded on the north by the Gulf of Mexico, on the west by the Yucatan Channel, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by ...
city, capital of Pinar del Rio provincia, western Cuba. Founded in 1775, the city is situated near the base of the Sierra de los Organos. In 1800 it was officially ...
volcano, western Luzon, Philippines, that erupted in 1991 (for the first time in 600 years) and caused widespread devastation. Mount Pinatubo is located about 55 miles (90 km) northwest of ...
earliest of the coin-activated popular electromechanical games, usually found in candy stores, pool halls, drinking establishments, and amusement arcades, some of which, at the height of the game's popularity, were ...
self-constriction of a cylinder of an electrically conducting plasma. When an electric current is passed through a gaseous plasma, a magnetic field is set up that tends to force the ...
(Oct. 27, 1795), agreement between Spain and the United States, fixing the southern boundary of the United States at 31° N latitude and establishing commercial arrangements favourable to the United ...
American Founding Father, political leader, and diplomat whose proposals for a new government-called the Pinckney plan-were largely incorporated into the Federal Constitution drawn up in 1787.
