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pitcher plant: any carnivorous plant with pitcher-shaped leaves. Old World pitcher plants are members of the family Nepenthaceae (order Nepenthales; q.v.). New World pitcher plants belong to the family Sarraceniaceae (q.v.; order ...
Pitcher, Molly: heroine of the Battle of Monmouth Court House during the U.S. War of Independence.
pitchstone: a volcanic glass with a conchoidal fracture (like glass), a resinous lustre, and a variable composition. Its colour may be mottled, streaked, or uniform brown, red, green, gray, or black. ...
Pitea: town and port, lan (county) of Norrbotten, northern Sweden. It lies along the Pite River near its outlet on the Gulf of Bothnia. The town was originally chartered at Ojebyn ...
Pitesti: city, capital of Arges judet (county), south-central Romania. It lies 70 miles (110 km) northwest of Bucharest and is situated in the Arges River valley, there sheltered by surrounding hills. ...
Pithecanthropus: former genus name assigned to fossil hominids including Java man (q.v.) and Peking man (q.v.), both now classified as Homo erectus.
Pithom: ancient Egyptian city located near Ismailia in al-Isma'iliyah muhafazah (governorate). Mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 1:11) as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, it ...
Pithoragarh: city, northern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies east of Almora, on a ridge of the Himalayan foothills. The surrounding area lies entirely within the Himalayan Range and is ...
Pithou, Pierre: lawyer and historian who was one of the first French scholars to collect and analyze source material of France's history.
Pitkin glass: a glassware originating from a glasshouse established by the Pitkin family in East Hartford (now Manchester), Conn., in 1783 and active until c. 1830.
Pitman shorthand: system of rapid writing based on the sounds of words (i.e., the phonetic principle) rather than on conventional spellings. Invented by Sir Isaac Pitman, an English educator, the Pitman shorthand ...
Pitman, Sir Isaac: English educator and inventor of the shorthand system named for him.
Pitney, Gene: American singer and songwriter known for dramatic pop balladry. Pitney first gained success as a songwriter with hits such as Hello Mary Lou (recorded by Rick Nelson ...
Pitney, Mahlon: associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1912-22).
Pitoeff, Georges: Russian-born director and producer, noted for his popularization in France of the works of contemporary foreign playwrights, especially Pirandello, Shaw, Chekhov, Schnitzler, and O'Neill. He was a member of the ...
Pitot, Henri: French hydraulic engineer and inventor of the pitot tube, which measures flow velocity.
pitr: in Hinduism, any of the spirits of the dead ancestors or of all the dead who have been cremated or buried in accordance with the proper rites. In the Vedas, ...
Pitt, Thomas: British merchant whose involvement in the East India trade brought him into conflict with the English East India Company; later, the company made him governor of Madras, India. Pitt was ...
Pitt, William, the Elder: British statesman, twice virtual prime minister (1756-61, 1766-68), who secured the transformation of his country into an imperial power.
Pitt, William, The Younger: British prime minister (1783-1801, 1804-06) during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He had considerable influence in strengthening the office of the prime minister.
Pitt-Rivers, Augustus Henry Lane-Fox: archaeologist often called the "father of British archaeology," who stressed the need for total excavation of sites, thorough stratigraphic observation and recording, and prompt and complete publication. Like Sir Flinders ...
pitta: any of about 23 species of Old World birds constituting the family Pittidae. All are stub tailed, long legged, and short necked. They have a rather stout bill and are ...
Pittacus Of Mytilene: statesman and sage who is known as one of the Seven Wise Men of ancient Greece. He collaborated with the brothers of the poet Alcaeus in the overthrow of the ...
pitted shell turtle: (species Carettochelys insculpta), any member of a single species in the turtle family Carettochelyidae. The species lives in rivers in southern New Guinea and in a limited region in northern ...
Pittosporaceae: family of nine genera of trees, shrubs, or vinelike plants, in the order Rosales, distributed from tropical Africa to the Pacific islands. Members of the family have long, leathery, evergreen ...
Pittsburg: city, Crawford county, southeastern Kansas, U.S., near the Missouri border. Laid out in 1876, it developed as a zinc- and coal-mining town and railroad centre and was named after Pittsburgh, ...
Pittsburg State University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Pittsburg, Kan., U.S. It comprises the College of Arts and Sciences, Gladys A. Kelce School of Business, the School of Education, and the ...
Pittsburgh: city, seat (1788) of Allegheny county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. The city is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which unite at the point of the "Golden ...
Pittsburgh glass: American glassware produced from the end of the 18th century at numerous factories in that Pennsylvania city. Pittsburgh had the twin advantages of proximity to a source of cheap fuel ...
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: American symphony orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pa. It was founded as the Pittsburgh Orchestra in 1896; its first conductor was Frederick Archer (1896-98). Music director Victor Herbert (1898-1904) was followed ...
Pittsburgh, University of: coeducational state system of higher learning in Pennsylvania, U.S., comprising a main campus in Pittsburgh and branches in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville. The Pittsburgh campus is a comprehensive research ...
Pittsfield: city, Berkshire county, western Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the headstreams of the Housatonic River, in the Berkshire Hills, 55 miles (88 km) northwest of Springfield. Settled in 1752 as ...
pituitary gland: one of the endocrine (ductless) glands that secrete their hormones directly into the bloodstream. The term hypophysis (from the Greek, "lying under") refers to the gland's position on the underside ...
Piura: department (formed 1861) of northern Peru, consisting of coastal desert, particularly in the west and south, and low, forested Andean mountains in the east. It is drained by the Chira ...
Piura: capital of Piura department, northwestern Peru, on the Piura River in the warm coastal desert. San Miguel de Piura was the first city founded (1532) in Peru by the conquistador ...
Pius I, Saint: Latin pope from c. 140 to 155.
Pius II: outstanding Italian humanist and astute politician who as pope (reigned 1458-64) tried to unite Europe in a crusade against the Turks at a time when they threatened to overrun all ...
Pius III: Italian pope during 1503.
Pius IV: Italian pope (1559-65) who concluded the Council of Trent.
Pius IX: Italian head of the Roman Catholic church whose pontificate (1846-78) was the longest in history and was marked by a transition from liberalism to conservatism. Notable events of his reign ...
Pius V, Saint: Italian ascetic, reformer, and relentless persecutor of heretics, whose papacy (1566-72) marked one of the most austere periods in Roman Catholic church history. During his reign, the Inquisition was successful ...
Pius VI: Italian pope from 1775 to 1799, whose tragic pontificate was the longest of the 18th century.
Pius VII: Italian pope from 1800 to 1823, whose dramatic conflicts with Napoleon led to a restoration of the church after the armies of the French Revolution had devastated the papacy under ...
Pius VIII: Italian pope from March 1829 to November 1830.
Pius X, Saint: Italian pope from 1903 to 1914, whose staunch political and religious conservatism dominated the early 20th-century church.
Pius XI: Italian pope from 1922 to 1939, one of the most important modern pontiffs whose motto "the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ" illustrated his work to construct a ...
Pius XII: head of the Roman Catholic church, who had a long, tumultuous, and controversial pontificate (1939-58). During his reign the papacy confronted the ravages of World War II (1939-45), the abuses ...
pivot joint: in vertebrate anatomy, a joint that allows only rotary movement. It is exemplified by the joint between the atlas and the axis (first and second cervical vertebrae), directly under the ...
Pixerecourt, Guilbert de: astonishingly prolific dramatist who delighted popular audiences in Paris with a succession of more than a hundred plays during the first third of the 19th century. These were performed in ...
pixie: in the folklore of southwestern England, tiny elflike spirit or mischievous fairy dressed in green who dances in the moonlight to the music of frogs and crickets. Its favourite pastimes ...
Piye: king of Cush (or Kush, in the Sudan) from about 750 to about 719 BC. He invaded Egypt from the south and ended the petty kingdoms of the 23rd dynasty ...
piyyut: ("liturgical poem"), one of several types of liturgical compositions or religious poems, some of which have been incorporated into Jewish liturgy and have become virtually indistinguishable from the mandatory service, ...
Pizarro, Francisco: Spanish conqueror of the Inca empire and founder of the city of Lima.
Pizarro, Gonzalo: Spanish conqueror and explorer and leader of antiroyal forces in Peru. Pizarro is considered by some historians to be the leader of the first genuine struggle by colonists for independence ...
pizza: dish of Neapolitan origin consisting of a flattened disk of bread dough topped with olive oil, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese, baked quickly and served hot. Pizza is now eaten throughout ...
PL Kyodan: religious group or church (Japanese: kyodan) founded in Japan in 1946 by Miki Tokuchika. The movement, unique for the use of English words in its name, is based on the ...
Plaatje, Solomon Tshekiso: linguist, journalist, politician, statesman, and writer whose mind and activities ranged widely both in literary and in African affairs. His native tongue was Tswana, the chief language of Botswana, but ...
Place, Francis: British radical reformer, best-known for his successful campaign for the repeal in 1824 of the antiunion Combination Acts.
placenta: in zoology, the vascular (supplied with blood vessels) organ in most mammals that unites the fetus to the uterus of the mother. It mediates the metabolic exchanges of the developing ...
placenta: in botany, the surface of the carpel (highly modified leaf) to which the ovules (potential seeds) are attached. The placenta is usually located in a region corresponding somewhat to the ...
placenta accreta: abnormal adherence of the placenta to the wall of the uterus, so that it remains in the uterus after the baby has been delivered. Although uncommon, placenta accreta poses serious ...
placenta praevia: implantation of the placenta at a point so low in the uterus that the placenta is close to the opening into the cervix or covers the opening, either partially or ...
placentae abruptio: premature separation of the placenta from its normal implantation site in the uterus. The placenta is the temporary organ that develops during pregnancy to nourish the fetus and carry away ...
placental infarction: formation of yellowish white or bloodstained deposits of fibrin (a fibrous protein) on the surface or in the substance of the placenta, the temporary organ that develops during pregnancy to ...
placental mammal: any member of the mammalian group (cohort Placentalia) characterized by the presence of a placenta, which facilitates exchange of nutrients and wastes between the blood of the mother and that ...
Placentia: town, southeastern Newfoundland, Canada. It lies along the Avalon Peninsula and the east shore of Placentia Bay. Basque fishermen arrived in the 16th century and probably named the site for ...
placer deposit: natural concentration of heavy minerals caused by the effect of gravity on moving particles. When heavy, stable minerals are freed from their matrix by weathering processes, they are slowly washed ...
placer mining: oldest method of recovering gold from alluvial deposits-i.e., gold-bearing sands and gravel that settle out from rapidly moving streams and rivers at points where they slow down. Placer mining takes ...
Placetas: city, east central Villa Clara province, central Cuba. Placetas is a commercial and manufacturing centre for the rich agricultural and pastoral hinterland. Tobacco, sugarcane, fruits, and cattle are processed in ...
Placide, Alexander: French-born U.S. dancer, mime, acrobat, and impresario who produced in the U.S. such diverse and novel entertainment as ballets, pantomime dramas, patriotic pageants, fencing matches, and bird imitations.
Placidia, Aelia Galla: Roman empress, the daughter of the emperor Theodosius I (ruled 379-395), sister of the Western emperor Flavius Honorius (ruled 393-423), wife of the Western emperor Constantius III (ruled 421), and ...
placoderm: any member of an extinct class (Placodermi) of primitive fishes known only from fossil remains. Placoderms existed throughout the Devonian period (408,000,000-360,000,000 years ago), but only two species persisted into ...
Plafond: (French: Ceiling), French card game popular in Europe in the 1920s, a predecessor of Contract Bridge. Trick values and scoring were as in Auction Bridge except that, as in Contract ...
plagiarism: the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as one's own. The fraudulence is closely related to forgery and piracy-practices generally in violation of copyright ...
plagioclase: any member of the series of abundant feldspar minerals usually occurring as light-coloured, glassy, transparent to translucent, brittle crystals. Plagioclase is a mixture of albite (Ab), or sodium aluminosilicate (NaAlSi₃O₈), ...
plague: infectious fever caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis, a bacterium transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected fleas. Plague was the cause of some ...