| pica | 1. <zoology> The genus that includes the magpies. 2. <medicine> A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia. 3. A service-book. See Pie. 4. A size of type next larger than small pica, and smaller than English. This line is printed in pica 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, a size of type next larger than long primer, and smaller than pica. This line is printed in small pica Origin: L. Pica a pie, magpie; in sense 3 prob. Named from some resemblance to the colours of the magpie. Cf. Pie magpie. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| picamar | <chemistry> An oily liquid hydrocarbon extracted from the creosote of beechwood tar. It consists essentially of certain derivatives of pyrogallol. Origin: L. Pix, picis, pitch + amarus bitter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| picapare | <zoology> The finfoot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| picariae | <ornithology> 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. Origin: NL, fr. L. Picus a woodpecker. (01 Mar 1998) |
| picarian | <zoology> Of or pertaining to Picariae. One of the Picariae. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| PICC line | <equipment> A catheter inserted into an arm vein and used for periods of up to three months. This catheter does not need to be surgically implanted and can be inserted at home by a trained nurse. (09 Oct 1997) |
| piccadilly | 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. Origin: OF. Piccagilles the several divisions of pieces fastened together about the brim of the collar of a doublet, a dim. Fr. Sp. Picado, p.p. Of picar to prick. See Pike. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Picchini | Luigi, late 19th century Italian physician. Synonym: Picchini's syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Picchini's syndrome | <syndrome> A form of polyserositis involving the three great serosae in contact with the diaphragm, sometimes also the meninges, tunica vaginalis testis, synovial sheaths, and bursae, caused by the presence of a trypanosome. Synonym: Picchini. (05 Mar 2000) |
| picea | <botany> 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. Origin: L, the pitch pine, from pix, picis, pitch. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| picene | <chemistry> A hydrocarbon (CH) extracted from the pitchy residue of coal tar and petroleum as a bluish fluorescent crystalline substance. See: Piceous. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pichey | <zoology> A Brazilian armadillo (Dasypus minutus); the little armadillo. Alternative forms: pichiy. Origin: Native name. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pichia | Yeast-like ascomycetous fungi of the family saccharomycetaceae, order endomycetales isolated from exuded tree sap. (12 Dec 1998) |
| pichiciago | <zoology> A small, burrowing, South American edentate (Chlamyphorus truncatus), allied to the armadillos. The shell is attached only along the back. Alternative forms: pichyciego. Origin: Native name. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pichinde virus | A species of arenavirus, one of the tacaribe complex viruses, causing a fatal infection in the cricetine rodent oryzomys albigularis. Asymptomatic laboratory infection in humans has been reported. (12 Dec 1998) |