| plocytic astrocytoma | <tumour> A slowly growing astrocytoma composed histologically of elongated fibrous astrocytes; often located in the optic chiasm or hypothalamus. Synonym: piloid astrocytoma. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| ploidies | The degree of replication of the chromosome set in the karyotype. (12 Dec 1998) |
| ploidy | The number of sets of chromosomes within a cell or organism. Each set is designated n so one set is n is haploid, two sets is 2n is diploid, three sets is 3n is triploid, four sets is 4n is tetraploid, etc. Also, unspecified multiple sets (but more than two) is polyploidy, and extremely large number of sets may be designated by number (for example 15-ploid for fifteen sets). (09 Oct 1997) |
| plombage | Formerly, the use of an inert material in collapse of the lung in the surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Origin: Fr. Lit. Lead-work (05 Mar 2000) |
| plosive | Speech sound made by impounding the air stream for a moment and then suddenly releasing it. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plot | 1. A small extent of ground; a plat; as, a garden plot. 2. A plantation laid out. 3. A plan or draught of a field, farm, estate, etc, drawn to a scale. Origin: AS. Plot; cf. Goth. Plats a patch. Cf. Plat a piece of ground. 1. Any scheme, stratagem, secret design, or plan, of a complicated nature, adapted to the accomplishment of some purpose, usually a treacherous and mischievous one; a conspiracy; an intrigue; as, the Rye-house Plot. "I have overheard a plot of death." (Shak) "O, think what anxious moments pass between The birth of plots and their last fatal periods!" (Addison) 2. A share in such a plot or scheme; a participation in any stratagem or conspiracy. "And when Christ saith. Who marries the divorced commits adultery, it is to be understood, if he had any plot in the divorce." (Milton) 3. Contrivance; deep reach thought; ability to plot or intrigue. "A man of much plot." 4. A plan; a purpose. "No other plot in their religion but serve Got and save their souls." 5. In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. "If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before." (Pope) Synonym: Intrigue, stratagem, conspiracy, cabal, combination, contrivance. Origin: Abbrev. From complot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Plotz bacillus | A small, Gram-positive bacterium suggested as the pathogenic agent of typhus fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Plotz, Harry | <person> U.S. Physician, 1890-1947. See: Plotz bacillus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| plough | 1. A well-known implement, drawn by horses, mules, oxen, or other power, for turning up the soil to prepare it for bearing crops; also used to furrow or break up the soil for other purposes; as, the subsoil plow; the draining plow. "Where fern succeeds ungrateful to the plow." (Dryden) 2. Agriculture; husbandry. 3. A carucate of land; a plowland. "Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five." (Tale of Gamelyn) 4. A joiner's plane for making grooves; a grooving plane. 5. An implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books. 6. <astronomy> Same as Charles's Wain. Ice plow, a plow used for cutting ice on rivers, ponds, etc, into cakes suitable for storing. Mackerel plow. See Mackerel. Plow alms, a penny formerly paid by every plowland to the church. Plow beam, that part of the frame of a plow to which the draught is applied. See Beam. Plow Monday, the Monday after Twelth Day, or the end of Christmas holidays. Plow staff. A kind of long-handled spade or paddle for cleaning the plowshare; a paddle staff. A plow handle. Snow plow, a structure, usually lambda-shaped, for removing snow from sidewalks, railroads, etc, drawn or driven by a horse or a locomotive. Origin: OE. Plouh, plou, AS. Ploh; akin to D. Ploeg, G. Pflug, OHG. Pfluog, pfluoh, Icel. Plogr, Sw. Plog, Dan. Ploug, plov, Russ. Plug', Lith. Plugas. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ploughgate | The Scotch equivalent of the English word plowland. "Not having one plowgate of land." (Sir W. Scott) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ploughman | 1. One who plows, or who holds and guides a plow; hence, a husbandman. 2. A rustic; a countryman; a field laborer. <botany> Plowman's spikenard, a European composite weed (Conyza squarrosa), having fragrant roots. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ploughshare | The share of a plow, or that part which cuts the slice of earth or sod at the bottom of the furrow. <anatomy> Plowshare bone, the pygostyle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| plover | 1. <ornithology> Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadridae, and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrinsae. They are prized as game birds. 2. <zoology> Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers. Among the more important species are the blackbellied, or blackbreasted, plover (Charadrius squatarola) of America and Europe; called also gray plover, bull-head plover, Swiss plover, sea plover, and oxeye; the golden plover (see under Golden); the ring or ringed plover (aegialitis hiaticula). See Ringneck. The piping plover (aegialitis meloda); Wilson's plover (ae. Wilsonia); the mountain plover (ae. Montana); and the semipalmated plover (ae. Semipalmata), are all small American species. <zoology> Bastard plover, the lapwing. Long-legged, or yellow-legged, plover. See Tattler. Plover's page, the dunlin. Rock plover, or Stone plover, the black-bellied plover. Whistling plover. The golden plover. The black-bellied plover. Origin: OF. Plovier, F. Pluvier, prop, the rain bird, fr. LL. (assumed) pluviarius, fr. L. Pluvia rain, from pluere to rain; akin to E. Float, G. Fliessen to flow. See Float. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ploy | To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; the opposite of deploy. Origin: Prob. Abbrev. Fr. Deploy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| ployment | The act or movement of forming a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; the opposite of deployment. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |