| PUM | See Piling unmerchantable material. (05 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| puma | <zoology> A large American carnivore (Felis concolour), found from Canada to Patagonia, especially among the mountains. Its colour is tawny, or brownish yellow, without spots or stripes. Synonym: catamount, cougar, American lion, mountain lion, and panther or painter. Origin: Peruv. Puma. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pume | <zoology> A stint. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pumice | <chemical> A very light porous volcanic scoria, usually of a gray colour, the pores of which are capillary and parallel, giving it a fibrous structure. It is supposed to be produced by the disengagement of watery vapor without liquid or plastic lava. It is much used, especially. In the form of powder, for smoothing and polishing. Synonym: pumice stone. Origin: L. Pumex, pumicis, prob. Akin to spuma foam: cf. AS. Pumic-stan. Cf. Pounce a powder, Spume. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pumiced | <veterinary> Affected with a kind of chronic laminitis in which there is a growth of soft spongy horn between the coffin bone and the hoof wall. The disease is called pumiced foot, or pumice foot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pumiced foot | A condition of the horse's hoof, frequently associated with chronic laminitis, in which the sole is level with or extends beyond the bearing surface of the hoof wall, causing lameness, particularly when the animal moves on hard surfaces; the sole becomes thick and flaky. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pummace | Same as Pomace. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pump | An hydraulic machine, variously constructed, for raising or transferring fluids, consisting essentially of a moving piece or piston working in a hollow cylinder or other cavity, with valves properly placed for admitting or retaining the fluid as it is drawn or driven through them by the action of the piston. For various kinds of pumps, see Air pump, Chain pump, and Force pump; also, under Lifting, Plunger, Rotary, etc. Circulating pump See Well. Origin: Akin to D. Pomp, G. Pumpe, F. Pompe; of unknown origin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pump failure | A term used to emphasize mechanical default of the heart as a pump; in acute myocardial infarction, pump failure signifies congestive heart failure, pulmonary oedema, or cardiogenic shock. Compare: electrical failure. Synonym: power failure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pump lung | In shock, the development of oedema, impaired perfusion, and reduction in alveolar space so that the alveoli collapse. Synonym: pump lung, wet lung, white lung. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pump-oxygenator | A machine that does the work both of the heart (pump blood) and the lungs (oxygenate the blood). Used, for example, in open heart surgery. Blood returning to the heart is diverted through the machine before returning it to the arterial circulation. Also called a heart-lung machine. (12 Dec 1998) |
| pumpernickel | A sort of bread, made of unbolted rye, which forms the chief food of the Westphalian peasants. It is acid but nourishing. Origin: G. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pumpion | <botany> See Pumpkin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pumpkin | <botany> A well-known trailing plant (Cucurbita pepo) and its fruit, used for cooking and for feeding stock; a pompion. Pumpkin seed. The flattish oval seed of the pumpkin. <zoology> The common pondfish. Origin: For older pompion, pompon, OF. Pompon, L. Pepo, peponis, Gr, properly, cooked by the sun, ripe, mellow; so called because not eaten till ripe. Cf. Cook. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |