| 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) |