- plica adiposa (anatomy)
joint: The synovial layer: …into the bursal cavity as fatty pads (plicae adiposae); these are wedge-shaped in section, like a meniscus, with the base of the wedge against the fibrous capsule. The fatty pads are large in the elbow, knee, and ankle joints.
- plica circularis (anatomy)
human digestive system: Absorption: These folds, known as plicae circulares, are approximately 5 to 6 cm (2 inches) long and about 3 mm (0.1 inch) thick. Plicae circulares are present throughout the small intestine except in the first portion, or bulb, of the duodenum, which is usually flat and smooth, except for a…
- plica sublingualis (anatomy)
human digestive system: The floor of the mouth: …papilla is a ridge (the plica sublingualis) that marks the upper edge of the sublingual (under the tongue) salivary gland and onto which most of the ducts of that gland open.
- plica vocalis (anatomy)
vocal cord, either of two folds of mucous membrane that extend across the interior cavity of the larynx and are primarily responsible for voice production. Sound is produced by the vibration of the folds in response to the passage between them of air exhaled from the lungs. The frequency of these
- plicae circulares (anatomy)
human digestive system: Absorption: These folds, known as plicae circulares, are approximately 5 to 6 cm (2 inches) long and about 3 mm (0.1 inch) thick. Plicae circulares are present throughout the small intestine except in the first portion, or bulb, of the duodenum, which is usually flat and smooth, except for a…
- plié (ballet movement)
plié, (French: “bent”), knee bend in ballet. It is used in jumps and turns to provide spring, absorb shock, and as an exercise to loosen muscles and to develop balance. Performed in all of the five basic foot positions, pliés may be shallow, so that the dancer’s heels remain on the floor
- plied yarn (textile)
textile: Ply yarns: Ply, plied, or folded, yarns are composed of two or more single yarns twisted together. Two-ply yarn, for example, is composed of two single strands; three-ply yarn is composed of three single strands. In making ply yarns from spun strands, the individual strands…
- Pliekšāns, Jānis (Latvian author)
Rainis was a Latvian poet and dramatist whose works were outstanding as literature and for their assertion of national freedom and social consciousness. From 1891 to 1895 Rainis edited the newspaper Dienas Lapa, aimed at promoting social and class consciousness in the peasantry. Inspired by Marxist
- Pliensbachian Stage (stratigraphy)
Pliensbachian Stage, third of the four divisions of the Lower Jurassic Series, representing all rocks formed worldwide during the Pliensbachian Age, which occurred between 190.8 million and 182.7 million years ago during the Early Jurassic Period. The Pliensbachian Stage overlies the Sinemurian
- pliers (tool)
pliers, hand-operated tool for holding and gripping small articles or for bending and cutting wire. Slip-joint pliers have grooved jaws, and the pivot hole in one member is elongated so that the member can pivot in either of two positions in order to grasp objects of different size in the most
- Plievier, Theodor (German author)
Theodor Plievier was a German war novelist who was one of the first native writers to begin examining Germany’s role in World War II and assessing the national guilt. Plievier was the son of a labourer, and he left home at the age of 17. He led a vagrant life until serving in the German Navy in
- Plimpton 322 (ancient tablet)
number theory: From prehistory through Classical Greece: A Babylonian tablet known as Plimpton 322 (c. 1700 bce) is a case in point. In modern notation, it displays number triples x, y, and z with the property that x2 + y2 = z2. One such triple is 2,291, 2,700, and 3,541, where 2,2912 + 2,7002 = 3,5412. This…
- Plimpton, George (American writer)
Detroit Lions: From Alex Karras to Barry Sanders: …perhaps best remembered for writer George Plimpton’s short tenure with the team as the “last-string” quarterback during the 1963 preseason, an experience recounted in his book Paper Lion (1966) and later in a movie of the same name. Detroit qualified for only one playoff appearance in the 24 years between…
- Plimpton, George Ames (American writer)
Detroit Lions: From Alex Karras to Barry Sanders: …perhaps best remembered for writer George Plimpton’s short tenure with the team as the “last-string” quarterback during the 1963 preseason, an experience recounted in his book Paper Lion (1966) and later in a movie of the same name. Detroit qualified for only one playoff appearance in the 24 years between…
- Plimpton, James (American inventor)
roller-skating: Development of the roller skate: …was designed in 1863 by James Plimpton of Medford, Massachusetts, who broke from the in-line construction and used two parallel pairs of wheels, one set near the heel of the boot and the other near the front. He attached the wheel pairs to the boot using springy carriages known as…
- Plimsoll line (international reference line)
Plimsoll line, internationally agreed-upon reference line marking the loading limit for cargo ships. At the instigation of one of its members, Samuel Plimsoll, a merchant and shipping reformer, the British Parliament, in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1875, provided for the marking of a load line on
- Plimsoll mark (international reference line)
Plimsoll line, internationally agreed-upon reference line marking the loading limit for cargo ships. At the instigation of one of its members, Samuel Plimsoll, a merchant and shipping reformer, the British Parliament, in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1875, provided for the marking of a load line on
- Plimsoll, Samuel (British politician and social reformer)
Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician and social reformer who dedicated himself to achieving greater safety for seamen and whose name has been given to a line on the side of a ship indicating the maximum depth to which that ship may be legally loaded. Plimsoll first entered the House of Commons
- Plinia cauliflora (tree and fruit, Plinia species)
jaboticaba, (Plinia cauliflora), tree of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) and its edible fruits. Jaboticaba is native to southeastern Brazil and has been introduced to other warm regions, including western and southern North America. The fruits can be eaten raw and are commonly used to make wines and
- Plinian eruption (volcanism)
volcano: Six types of eruptions: The Plinian type is an intensely violent kind of volcanic eruption exemplified by the outburst of Mount Vesuvius in Italy in 79 ce that killed the famous Roman scholar Pliny the Elder and was described in an eyewitness account by his nephew, the historian Pliny the…
- plinth (architecture)
plinth, Lowest part, or foot, of a pedestal, podium, or architrave (molding around a door). It can also refer to the bottom support of a piece of furniture or the usually projecting stone coursing that forms a platform for a building. Tall stone plinths are often used to add monumentality to temple
- plinthite (mineral)
Plinthosol: …into ironstone concretions known as plinthite. The impenetrability of the hardened plinthite layer, as well as the fluctuating water table that produces it, restrict the use of these soils to grazing or forestry, although the hardened plinthite has value as subgrade material for roads or even as iron ore (the…
- Plinthosol (FAO soil group)
Plinthosol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Plinthosols form under a variety of climatic and topographic conditions. They are defined by a subsurface layer containing an iron-rich mixture of clay minerals (chiefly kaolinite) and
- Pliny the Elder (Roman scholar)
Pliny the Elder was a Roman savant and author of the celebrated Natural History, an encyclopaedic work of uneven accuracy that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. Pliny was descended from a prosperous family, and he was enabled to complete his studies in Rome. At the age
- Pliny the Younger (Roman author)
Pliny the Younger was a Roman author and administrator who left a collection of private letters that intimately illustrated public and private life in the heyday of the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy family and adopted by his uncle, Pliny the Elder, Pliny began to practice law at age 18. His
- Pliocene Epoch (geochronology)
Pliocene Epoch, second of two major worldwide divisions of the Neogene Period, spanning the interval from about 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch (23 million to 5.3 million years ago) and is further subdivided into two ages and their corresponding rock
- Pliohippus (extinct mammal genus)
Pliohippus, extinct genus of horses that inhabited North America during the Pliocene Epoch (5.3–2.6 million years ago). Pliohippus, the earliest one-toed horse, evolved from Merychippus, a three-toed horse of the preceding Miocene Epoch (23–5.3 million years ago). The teeth of Pliohippus are taller
- Pliopithecidae (fossil primate family)
primate: Miocene: In Europe, an archaic family, Pliopithecidae, was widespread. Remains of the best-known genus, Pliopithecus, from the Czech Republic have provided a remarkably complete picture of the habits of this group, which, on this evidence, appears to have possessed bodily forms of a tailed quadruped retaining numerous characteristics of New World…
- Pliopithecus (fossil mammal genus)
ape: …have yielded such fossils as Pliopithecus, once thought to be related to gibbons but now known to be primitive and long separated from them. Closer to the modern apes are Proconsul, Afropithecus, Dryopithecus, and Sivapithecus, the latter being a possible
- pliosaur (fossil reptile group)
pliosaur, a group of large carnivorous marine reptiles characterized by massive heads, short necks, and streamlined tear-shaped bodies. Pliosaurs have been found as fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (about 200 million to 65.5 million years ago). They are classified in the order
- pliosauroid (fossil reptile group)
pliosaur, a group of large carnivorous marine reptiles characterized by massive heads, short necks, and streamlined tear-shaped bodies. Pliosaurs have been found as fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (about 200 million to 65.5 million years ago). They are classified in the order
- Pliosauroidea (fossil reptile group)
pliosaur, a group of large carnivorous marine reptiles characterized by massive heads, short necks, and streamlined tear-shaped bodies. Pliosaurs have been found as fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (about 200 million to 65.5 million years ago). They are classified in the order
- Pliosaurus funkei (pliosaur)
plesiosaur: …funkei (known colloquially as “Predator X”), was unearthed in Svalbard in 2009. Its length and weight are estimated at 15 metres (about 50 feet) and 45 tonnes (almost 100,000 pounds), respectively. The jaws of this creature are thought to have produced a bite force of 33,000 psi (pound-force per…
- Pliotrema (shark genus)
saw shark: …two genera of saw sharks: Pliotrema, with six pairs of gill openings, and Pristiophorus, with five.
- plique-à-jour (enamelwork)
plique-à-jour, (French: “open to light”), in the decorative arts, technique producing translucent enamels held in an open framework made by soldering individual wires or delicate metal strips to each other, rather than to a supporting surface as in cloisonné. The unattached support, usually a sheet
- Plisetskaya, Maya (Russian ballerina)
Maya Plisetskaya was a Russian prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, admired particularly for her technical virtuosity, expressive use of her arms, and ability to integrate acting with dancing. Plisetskaya, a niece of the dancers Asaf and Sulamith Messerer, studied with Pavel (or Paul)
- Plisetskaya, Maya Mikhaylovna (Russian ballerina)
Maya Plisetskaya was a Russian prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, admired particularly for her technical virtuosity, expressive use of her arms, and ability to integrate acting with dancing. Plisetskaya, a niece of the dancers Asaf and Sulamith Messerer, studied with Pavel (or Paul)
- Plisnier, Charles (Belgian author)
Charles Plisnier was a Belgian novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist noted for his intense, analytical writing. Plisnier was active in leftist politics in his youth. Although trained as a lawyer, he wrote for several left-wing periodicals until he was ejected from the Communist Party he
- Plitvice Lakes (lakes, Croatia)
Plitvička Lakes, continuous chain of 16 lakes and many waterfalls in western Croatia. The chain, 5 miles (8 km) in length, begins with two mountain streams that join near Plitvički Ljeskovac to form the Matica River. The river feeds Lake Prošće, the highest in elevation, and then flows by a number
- Plitvice Lakes National Park (national park, Croatia)
Plitvička Lakes: …are the focal point of Plitvička Lakes National Park, which is also a nature reserve.
- Plitvička Jezera (lakes, Croatia)
Plitvička Lakes, continuous chain of 16 lakes and many waterfalls in western Croatia. The chain, 5 miles (8 km) in length, begins with two mountain streams that join near Plitvički Ljeskovac to form the Matica River. The river feeds Lake Prošće, the highest in elevation, and then flows by a number
- Plitvička Lakes (lakes, Croatia)
Plitvička Lakes, continuous chain of 16 lakes and many waterfalls in western Croatia. The chain, 5 miles (8 km) in length, begins with two mountain streams that join near Plitvički Ljeskovac to form the Matica River. The river feeds Lake Prošće, the highest in elevation, and then flows by a number
- Plitvička Lakes National Park (national park, Croatia)
Plitvička Lakes: …are the focal point of Plitvička Lakes National Park, which is also a nature reserve.
- Plivier, Theodor (German author)
Theodor Plievier was a German war novelist who was one of the first native writers to begin examining Germany’s role in World War II and assessing the national guilt. Plievier was the son of a labourer, and he left home at the age of 17. He led a vagrant life until serving in the German Navy in
- PLM (political party, Montserrat)
Montserrat: History of Montserrat: …election of November 1978, the People’s Liberation Movement (PLM) won all seven seats to the Legislative Council. The party retained its control in 1983, but the opposition gained strength in the 1987 election. The PLM leadership favoured eventual independence after first achieving greater economic self-sufficiency. However, many merchants and other…
- PLM (political party, Mexico)
Mexico: Precursors of revolution: …where they formally organized the Mexican Liberal Party. It was anarcho-syndicalist in orientation, dedicated to the overthrow of the Mexican government and the total renovation of Mexican society.
- PLN (political party, Costa Rica)
Óscar Arias Sánchez: …began working for the social-democratic National Liberation Party (Partido Liberación Nacional; PLN), and in 1972 he was appointed minister of planning in the government of Pres. José Figueres Ferrer, a post he held until 1977. He was elected secretary-general of the PLN in 1979, and in 1986 he won the…
- PLO (Palestinian political organization)
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), umbrella political organization claiming to represent the world’s Palestinians—those Arabs, and their descendants, who lived in mandated Palestine before the creation there of the State of Israel in 1948. It was formed in 1964 to centralize the leadership of
- PLO-Israel accord (Palestinian Liberation Organization-Israel [1993])
Oslo Accords, set of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that established a peace process for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a mutually negotiated two-state solution. The agreements resulted in limited self-governance for Palestinians in the West Bank
- ploce (literature)
ploce, the emphatic repetition of a word, with particular reference to its special significance (as in “a wife who was a wife indeed”). In rhetoric the term signifies the repetition of a word in an altered grammatical function, as in the line “Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death?” from William
- Ploceidae (bird family)
Ploceidae, songbird family, order Passeriformes, including the bishops, weavers, and their allies. The approximately 120 species in this group are native chiefly to Africa, but several have been introduced elsewhere. Ploceids are small, compact birds with short, stout bills. In many species the
- Ploceus cucullatus (bird)
weaver: …species in Africa is the village weaver (Ploceus, formerly Textor, cucullatus). The baya weaver (P. philippinus) is abundant from Pakistan to Sumatra.
- Płock (Poland)
Płock, city, Mazowieckie województwo (province), central Poland, on the Vistula River. First chronicled in the 10th century, Płock is the oldest community in Mazowsze (Mazovia), having served as the seat of Polish rulers from 1079 to 1138. It received town privileges in 1237 and prospered as a
- Plöckenstein (mountain, Czech Republic)
Bohemian Forest: …the Bavarian (western) side and Plechý (Plöckenstein; 4,521 feet [1,378 m]) on the Czech (eastern) side. The Šumava is the source for the Vltava (German: Moldau) River, which cuts a broad trough through part of the region and is a source of hydroelectric power. Forests, both coniferous and deciduous, cover…
- Plocnick, Battle of (Turkish history)
Murad I: …Bosnians stopped the Ottomans at Pločnik, but in 1389 Murad and his son Bayezid (later Bayezid I) defeated them at the first Battle of Kosovo, although Murad was killed by a Serbian noble who pretended to defect to the Ottoman camp.
- Plodia interpunctella (insect)
pyralid moth: The Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) originated in Europe but is now widespread throughout most of the world. The green or white larvae attack flour, grain, dried fruit, nuts, and other food products. The webs that they spin often contain their excrement and foul the infested…
- Plody nauk (poem by Kheraskov)
Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov: His didactic poem Plody nauk (1761; “The Fruits of the Sciences”) was a polemic against Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s attack on scientific progress. Though they were highly respected during the 18th century, Kheraskov’s works were rejected by the 19th century and now are read only by specialists.
- Plody prosveshcheniya (play by Tolstoy)
Konstantin Stanislavsky: …first independent production, Leo Tolstoy’s The Fruits of Enlightenment, in 1891, a major Moscow theatrical event. Most significantly, it impressed a promising writer and director, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (1858–1943), whose later association with Stanislavsky was to have a paramount influence on the er.
- Ploeşti (Romania)
Ploieşti, city, capital of Prahova judeƫ (county), southeastern Romania. It is situated between the valleys of the Prahova and Teleajen rivers, north of Bucharest. According to legend the city was named after its founder, Father Ploaie, an escapee from Transylvania. The city is first documented in
- ploidy (genetics)
ploidy, in genetics, the number of chromosomes occurring in the nucleus of a cell. In normal somatic (body) cells, the chromosomes exist in pairs. The condition is called diploidy. During meiosis the cell produces gametes, or germ cells, each containing half the normal or somatic number of
- Ploieşti (Romania)
Ploieşti, city, capital of Prahova judeƫ (county), southeastern Romania. It is situated between the valleys of the Prahova and Teleajen rivers, north of Bucharest. According to legend the city was named after its founder, Father Ploaie, an escapee from Transylvania. The city is first documented in
- Plombières Agreement (Italian history [1858])
Italy: The war of 1859: …a secret conference held at Plombières, France, in July 1858 he arranged with Emperor Napoleon III for French military intervention in the event of Austrian aggression against Piedmont. Cavour’s goal was the complete expulsion of Austrian troops from the peninsula. In return for this help Piedmont had to cede Savoy…
- Plomer, William (South African writer)
William Plomer was a South African-born British man of letters, whose writing covered many genres: poetry, novels, short stories, memoirs, and even opera librettos. Plomer was educated in England but returned with his family to South Africa after World War I. His experience as an apprentice on a
- Płomienie (work by Brzozowski)
Stanisław Brzozowski: Płomienie (1908; “Flames”), considered Brzozowski’s first mature novel, is a fictional account of the Russian revolutionary movements connected with the secret organization Zemlya i Volya (“Land and Freedom”). The novel Sam wśród ludzi (1911; “Alone Among Men”) is the first volume of what was intended…
- Plomin, Robert (American geneticist)
personality: Genetic aspects: …States, behaviour geneticists such as Robert Plomin report that, in behaviours describable as sociability, impulsiveness, altruism, aggression, and emotional sensitivity, the similarities among monozygotic (identical) twins is twice that among dizygotic (fraternal) twins, with the common environment contributing practically nothing to the similarities. Similar findings are reported for twins reared…
- Plongeur, Le (French submarine)
submarine: Toward diesel-electric power: …officers built the 146-foot submarine Le Plongeur in 1864, powered by an 80-horsepower compressed-air engine, but the craft quickly exhausted its air tanks whenever it got under way. Development of the electric motor finally made electric propulsion practicable. The submarine Nautilus, built in 1886 by two Englishmen, was an all-electric…
- Plongeur-Marin, Le (submarine)
Sebastian Wilhelm Valentin Bauer: …Bauer built his first submarine, Le Plongeur-Marin (“The Marine Diver”), which in February 1851 sank in 50 feet (15 m) of water during a test dive in Kiel Harbour, trapping Bauer and his two crewmen. Although Bauer realized the hatch could be opened when the pressure of the air inside…
- plosive (speech sound)
stop, in phonetics, a consonant sound characterized by the momentary blocking (occlusion) of some part of the oral cavity. A completely articulated stop usually has three stages: the catch (implosion), or beginning of the blockage; the hold (occlusion); and the release (explosion), or opening of
- Plot (poem by Rankine)
Claudia Rankine: …appeared in 1998, followed by Plot (2001), a book-length poem that narrated the experience of pregnancy and childbirth. Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) was an experimental multigenre project that blended poems, essays, and visual imagery in a meditation on death. As a playwright, she was best…
- plot (literature)
plot, in fiction, the structure of interrelated actions, consciously selected and arranged by the author. Plot involves a considerably higher level of narrative organization than normally occurs in a story or fable. According to E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel (1927), a story is a “narrative
- Plot Against America, The (American television miniseries)
Philip Roth: The Plot Against America (2004; TV miniseries 2020) tells a counterhistorical story of fascism in the United States during World War II.
- Plot Against America, The (book by Roth)
Philip Roth: The Plot Against America (2004; TV miniseries 2020) tells a counterhistorical story of fascism in the United States during World War II.
- Plot, Robert (British scientist)
Earth sciences: The rise of subterranean water: …water beneath mountains, the chemist Robert Plot appealed to the pressure of air, which forces water up the insides of mountains. The idea of a great subterranean sea connecting with the ocean and supplying it with water together with all springs and rivers was resurrected in 1695 in John Woodward’s…
- Plotina, Pompeia (Roman aristocrat)
Pompeia Plotina was the wife of the Roman emperor Trajan. She earned great respect in her lifetime by her virtue and her advocation of the people’s interests. During the ceremony of Trajan’s accession, she is supposed to have turned around as she climbed the palace steps and addressed the crowd,
- Plotinus (ancient philosopher)
Plotinus was an ancient philosopher, the centre of an influential circle of intellectuals and men of letters in 3rd-century Rome, who is regarded by modern scholars as the founder of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy. The only important source for the life of Plotinus is the biography that his
- Plotosidae (fish)
ostariophysan: Annotated classification: Family Plotosidae (eeltail catfishes) Lack adipose fin; long anal and caudal fins confluent. Marine, brackish and freshwater, Indo-Pacific. 10 genera, about 35 species. Family Doradidae (thorny catfishes) Overlapping plates cover sides of body. Intestinal modifications for aerial respiration. Aquarium fishes. Generally small, to more than
- Plotosus (fish)
mechanoreception: Ampullary lateral-line organs (electroreceptors): …head of eeltail catfish (Plotosus), a marine bony fish (teleost); the small pit organs of other catfish; structures called mormyromasts in freshwater African fish (mormyrids) and in electric eels (gymnotids); and possible related organs in several other fish groups. These various ampullary
- Plots and Counterplots (novel by Alcott)
Louisa May Alcott: …Behind a Mask (1975) and Plots and Counterplots (1976), and an unpublished Gothic novel written in 1866, A Long Fatal Love Chase, was published in 1995.
- Plott hound (dog)
coonhound: The Plott hound, typically an alert, confident hunter, is brindle, with or without a black saddle marking on its back. The treeing walker, descended from the American foxhound, is white with black-and-tan markings; it is considered a swift, able hunter.
- Plotter (British conspirator)
Robert Ferguson was a Scottish conspirator and pamphleteer known as “the Plotter,” who gave indiscriminate support to the opponents of Charles II and James II and then to the Jacobites against William III. Educated for the Presbyterian ministry, Ferguson went to England in the 1650s and received
- plotter (navigational device)
dead reckoning: …of dead reckoning—such as a plotter (a protractor attached to a straightedge) and computing charts, now chiefly used by operators of smaller vehicles—have been replaced in most larger aircraft and military vessels by one or more dead-reckoning computers, which input direction and speed (wind velocity can be manually inserted). Some…
- Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (work by Highsmith)
Patricia Highsmith: In her Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (1966; revised and enlarged 1981), she held that “art has nothing to do with morality, convention, or moralizing.” Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks, 1941–1995 (edited by Anna von Planta) was published posthumously in 2021.
- Ploucquet, Gottfried (logician)
history of logic: Gottfried Ploucquet: The work of Gottfried Ploucquet (1716–90) was based on the ideas of Leibniz, although the symbolic calculus Ploucquet developed does not resemble that of Leibniz (see illustration). The basis of Ploucquet’s symbolic logic was the sign “>,” which he unfortunately used to indicate…
- Plouffe Family, The (work by Lemelin)
Canadian literature: World War II and the postwar period, 1935–60: Roger Lemelin’s Les Plouffe (1948; The Plouffe Family), a family chronicle set in the poorer quarters of Quebec city, spawned a popular television serial.
- Plouffe, Les (work by Lemelin)
Canadian literature: World War II and the postwar period, 1935–60: Roger Lemelin’s Les Plouffe (1948; The Plouffe Family), a family chronicle set in the poorer quarters of Quebec city, spawned a popular television serial.
- Plougastel Bridge (bridge, France)
Eugène Freyssinet: …in 1930 he completed the Plougastel Bridge across the Elorn River at Brest. With three 612-foot (187-metre) spans, this was the largest reinforced-concrete bridge constructed up to that time.
- plough (agriculture)
plow, most important agricultural implement since the beginning of history, used to turn and break up soil, to bury crop residues, and to help control weeds. The antecedent of the plow is the prehistoric digging stick. The earliest plows were doubtless digging sticks fashioned with handles for
- Plough and the Stars, The (play by O’Casey)
The Plough and the Stars, tragicomedy in four acts by Irish playwright Sean O’Casey, performed and published in 1926. The play is set in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916, and its premiere at the Abbey Theatre sparked rioting by nationalists who felt that it defamed Irish patriots. Among the
- ploughing (agriculture)
plow, most important agricultural implement since the beginning of history, used to turn and break up soil, to bury crop residues, and to help control weeds. The antecedent of the plow is the prehistoric digging stick. The earliest plows were doubtless digging sticks fashioned with handles for
- ploughman’s lunch (food)
ploughman’s lunch, British cold meal, typically served in pubs, consisting of bread, cheese, and assorted accompaniments. It supposedly resembles what a ploughman might have eaten on a midday break in the fields. Although the phrase first appeared in print in the early 19th century, the meal in its
- Ploughman’s Lunch, The (film by Eyre [1983])
Ian McEwan: …including The Imitation Game (1980), The Ploughman’s Lunch (1983), Last Day of Summer (1984), and The Good Son (1993). Several of his screenplays have been adapted from his novels and short stories.
- Ploutos (play by Aristophanes)
Aristophanes: Wealth: The last of Aristophanes’ plays to be performed in his lifetime, Wealth (388 bce; Greek Ploutos; also called “the second Wealth” to distinguish it from an earlier play, now lost, of the same title) is a somewhat moralizing work. It may have inaugurated the…
- Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
Plovdiv, second largest city of Bulgaria, situated in the south-central part of the country. It lies along the Maritsa River and is situated amid six hills that rise from the Thracian Plain to a height of 400 feet (120 metres). Called Pulpudeva in Thracian times, it was renamed Philippopolis in 341
- plover (bird)
plover, any of numerous species of plump-breasted birds of the shorebird family Charadriidae (order Charadriiformes). There are about three dozen species of plovers, 15 to 30 centimetres (6 to 12 inches) long, with long wings, moderately long legs, short necks, and straight bills that are shorter
- plover family (bird family)
charadriiform: Annotated classification: Family Charadriidae (plovers, lapwings) Small to medium-sized birds. Mostly with bold (but often concealing) plumage patterns of solid blacks, gray, browns, and white; many with one or two chest bands. Some with wattles and wing spurs. Bill usually short, with a swollen tip. Legs moderately long…
- plow (agriculture)
plow, most important agricultural implement since the beginning of history, used to turn and break up soil, to bury crop residues, and to help control weeds. The antecedent of the plow is the prehistoric digging stick. The earliest plows were doubtless digging sticks fashioned with handles for
- plow sole (pedology)
agricultural technology: Tilling: …may create a hardpan, or plow sole; that is, a compacted layer just below the zone disturbed by tillage. Such layers are more prevalent with increasing levels of mechanization; they reduce crop yields and must be shattered, allowing water to be stored in and below the shattered zone for later…
- Plow That Broke the Plains, The (film score by Thomson)
The Plow That Broke the Plains, film score by American composer Virgil Thomson for the 1936 Pare Lorentz documentary film of the same name, a project of the United States Resettlement Administration (later called the Farm Security Administration, or FSA). The film, which examined the causes behind
- Plow That Broke the Plains, The (film by Lorentz [1936])
Pare Lorentz: …and the following year Lorentz’ The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) was released. A classic among documentary films, it recounts, with a harmonious blend of poetic images, narrative, and music, the agricultural misuse of the Great Plains that resulted in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Lorentz then wrote…
- Plow, The (constellation)
Ursa Major, in astronomy, a constellation of the northern sky, at about 10 hours 40 minutes right ascension and 56° north declination. It was referred to in the Old Testament (Job 9:9; 38:32) and mentioned by Homer in the Iliad (xviii, 487). The Greeks identified this constellation with the nymph