thumb, short, thick first digit of the human hand and of the lower-primate hand and foot. It differs from other digits in having only two phalanges (tubular bones of the fingers and toes). The thumb also differs in having much freedom of movement and being opposable to tips of other digits. The

Sarah Polley is a Canadian actor, director, writer, and producer who first won acclaim as a child actor, noted for her natural and unaffected performances in Atom Egoyan’s Exotica (1994) and The Sweet Hereafter (1997), among other credits. She later moved behind the camera for a series of acclaimed

cirripede: Importance to humans: polymerus and P. elegans, from the northeastern and tropical eastern Pacific, respectively, are often imported as substitutes. Indians of the American Pacific Northwest consume the large sessile barnacle Balanus nubilus, and the inhabitants of Chile eat yet another large balanid species. In Japan barnacles are used as…

cirripede: Importance to humans: …a local intertidal pedunculate barnacle, Pollicipes pollicipes, is served in gourmet restaurants and occasionally becomes locally depleted. Two related species in the eastern Pacific, P. polymerus and P. elegans, from the northeastern and tropical eastern Pacific, respectively, are often imported as substitutes. Indians of the American Pacific Northwest consume the…

cirripede: Importance to humans: …species in the eastern Pacific, P. polymerus and P. elegans, from the northeastern and tropical eastern Pacific, respectively, are often imported as substitutes. Indians of the American Pacific Northwest consume the large sessile barnacle Balanus nubilus, and the inhabitants of Chile eat yet another large balanid species. In Japan barnacles…

measurement system: Greeks and Romans: 73 inch); the inch (uncia or pollicus), or 112 Roman foot, was 24.67 mm (0.97 inch); and the palm (palmus), or 14 Roman foot, was 74 mm (2.91 inches).

Washington Wizards: …kept until 1995, when owner Abe Pollin renamed the team the Washington Wizards because of the violent overtones of the word bullet.

orchid: Characteristic morphological features: …and viscidium are called the pollinarium.

pollination, transfer of pollen grains from the stamens (the flower parts that produce them) to the ovule-bearing organs or to the ovules (seed precursors) themselves. In gymnosperm plants such as conifers and cycads, in which the ovules are exposed, the pollen is simply caught in a drop of fluid

Blondie: …Panic of Girls (2011), and Pollinator (2017). In 2006 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2024 the U.S. Library of Congress added Parallel Lines to the National Recording Registry, a list of audio recordings deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

telecommunications network: Scheduled access: …TDMA is the process of polling, in which a central controller asks each node in turn if it requires channel access, and a node transmits a packet or message only in response to its poll. “Smart” controllers can respond dynamically to nodes that suddenly become very busy by polling them…

opinion poll, a method for collecting information about the views or beliefs of a given group. Information from an opinion poll can shed light on and potentially allow inferences to be drawn about certain attributes of a larger population. Opinion polls typically involve a sample of respondents,

Maurizio Pollini was an Italian pianist whose combination of intellectual seriousness and extraordinary technical brilliance gave him a unique standing in the concert world. Pollini made his debut at age nine. He graduated from the Milan Conservatory in 1959 and won the Ettore Pozzoli Competition

Gentianales: Apocynaceae: …pollen agglutinated into packets (pollinia) and specialized appendages of the stamens that store nectar and assist in pollination. There is usually an extra set of petal-like structures (corona) between the corolla and the stamens. The anthers unite into a sheath that adheres to the thickened style. A yoke-shaped structure…

Gentianales: Apocynaceae: …pollen agglutinated into packets (pollinia) and specialized appendages of the stamens that store nectar and assist in pollination. There is usually an extra set of petal-like structures (corona) between the corolla and the stamens. The anthers unite into a sheath that adheres to the thickened style. A yoke-shaped structure…

Calabria: …the Apennine Range by the Mount Pollino massif (7,375 feet [2,248 metres]), which is continued southward by the west coast range, which is in turn separated by the Crati River from the extensive La Sila massif (rising to 6,325 feet [1,928 metres]). A narrow isthmus between the gulfs of Sant’Eufemia…

Gaius Asinius Pollio was a Roman orator, poet, and historian who wrote a contemporary history that, although lost, provided much of the material for Appian and Plutarch. Pollio moved in the literary circle of Catullus and entered public life in 56. In 54 he impeached unsuccessfully the tribune C.

Vitruvius was a Roman architect, engineer, and author of the celebrated treatise De architectura (On Architecture), a handbook for Roman architects. Little is known of Vitruvius’ life, except what can be gathered from his writings, which are somewhat obscure on the subject. Although he nowhere

Harry Pollitt was a British Communist, general secretary (1929–39, 1941–56) and chairman (1956–60) of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Pollitt’s father was a factory worker and trade unionist and his mother a weaver. At age 13 (1903) he left school to work in the local textile mill and

tadpole, aquatic larval stage of frogs and toads. Compared with the larvae of salamanders, tadpoles have short oval bodies with broad tails, small mouths, and no external gills. The internal gills are concealed by a covering known as an operculum. Tadpoles undergo a visually striking metamorphosis

Ed Harris: …made his directorial debut with Pollock. His performance resulted in an Oscar nomination for best actor.

pollock, (Pollachius, or Gadus, virens), North Atlantic fish of the cod family, Gadidae. It is known as saithe, or coalfish, in Europe. The pollock is an elongated fish, deep green with a pale lateral line and a pale belly. It has a small chin barbel and, like the cod, has three dorsal and two anal

Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, (1895), U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court voided portions of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 that imposed a direct tax on the incomes of American citizens and corporations, thus declaring the federal income tax unconstitutional. The decision

Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company: Charles Pollock, a citizen of Massachusetts who owned 10 shares of the company’s stock, filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the company from carrying out its stated intention to comply with the act. He lost in the lower courts, but the Supreme Court ruled in…

Jackson Pollock was an American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism, an art movement characterized by the free-associative gestures in paint often called “action painting.” During his lifetime he received widespread publicity and serious recognition for the radical poured,

Jackson Pollock was an American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism, an art movement characterized by the free-associative gestures in paint often called “action painting.” During his lifetime he received widespread publicity and serious recognition for the radical poured,

Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet was an English legal scholar, noted for his History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, 2 vol. (with F.W. Maitland, 1895), and for his correspondence over 60 years with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Pollock was called to the bar in

cesium: …Earth’s crust in the minerals pollucite, rhodizite, and lepidolite. Pollucite (Cs4Al4Si9O26∙H2O) is a cesium-rich mineral resembling quartz. It contains 40.1 percent cesium on a pure basis, and impure samples are ordinarily separated by hand-sorting methods to greater than 25 percent cesium. Large pollucite deposits have been found in Zimbabwe and…

environmental law: The polluter pays principle: Since the early 1970s the “polluter pays” principle has been a dominant concept in environmental law. Many economists claim that much environmental harm is caused by producers who “externalize” the costs of their activities. For example, factories that emit unfiltered exhaust into…

pollution, the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form. The major kinds of pollution, usually

caste: Jatis: …living below the line of pollution. As for “untouchability,” this was declared unlawful in the Indian constitution framed after independence and adopted in 1949–50.

pollution control, in environmental engineering, any of a variety of means employed to limit damage done to the environment by the discharge of harmful substances and energies. Specific means of pollution control might include refuse disposal systems such as sanitary landfills, emission control

pollution in India, environmental contamination in India caused by the addition of volumes of substances at a rate beyond the environment’s ability to absorb them. India faces pollution challenges in air, land, water, and soil resources, with regional challenges of radiation and urban challenges of

green chemistry: …under the auspices of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. This program marked a radical departure from previous EPA initiatives in emphasizing the reduction or elimination of the production of hazardous substances, as opposed to managing these chemicals after they were manufactured and released into the environment. This research program…

Pollux, brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. A reddish giant star, it has an apparent visual magnitude of 1.15. The stars Castor and Pollux are named for the mythological twins. Pollux is 33.7 light-years from Earth. (List of Brightest Stars as Seen from Earth) In 2006 a planet,

Pollux: In 2006 a planet, Pollux b, was discovered. Pollux b has nearly three times the mass of Jupiter, orbits Pollux every 590 days, and is at an average distance of 253 million km (157 million miles).

Julius Pollux was a Greek scholar and rhetorician. The emperor Commodus appointed him to a chair of rhetoric in Athens. He wrote an Onomasticon, a Greek thesaurus of terms. The 10-volume work, which has survived incomplete, contains rhetorical material and technical terms relating to a wide variety

pharming: …generated another pharmed sheep named Polly, a Poll Dorset clone made from nuclear transfer using a fetal fibroblast nucleus genetically engineered to express a human gene known as FIX. This gene encodes a substance called human factor IX, a clotting factor that occurs naturally in most people but that is…

John Gay: The production of its sequel, Polly, was forbidden by the lord chamberlain (doubtless on Walpole’s instructions); but the ban was an excellent advertisement for the piece, and subscriptions for copies of the printed edition made more than £1,000 profit for the author. (It was eventually produced in 1777, when it…

Abby Morton Diaz: Morning (1880), Jimmyjohns (1881), Polly Cologne (1881), and Bybury to Beacon Street (1887).

Anita Loos: Woman (1920), Dangerous Business (1920), Polly of the Follies (1922), and Learning to Love (1925). They also wrote two books, Breaking Into the Movies (1919) and How to Write Photoplays (1921), and on her own Loos wrote two plays for Broadway, The Whole Town’s Talking (filmed 1926) and The Fall…

Pollyanna: of Eleanor Hodgman Porter’s novel Pollyanna (1913).

Jane Wyman: …few more motion pictures, including Pollyanna (1960), and occasional guest appearances on television. Wyman returned to prominence and found a new audience with the TV series Falcon Crest (1981–90), in which she starred as the domineering matriarch Angela Channing, owner of a California winery.

Mary Pickford: Pickford’s popularity continued unabated in Pollyanna (1920), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921), Little Annie Rooney (1925), My Best Girl (1927), Coquette (1929; her first talking picture), The Taming of the Shrew (1929; her only film with Fairbanks), and Kiki (1931). Although she won an Academy Award for best actress for

Pollyanna, fictional character, the orphaned but ever-optimistic heroine of Eleanor Hodgman Porter’s novel Pollyanna

tadpole, aquatic larval stage of frogs and toads. Compared with the larvae of salamanders, tadpoles have short oval bodies with broad tails, small mouths, and no external gills. The internal gills are concealed by a covering known as an operculum. Tadpoles undergo a visually striking metamorphosis

stringed instrument: The violin family: …violin may have been the polnische Geige (Polish fiddle), mentioned as early as 1545 by German composer and teacher Martin Agricola and later by German composer and theorist Michael Praetorius.

Mikhail Lomonosov: The publication of his Polnoye sobraniye sochineny (“Complete Works”) in 1950–83 by Soviet scholars has revealed the full contributions of Lomonosov, who has long been misunderstood by historians of science.

polo, game played on horseback between two teams of four players each who use mallets with long, flexible handles to drive a wooden ball down a grass field and between two goal posts. It is the oldest of equestrian sports. A game of Central Asian origin, polo was first played in Persia (Iran) at

polo: Polo ponies.: Restrictions on size were removed after World War I, and the term pony is purely traditional. The mount is a full-sized horse and should have docility, speed, endurance, and intelligence. The pony is judged to be 60 to 75 percent of a player’s…

Carmen Polo de Franco was a Spanish consort who was thought to be the force behind many of the religious and social strictures imposed on Spain during the repressive regime of her husband, Francisco Franco (1939–75). She was born into a middle-class provincial family and had a strict Roman Catholic

Marco Polo: Polo’s journey to Asia: Niccolò and Maffeo remained in Venice anticipating the election of a new pope, but in 1271, after two years of waiting, they departed with Marco for the Mongol court. In Acre (now in Israel) the papal legate, Teobaldo of Piacenza, gave them letters for the Mongol emperor.…

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and adventurer who traveled from Europe to Asia in 1271–95, remaining in China for 17 of those years. His Il milione (“The Million”), known in English as the Travels of Marco Polo, is a classic of travel literature. Polo’s way was paved by the pioneering efforts

Marco Polo: Polo’s journey to Asia: Niccolò and Maffeo remained in Venice anticipating the election of a new pope, but in 1271, after two years of waiting, they departed with Marco for the Mongol court. In Acre (now in Israel) the papal legate, Teobaldo of Piacenza, gave them letters for the…

Polochic River, river in eastern Guatemala. Its major headstreams arise in the Chamá and Minas mountain ranges. Flowing eastward for 150 miles (240 km), it forms a delta in Lake Izabal, south of the town of El Estor. The Polochic is navigable as far upstream as Panzós; its principal cargo traffic

polocrosse, equestrian team sport that combines the disparate sports of polo and lacrosse. Polocrosse riders use a lacrosselike stick (racquet) with a netted head for carrying, catching, bouncing, and throwing an approximately four-inch (10-cm) rubber ball. The objective is to score goals by

fusion reactor: Toroidal confinement: …the torus, and (2) a poloidal component directed the short way around the machine. Both components are necessary for the plasma to be in stable equilibrium. If the poloidal field were zero, so that the field lines were simply circles wrapped about the torus, then the plasma would not be…

Polokwane, city, capital of Limpopo province, South Africa. It is located about midway between Pretoria and the Zimbabwe border, at an elevation of 4,199 feet (1,280 metres). It was founded by Voortrekkers (Afrikaans: “Pioneers”) in 1886 on land purchased in 1884 from a local farmer and named

Daniel Of Kiev was the earliest known Russian travel writer, whose account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land is the earliest surviving record in Russian of such a trip. As the abbot of a Russian monastery, he visited Palestine probably during 1106–07. His narrative begins at Constantinople; from

polonaise, in dance, dignified ceremonial dance that from the 17th to 19th century often opened court balls and other royal functions. Likely once a warrior’s triumphal dance, it was adopted by the Polish nobility as a formal march as early as 1573 for the coronation of Henry of Anjou as king of

polonaise, in clothing, a coatlike dress, originally worn by Polish women, that was extremely popular in the 1770s and 1780s in western Europe and North America. It consisted of a fitted bodice with a full skirt, draped in front from the waist and caught up on either side at the back, so that it

Polonaise carpet, any of various handwoven floor coverings with pile of silk, made in Eṣfahān and other weaving centres of Persia in the late 16th and 17th centuries, at first for court use and then commercially. Because the first examples of this type to be exhibited publicly in Europe in the 19th

Frédéric Chopin: Life: At seven he wrote a Polonaise in G Minor, which was printed, and soon afterward a march of his appealed to the Russian grand duke Constantine, who had it scored for his military band to play on parade. Other polonaises, mazurkas, variations, ecossaises, and a rondo followed, with the result…

polonaise, in clothing, a coatlike dress, originally worn by Polish women, that was extremely popular in the 1770s and 1780s in western Europe and North America. It consisted of a fitted bodice with a full skirt, draped in front from the waist and caught up on either side at the back, so that it

polonaise, in dance, dignified ceremonial dance that from the 17th to 19th century often opened court balls and other royal functions. Likely once a warrior’s triumphal dance, it was adopted by the Polish nobility as a formal march as early as 1573 for the coronation of Henry of Anjou as king of

polonium (Po), a radioactive, silvery-gray or black metallic element of the oxygen group (Group 16 [VIa] in the periodic table). The first element to be discovered by radiochemical analysis, polonium was discovered in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie, who were investigating the radioactivity of a

alpha decay: Thus polonium-210 (mass number 210 and atomic number 84, i.e., a nucleus with 84 protons) decays by alpha emission to lead-206 (atomic number 82).

Polonius, fictional character, councillor to King Claudius and the father of Ophelia and Laertes in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet (written c. 1599–1601). He is especially known for his maxim-filled speech (“Neither a borrower nor a lender be”). His meddling garrulousness eventually costs him

Ukraine: Social changes: …century became increasingly prone to Polonization, a process often initiated by education in Jesuit schools and conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Polonnaruwa, town, north-central Sri Lanka (Ceylon), near the Mahaweli River. It is an ancient capital that was long deserted but has been revived in modern times. Polonnaruwa (Polonnaruva) became the residence of Sri Lanka’s kings in 368 ce and succeeded Anuradhapura as the capital in the 8th

Polonnaruwa, town, north-central Sri Lanka (Ceylon), near the Mahaweli River. It is an ancient capital that was long deserted but has been revived in modern times. Polonnaruwa (Polonnaruva) became the residence of Sri Lanka’s kings in 368 ce and succeeded Anuradhapura as the capital in the 8th

Polatsk, city, Vitsyebsk oblast (region), Belarus. It is situated on the Western Dvina River at its confluence with the Polota. Polatsk, first mentioned in 862, has always been a major trading centre and an important fortress with a remarkably stormy history. Modern Polatsk and its satellite town,

Fyodor III: …in Polish and Latin by Simeon Polotsky, a noted theologian who had studied in Kiev and Poland. When Alexis died, Fyodor ascended the throne (Jan. 19 [Jan. 29], 1676), but his youth and poor health prevented him from actively participating in the conduct of government affairs. His uncle Ivan B.…

Fyodor III: …in Polish and Latin by Simeon Polotsky, a noted theologian who had studied in Kiev and Poland. When Alexis died, Fyodor ascended the throne (Jan. 19 [Jan. 29], 1676), but his youth and poor health prevented him from actively participating in the conduct of government affairs. His uncle Ivan B.…

Aleksandr Borodin: …Prince Igor contains the often-played “Polovtsian Dances.” He also found time to write two string quartets, a dozen remarkable songs, the unfinished Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, and his tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia.

Kipchak, a loosely organized Turkic tribal confederation that by the mid-11th century occupied a vast, sprawling territory in the Eurasian Steppe, stretching from north of the Aral Sea westward to the region north of the Black Sea. Some tribes of the Kipchak confederation probably originated near

Ernestine Rose was a Polish-born American reformer and suffragist, an active figure in the 19th-century women’s rights, antislavery, and temperance movements. Born in the Polish ghetto to the town rabbi and his wife, Ernestine Potowski received a better education and more freedom than was typical

Emancipation Manifesto: (The acts were collectively called Statutes Concerning Peasants Leaving Serf Dependence, or Polozheniya o Krestyanakh Vykhodyashchikh iz Krepostnoy Zavisimosty.)

Cornwall: Ives, Newquay, and Polperro—are busy resorts. Cornwall is a favourite county for second homes and retirement, which, together, are causing basic changes in the social structure of rural areas. Many coastal towns—notably Falmouth, Penzance, and Fowey—are active ports.

polska: …19th-century offshoot of the gammal polska. The Norwegian dance analogous to the Swedish polska is the pols.

polska, (Swedish: Polish), Scandinavian folk dance originating in the 16th century, possibly influenced by Polish courtly dances. Polska in Finland refers nonspecifically to many dances in 34 time, both for individual couples and for sets of several couples. In Sweden the polska is a turning dance

Poland, country of central Europe. Poland is located at a geographic crossroads that links the forested lands of northwestern Europe and the sea lanes of the Atlantic Ocean to the fertile plains of the Eurasian frontier. Now bounded by seven nations, Poland has waxed and waned over the centuries,

Warsaw: Education: …of the headquarters of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which coordinates research in both physical and social sciences through a number of institutes and industrial establishments. The Technical University of Warsaw and the University of Warsaw are notable institutions. Major libraries include the library (established in 1817) of the University…

Poland: Political process: …Poland was governed by the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP; Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza), the country’s communist party, which was modeled on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The postwar government was run as a dual system in which state organs were controlled by parallel organs of the PUWP.…

Poland, country of central Europe. Poland is located at a geographic crossroads that links the forested lands of northwestern Europe and the sea lanes of the Atlantic Ocean to the fertile plains of the Eurasian frontier. Now bounded by seven nations, Poland has waxed and waned over the centuries,

Poland, country of central Europe. Poland is located at a geographic crossroads that links the forested lands of northwestern Europe and the sea lanes of the Atlantic Ocean to the fertile plains of the Eurasian frontier. Now bounded by seven nations, Poland has waxed and waned over the centuries,

Poland: Political process: …Poland was governed by the Polish United Workers’ Party (PUWP; Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza), the country’s communist party, which was modeled on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The postwar government was run as a dual system in which state organs were controlled by parallel organs of the PUWP.…

Poland: Railways: The railways, administered by the Polish State Railways (Polskie Koleje Państwowe), began the process of privatization in the early 21st century. Light rail is available to commuters in more than a dozen cities.

Władysław Gomułka: …the struggle to crush the Polish Peasant Party (PSL), and he was a strong advocate of the merger, on communist terms, of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and the PPR. At the same time, however, he came out against forcible collectivization of agriculture and spoke favourably of the socialist tradition.…

Poltava, city, east-central Ukraine. It lies along the Vorskla River. Archaeological evidence dates the city from the 8th to the 9th century, although the first documentary reference is from 1174, when it was variously known as Oltava or Ltava. Destroyed by the Tatars in the early 13th century, it

Battle of Poltava, (June 27 [July 8, New Style], 1709), the decisive victory of Peter I the Great of Russia over Charles XII of Sweden in the Great Northern War. The battle ended Sweden’s status as a major power and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in eastern Europe. It was fought north

poltergeist, (from German Polter, “noise” or “racket”; Geist, “spirit”), in occultism, a disembodied spirit or supernatural force credited with certain malicious or disturbing phenomena, such as inexplicable noises, sudden wild movements, or breakage of household items. Poltergeists are also blamed

Colin Wilson: …for Wilhelm Reich (1981), and Poltergeist! (1981).

Ashgabat, city and capital of Turkmenistan. It lies in an oasis at the northern foot of the Kopet-Dag (Turkmen: Köpetdag) Range and on the edge of the Karakum (Turkmen: Garagum) Desert, about 19 miles (30 km) from the Iranian frontier. It was founded in 1881 as a Russian military fort and took the

poludnitsa, in Slavic mythology, female field spirit, generally seen either as a tall woman or a girl dressed in white. The poludnitsa customarily appears in the field at noon, when the workers are resting from their labours. Any human who dares upset her traditional visit risks his health and his

Kamchatka Peninsula, peninsula in far eastern Russia, lying between the Sea of Okhotsk on the west and the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea on the east. It is about 750 miles (1,200 km) long north-south and about 300 miles (480 km) across at its widest; its area is approximately 140,000 square miles

Kanin Peninsula, peninsula in Arkhangelsk oblast (province), northwestern Russia. It separates the White Sea to the west from the Cheshskaya Guba (Bay), a gulf of the Barents Sea, to the east. It has an area of about 4,000 sq mi (10,500 sq km). Except in the north, where the Kanin Kamen runs

Rybachy Peninsula, peninsula in the northwestern part of the Murmansk oblast (province), northwestern Russia, jutting into the Barents Sea. Its most northerly point is Cape Nemetsky. Geologically, the peninsula is strikingly different from the rest of the Kola Peninsula, from which it is separated

Yamal Peninsula, Arctic lowland region in northwestern Siberia, west-central Russia. It is bounded on the west by the Kara Sea and Baydarata Bay, on the east and southeast by the Gulf of Ob, and on the north by the Malygina Strait. The peninsula has a total length of 435 miles (700 km), a maximum

directing: 19th-century directing: …speech by an actor named Polus. It is a reasonable assumption that, from the beginning of the existence of an acting profession, it became customary for the most experienced performers to give advice and instruction to their less experienced colleagues: actors are seldom as confident as their performances can suggest,…