(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20080828152606/http://www.britannica.com:80/bps/browse/alpha/p/114
Remember me
A-Z Browse

A-Z Browse

  • Po Hai (gulf, China)
    shallow northwestern arm of the Yellow Sea, off the northern coast of China. It is enclosed by the Liaodong Peninsula (northeast) and the Shandong Peninsula (south). The Gulf of Liaodong to the northeast and Laizhou Bay to the south are generally considered part of the Bo Hai. Within these limits, the gulf’s maximum...
  • P’o-hai (ancient state, China)
    state established in the 8th century among the Tungusic-speaking peoples of northern Manchuria (Northeast Provinces) and northern Korea by a former Korean general, Tae Cho-yang. The ruling class consisted largely of the former aristocrats of Koguryŏ, which had occupied most of northern Korea and Manchuria before it was conquered by the state of Silla in 668. Parhae was co...
  • Po Hsing-chien (Chinese writer)
    ...adventures, of the mysterious and supernatural, and of imaginary incidents and fictionalized history. Among the 9th-century writers of such prose romances were Han Yü’s pupil Shen Ya-chih and Po Hsing-chien, younger brother of the poet Po Chü-i. These prose romances, generally short, were written in the classical prose style for the amusement of the literati and did not rea...
  • po-keno (gambling game)
    gambling game played with cards (tickets) bearing numbers in squares, usually from 1 to 80. A player marks or circles as many of these numbers as he wishes up to the permitted maximum, after which he hands in, or registers, his ticket and pays according to how many numbers he selected. At regular daily intervals a total of 20 numbered balls or pellets are randomly drawn from a container, and prize...
  • p’o-mo (Chinese painting)
    either of two different phrases (two different Chinese characters are pronounced po) that describe two kinds of textured surface given to Chinese paintings (see cun). The more common interpretation of pomo is “broken ink,” which, though it is now difficult to identify, was s...
  • Po River (river, Italy)
    longest river in Italy, rising in the Monte Viso group of the Cottian Alps on Italy’s western frontier and emptying into the Adriatic Sea in the east after a course of 405 miles (652 km). Its drainage basin covers 27,062 square miles (70,091 square km), forming Italy’s widest and most fertile plain....
  • Po-se (China)
    city in western Kwangsi Chuang autonomous ch’ü (region), China. It lies along the Yu River, which flows southeast to Nan-ning, and is situated at its junction with its tributary, the Ssu-ch’eng River. It is at the limit of navigation on the Yu River for small craft and is also at the centre of a highway network radiating to the north and west. Transport routes also lead...
  • Po-shan (China)
    industrial city and municipality (shih), central Shantung province (sheng), China. The core of the present municipality was formed by amalgamating the two counties (hsien) of Tzu-ch’eng (Tzu-ch’uan) and Po-shan, which together form the richest coal field and mining area in the province. Tzu-ch’eng was an old-established city and administrative centre. Pan-...
  • po-shan hsiang-lu (Chinese incense burner)
    Chinese bronze censer common in the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220). Censers (vessels made for burning incense) of this type were made to represent the form of the Bo Mountain (Bo Shan), a mythical land of immortality....
  • Po Valley (region, Italy)
    The Lombards seem to have settled largely in the region to the north of the Po River, the area with the majority of Lombard place-names and Germanic-style archaeological finds (mostly from cemetery sites). But even there Lombards must have been a minority, and they must have been even more so farther south. There were probably few concentrations of Germanic settlers entirely immune to Roman......
  • P’o-yang Hu (lake, China)
    largest freshwater lake in China, located in northern Jiangxi province, in the southeastern part of the country. It lies in a structural depression south of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) and is fed by various rivers from Jiangxi, the most important being the Gan River, which drains almost the whole of the province. Lake ...
  • Poa (plant)
    in botany, any of many lawn, pasture, and forage grasses of the genus Poa (family Poaceae). About 250 species are found in temperate and cool climates. They are slender annuals and perennials, usually with small spikelets lacking bristles and arranged in open clusters. The narrow leaf blades have boatshaped tips....
  • Poa annua (plant)
    ...Kentucky bluegrass in appearance and use. Texas bluegrass (P. arachnifera), mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and plains bluegrass (P. arida) are important western forage grasses. Annual bluegrass (P. annua), a small, light-green species, is a European introduction that has spread throughout North America; it is considered a pest in lawns....
  • Poa arachnifera (plant)
    ...form a good sod. Canada bluegrass (P. compressa), native to Europe and now common in North America, is a wiry plant with flat stems, similar to Kentucky bluegrass in appearance and use. Texas bluegrass (P. arachnifera), mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and plains bluegrass (P. arida) are important western forage grasses. Annual bluegrass (P. annua), a......
  • Poa arida (plant)
    ...now common in North America, is a wiry plant with flat stems, similar to Kentucky bluegrass in appearance and use. Texas bluegrass (P. arachnifera), mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and plains bluegrass (P. arida) are important western forage grasses. Annual bluegrass (P. annua), a small, light-green species, is a European introduction that has spread throughout North....
  • Poa compressa (plant)
    ...grass in the northern states and is common in open areas and along roadsides. It is 30 to 100 cm (12 to 40 inches) tall, with soft, blue-green leaves; its creeping rootstalks form a good sod. Canada bluegrass (P. compressa), native to Europe and now common in North America, is a wiry plant with flat stems, similar to Kentucky bluegrass in appearance and use. Texas bluegrass (P.......
  • Poa fendleriana (plant)
    ...compressa), native to Europe and now common in North America, is a wiry plant with flat stems, similar to Kentucky bluegrass in appearance and use. Texas bluegrass (P. arachnifera), mutton grass (P. fendleriana), and plains bluegrass (P. arida) are important western forage grasses. Annual bluegrass (P. annua), a small, light-green species, is a European......
  • Poa pratensis (plant)
    Of the more than 50 species found in the United States, Kentucky bluegrass (P. pratensis) is the best-known. It was introduced from Eurasia and is a popular lawn and pasture grass in the northern states and is common in open areas and along roadsides. It is 30 to 100 cm (12 to 40 inches) tall, with soft, blue-green leaves; its creeping rootstalks form a good sod. Canada bluegrass (P.......
  • Poaceae (plant family)
    grass family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the order Poales. The Poaceae are the world’s single most important source of food. They rank among the top five families of flowering plants in terms of the number of species, but they are clearly the most abundant and important family of the Earth’s flora. They grow on all continents, in desert to freshwater and marin...
  • poacher (fish)
    any of the marine fish of the family Agonidae (order Scorpaeniformes). Poachers live in cold water, on the bottom, and are found mainly in the northern Pacific. They are small fish, measuring about 30 cm (12 inches) or less in length, and are distinguished by the bony, often saw-edged armour plates covering their bodies....
  • poaching (law)
    in law, the shooting, trapping, or taking of game or fish from private property or from a place where such practices are specially reserved or forbidden....
  • poaching (cooking)
    ...is commonly used to prepare milk for breads and custards. At just above the scalding temperature, water begins to circulate visibly and to shiver; at this point, foods, notably eggs and fish, may be poached. At the simmering point, variously specified but generally approaching the boiling temperature, the surface of the water breaks into small bubbles; simmering, in a covered or open pan, is......
  • Poage’s Settlement (Kentucky, United States)
    city, Boyd county, northeastern Kentucky, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River just below the mouth of the Big Sandy River. The city of Ashland forms a tristate industrial complex with Ironton, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia....
  • Poale Zion (Jewish political organization)
    ...form the Russian Poale Zion, a socialistically oriented Zionist group that set an important ideological precedent for later institutions in Palestine and elsewhere and led to the formation of the Poale Zion World Federation in 1907. He settled in Palestine and in 1908 helped found ha-Shomer, a self-defense organization for Jewish agricultural settlements. In 1909 he founded in Jerusalem the......
  • Poale Zion World Federation (Jewish political organization)
    ...form the Russian Poale Zion, a socialistically oriented Zionist group that set an important ideological precedent for later institutions in Palestine and elsewhere and led to the formation of the Poale Zion World Federation in 1907. He settled in Palestine and in 1908 helped found ha-Shomer, a self-defense organization for Jewish agricultural settlements. In 1909 he founded in Jerusalem the......
  • Poales (plant order)
    grass order of flowering plants, containing the grass family (Poaceae), economically the most important order of plants, with a worldwide distribution in all climates. Poales contains more than 18,000 species of monocotyledons (that is, flowering plants characterized by a single seed leaf). The order consists of several lineages that have tr...
  • Poás (volcano, Costa Rica)
    ...point, Mount Chirripó (12,530 feet [3,819 metres]), is in the Talamanca system. Two of the highest peaks in the Cordillera Volcánica, Irazú (11,260 feet [3,432 metres]) and Poás (8,871 feet [2,704 metres]), have paved roads reaching to the rims of their active craters. These volcanoes, overlooking the Valle Central, pose a serious natural hazard, as do......
  • Pobedonostsev, Konstantin Petrovich (Russian statesman)
    Russian civil servant and conservative political philosopher, who served as tutor and adviser to the emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II. Nicknamed the “Grand Inquisitor,” he came to be the symbol of Russian monarchal absolutism....
  • Pobedy Peak (mountain, Asia)
    mountain in the eastern Kakshaal (Kokshaal-Tau) Range of the Tien Shan, on the frontier of Kyrgyzstan and China. It was first identified in 1943 as the tallest peak (24,406 feet [7,439 metres]) in the Tien Shan range and the second highest peak in what was then the Soviet Union; it is now the highest peak in Kyrgyzstan. It...
  • Poberezny, Paul H. (American aviator)
    The first formal EAA meeting was held Jan. 26, 1953, at Curtiss-Wright Airport (later renamed Timmerman Airport) in Milwaukee. The group was the idea of Paul H. Poberezny, a young officer in the Wisconsin Air National Guard who enjoyed building and designing airplanes. He and other local aviation enthusiasts had been meeting at his home on an irregular basis to share information on aircraft......
  • pobrecito hablador, El (Spanish newspaper)
    ...of Fernando VII. In 1828 Larra published his own newspaper, El duende satírico del día, for which he wrote his first journalistic essays. He later published another paper, El pobrecito hablador (1832–33), and then became drama critic for the nation’s finest newspaper, La revista española, under the pen name Fígaro. In 1834 his play....
  • Pocahontas (Disney animated film by Gabriel and Goldberg [1995])
    ...Dramatic Score: Luis Enrique Bacalov for The Postman (Il postino)Original Musical or Comedy Score: Music and Orchestral Score by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz for PocahontasOriginal Song: “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas; music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen SchwartzHonorary Award: Kirk Douglas and Chuck Jones...
  • Pocahontas (Powhatan princess)
    Powhatan Indian woman who fostered peace between English colonists and Native Americans by befriending the settlers at the Jamestown Colony in Virginia and eventually marrying one of them....
  • Pocałunki (poem by Pawłikowska-Jasnorzewska)
    ...(1922; “Idle Dreams”), was warmly acclaimed by the poets of the Skamander group. Up to 1939 she published a dozen more small volumes of her lyric poetry—including Pocałunki (1926; “Kisses”) and Surowy jedwab (1932; “Raw Silk”)—in which she dealt with such subject matter as the loves, the disenchantments,......
  • Pocasset (Rhode Island, United States)
    town (township), Newport county, southeastern Rhode Island, U.S. Portsmouth lies on the northern end of Rhode (Aquidneck) Island and along the Sakonnet River. It was founded in 1638 by William Coddington, John Clarke, Anne Hutchinson, and associates from the Massachusetts Bay colony an...
  • Pocatello (Idaho, United States)
    city, seat (1893) of Bannock county, southeastern Idaho, U.S., in the Portneuf River valley. Originally an intermontane stopover point on the Oregon Trail, it was settled in 1882 and named for a Shoshone Bannock Indian leader who granted rights-of-way to the railroads, surrendering a large portion of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to do so. The settlement gr...
  • Pocci, Franz (German writer)
    During the 20th century there has been an increasing tendency to regard the puppet theatre as an entertainment for children. One of the first people to encourage this development was Count Franz Pocci, a Bavarian court official of the mid-19th century, who wrote a large number of children’s plays for the traditional marionette theatre of Papa Schmid in Munich. Important also was Max Jacob, ...
  • pochade (art)
    ...sketches. The first—sometimes known as a croquis—is intended to remind the artist of some scene or event he has seen and wishes to record in a more permanent form. The second—a pochade—is one in which he records, usually in colour, the atmospheric effects and general impressions of a landscape. The third type is related to portraiture and notes the look on a face, th...
  • pochard (bird)
    any of the 14 to 16 species of diving ducks of the tribe Aythyini (family Anatidae, order Anseriformes), often called bay ducks....
  • Pochen (card game)
    ...value, equivalent to wild cards in modern poker. By about 1700 the betting and bluffing aspects had produced the games of brag in England (one of four card games about which Edmond Hoyle wrote) and pochen (its name meaning “to bluff”) in Germany. From the latter the French developed a similar game called poque, first played in French America in 1803, when the Louisiana Purchase ma...
  • pochoir (art)
    Pochoir (French: “stencil”), as distinguished from ordinary stenciling, is a highly refined technique of making fine limited editions of stencil prints. It is often called hand colouring, or hand illustration. The 20th-century artists Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró made prints in this technique for book illustrations. More important was Henri Matisse’s use of stenci...
  • Poch’ŏngyo (Korean religion)
    (Korean: “Universal Religion”), indigenous Korean religion, also popularly called Humch’igyo from the distinctive practice of chanting humch’i, a word said to have mystical significance....
  • pochteca (Aztec armed merchants)
    All these factors served as powerful stimuli to trade. Probably in keeping with an ancient tradition, the merchants (pochteca) of Aztec society were organized in powerful guilds, which even started wars on their own and sent trading expeditions as far as Central America. It was on the basis of the geographic data collected by their merchants, often......
  • Pochutec language
    ...in the table). The extinct Tubar belongs to the Yaquian branch, but whether to the Tarahumara complex, the Cáhita complex, or neither, is not clear. The Nahuan group includes the extinct Pochutec, formerly spoken on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, and poorly documented; Pochutec is clearly very divergent from the rest of the group. The Aztec complex is considered by some to be a single......
  • Pockels effect (physics)
    ...electric field. In noncentrosymmetric crystals, the change in the index of refraction n is generally much greater; it depends linearly on the applied electric field and is known as the Pockels effect (after the German physicist F. R. Pockels)....
  • Pockels, F. R. (German physicist)
    ...crystals, the change in the index of refraction n is generally much greater; it depends linearly on the applied electric field and is known as the Pockels effect (after the German physicist F. R. Pockels)....
  • pocket billiards (game)
    a billiards game, most popular in the United States and Canada, played with a white cue ball and 15 consecutively numbered coloured balls on a rectangular table with six pockets (one at each corner and one at the midpoints of both longer sides). The dimensions of the table are usually 4 by 8 feet (122 by 244 cm) or 4 12 by 9 feet (137 by 274 cm)....
  • pocket borough (British history)
    election district that is controlled by, or “in the pocket” of, one person or family. The term was used by 19th-century English parliamentary reformers to describe the many boroughs in which a relatively small population was either bribed or coerced by the leading family or landowners to elect their representatives to Parliament. As a result, Parliament was control...
  • pocket calculator (electronics)
    ...invented the semiconductor-based thermal printer. In 1967 he designed the first IC-based electronic calculator, the Pocketronic, gaining himself and TI the basic patent that lies at the heart of all pocket calculators. The Pocketronic required dozens of ICs, making it too complicated and expensive to manufacture for consumers, but by 1972 TI had reduced the number of necessary ICs to one. The.....
  • pocket computer
    In the early 1990s, small computers that fit in a pocket yet provide the power of a desktop personal computer were introduced. These pocket, or palm-sized, computers are distinguished by their high portability, enhanced performance, and low cost. See also digital computer....
  • pocket edition (publishing)
    ...in 1470, and Aldus Manutius, the greatest printer-publisher of his time. Aldus began printing in 1490 with a series of Greek texts. He then hit on the idea of bringing out inexpensive “pocket editions” for the new readers produced by the humanist movement. Beginning in 1501 and continuing with six titles a year for the next five years, he issued a series of Latin texts that......
  • pocket gopher (rodent)
    any of 38 species of predominantly North and Central American rodents named for their large, fur-lined cheek pouches. The “pockets” open externally on each side of the mouth and extend from the face to the shoulders; they can be everted for cleaning. The lips can be closed behind the protruding, chisel-like upper front teeth, which thereby allows the gopher to exca...
  • Pocket Hercules (Turkish athlete)
    Bulgarian-born Turkish weightlifter who dominated the sport in the mid-1980s and ’90s....
  • pocket magazine (periodical)
    The success of Reader’s Digest also had an influence through its format; it popularized the pocket magazine as a type. Several of the self-improving variety, such as Your Life (founded 1937) and Success Today (1946–50), were started by Wilfred J. Funk on the proceeds from his father’s Literary Digest (sold to Time in 1938). Of those more dire...
  • pocket mouse (rodent)
    any of 36 species of American rodents having fur-lined external cheek pouches that open alongside the mouth. The pouches are used for storing food, particularly seeds, as the animal forages. Like “true” mice and rats (family Muridae), pocket mice travel on all four limbs along the ground, as opposed to hopping like their relative, the kangaroo mouse...
  • pocket radio (electronic device)
    ...market with its Regency transistor radio in 1955, it was Sony’s TR-63, an inexpensive shirt-pocket-sized all-transistor radio, that caught consumers’ attention when it was released in 1957. Sony’s pocket radios were a tremendous success and brought international recognition of the company’s brand name....
  • pocketbook flower (plant)
    any of some 240 to 270 species of flowering plants native from Mexico to South America and named for their flowers’ pouchlike shape. They belong to the genus Calceolaria and the family Calceolariaceae. Many large-flowered and showy varieties of slipper flower exist in the florist trade. The flowers are usually yellow or purple with contrasting spots....
  • Pocketronic (electronic calculator)
    ...in 1962 for use in the Minuteman ballistic missile guidance system. In 1965 Kilby invented the semiconductor-based thermal printer. In 1967 he designed the first IC-based electronic calculator, the Pocketronic, gaining himself and TI the basic patent that lies at the heart of all pocket calculators. The Pocketronic required dozens of ICs, making it too complicated and expensive to manufacture.....
  • Poco (American rock group)
    American band of the 1970s and ’80s that strongly influenced the development of country rock. The original members were Richie Furay (b. May 9, 1944Yellow Springs, Ohio, U.S.), George Grantham ...
  • Pocock, Lena Margaret (British actress)
    British actress and theatrical manager well known for her work in organizing entertainment for the troops at the front during World War I. In 1917 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire....
  • Pocock, Reginald Innes (English zoologist)
    zoologist, one of the first mammalogists to use external features, such as feet and ears, in the classification of higher animals....
  • Pocomam (people)
    Mayan Indians of the highlands of eastern Guatemala. The Pocomam are primarily agriculturists; they cultivate corn (maize) and beans and manufacture pottery and charcoal. Houses are built of poles or adobe, with thatch, tile, or tin roofs. The houses are scattered over the countryside, with little congregation even around a church or town hall; territory is divided into cantons, which act as admin...
  • Pocomania (religious sect)
    ...a Muslim mosque, and a branch of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. Some syncretic religious movements base their beliefs on Christianity and West African traditions. The central feature of the Pocomania sect, for example, is spirit possession; the Cumina sect has rituals characterized by drumming, dancing, and spirit possession. Rastafarianism has been an important religious and cultural......
  • Pocomoke River (river, United States)
    ...by streams that run eastward to the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, but the Nanticoke River and its tributaries in southwestern Delaware flow into Chesapeake Bay. So does the Pocomoke River, which drains the Cypress Swamp, or so-called “Burnt Swamp,” in the extreme south of Delaware, athwart the Maryland line....
  • Pocomtuc (people)
    Algonquian-speaking Indians who lived in what is now western Massachusetts and adjoining parts of Connecticut and Vermont in the United States. In 1600 they were estimated to number 1,200. Like other New England tribes they were semisedentary, moving seasonally between relatively permanent sites. Their main diet was corn (maize), cultivated by the Pocomtuc women, and fish and game....
  • Pocono Mountains (mountains, Pennsylvania, United States)
    highland region in Wayne, Pike, Monroe, and eastern Carbon counties of northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. The Poconos are bounded on the west by the Lehigh River; on the northwest by river valleys containing the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre; and on the east by th...
  • Poconos (mountains, Pennsylvania, United States)
    highland region in Wayne, Pike, Monroe, and eastern Carbon counties of northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. The Poconos are bounded on the west by the Lehigh River; on the northwest by river valleys containing the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre; and on the east by th...
  • Poços de Caldas (Brazil)
    city, southern Minas Gerais estado (state), southeastern Brazil. It lies along a stream called Poços de Caldas, near the Pardo River. Known principally for its thermal baths, the city has resort hotels and casinos. The local soils are rich in minerals and yield thorium, zirconium, and bauxite, which is converted into aluminum the...
  • pod (plant reproductive body)
    fruit of plants of the order Fabales, consisting of the single family Leguminosae, or Fabaceae (peas, beans, vetch, and so on). The dry fruit releases its seeds by splitting open along two seams. Legumes furnish food for humans and animals and provide edible oils, fibres, and raw material for plastics. Nutritionally, they are high in protein and contain many of the essential ami...
  • Podargidae (bird)
    any of numerous birds, comprising the family Podargidae in the order Caprimulgiformes, named for their characteristic broad, froglike gape. Frogmouths inhabit the forests of southeastern Asia and Australia. Unlike the weak bill of the nightjars, that of the frogmouths is substantial and slightly hooked. Their food consists of large insects, small lizards, and mice, taken at night; some frogmouths ...
  • Podargus (bird genus)
    In contrast to the simplified nesting of nightjars, frogmouths construct nests on the horizontal forks of trees. In the genus Podargus the nest is of twigs and other plant matter and the two or three eggs are white. In Batrachostomus the nest is a pad of the birds’ own down, bound and camouflaged externally with cobwebs and lichens, one white egg being laid. Both sexes are......
  • Podargus strigoides (bird)
    ...auritus), a 16-inch (40-cm) species of the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, lays a single egg on a pad of down covered with lichens and spiderwebs. The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), of the Australian mainland and Tasmania, is about 20 inches (50 cm) long. It lays two or three eggs on a flimsy nest of twigs in the crotch of a......
  • podcasting
    Nor is blogging the final frontier of individual expression online. Podcasting, the use of a personal computer to create a “radio show” that users can download and play on their computer or portable music player, became the “bleeding edge” of personal performance in 2005. Podcasting derives its name from the nearly ubiquitous iPod, Apple Inc.’s portable music pla...
  • poder moderador (Brazilian history)
    ...remained in effect until the inception of the First Republic in 1889, had been drawn up by a council of state appointed by Pedro I. The extensive powers it gave to the emperor, referred to as the poder moderador (“mediative power”), included the appointment of the members of the upper house of Parliament for life from lists of nominees prepared by special electors; the......
  • podesta (Italian official)
    (“power”), in medieval Italian communes, the highest judicial and military magistrate. The office was instituted by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in an attempt to govern rebellious Lombard cities. From the end of the 12th century the communes became somewhat more independent of the emperor, and they began to elect their own podes...
  • podestà (Italian official)
    (“power”), in medieval Italian communes, the highest judicial and military magistrate. The office was instituted by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in an attempt to govern rebellious Lombard cities. From the end of the 12th century the communes became somewhat more independent of the emperor, and they began to elect their own podes...
  • Podestà, Palazzo del (palace, Bergamo, Italy)
    By 1477 Bramante had left Urbino for unknown reasons and had settled in the northern Italian province of Lombardy. He worked on frescoes for the facade of the Palazzo del Podestà (later altered) in Bergamo showing classical figures of philosophers in a complex architectural setting. Vasari (though poorly informed on this period) says that Bramante, after working in various cities on......
  • Podgorica (Montenegro)
    city, administrative centre of Montenegro. It is situated in southern Montenegro near the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers....
  • Podgorny, Nikolay (Soviet statesman)
    Soviet statesman and Communist Party official....
  • Podgorny, Nikolay Viktorovich (Soviet statesman)
    Soviet statesman and Communist Party official....
  • podiatry (medicine)
    medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders of the human foot. The ancient Egyptian Ebers medical papyrus (c. 1500 bc) records some of the earliest remedies for foot problems, and other references to foot treatment are found in the medical literature of most succeeding centuries. The word chiropody derives from...
  • Podica senegalensis (bird)
    The African finfoot (Podica senegalensis) occurs from Senegal to the Congo basin and from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope. The Asiatic finfoot (Heliopais personata) is found in Central and Southeastern Asia....
  • Podiceps auritus (bird)
    The African finfoot (Podica senegalensis) occurs from Senegal to the Congo basin and from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope. The Asiatic finfoot (Heliopais personata) is found in Central and Southeastern Asia.......
  • Podicipediformes (bird)
    any member of an order of foot-propelled diving birds containing a single family, Podicipedidae, with about 22 species. They are best known for the striking courtship displays of some species and for the silky plumage of the underparts, which formerly was much used in millinery. The speed with which grebes can submerge has earned them such names as water-witch and hell...
  • Podicipitiformes (bird)
    any member of an order of foot-propelled diving birds containing a single family, Podicipedidae, with about 22 species. They are best known for the striking courtship displays of some species and for the silky plumage of the underparts, which formerly was much used in millinery. The speed with which grebes can submerge has earned them such names as water-witch and hell...
  • Podil (district, Kiev, Ukraine)
    North of the old centre is the former trading and Jewish quarter, Podil, with a rectangular pattern of streets and the old merchants’ trading exchange, the House of Contracts, built in 1817. Also north of the old centre is the river port. South of the centre is the Pecherskyy district, along the top of the riverbank. This district contains many of the principal buildings of the Ukrainian......
  • Podillya (region, Ukraine)
    region, western Ukraine, south of Volhynia and extending between the rivers Dniester and Southern Buh. The name Podolia appeared in the 14th century when the Poles began to colonize the area. Except for a period in the late 17th century when it was held by the Ottoman Turks, it was under Polish rule until 1772. Then the part west of the Zbruch River became Austrian; the rest bec...
  • Podilymbus podiceps (bird)
    ...feeds the female. Grebe vocalizations include advertising calls, copulation trills, “conversational” notes, and duetting trills. In the courtship of more secretive species, such as the pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) and the dabchicks (a name given to several of the smaller grebes in genus Tachybaptus), vocalizations are relatively more important than visual....
  • Podişul Olteniei (plain, Romania)
    ...has increased greatly since the early 19th century. In the southern part of Romania is the Walachian Plain, which can be divided into the Romanian Plain to the east of the Olt River and the Oltenian Plateau to the west. The whole region is covered by deposits of loess, on which rich black chernozem soils have developed, providing a strong base for agriculture. The Danube floodplain is......
  • Podisus (stinkbug genus)
    Control measures include the use of pesticides and the elimination of hibernating spots and alternate hosts. However, not all stinkbugs are destructive. The genus Podisus feeds on the Colorado potato beetle larvae and other plant pests. Zicrona caerulea, a species that occurs in China, preys on beetle larvae and adult beetles. In some areas of Mexico, Africa, and India, stinkbugs......
  • podium (zoology)
    ...that circumvents the mouth. Long canals radiate from the water ring into each arm. Lateral canals branch alternately from the radial canals, each terminating in a muscular sac (or ampulla) and a tube foot (podium), which commonly has a flattened tip that can act as a sucker. Contraction of the sac results in a valve in the lateral canal closing as the contained fluid is forced into the......
  • podium (architecture)
    in architecture, any of various elements that form the “foot,” or base, of a structure, such as a raised pedestal or base, a low wall supporting columns, or the structurally or decoratively emphasized lowest portion of a wall. Sometimes the basement story of a building may be treated as a podium. The podium is usually designed with a modeled base and plinth at the bottom; a central s...
  • Podkamennaja Tunguska River (river, Russia)
    tributary of the Yenisey River in western Siberia, Irkutsk oblast (province), Russia. It has a total length of 1,159 miles (1,865 km) and a drainage basin of 96,100 square miles (249,000 square km). Known in its upper section as the Katanga, it rises on the Central Siberian Plateau near the watershed with the Lena-Angara system and flows generally northwestward to join the Yenisey at Podkam...
  • Podkamennaya Tunguska River (river, Russia)
    tributary of the Yenisey River in western Siberia, Irkutsk oblast (province), Russia. It has a total length of 1,159 miles (1,865 km) and a drainage basin of 96,100 square miles (249,000 square km). Known in its upper section as the Katanga, it rises on the Central Siberian Plateau near the watershed with the Lena-Angara system and flows generally northwestward to join the Yenisey at Podkam...
  • Podkarpackie (province, Poland)
    województwo (province), southeastern Poland. It is bounded by the provinces of Lubelskie to the north, Małopolskie to the west, and Świętokrzyskie to the northwest and by the countries of Ukraine to the east and Slovakia to the south. Created in 1999, it is composed of the former provinces (1975–98) of Rzeszów, Przemy...
  • Podkopayeva, Lilia (Ukrainian athlete)
    ...Popov (Russia), Danyon Loader (New Zealand), and Denis Pankratov (Russia). In women’s gymnastics the team event was won by the surprising U.S. squad, while the individual contests were dominated by Lilia Podkopayeva (Ukraine), who won two gold medals and one silver, including the title in the all-around. Aleksey Nemov (Russia) was the standout in the men’s gymnastics competition. ...
  • Podlasian Lowlands (region, Poland)
    ...area into the Silesian (Śląska) Lowland, which lies in the upper Oder; the southern Great Poland Lowland, which lies in the middle Warta River basin; and the Mazovian (Mazowiecka) and Podlasian (Podlaska) lowlands, which lie in the middle Vistula basin. Lower Silesia and Great Poland are important agricultural areas, but many parts of the central lowlands also have large......
  • Podlaskie (province, Poland)
    województwo (province), northeastern Poland. It is bordered by Lithuania to the north and Belarus to the east, as well as by the Polish provinces of Lubelskie to the south, Mazowieckie to the southwest, and Warmińsko-Mazurskie to the northwest. As one of 16 provinces created in the administrative realignment of 1999, it incorporates portions of ...
  • podocarp (plant family)
    family of between 6 and 18 genera in the conifer division (Coniferophyta), containing more than 125 species of ornamental and timber evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. The seven genera commonly admitted are Pherosphaera, Microcachrys, Saxegothaea, Dacrydium, Acmopyle, Podocarpus, and Phyllocladus. All occur in the Australasian region ex...
  • Podocarpaceae (plant family)
    family of between 6 and 18 genera in the conifer division (Coniferophyta), containing more than 125 species of ornamental and timber evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. The seven genera commonly admitted are Pherosphaera, Microcachrys, Saxegothaea, Dacrydium, Acmopyle, Podocarpus, and Phyllocladus. All occur in the Australasian region ex...
p