Pianograph to Picket
Pianograph
(Pi*an"o*graph) n. [Piano + -graph.] (Mus.) A form of melodiograph applied to a piano.
Piapec
(Pi"a*pec) n. [Cf. Pie a magpie.] (Zoöl.) A West African pie (Ptilostomus Senegalensis).
Piarist
(Pi"a*rist) n. [L. pius pious.] (R. C. Ch.) One of a religious order who are the regular clerks
of the Scuole Pie an institute of secondary education, founded at Rome in the last years of the 16th
century. Addis & Arnold.
Piassava
(Pi*as"sa*va) n. [Pg. piasaba.] A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees — used in
making brooms, and for other purposes. Called also piaçaba and piasaba.
Piaster
(Pi*as"ter) n. [F. piastre, It. piastra a thin plate of metal, a dollar, LL. piastra, fr. L. emplastrum.
See Plaster.] A silver coin of Spain and various other countries. See Peso. The Spanish piaster
(commonly called peso, or peso duro) is of about the value of the American dollar. The Italian piaster,
or scudo, was worth from 80 to 100 cents. The Turkish and Egyptian piasters are now worth about four
and a half cents.
Piastre
(Pi*as"tre) n. See Piaster.
Piation
(Pi*a"tion) n. [L. piatio. See Piacle.] The act of making atonement; expiation. [Obs.]
Piatti
(||Pi*at"ti) n. pl. [It., prop., plates.] (Mus.) Cymbals. [Written also pyatti.]
Piazza
(Pi*az"za) n.; pl. Piazzas [It., place, square, market place, L. platea street, courtyard. See
Place.] An open square in a European town, especially an Italian town; hence (Arch.), an arcaded and
roofed gallery; a portico. In the United States the word is popularly applied to a veranda.
We walk by the obelisk, and meditate in piazzas.
Jer. Taylor. Pibcorn
(Pib"corn`) n. [W. pib pipe + corn horn.] (Mus.) A wind instrument or pipe, with a horn at
each end, — used in Wales.
Pibroch
(Pi"broch) n. [Gael. piobaireachd pipe music, fr. piobair a piper, fr. pioba pipe, bagpipe,
from English. See Pipe, n.] A Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would
either excite or assuage; generally applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders
when they go out to battle. Jamieson.
Pic
(Pic) n. [Cf. F. pic.] A Turkish cloth measure, varying from 18 to 28 inches.
Pica
(Pi"ca) n. [L. pica a pie, magpie; in sense 3 prob. named from some resemblance to the colors of
the magpie. Cf. Pie magpie.]
1. (Zoöl.) The genus that includes the magpies.
2. (Med.) A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia.
3. (R. C. Ch.) A service-book. See Pie. [Obs.]
4. (Print.) A size of type next larger than small pica, and smaller than English.
This line is printed in pica
Pica is twice the size of nonpareil, and is used as a standard of measurement in casting leads, cutting
rules, etc., and also as a standard by which to designate several larger kinds of type, as double pica,
two-line pica, four-line pica, and the like.
Small pica (Print.), a size of type next larger than long primer, and smaller than pica.
