All Words Glossary Glossary of Zoology Terms beginning with letter P Browse the Zoology Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z pad noun A flattened mass of anything soft, to sit or lie on. (context, US, slang) A bed. (colloquial) A place of residence. A cushion used as a saddle without a tree or frame. A soft, or small, cushion. A cushion-like thickening of the skin on the under side of the toes of animals; an animal's foot or paw. Any cushion-like part of the human body, especially the ends of the fingers. A stuffed guard or protection, especially one worn on the legs of horses to prevent bruising. A soft bag or cushion to relieve pressure, support a part, etc. A floating leaf of a water lily or similar plant. (cricket) a batsman's leg pad that protects it from damage when hit by the ball A kind of cushion for writing upon, or for blotting, especially one formed of many flat sheets of writing paper; now especially such a block of paper sheets as used to write on. A panel or strip of material designed to be sensitive to pressure or touch. A keypad. A flat surface or area from which a helicopter or other aircraft may land or be launched. An electrical extension cord with a multi-port socket one end: "trip cord" the effect produced by sustained lower reeds, reed notes in a musical piece, most common in blues music. verb (padd, ing) (transitive) To stuff. (transitive) To furnish with a pad or padding. (transitive) To fill or lengthen (a story, one's importance, etc.). (transitive) To imbue uniformly with a mordant. to pad cloth (context, transitive, cricket) to deliberately play the ball with the leg pad instead of the bat. paddle noun A two-handed, single-bladed oar used to propel a canoe or a small boat. A double-bladed oar used for kayaking. Time spent on paddling. We had a nice this morning. A slat of a paddleboat's wheel. A paddlewheel. A blade of a waterwheel. a meandering walk through shallow water, especially at the seaside. A kitchen utensil shaped like a and used for mixing, beating etc. A ping-pong bat. A flat limb of turtle or other sea animal, adapted for swimming. In a sluice, a panel that controls the flow of water. verb (paddles, paddling, paddled) (transitive) To propel something through water with a , oar or hands. To row a boat with less than one's full capacity. (transitive) To spank. (intransitive) To walk or dabble playfully in shallow water, especially at the seaside. pair noun Two similar or identical things taken together. I couldn't decide which of the two dresses I preferred, so I bought the pair. (followed by of) Two; a couple of. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship. My wife and I make a great pair. Used in the names of some objects and garments that have two similar parts or halves. a pair of scissors a pair of jeans but not a pair of cymbals (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match (baseball) A double play, two outs recorded in one play They turned a to end the fifth. (baseball) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams The Pirates took a from the Phillies. (poker) A poker hand that contains of two cards of identical rank which cannot also count as a better hand. (slang) - pair (of breasts) - she's got a gorgeous pair. verb (transitive) To put (two people or things) together. pallium noun (pl=pallia, pl2=palliums) A woollen vestment conferred on archbishops by the Pope. (historic) A large cloak worn by Greek philosophers and teachers. (zoology) The mantle of a mollusc. (meteorology) A sheet of cloud covering the whole sky, especially nimbostratus. (anatomy) The cerebral cortex. palm noun Any of various evergreen trees from the family Palmae or Arecaceae, which are mainly found in the tropics. The inner and somewhat concave part of the human hand that extends from the wrist to the bases of the fingers. 1990 October 28, w:Paul Simon, Paul Simon, "Further to Fly", w:The Rhythm of the Saints, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros. : The open of desire wants everything. The corresponding part of the forefoot of a lower mammal. A handheld computing device used to store personal data such as calendars and phone numbers. verb to hold or conceal something in the palm of the hand to hold something without bending the fingers significantly to move something laterally by static friction against the palm of the hand palmate adjective Hand-like; shaped like a hand with extended fingers (botany) Having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point. The maple tree has palmate leaves. (botany) (qualifier, leaves) Having more than three leaflets arising from a common point. palp noun (zoology) an appendage found near the mouth in invertebrates The fleshy part of a fingertip 1922: He folded his razor neatly and with stroking palps of fingers felt the smooth skin. " James Joyce, Ulysses verb To feel, to explore by touch 1957: his skull looks palped and sucked down " Lawrence Durrell, Justine parenchyma noun the functional part of an organ, as opposed to supporting tissue the tissue making up most of the non-woody parts of a plant pastern noun The area on a horse's leg between the fetlock joint and the hoof. 1918: It was quite impossible to ride over the deeply-ploughed field; the earth bore only where there was still a little ice, in the thawed furrows the horse's legs sank in above its pasterns. " Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, tr. Louise & Aylmer Maude (Oxford 1998, p. 158) patella noun (pl=patellae or patellas) The sesamoid bone of the knee; the kneecap. paunch noun The stomach or abdomen of a human or animal, especially a large, protruding one. paw noun (nonstandard, or, rural) father, Father; pa. verb (context, of an animal) To go through something (such as a garbage can) with paws (context, of an animal) To gently push on something with a paw. (context, by extension, of a human) To clumsily dig through something. pedicel noun (botany) A stalk of individual flower; a stalk bearing a single flower or spore-producing body within a cluster. (anatomy) A stalk-shaped body part; an anatomical part that resembles a stem or stalk. (zoology) A narrow stalk-like body part in insects and other arthropods, used in various specific senses. 1996: Spiders have the body clearly divided into two pieces which are joined by a narrow stalk, the . " Michael J. Roberts, Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins 1996, p. 10) pen noun An enclosed area used to contain domesticated animals, especially sheep or cattle. There are two steers in the third . A place to confine a person; a prison cell. They caught him with a stolen horse, and he wound up in the again. (baseball) The bullpen. Two righties are up in the . verb (pens, penning, penned or pent) (transitive) To enclose in a pen. petiole noun (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem. (entomology) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect. Used especially to refer to the metasomal segment of Hymenoptera such as wasps. Alternate form: pedicel. (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp. phase noun That which is exhibited to the eye; the appearance which anything manifests, especially any one among different and varying appearances of the same object. Any appearance or aspect of an object of mental apprehension or view The problem has many phases. (astronomy) A particular appearance or state in a regularly recurring cycle of changes with respect to quantity of illumination or form, or the absence, of its enlightened disk; as, the phases of the moon or planets. Illustrated in W:Lunar phase, Wikipedia's article Lunar phase. Any one point or portion in a recurring series of changes, as in the changes of motion of one of the particles constituting a wave or vibration; one portion of a series of such changes, in distinction from a contrasted portion, as the portion on one side of a position of equilibrium, in contrast with that on the opposite side. verb (phas, ing) (to phase out) To discontinue (doing) something over a period of time (i.e., in phases). (transitive) To stun or shock someone. (intransitive) To become stunned or shocked. phocine adjective pertaining to a seal; seallike 1955: she had already yanked out of me the coveted section and retreated to her mat near her mamma. " Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita photophore noun (biology) A light-emitting organ, found in some marine fish, that has symbiotic luminescent bacteria pied verb (past of, pi) (past of, pie) adjective decorate, Decorated or colored in blotches. pile noun A hair; hence, the fiber of wool, cotton, and the like; also, the nap when thick or heavy, as of carpeting and velvet. Velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile. —Cowper A covering of hair or fur. A large stake, or piece of timber, steel section pointed and driven into the earth or drilled and cast reinforced concrete, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. The head of an arrow or spear. (heraldry) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. A mass of things heaped together; a heap; as, a pile of stones; a pile of wood. A mass formed in layers; as, a pile of shot. A funeral pile; a pyre. A large building, or mass of buildings. A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; — commonly called Volta"s pile, voltaic pile, or galvanic pile. The reverse (or tails) of a coin. (Obs) A hemorrhoid (usually it is in plural) pincers noun (plural of pincer) A gripping tool, pivoted like a pair of scissors, but with blunt jaws. The front claws of crustaceans such as lobsters. pipe noun ]] A hollow tube that transports water, steam, or other liquid; usually made of metal, ceramic, wood, or plastic. A hollow stem with bowl at one end used for smoking (see also water pipe or bong) (geology) A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano, through which magma has passed; often filled with volcanic breccia A type of pasta, similar to macaroni Decorative edging stitched to the hems or seams of an object made of fabric (clothing, hats, pillows, curtains, etc.); often a contrasting color (music) A hollow tube used to produce sound, such as an organ pipe. (music) A wind instrument making a whistling sound. (see pan pipes, bagpipe, boatswain's pipe) (lacrosse) One of the goalposts of the goal. (computing) The ASCII character at position 124 (decimal), 7C (hex), 01111100 (binary): " , " (computing) In Unix, the pipe character signifies that the output of one program feeds directly as input to another program. (context, computing, slang) A data backbone, or broadband Internet access (e.g., a "fat pipe" refers to a high-bandwidth connection). (obsolete) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 126 wine gallons; half a ton. 1882: Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, p. 205. (context, AU, colloquial, obsolete) An anonymous satire or essay, insulting and frequently libelous, written on a piece of paper and left somewhere public where it could be found and thus spread, to embarrass the author's enemies. 1818: yet, it is much to be hoped, that from his example pipe-making will in future be reposed solely in the hands of Mr. William Cluer of the Brickfield Hill. — w:Sydney Gazette, Sydney Gazette, 26 September 1818, on w:William Bland, William Bland convicted of libelling w:Lachlan Macquarie, Governor Macquarie in a pipe (William Cluer was an earthenware pipe manufacturer). Quoted in More Pig Bites Baby! Stories from Australia's First Newspaper, volume 2, ed. Micahel Connor, Duffy and Snellgrove, 2004, ISBN 1-876631-91-0. verb (pip, ing) To convey or transport something by means of pipes. To install or configure pipes. To play music on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe. (nautical) To signal or order by a note pattern on a bosun's pipe. To decorate a cake using a pastry bag a flexible bag from which icing is forced through a small nozzle to make various designs pith noun (uncountable) The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees. (figuratively) The essential or vital part of an idea or theory or something else. the of my idea is ... planarian noun Any of various freshwater flatworms, of the class Turbellaria. plantigrade noun A plantigrade animal adjective (context, of an animal) walking with the entire sole of the foot on the ground. planula noun (pluralplanulae) The larva of a hydrozoan, which is free swimming and is covered in cilium, cilia. plastron noun The nearly flat part of the shell structure of a tortoise or other animal, similar in composition to the carapace (fencing) A half-jacket worn under the jacket for padding or for safety. An ornamental front panel on a woman's bodice. 1942: I bought here a wedding dress perhaps twenty or thirty years old ... a sequin to be worn over the womb as a feminine equivalent to a cod-piece, and a gauze veil embroidered in purple and gold. " Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Canongate 2006, p. 784) plumulose adjective Having hairs branching out laterally, like the parts of a feather. pneumatic noun (gnosticism) In gnostic theologian Valentinus' triadic grouping of man the highest type; a person focused on spiritual reality (the other two being hylic and psychic). adjective Of, or related to air or other gases Of, or related to pneumatics Powered by, or filled with compressed air (zoology) Having cavities filled with air Spiritual; Of, or related to the pneuma (context, of a woman) well-rounded; full-breasted; bouncy (especially during sex) "Every one says I'm awfully pneumatic," said Lenina reflectively, patting her own legs. - Aldous Huxley - Brave New World (chapter 6) poll noun An election or a survey of a particular group. The student council had a to see what people want served in the cafeteria. The network hub polled the department's computers to determine which ones could still respond. a place voters cast ballots The polls close at 8 p.m. Hair 1883: w:Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson, w:Treasure Island, Treasure Island : ...the doctor, as if to hear better, had taken off his powdered wig, and sat there, looking very strange indeed with his own close-cropped black . verb (transitive) To solicit mock votes from (a person or group). Pollard proper noun Surname from 14th century Irish. Derivative of Paul. polled verb (past of, poll) polliniferous adjective (botany) Producing pollen; polleniferous. polydactyl adjective variant spelling of polydactylous. polygamy noun The having of a plurality of socially bonded sexual partners at the same time; most commonly, the marriage of a man to more than one woman, or the practice of having several wives, at the same time; -- opposed to monogamy; as, the nations of the East practiced . See the Note under bigamy, and compare polyandry and polygyny. (zoology) The state or habit of having more than one mate. (botany) The condition or state of a plant which bears both perfect and unisexual flowers. polygyny noun (polygynies) The state or practice of having several wife, wives at the same time; plurality of wives; marriage to several wives - H. Spenser polyzoarium noun (polyzoari, a) (zoology) A polyzoary polyzoic noun ({zoology}} A spore that produces lots of sporozoites. adjective (zoology) Pertaining to polyzoa. predator noun any animal or other organism that hunts and kills other organisms (their prey), primarily for food someone who attacks and plunders for gain preen verbto preen To groom; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers; -- said of birds. prickle noun A small, sharp pointed object, such as a thorn. A tingling sensation of mild discomfort. verb (prickles, prickling, prickled) (intransitive) To feel a prickle. (transitive) To cause someone to feel a prickle. pride noun A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; -- in a good sense. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God."William Blake Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct; insolent exultation; disdain; hubris. That of which one is proud; that which excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self-esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty, ornament, noble character, children, etc. A small European lamprey (Petromyzon branchialis); -- called also prid, and sandpiper. The quality or state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank, etc., which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others. Show; ostentation; glory. Highest pitch; elevation reached; loftiness; prime; glory, to be in the pride of one's life. Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness. Lust; sexual desire; esp., an excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast. A company of lions. verb (prides, priding, prided, prided) To experience or pride. I pride myself on being a good judge of character, but pride goes before the fall and I'm not a good judge of my own character so I'm often wrong without knowing it and fall in with a bad crowd. proboscis noun (pluralproboscises or proboscides) (anatomy) An elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth, of an animal. The tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates like insects, worms and molluscs. The trunk of an elephant. Informally, a large human nose. pulmonate noun A gastropod of the order Pulmonata adjective (anatomy) having lungs or similar organs (biology) of, relating to, or belonging to the gastropod order Pulmonata (slugs and snails) pulp noun A soft moist mass, especially of pressed vegetable matter The soft center of a fruit The soft center of a tooth A mixture of wood, cellulose and/or rags and water ground up to make paper. Mass of chemically processed wood fibres (cellulose). A lurid style of writing or publication verb To make, or be made into pump noun A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas. This can deliver 100 gallons of water per minute. An instance of the action of a pump; one stroke of a pump; any action similar to pumping It takes thirty pumps to get 10 litres ; he did 50 pumps of the weights. A device for dispensing liquid or gas to be sold, particularly fuel. This is out of order, but you can gas up at the next one. (bodybuilding) A swelling of the muscles caused by increased blood flow following high intensity weightlifting. (colloquial) A ride on a bicycle given to a passenger, usually on the handlebars or fender. She gave the other girl a on her new bike. (Obsolete American slang) The heart. verb (transitive) To use a pump to move (liquid or gas). I've pumped over 1000 gallons of water in the last ten minutes. (transitive) (often followed by up) To fill with air. He pumped up the air-bed by hand, but used the service station air to up the tyres. (transitive) To move rhythmically, as the motion of a pump. I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race. (transitive) To shake (a person's hand) vigorously. (transitive) To gain information from (a person) by persistent questioning. (intransitive) To use a pump to move liquid or gas. I've been pumping for over a minute but the water isn't coming through. (intransitive) (slang) To be going very well. The waves were really pumping this morning. Last night's party was really pumping. puncture noun a hole, cut, or tear created by a sharp object I got a in my bicycle tire and had to walk home. verb (punctures, puncturing, punctured) to pierce; to break through; to tear a hole The needle punctured the balloon instantly. pup noun A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, shark and some other animals The dog has had that bed since he was just a . A young, inexperienced person The new teacher is a mere . puppy noun (pupp, ies) A young dog. A young rat. A young seal. (slang, usually, in plural) A woman"s breast. (informal) a (generic) thing; particularly something that is a nuisance; a sucker I have another two dozen of these puppies to finish before I can go home. purebred noun an animal which is of pure breed adjective that (usually an animal) which has genuine parents of the same breed Browse the Dictionary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  Find:   Words Starting With:   Words Ending With:   Words Containing:   Words That Match:   Translate Into: Dutch   French   German    Italian   Spanish     Show 5 10 15 20 25 50 100 250 500 results per page.

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