• petticoat fish (fish)

    tetra: The black tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi), also called blackamoor, or petticoat fish, is a deep-bodied fish that is 4–7.5 cm (1.5–3 inches) long. When small, it is marked with black on its hind parts and dorsal and anal fins; the black fades to gray as the fish…

  • Petticoat Junction (American television series)

    Television in the United States: Rural humor: >Petticoat Junction (CBS, 1963–70), Green Acres (CBS, 1965–71), and Hee-Haw (CBS, 1969–71). The Andy Griffith Show, like other rural comedies, featured “just plain folks” who used words of few syllables, did not work on Sundays, and did not go in much for the sophisticated ways…

  • Pettifer, Linda (British musician)

    Richard Thompson: …a partnership with his wife, Linda Thompson (original name Linda Pettifer, later known as Linda Peters; b. 1948, Glasgow, Scotland). Their most notable albums together were I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) and Shoot Out the Lights (1982). The latter documents a marital relationship in the last…

  • Pettijohn, Francis J. (American geologist)

    sedimentary rock: Classification systems: …articles by the American geologists Francis J. Pettijohn, Robert R. Shrock, and Paul D. Krynine. Their classifications provide the basis for all modern discussion of the subject. The nomenclature associated with several schemes of classifying clastic and nonclastic rocks will be discussed in the following sections, but a rough division…

  • petting (human behavior)

    human sexual activity: Social control of sexual activity: Petting among most preliterate societies is done only as a prelude to coitus—as foreplay—rather than as an end in itself. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, however, petting is used as a premarital substitute for coitus in order to preserve virginity and avoid pregnancy. There…

  • Pettit Memorial Chapel (building, Belvidere, Illinois, United States)

    Belvidere: …and, in Belvidere Cemetery, the Pettit Memorial Chapel (1907, restored 2003), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; it is believed to be the only chapel Wright ever designed and is an early example of his trademark Prairie style. On April 21, 1967, a devastating tornado struck the local high school and…

  • Pettit, Bob (American basketball player)

    Bob Pettit is an American professional basketball player, the first to score 20,000 points in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A clumsy player in high school, Pettit turned himself into a graceful 6-foot 9-inch (2.06-metre) athlete, and today he is considered to be the first really agile

  • Pettit, Edison (American scientist)

    infrared astronomy: Coblentz, Edison Pettit, and Seth B. Nicholson in the 1920s. Modern infrared techniques, such as the use of cryogenic detector systems (to eliminate obstruction by infrared radiation released by the detection equipment itself) and special interference filters for ground-based telescopes, were introduced during the early 1960s.…

  • Pettit, Katherine (American social worker)

    Katherine Pettit was an American settlement worker, remembered for her extensive work among the mountain people of Kentucky to improve health and living conditions and educational opportunities. Pettit was educated privately. In the 1890s, while working with the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

  • Pettit, Katherine Rhoda (American social worker)

    Katherine Pettit was an American settlement worker, remembered for her extensive work among the mountain people of Kentucky to improve health and living conditions and educational opportunities. Pettit was educated privately. In the 1890s, while working with the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union

  • Pettit, Robert E. Lee (American basketball player)

    Bob Pettit is an American professional basketball player, the first to score 20,000 points in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A clumsy player in high school, Pettit turned himself into a graceful 6-foot 9-inch (2.06-metre) athlete, and today he is considered to be the first really agile

  • petty constable (British official)

    constable: Under him were petty constables in each tithing, or village. The high and petty, or parish, constables remained the executive legal officers in counties until the County Police Acts of 1839 and 1840 allowed certain justices to establish a paid police force. In Scotland bodies of high constables,…

  • petty morrel (plant, Aralia species)

    spikenard: American spikenard (A. racemosa) is a North American member of the ginseng family (Araliaceae). The plant is characterized by large spicy-smelling roots and is cultivated as an ornamental. It grows 3.5 metres (11 feet) tall and has leaves divided into three heart-shaped parts. The flowers…

  • petty sergeanty (feudal land tenure)

    sergeanty: …above knight service, and a petty sergeanty, a tenure so meagre that it ranked with the peasants’ tenure, called socage. In origin there was no distinction between sergeanties, but inevitably those bringing their holders into immediate contact with the sovereign acquired prestige and became known as grand sergeanties.

  • petty serjeanty (feudal land tenure)

    sergeanty: …above knight service, and a petty sergeanty, a tenure so meagre that it ranked with the peasants’ tenure, called socage. In origin there was no distinction between sergeanties, but inevitably those bringing their holders into immediate contact with the sovereign acquired prestige and became known as grand sergeanties.

  • petty spurge (plant)

    spurge: Major species: …spurge and the related European petty spurge (E. peplus); and sun spurge (E. helioscopia). The weedy North American prostrate spurge (E. supine) is commonly found growing out of sidewalk cracks.

  • Petty, Lee (American stock-car driver)

    Lee Petty was an American stock-car driver who won three National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) championships (1954, 1958, and 1959). One of the most famous names in NASCAR is Petty, and, while that is largely due to the achievements of seven-time champion Richard Petty, it is Lee,

  • Petty, Norman (American musician and producer)

    Norman Petty: Buddy Holly and the Crickets made some of the most memorable records of the rock-and-roll era in Norman Petty’s off-the-beaten-track homemade studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Holly was probably the best all-around musician of the first generation of rockers—an inventive guitarist, songwriter, and singer—but he…

  • Petty, Richard (American psychologist)

    persuasion: …American psychologists John Cacioppo and Richard Petty. The ELM emphasizes the cognitive processing with which people react to persuasive communications. According to this model, if people react to a persuasive communication by reflecting on the content of the message and its supporting arguments, the subsequent attitude change is likely to…

  • Petty, Richard (American stock-car racer)

    Richard Petty is an American stock-car racer who is the most successful driver in the history of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Petty won 200 NASCAR Cup Series races in his career—the most, by far, of any driver—and seven Cup Series championships (1964, 1967, 1971,

  • Petty, Richard Lee (American stock-car racer)

    Richard Petty is an American stock-car racer who is the most successful driver in the history of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Petty won 200 NASCAR Cup Series races in his career—the most, by far, of any driver—and seven Cup Series championships (1964, 1967, 1971,

  • Petty, Sir William (English political economist)

    Sir William Petty was an English political economist and statistician whose main contribution to political economy, Treatise of Taxes and Contributions (1662), examined the role of the state in the economy and touched on the labour theory of value. Petty studied medicine at the Universities of

  • Petty, Thomas (American musician)

    Tom Petty was an American singer and songwriter whose roots-oriented guitar rock arose from the new-wave movement of the late 1970s and resulted in a string of hit singles and albums. At age 10, Petty was introduced by his uncle to Elvis Presley, who was filming Follow That Dream (1962) in Florida,

  • Petty, Tom (American musician)

    Tom Petty was an American singer and songwriter whose roots-oriented guitar rock arose from the new-wave movement of the late 1970s and resulted in a string of hit singles and albums. At age 10, Petty was introduced by his uncle to Elvis Presley, who was filming Follow That Dream (1962) in Florida,

  • Petty-Fitzmaurice, Henry Charles Keith (British diplomat)

    Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th marquess of Lansdowne was an Irish nobleman and British diplomat who served as viceroy of Canada and of India, secretary for war, and foreign secretary. The eldest son of the 4th marquess, he attended Eton and, on the death of his father, succeeded at age

  • Petty-Fitzmaurice, William (prime minister of Great Britain)

    William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st marquess of Lansdowne was a British statesman and prime minister (July 1782 to April 1783) during the reign of George III. The son of John Fitzmaurice, who took the additional name of Petty on succeeding to the Irish estates of his uncle and who was created earl of

  • Petulia (film by Lester [1968])

    Richard Lester: >Petulia (1968), a comparatively straightforward account of an extramarital affair in contemporary San Francisco that starred Julie Christie and George C. Scott, Lester’s other 1960s movies—the “swinging London” spoof The Knack…and How to Get It (1965), the Broadway adaptation A Funny Thing Happened on the…

  • Petun (people)

    Tionontati, Iroquoian-speaking Indians formerly living in the mountains south of Nottawasaga Bay, in what are now Grey and Simcoe counties, Ontario. In 1616 they were visited by the French, who called them the Tobacco Nation because of their extensive cultivation of this plant. They also grew maize

  • petunia (plant)

    petunia, genus of about 35 species of flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), native to South America. The common garden petunia (Petunia ×atkinsiana) is an ornamental plant whose showy trumpet-shaped flowers make it popular for summer flower beds and window boxes. Petunia species

  • Petunia (plant)

    petunia, genus of about 35 species of flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), native to South America. The common garden petunia (Petunia ×atkinsiana) is an ornamental plant whose showy trumpet-shaped flowers make it popular for summer flower beds and window boxes. Petunia species

  • Petunia × atkinsiana (plant)

    petunia: The common garden petunia (Petunia ×atkinsiana) is an ornamental plant whose showy trumpet-shaped flowers make it popular for summer flower beds and window boxes.

  • petuntse (rock)

    William Cookworthy: …(kaolin) and china stone (petuntse) at St. Austell in Cornwall. After many years of experiment with these materials, he finally learned the secret of hard porcelain, obtained a patent (1768), and established the Plymouth China factory.

  • Pétursson, Hallgrímur (Icelandic poet)

    Hallgrímur Pétursson was a poet, and one of the greatest religious poets of Iceland. Though he came from a “good” family, Pétursson lived an errant life; as a boy he ran away to Copenhagen and became a blacksmith’s apprentice. Through the influence of Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson, he was later

  • Pétursson, Hannes (Icelandic author)

    Icelandic literature: Poetry: The early works of Hannes Pétursson show great sensitivity and skill in adapting Icelandic to new, European metres. Pétursson’s later poems (such as those in the collection Ur hugskoti [1976; “Recollections”]) reveal a movement away from innovative forms to more traditional verse. Other poets contemporary to Pétursson include Þorsteinn…

  • Petwo lwa (Vodou)

    lwa: Description: The Rada and Petwo pantheons are arguably the most important, in terms of both size and the role played by Rada and Petwo lwa in Vodou, and, in fact, many of the other groups have been integrated into the Rada and the Petwo pantheons. This fusion underscores the…

  • Petworth (England, United Kingdom)

    Petworth, town (parish), Chichester district, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southern England. The parish adjoins the great park of Petworth House, now owned by the National Trust. The mansion itself was largely rebuilt (1688–96) by Charles Seymour, 6th duke of

  • Petworth House (building, Petworth, England, United Kingdom)

    Petworth: …adjoins the great park of Petworth House, now owned by the National Trust. The mansion itself was largely rebuilt (1688–96) by Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, and contains a noted art collection. Its deer park was landscaped in the 18th century by Lancelot (“Capability”) Brown. Pop. (2001) 2,775; (2011)…

  • Petya i volk (work by Prokofiev)

    Peter and the Wolf, children’s theatre composition for orchestra and narrator by Sergey Prokofiev. The work, which tells a Russian folk tale, premiered May 2, 1936, in Moscow. Since that time it has introduced many young listeners to classical music and helped train them to recognize the distinct

  • Petz’s conure (bird)

    conure: Among them is the half-moon conure, A. canicularis, called Petz’s conure, or “dwarf parrot”; from Central America, it is 24 cm (about 10 inches) long and mostly green, with orange forehead, dull-blue crown, and blue in the wings. The large (to 50 cm [20 inches]) Patagonian conure, or burrowing…

  • Petzval curvature (optics)

    aberration: …a paraboloidal surface called the Petzval surface (after József Petzval, a Hungarian mathematician). Flat image fields are desirable in photography in order to match the film plane and projection when the enlarging paper or projection screen lie on a flat surface. Distortion refers to deformation of an image. There are…

  • Petzval sum (optics)

    aberration: …a paraboloidal surface called the Petzval surface (after József Petzval, a Hungarian mathematician). Flat image fields are desirable in photography in order to match the film plane and projection when the enlarging paper or projection screen lie on a flat surface. Distortion refers to deformation of an image. There are…

  • Petzval surface (optics)

    aberration: …a paraboloidal surface called the Petzval surface (after József Petzval, a Hungarian mathematician). Flat image fields are desirable in photography in order to match the film plane and projection when the enlarging paper or projection screen lie on a flat surface. Distortion refers to deformation of an image. There are…

  • Petzval, József Miska (Austrian mathematician)

    history of photography: Development of the daguerreotype: During this same period, József Petzval and Friedrich Voigtländer, both of Vienna, worked on better lens and camera design. Petzval produced an achromatic portrait lens that was about 20 times faster than the simple meniscus lens the Parisian opticians Charles Chevalier and N.M.P. Lerebours had made for Daguerre’s cameras.…

  • Peucedanum officinale (plant)

    fennel: Other species: Hog’s fennel, or sulfurweed (Peucedanum officinale), is another member of the Apiaceae family and is used in traditional medicine in parts of Europe. Fennel flower, or black cumin (Nigella sativa), is an unrelated plant of the family Ranunculaceae; its seeds are used as a spice.

  • Peucestas (Macedonian satrap)

    Alexander the Great: Consolidation of the empire: Peucestas, the new governor of Persis, gave this policy full support to flatter Alexander; but most Macedonians saw it as a threat to their own privileged position.

  • Peucetia viridans (spider)

    lynx spider: The green lynx (Peucetia viridans) hunts prey on vegetation and flowers and can adjust its body color to match the background. Females in this species also construct a silk retreat in which they suspend the egg sac. Females then guard the eggs and young spiders in…

  • Peucettii (people)

    Ruvo di Puglia: …was the centre of the Peucettii, an ancient Apulian tribe. It then became a flourishing Greek town that was famous in the 5th–3rd century bc for its potteries, which were imitations of imported Corinthian and Attic black- and red-figure ware, but with a marked local character. A large collection of…

  • Peuerbach, Georg von (Austrian mathematician)

    Georg von Peuerbach was an Austrian mathematician and astronomer instrumental in the European revival of the technical understanding of the astronomical ideas of Ptolemy (fl. c. ad 140) and the early use of sines in Europe. Nothing is known of Peuerbach’s life before 1446, when he entered the

  • Peugeot, Armand (French engineer)

    PSA Group: In 1896 Armand Peugeot (1849–1915) established the Société Anonyme des Automobiles Peugeot. The company began mass-producing cars in 1929 with the introduction of the 201. That car’s success led to other models. In addition, in 1953 Peugeot began producing motorized scooters that proved highly popular.

  • Peul (people)

    Fulani, a primarily Muslim people scattered throughout many parts of Africa, mostly in West Africa from Lake Chad in the east to the Atlantic coast. They are concentrated principally in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Niger but can also be found in several other countries. The Fulani language,

  • Peul language (African language)

    western Africa: The wider influence of the Sudanic kingdoms: The Fulani language, however, is classified as part of the Niger-Congo family of languages spoken by Black Africans, and the earliest historical documentation reports that the Fulani were living in the westernmost Sudan close to ancient Ghana. The development of this organized kingdom thrust pastoral peoples…

  • Peumus boldus (plant)

    Laurales: Other families: Peumus boldus, native to Chile, is the source of boldo wood, a hardwood used in cabinetmaking. A dye is obtained from its bark, and the leaves contain an essential oil and the alkaloid boldine, which are employed medicinally as a digestive aid and stimulant. The…

  • Peuples Noirs/Peuples Africains (periodical)

    Mongo Beti: In 1978 Beti launched Peuples Noirs/Peuples Africains (“Black Peoples/African Peoples”), a political and cultural bimonthly periodical devoted to the exposure and defeat of neocolonialism in Africa. An outspoken opponent of Ahmadou Ahidjo, who governed Cameroon from 1960 to 1982, Beti settled in France before Cameroon achieved independence in 1960;…

  • Peutinger Table (ancient map)

    Tabula Peutingeriana, copy of an ancient Roman map, made in 1265 by a monk of Colmar (Alsace) on 12 sheets of parchment. Eleven of the sheets are now in the Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. The dimensions are 268 by 13 1 3 inches (6.82 by 0.34 metres). The copy was found by Conradus Celtis in 1494 and

  • Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (pathology)

    digestive system disease: Mouth and oral cavity: …small intestine is characteristic of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. Aggregates of small yellow spots on the buccal mucosa and the mucosa behind the lips due to the presence of enlarged sebaceous glands just below the mucosal surface indicate Fordyce disease.

  • Pevensey (England, United Kingdom)

    Pevensey, locality (parish), Wealden district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. Once an English Channel port, it now lies 1 mile (1.6 km) inland along a narrow waterway. From the 13th century on, silting of the waterway brought about Pevensey’s

  • Pevensey, Spencer Compton, Viscount (English noble)

    Spencer Compton, earl of Wilmington was a British politician, favourite of King George II and nominal prime minister of Great Britain from February 1742 to July 1743. Third son of James Spencer, 3rd earl of Northampton, he first entered Parliament in 1698; in 1715 he became speaker of the House of

  • Pevsner, Antoine (French artist)

    Antoine Pevsner was a Russian-born French sculptor and painter who—like his brother, Naum Gabo—advanced the Constructivist style. Pevsner studied art in Russia at Kiev and St. Petersburg. In 1911 and 1913 he visited Paris, where he was influenced by Cubism; he subsequently introduced Cubist

  • Pevsner, Naum Neemia (Russian sculptor)

    Naum Gabo was a pioneering Constructivist sculptor who used materials such as glass, plastic, and metal and created a sense of spatial movement in his work. Gabo studied medicine and natural science, then philosophy and art history, at the University of Munich in Germany; he also took engineering

  • Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus (British art historian)

    Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was a German-born British art historian. He studied at various German universities and taught at Göttingen University before moving to England to escape Nazism. There he taught at the Universities of London, Oxford, and Cambridge. He is best known for his writings on

  • Pevzner, Natan Borisovich (French artist)

    Antoine Pevsner was a Russian-born French sculptor and painter who—like his brother, Naum Gabo—advanced the Constructivist style. Pevsner studied art in Russia at Kiev and St. Petersburg. In 1911 and 1913 he visited Paris, where he was influenced by Cubism; he subsequently introduced Cubist

  • pew (furniture)

    pew, originally a raised and enclosed place in a church designed for an ecclesiastical dignitary or officer; the meaning was later extended to include special seating in the body of the church for distinguished laity and, finally, to include all church seating. In its early stages, the pew was

  • Pew Charitable Trusts, The (American organization)

    Mangroves Matter: Mangroves Matter transcript: Stacy is an officer at Pew Charitable Trusts and has worked hard to champion mangrove forests and other important coastal ecosystems. So Stacy, tell us a bit about what a mangrove is. I’ve heard it said that a mangrove is more like a lifestyle than a taxonomic group. Do you…

  • Pew Research Center (American organization)

    J. Howard Pew: …such funded project is the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan opinion research group that focuses on issues of the press, public policy, and politics.

  • Pew, J. Howard (American industrialist)

    J. Howard Pew was an American industrialist who expanded, with his brother Joseph N. Pew, Jr., the Sun Oil Company (founded by his father; now called Sunoco) by introducing new refining, marketing, and distribution techniques. Beginning in 1886, Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912),

  • Pew, J. N., Jr. (American industrialist)

    Joseph N. Pew, Jr. was an American industrialist who helped run, along with his brother J. Howard Pew, the Sun Oil Company (started by his father; now called Sunoco) and became an influential member of the U.S. Republican Party. Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912), began refining oil

  • Pew, John Howard (American industrialist)

    J. Howard Pew was an American industrialist who expanded, with his brother Joseph N. Pew, Jr., the Sun Oil Company (founded by his father; now called Sunoco) by introducing new refining, marketing, and distribution techniques. Beginning in 1886, Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912),

  • Pew, Joseph N., Jr. (American industrialist)

    Joseph N. Pew, Jr. was an American industrialist who helped run, along with his brother J. Howard Pew, the Sun Oil Company (started by his father; now called Sunoco) and became an influential member of the U.S. Republican Party. Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912), began refining oil

  • Pew, Joseph Newton, Jr. (American industrialist)

    Joseph N. Pew, Jr. was an American industrialist who helped run, along with his brother J. Howard Pew, the Sun Oil Company (started by his father; now called Sunoco) and became an influential member of the U.S. Republican Party. Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912), began refining oil

  • Pew, Joseph Newton, Sr. (American businessman)

    J. Howard Pew: Beginning in 1886, Pew’s father, Joseph Newton Pew, Sr. (1848–1912), piped and refined oil in Pennsylvania and Ohio. When oil was discovered near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901, he bought some wells and built a pipeline to the nearby Neches River, whence the oil could be shipped to his huge new…

  • pewee (bird)

    pewee, any of eight species of birds of the genus Contopus (family Tyrannidae); it is named for its call, which is monotonously repeated from an open perch. In North America a sad, clear “pee-oo-wee” announces the presence of the eastern wood pewee (C. virens), while a blurry “peeurrr” is the call

  • pewter (alloy)

    pewter, tin-based alloy used as a material from which domestic utensils were fashioned. A brief treatment of pewter follows. For full treatment, see metalwork: Pewter. The use of pewter dates back at least 2,000 years to Roman times. Ancient pewter contained about 70 percent tin and 30 percent

  • Pexenfelder, Michael (encyclopaedist)

    encyclopaedia: Readership: ” The Jesuit Michael Pexenfelder made his intended audience clear enough by writing his Apparatus Eruditionis (1670; “Apparatus of Learning”) in the form of a series of conversations between teacher and pupil. St. Isidore addressed himself not only to the needs of his former pupils in the episcopal…

  • Pey-Berland (tower, Bordeaux, France)

    Bordeaux: …15th-century bell towers: that of Pey-Berland, near Saint-André Cathedral, and the Saint-Michel Tower, with a spire of 357 feet (109 metres). A late 20th-century urban development plan called for the renovation of the city centre and extension of new districts northward around a large lake and along the west bank…

  • Peyer patch (anatomy)

    Peyer patch, any of the nodules of lymphatic cells that aggregate to form bundles or patches and occur usually only in the lowest portion (ileum) of the small intestine; they are named for the 17th-century Swiss anatomist Hans Conrad Peyer. Peyer patches are round or oval and are located in the

  • Peyer’s patch (anatomy)

    Peyer patch, any of the nodules of lymphatic cells that aggregate to form bundles or patches and occur usually only in the lowest portion (ileum) of the small intestine; they are named for the 17th-century Swiss anatomist Hans Conrad Peyer. Peyer patches are round or oval and are located in the

  • peyote (plant)

    peyote, (Lophophora williamsii), species of hallucinogenic cactus (family Cactaceae). Peyote is found only on limestone soils of the Chihuahuan desert of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Averaging about eight centimetres (three inches) wide and five centimetres (two inches) tall, the body of the

  • Peyote dance (American Indian dance)

    Native American dance: Mexico and Mesoamerica: The hikuli, or peyote dance, held in November, follows Huichol and Tarahumara pilgrimages for peyote. The dance of the Huichol is the more ecstatic. After consuming the trance-inducing peyote, men and women move in a counterclockwise progression, leaping jerkily and twisting their bodies.

  • peyote music (Native American music)

    peyote music, a type of Native American music associated with the sacramental consumption of the vision-inducing peyote cactus (Lophophora) by followers of the Native American Church. The precise origin of the use of peyote as a religious sacrament among North American native peoples remains

  • Peyote Religion (North American religion)

    Native American Church, most widespread indigenous religious movement among North American Indians and one of the most influential forms of Pan-Indianism. The term peyote derives from the Nahuatl name peyotl for a cactus. The tops of the plants contain mescaline, an alkaloid drug that has

  • Peyotism (North American religion)

    Native American Church, most widespread indigenous religious movement among North American Indians and one of the most influential forms of Pan-Indianism. The term peyote derives from the Nahuatl name peyotl for a cactus. The tops of the plants contain mescaline, an alkaloid drug that has

  • Peyre, Marie-Joseph (French architect)

    Western architecture: France: …of the pre-Revolutionary period were Marie-Joseph Peyre, whose Livre d’architecture of 1765 was influential in publicizing the type of work being produced by French students in Rome; Charles de Wailly, who was an important teacher and, with Peyre, was the architect of the Paris Odéon; Jacques Gondoin, architect of the…

  • Peyron, Bruno (French yachtsman)

    Bruno Peyron is a French yachtsman who set a number of sailing records and was a three-time winner (1993, 2002, 2005) of the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest trip around the world under sail. Peyron, who was the oldest of two nautical world-champion brothers, was raised in La Baule in southern

  • Peyron, Bruno Tristan (French yachtsman)

    Bruno Peyron is a French yachtsman who set a number of sailing records and was a three-time winner (1993, 2002, 2005) of the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest trip around the world under sail. Peyron, who was the oldest of two nautical world-champion brothers, was raised in La Baule in southern

  • Peyton Place (film by Robson [1957])

    Mark Robson: Films of the 1950s: Robson rebounded with Peyton Place (1957), an adaptation of Grace Metalious’s best-selling novel about the scandals in a small New England town. Most of the work’s sensationalistic elements—notably sadomasochism, incest, and abortion—were toned down or eliminated from the film version. Nevertheless, the novel’s many fans flocked to the…

  • Peyton Place (American television series)

    Television in the United States: A potpourri of genres: …a prime-time soap opera (Peyton Place [ABC, 1964–69]), animal shows (Lassie [CBS, 1954–71]; Flipper [NBC, 1964–68]), and a collection of sitcoms and dramas featuring lawyers, cops, doctors, and detectives all made the Nielsen top-30 lists during this decade.

  • pez en el agua: Memorias, El (work by Vargas Llosa)

    Mario Vargas Llosa: Literary works and political career: …en el agua: memorias (1993; A Fish in the Water: A Memoir). In 2012 he told The Guardian, “I learned from my political experiences that I am a writer, not a politician. Part of the reasons I have lived the life I have is because I wanted to have an…

  • Pezeshkian, Masoud (president of Iran)

    Masoud Pezeshkian is the president of Iran (2024– ) and is distinguished from his predecessor in that he favors a nuclear agreement with the West and modest social and political reforms at home. As a member of the Majles (parliament; 2008–24), he criticized the government for the death of Jina

  • Pezet, Juan Antonio (president of Peru)

    Talambo affair: Juan Antonio Pezet, acceded to Spain’s demands for an indemnity in return for the islands, but the ensuing furor among his countrymen enabled Gen. Mariano Ignacio Prado to oust him in 1865. Prado forged an alliance with Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile and declared war against…

  • Peziza (fungi)

    cup fungus: Peziza, which contains about 50 widespread species, produces in summer a cup-shaped fruiting body or mushroomlike structure on rotting wood or manure. Fire fungus is the common name for two genera (Pyronema and Anthracobia) of the order that grow on burned wood or steamed soil.

  • Pezizaceae

    cup fungus, any member of a large group of fungi (kingdom Fungi) in the order Pezizales (phylum Ascomycota) and typically characterized by a disk- or cup-shaped structure (apothecium) bearing spore sacs (asci) on its surface. Some of the cup fungi are important plant pathogens, such as Monilinia

  • Pezizales (order of fungi)

    fungus: Annotated classification: Order Pezizales Saprotrophic; amyloid asci; ascomata nonstalked, may be goblet-shaped or saucer-shaped; ascocarp may be operculate aboveground or be borne belowground; includes truffles; example genera include Peziza, Glaziella, Morchella, Pyronema, Terfezia, and Tuber. Class Sordariomycetes

  • Pezizomycetes (class of fungi)

    fungus: Annotated classification: Class Pezizomycetes Saprotrophic on wood, soil, or dung; unitunicate, operculate asci; includes some cup fungi; contains 1 order. Order Pezizales Saprotrophic; amyloid asci; ascomata nonstalked, may be goblet-shaped or saucer-shaped; ascocarp may be operculate aboveground or be borne belowground; includes truffles; example genera

  • Pezizomycotina (subphylum of fungi)

    fungus: Annotated classification: Subphylum Pezizomycotina Symbiotic with algae to form lichen; contains all ascomycetes able to produce ascomata; many form ascocarps, although some have lost the ability to undergo meiosis and cannot produce asci (formerly Deuteromycota); contains 10 classes. Class Arthoniomycetes Forms lichens; contains 1 order.

  • Pezophaps solitaria (extinct bird)

    dodo: solitarius of Réunion and Pezophaps solitaria of Rodrigues).

  • Pezoporus wallicus (bird)

    parrot: Equally unusual is the ground parrot, or ground parakeet (Pezoporus wallicus). Rare local populations exist in the wastelands of coastal southern Australia and western Tasmania. It runs in the grass, flushes like a quail, and makes a sudden deceptive pitch, and it was formerly hunted with dogs. It eats…

  • Pezza, Michele (Italian guerrilla leader)

    Fra Diavolo was an Italian brigand chief who repeatedly fought against the French occupation of Naples; he is celebrated as a popular guerrilla leader in folk legends and in the novels of the French writer Alexandre Dumas père. After committing various crimes, the young Pezza joined the mountain

  • PF (political party, Zambia)

    Zambia: Zambia in the 21st century: …competitor, Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front (PF), made claims of voting irregularities and contested the election. Sporadic violence ensued in areas loyal to Sata, but the result of the election stood, and Mwanawasa was sworn in for his second term in October 2006. Mwanawasa again suffered a stroke in…

  • PF (Panamanian national police)

    Panama: Security: …civilian control and include the Public Force (PF) and the Technical Judicial Police, a special investigative unit. National defense is also entrusted to the PF, which has limited combat capabilities but some military components, including air and naval units. In the late 1990s concern was raised that Panama needed greater…

  • PF resin (chemical compound)

    Bakelite, trademarked synthetic resin invented in 1907 by Belgian-born American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland. A hard, infusible, and chemically resistant plastic, Bakelite was based on a chemical combination of phenol and formaldehyde (phenol-formaldehyde resin), two compounds that were derived