Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Papiamento ... Paraguacu River

Papiamento: creole language based on Spanish, spoken on the islands of Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire, in the Caribbean Sea. Papiamento is apparently based on a Spanish pidgin or creole language, with early influences from Portuguese and, more recently, strong Dutch influences ...
Papias: bishop of Hierapolis, Phrygia (now in Turkey), whose work "Explanation of the Sayings of the Lord," although extant only in fragments, provides important apostolic oral source accounts of the history of primitive Christianity and of the origins of the Gospels.
papier-mache: repulped paper that has been mixed with glue or paste so that it can be molded. The art of making articles of papier-mache, beautifully decorated in Oriental motifs and handsomely lacquered, was known in the East centuries before its introduction ...
papillomavirus: any of a group of viruses belonging to the family Papillomaviridae that infect birds and mammals, causing warts (papillomas) and other benign tumours in humans. They are small polygonal viruses containing circular double-stranded DNA, and more than 55 distinct types ...
papillon: breed of toy dog known from the 16th century, when it was called a dwarf spaniel. A fashionable dog, it was favoured by Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette, and it appeared in paintings by some of the Old Masters. ...
Papin, Denis: French-born British physicist who invented the pressure cooker and suggested the first cylinder and piston steam engine. Though his design was not practical, it was improved by others and led to the development of the steam engine, a major contribution ...
Papineau, Louis Joseph: politician who was the leader of the French-Canadians in Lower Canada (now in Quebec) in the period preceding an unsuccessful revolt against the British government in 1837.
Papini, Giovanni: journalist, critic, poet, and novelist, one of the most outspoken and controversial Italian literary figures of the early and mid-20th century. He was influential first as a fiercely iconoclastic editor and writer, then as a leader of Italian Futurism, and ...
Papinian: Roman jurist who posthumously became the definitive authority on Roman law, possibly because his moral high-mindedness was congenial to the worldview of the Christian rulers of the postclassical empire.
Papp, Joseph: American theatrical producer and director, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theatre. He was a major innovative force in the American theatre in the second half of the 20th century.
Papp, Laszlo: Hungarian boxer who became the first three-time Olympic boxing champion, winning gold medals in 1948, 1952, and 1956.
pappataci fever: acute, infectious, febrile disease caused by a phlebovirus (family Bunyaviridae) and producing temporary incapacitation. It is transmitted to humans by the bloodsucking female sand fly (notably Phlebotomus papatasii, P. perniciosus, and
Pappenheim, Gottfried Heinrich, Count zu: German cavalry commander conspicuous early in the Thirty Years' War.
Pappus of Alexandria: the most important mathematical author writing in Greek during the later Roman Empire, known for his Synagoge ("Collection"), a voluminous account of the most important work done in ancient Greek mathematics. Other than that he was born ...
paprika: spice made from the pods of Capsicum annuum, an annual shrub belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and native to tropical areas of the Western Hemisphere, including Mexico, Central America, South America, and the West Indies.
Papua: propinsi (province), Indonesia, the western half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands-including the individual islands of Yapen, Adi, Waigeo, Batanta, Kofiau, Salawati, Misool, and Yos Sudarsa and the Schouten Islands. Papua fronts the Ceram and Banda ...
Papua New Guinea: island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It encompasses the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the western half, Irian Jaya, belonging to Indonesia) and its offshore islands as well as the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago (New ...
Papua, Gulf of: inlet of the Coral Sea (southwestern Pacific) indenting the southeast coast of the island of New Guinea. About 225 miles (360 km) wide, it extends 95 miles (150 km) into south-central New Guinea. From west to east it is entered ...
Papuan languages: group of languages spoken in an area centred upon New Guinea and extending from the islands of Alor, Halmahera, and Timor in the west to the Santa Cruz Archipelago in the east. The Papuan languages include approximately 740 languages, used ...
papyrology: the care, reading, and interpretation of ancient documents written on papyrus, which is of prime importance in Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and Classical archaeology.
papyrus: writing material of ancient times and also the plant from which it was derived, Cyperus papyrus (family Cyperaceae), also called paper plant. The papyrus plant was long-cultivated in the Nile delta region in Egypt and was collected for its stalk ...
papyrus column: in Egyptian religion, amulet that conveyed freshness, youth, vigour, and the continuance of life to its wearer. The amulet, made of glazed ware or various types of stone, was shaped like a papyrus stem and bud. Its significance was perhaps ...
Para: estado (state) of northern Brazil through which the lower Amazon River flows to the sea. It is bounded to the north by Guyana, Suriname, and the Brazilian state of Amapa, to the northeast by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east ...
Para River: channel of the Amazon delta that passes to the south and east of Marajo Island, in northeastern Para state, northern Brazil. It carries a small part of the discharge of the Amazon River eastward and northward to the Atlantic Ocean, ...
para-aminobenzoic acid: a vitamin-like substance and a growth factor required by several types of microorganisms. In bacteria, PABA is used in the synthesis of the vitamin folic acid. The drug sulfanilamide is effective in treating some bacterial diseases because it prevents the ...
parabasis: an important choral ode in Greek Old Comedy delivered by the chorus at an intermission in the action while facing and moving toward the audience. It was used to express the author's views on political or religious topics of the ...
parable: short fictitious narrative that illustrates a moral attitude, a doctrine, a standard of conduct, or a religious principle. The term originally referred to a Greek rhetorical figure, a kind of extended simile, involving the use of a literary illustration. The ...
parabola: open curve, a conic section produced by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone. As a plane curve, it may be defined as the path (locus) of a point moving ...
parabolic equation: any of a class of partial-differential equations arising in the mathematical analysis of diffusion phenomena, as in the heating of a slab. The simplest such equation in one dimension, u_xx = u_t, governs the temperature distribution at the various points ...
paraboloid: an open surface generated by rotating a parabola (q.v.) about its axis. If the axis of the surface is the z axis and the vertex is at the origin, the intersections of the surface with planes parallel to the xz ...
paracanthopterygian: any member of the superorder Paracanthopterygii, a predatory, primarily marine group that forms one of about six major branches of the Teleostei, or bony fishes, the dominant modern aquatic vertebrates. Approximately 1,160 living species of paracanthopterygian fishes have been described. ...
Paracas: culture centred on the peninsula of the same name, located in present-day southern Peru in the vicinity of Ica, during the Early Horizon and the Early Intermediate periods (c. 900 BC-AD 400). The Paracas culture's earlier phase, called Paracas Cavernas, ...
Paracel Islands: group of about 130 small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea. They lie about 250 miles (400 km) east of central Vietnam and about 220 miles (350 km) southeast of Hainan Island, China. Apart from a few ...
Paracelsus: German-Swiss physician and alchemist who established the role of chemistry in medicine. He published Der grossen Wundartzney ("Great Surgery Book") in 1536 and a clinical description of syphilis in 1530.
parachute: device that slows the vertical descent of a body falling through the atmosphere or the velocity of a body moving horizontally. The parachute increases the body's surface area, and this increased air resistance slows the body in motion. There is ...
parade: a type of pageant (q.v.) whose main feature is a public procession.
Paradip: town and major port of east-central Orissa state, eastern India, on the Bay of Bengal. It is situated on the delta of the Mahanadi River at the mouth of one of its branches. The development of Paradip was begun after ...
paradise: in religion, a place of exceptional happiness and delight. The term paradise is often used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden before the expulsion of Adam and Eve. An earthly paradise is often conceived of as existing in ...
paradox: apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny. The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought. The statement "Less is more" is an example. Francis Bacon's saying, "The most ...
paradoxes of Zeno: statements made by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea, a 5th-century-BC disciple of Parmenides, a fellow Eleatic, designed to show that any assertion opposite to the monistic teaching of Parmenides leads to contradiction and absurdity. Parmenides had argued from reason ...
Paradoxides: genus of trilobites (an extinct group of arthropods) found as fossils in Middle Cambrian rocks of North America and western Europe (the Cambrian Period lasted from 540 to 505 million years ago). Paradoxides has a well-developed head region terminating laterally ...
Paradoxides Series: rocks deposited during the Middle Cambrian Period in western Europe and Scandinavia and in eastern North America (the Middle Cambrian Period lasted from 520 to 512 million years ago). The Paradoxides Series is characterized by the fossil occurrence of trilobites ...
Paradzhanov, Sergey Yosifovich: Armenian director of lyrical, visually powerful films whose career was curtailed by official harassment and censorship.
paraffin hydrocarbon: any of the saturated hydrocarbons having the general formula C_nH_2n+2, C being a carbon atom, H a hydrogen atom, and n an integer. The paraffins are major constituents of natural gas and petroleum. Paraffins containing fewer than 5 carbon atoms ...
paraffin wax: colourless or white, somewhat translucent, hard wax consisting of a mixture of solid straight-chain hydrocarbons ranging in melting point from about 48° to 66° C (120° to 150° F). Paraffin wax is obtained from petroleum by dewaxing light lubricating oil ...
Parafusulina: genus of extinct fusulinid foraminiferans (single-celled animals with a hard, complexly constructed shell) found as fossils in Permian marine rocks (the Permian Period began 286 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). Parafusulina is more specifically restricted to ...
paragenesis: the sequence in which the minerals are formed in an ore deposit. Variations in the pressure and temperature and in the chemical constituents of a hydrothermal solution will result in the precipitation of various minerals at different times within the ...
paragliding: sport of flying parachutes with design modifications that enhance their gliding capabilities. Unlike hang gliders, their close relations, paragliders have no rigid framework; the parachute canopy acts as a wing and is constructed of fabric cells with openings at the ...
paragonimiasis: infection caused by Paragonimus westermani, or lung fluke, a parasitic worm some 8 to 12 mm (0.3 to 0.5 inch) long. It is common in Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia and has also been reported in parts of ...
paragonite: mica mineral similar to muscovite, a basic silicate of sodium and aluminum; a member of the common mica group. It was thought to be an uncommon mineral, but experiment and investigation have shown that it is widespread in metamorphic schists ...
Paraguacu River: river, in central and eastern Bahia estado ("state"), eastern Brazil. It rises in the Diamantina Upland and flows northward and then eastward for approximately 300 miles (500 km). The river empties into Todos os Santos Bay, just below Maragogipe. It ...