city, seat (1883) of Reeves county, southwestern Texas, U.S. It is situated in the Pecos River valley, some 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Odessa. It originated in 1881 as a station on the Texas and Pacific Railway and as ...
in American folklore, cowboy hero of the Pecos River region of Texas who was an exaggerated personification of Western stamina and values; his vivid exploits are analogous to those of the legendary giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan of the North Woods.
river in the southwestern United States, rising in Mora County, north-central New Mexico, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and flowing about 926 miles (1,490 km) through eastern New Mexico and western Texas. It drains about 38,300 square miles (99,200 ...
("Five Churches"), capital of Baranya megye (county), southwestern Hungary. It lies at the southern foot of the wooded Mecsek Mountains, 135 miles (220 km) south-southwest of Budapest. It is one of several city-county administrative units in Hungary. The site was ...
any of a group of water-soluble carbohydrate substances that are found in the cell walls and intercellular tissues of certain plants. In the fruits of plants, pectin helps keep the walls of adjacent cells joined together. Immature fruits contain the ...
any of the muscles that connect the front walls of the chest with the bones of the upper arm and shoulder. There are two such muscles on each side of the sternum (breastbone) in the human body: pectoralis major and ...
a chest deformity caused by depression of the breastbone, or sternum. Pectus excavatum is generally not noticeable at birth but becomes more evident with age unless surgically corrected. In most instances the abnormality is due to a shortened central tendon ...
study of teaching methods, including the aims of education and the ways in which such goals may be achieved. The field relies heavily on educational psychology, or theories about the way in which learning takes place.
musical instrument in which pedals control a mechanism raising the pitch of given strings by a semitone (single action) or by both a semitone and a whole tone (double action). The modern double-action pedal harp, the standard orchestral harp, covers ...
in music, a sustained note, ordinarily in the bass, over which changing harmonies are played. The name may derive from the low tones sustained by organ pedals, although a pedal point can occur in the middle voices or the soprano. ...
American chemist who, along with Jean-Marie Lehn and Donald J. Cram, was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his synthesis of the crown ethers-a group of organic compounds that would selectively react with other atoms and molecules much ...
Danish humanist who was among the first to rediscover Denmark's national literary and historical heritage and to encourage the development of a vernacular style in Danish literature.
in Classical architecture, support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. Such a pedestal may be square, octagonal, or circular. The name is also given to the vertical members that divide the sections of a balustrade. A single ...
a Bantu-speaking people inhabiting Northern province, South Africa, and constituting the major group of the Northern Sotho ethnolinguistic cluster of peoples, who numbered about 3,700,000 in the late 20th century. Their traditional territory, which is known as Bopedi, is located ...
medical specialty dealing with the development and care of children and with the diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases. The first important review of childhood illness, an anonymous European work called The Children's Practice, dates from the 12th century. The ...
three-wheeled vehicle with a hooded carriage body balanced on two of the wheels. The body may be placed in front or in back of the driver, who propels the vehicle by pedaling. Pedicabs are the successors to rickshas (q.v.) and ...
river in central and eastern Cyprus. It rises in the Troodos range and flows in a northeasterly direction toward Nicosia, where it takes an easterly turn through the part of the central lowlands called the Mesaoria Plain toward Famagusta Bay. ...
a record of ancestry or purity of breed. Studbooks (listings of pedigrees for horses, dogs, etc.) and herdbooks (records for cattle, swine, sheep, etc.) are maintained by governmental or private record associations or breed organizations in many countries.
in geology, any relatively flat surface of bedrock (exposed or veneered with alluvial soil or gravel) that occurs at the base of a mountain or as a plain having no associated mountain. Pediments, sometimes mistaken for groups of merged alluvial ...
in architecture, triangular gable crowning a portice (area, with a roof supported by columns, leading to the entrance of a building); or a similar form used decoratively over a doorway or window. The pediment was the crowning feature of the ...
dental specialty that deals with the care of children's teeth. The pedodontist is extensively concerned with prevention, which includes instruction in proper diet, use of fluoride, and practice of oral hygiene. The pedodontist's routine practice deals basically with caries (tooth ...
scientific discipline concerned with all aspects of soils, including their physical and chemical properties, the role of organisms in soil production and in relation to soil character, the description and mapping of soil units, and the origin and formation of ...
psychosexual disorder in which an adult's arousal and sexual gratification occur primarily through sexual contact with prepubescent children. The typical pedophile is unable to find satisfaction in an adult sexual relationship and may have low self-esteem, seeing sexual activity with ...
Spanish composer and musical scholar who devoted his life to the development of a Spanish school of music founded on both national folk songs and Spanish masterpieces of the past.
town, eastern Paraguay, founded in 1899. It lies in the Amambay Mountains at 2,296 feet (700 m) above sea level, opposite Ponte Pora, Braz. Pedro Juan Caballero is the region's largest town and principal trade centre. The hinterland is utilized ...
stock character of the Italian commedia dell'arte, a simpleminded and honest servant, usually a young and personable valet. One of the comic servants, or zanni, Pedrolino functioned in the commedia as an unsuccessful lover and a victim of the pranks ...
river rising as the Yadkin River in the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwestern North Carolina, U.S. Flowing northeast past Wilkesboro and Elkin, then southeast past Badin, it becomes the Pee Dee (named for the Pedee Indians) after a course of ...
royal burgh (town), Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Peeblesshire, Scotland, at the junction of Eddleston Water with the River Tweed. Peebles, which gained royal burgh status in 1367, grew up under the shelter of the royal castle, which ...
historic county of southeastern Scotland that forms a triangle between the historic counties of Midlothian (north and northeast), Selkirkshire (east and southeast), Dumfriesshire (south), and Lanarkshire (west). It lies entirely within the Scottish Borders council area.
city, Westchester county, southeastern New York, U.S., on the east bank of the Hudson River, 41 miles (66 km) north of New York City. Its name derives from Jan Peek, a Dutchman who established a trading post in 1654 at ...
town on the west coast of the Isle of Man, one of the British Isles, on Peel Bay at the mouth of the River Neb, which forms the harbour. On the west side of the river mouth is Patrick's Isle, ...
river in northern Yukon Territory and northwestern Mackenzie District of the Northwest Territories, Canada, the northernmost tributary of the Mackenzie River. From its major headstream, the Ogilvie River, in the mountains of central Yukon Territory, the river flows generally northeastward ...
British prime minister (1834-35, 1841-46) and founder of the Conservative Party. Peel was responsible for the repeal (1846) of the Corn Laws that had restricted imports.
village, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Land (state), northeastern Germany, at the northwestern end of Usedom Island in the estuarine mouth of the Peene River on the Baltic Sea coast. It was mentioned as a fishing village in 1282. During World War II ...
children's toy and scientific curiosity, usually consisting of a box with an eyehole, through which the viewer sees a miniature scene or stage setting, painted or constructed in perspective. Peep shows of an earlier time are often the only accurate ...
person who derives sexual satisfaction from watching from hiding places as others disrobe or engage in sexual acts. The term derives from the legendary Peeping Tom, a prying tailor who was struck blind (in some accounts, struck dead) for opening ...
in Greek mythology, a winged horse that sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. With Athena's (or Poseidon's) help, another Greek hero, Bellerophon (see ), captured Pegasus and rode him first ...
any of a series of three U.S. scientific satellites launched in 1965. These spacecraft were named for the winged horse in Greek mythology because of their prominent wing-like structure. This "wing," which spanned 96 feet (29 metres), was specially designed ...
almost any wholly crystalline igneous or metamorphic rock that is at least in part very coarse grained, the major constituents of which include minerals typically found in ordinary igneous rocks and in which extreme textural variations, especially in grain size, ...
Florentine mercantile agent best known as the author of the Pratica della mercatura ("Practice of Marketing"), which provides an excellent picture of trade and travel in his day.
port city, southern Myanmar (Burma), on the Pegu River, 47 miles (76 km) northeast of Yangon (Rangoon). Pegu was the capital of the Mon kingdom and is surrounded by the ruins of its old wall and moat, which formed a ...
