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e7dcbd5291520cf205c571865bb55b17
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pillory-penology
Pillory
Pillory Pillory, an instrument of corporal punishment consisting of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised several feet from the ground. The head and hands of the offender were thrust through holes in the frame (as were the feet in the stocks) so as to be held fast and exposed in front of it. In a more-com...
e0979a062d828a67ed36ac65ab836efe
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pimms-Cup
Pimm's Cup
Pimm's Cup Pimm’s Cup, also called Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, a British drink consisting of a gin-based liqueur (Pimm’s No. 1 Cup) that is mixed with sparkling lemonade or ginger ale and served in a highball glass with ice, assorted fruits, and mint. James Pimm, the owner of a London oyster bar, invented the drink sometime bet...
fe5113bf6755defa17a39abaf0d7c0c5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pinacoteca-di-Brera
Pinacoteca di Brera
Pinacoteca di Brera Pinacoteca di Brera, English Brera Picture Gallery, art museum in Milan, founded in 1809 by Napoleon I, and one of Italy’s largest art galleries. Its original collection was that of Milan’s Academy of Fine Arts, though its most important works were acquired later. The museum’s holdings consist mai...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/pinacotheca
Pinacotheca
Pinacotheca Pinacotheca, Greek Pinakotheke, Latin Pinacotheca, a picture gallery in either ancient Greece or ancient Rome. The original pinacotheca, which housed the tablets or pictures honouring the gods, formed the left wing of the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens. Evidence from ancient manuscripts indicates th...
efa6fe5f598ee784779c3514ff466cf1
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pink-Moon
Pink Moon
Pink Moon …reclusive, recording his final album, Pink Moon (1972), entirely alone and checking himself into a psychiatric institution for several weeks shortly after its completion. After recording a few more songs, in late 1974 he died at his parents’ home from an overdose of antidepressant medication. The coroner con...
ce38b206e96ddc96b81f5e2d029366f9
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pinyin-romanization
Pinyin romanization
Pinyin romanization Pinyin romanization, also spelled Pin-yin, also called Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, Chinese (Pinyin) Hanyu pinyin wenzi (“Chinese-language combining-sounds alphabet”), system of romanization for the Chinese written language based on the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese. The gr...
716e15e61706ce57c49f80430b8074a2
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Piper-Aircraft-v-Reyno
Piper Aircraft v. Reyno
Piper Aircraft v. Reyno This occurred in Piper Aircraft v. Reyno, a suit filed in the United States on behalf of Scottish parties whose relatives were killed in an airplane crash. The flight originated in Scotland and was scheduled to end there; the aircraft was owned by a British entity; the pilot…
d3397f37bea79013dc504fd0497d89ce
https://www.britannica.com/topic/piracy-copyright-crime
Piracy
Piracy Piracy, act of illegally reproducing or disseminating copyrighted material, such as computer programs, books, music, and films. Although any form of copyright infringement can and has been referred to as piracy, this article focuses on using computers to make digital copies of works for distribution over the In...
eb7debd3ab154a5dab88776f10d387e2
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pirithous-Greek-mythology
Pirithous
Pirithous Pirithous, also spelled Peirithous, in Greek mythology, the son of Ixion and the companion and helper of the hero Theseus in his many adventures, including the descent into Hades to carry off Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter. They were detained in Hades until the Greek hero Heracles rescued Th...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pisidian-language
Pisidian language
Pisidian language Pisidian language, poorly attested member of the ancient Anatolian languages. Documentation for Pisidian is extremely sparse, comprising some two dozen tomb inscriptions consisting only of names and patronymics. The specific form of the latter, with an -s suffix matching that of Luwian, Lycian, Caria...
10799187bf799b12aecceb0169125920
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pissaladiera
Pissaladiera
Pissaladiera Pissaladiera comes from Nice; this is an onion flan spiced with anchovies and black olives. Ratatouia (ratatouille), a vegetable stew of tomatoes, eggplant, and green peppers, also comes from Nice.
cb6d8522e5997afa971111ed404f57c5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pitch-speech
Pitch
Pitch Pitch, in speech, the relative highness or lowness of a tone as perceived by the ear, which depends on the number of vibrations per second produced by the vocal cords. Pitch is the main acoustic correlate of tone and intonation (qq.v.).
46bf894cc1839368cf2f8637a6c9d004
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pittsburgh-Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins, American professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Penguins have won the Stanley Cup five times (1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, and 2017). Founded during the 1967 National Hockey League (NHL) expansion, the Penguins took their name from the igloolike appearan...
dd262c4a41bdb9eda6e55391b8b112df
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pixels-film
Pixels
Pixels …in the Adam Sandler vehicle Pixels (2015). He then gave voice to the Mighty Eagle in the animated Angry Birds (2016) and its sequel (2019). Dinklage also appeared as Renault in a star-studded cast featuring Melissa McCarthy in The Boss (2016). In the sci-fi mystery Rememory (2017), Dinklage’s character searches...
efa5d3340b068f5d5ec2567eb8cb2344
https://www.britannica.com/topic/PK-2015-film
PK
PK …comedies 3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014), both of which were among the highest-grossing movies in Bollywood history; and the musical Secret Superstar (2017). In 2007 Khan made his directorial debut with Taare zameen par (Like Stars on Earth); he also starred in that critically acclaimed drama.
f2758ed47a56087e5365ac4d7ae1e6e9
https://www.britannica.com/topic/PL-Kyodan
PL Kyōdan
PL Kyōdan PL Kyōdan, in full Perfect Liberty Kyōdan, religious group or church (Japanese: kyōdan) founded in Japan in 1946 by Miki Tokuchika. The movement, unique for the use of English words in its name, is based on the earlier Hito-no-michi sect. It is not affiliated, however, with any of the major religious traditi...
91c9bdf4d3ef4b78f62d5faab1129ca3
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Plainsong-novel-by-Huston
Plainsong
Plainsong …in English, under the title Plainsong, before translating it into French. Her subsequent novels included Virevolte (1994; Slow Emergencies), L’Empreinte de l’ange (1998; The Mark of the Angel), Dolce agonia (2001; Eng. trans. Dolce Agonia), and Danse noire (2013; Black Dance). She won the Prix Femina for Lig...
9a5ca7be88fa5cb04025de54bc8d9c8d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/planned-obsolescence
Planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence …probably, came a tendency toward planned obsolescence. This term was supposedly coined after World War II by American industrial designers and writers to indicate industry’s desire to produce consumer items that would be replaced even before their actual utility expired. Although the concept is of...
142eafc551c195e07deb1e78103c587a
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Planned-Parenthood-organization
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood, in full Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., American organization that, since its founding in 1942, has worked as an advocate for education and personal liberties in the areas of birth control, family planning, and reproductive health care. Clinics operated by Planned...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Platonic-Academy
Platonic Academy
Platonic Academy Platonic Academy, Italian Accademia Platonica, a group of scholars in mid-15th-century Florence who met under the leadership of the outstanding translator and promulgator of Platonic philosophy Marsilio Ficino (q.v.), to study and discuss philosophy and the classics. The influence of their modernized ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Platoon-film-by-Stone
Platoon
Platoon Platoon, American war film, released in 1986, that was written and directed by Oliver Stone and was regarded by many critics as one of the best of the movies about the Vietnam War. Platoon won the Academy Award for best picture and the Golden Globe Award for best drama. The film presents the war through the ey...
4f4ff53d152331ef84714298443c256e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/platoon-military-unit
Platoon
Platoon Platoon, principal subdivision of a military company, battery, or troop. Usually commanded by a lieutenant, it consists of from 25 to 50 men organized into two or more sections, or squads, led by noncommissioned officers. In the 17th century the term referred to a small body of musketeers who fired together in...
bde5bc35bda107178108cdf038dc0550
https://www.britannica.com/topic/play-behaviour
Play
Play Play, in zoology, behaviour performed in the absence of normal stimuli or behaviour elicited by normal stimuli but not followed to the completion of the ritualized behaviour pattern. Play has been documented only among mammals and birds. Play is common among immature animals, apparently part of the process of le...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/PlayStation-VR
PlayStation VR
PlayStation VR …with the release of the PlayStation VR (PS VR) in October 2016. The PS VR system included a PS4 as well as a VR headset and controllers. The PS VR was priced well below similar PC-based VR systems, leading many to assume that it would make significant inroads into the…
fa8c281ef0b882dfc115c1ad0cc32aff
https://www.britannica.com/topic/plum-brandy
Plum brandy
Plum brandy …from cherries; and the French plum wines, from Alsace and Lorraine, including Mirabelle, made from a yellow plum, and quetsch, from a blue plum.
8cede15fd8c04b190ac7974de47d929d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pluralism-philosophy
Pluralism and monism
Pluralism and monism Pluralism and monism, philosophical theories that answer “many” and “one,” respectively, to the distinct questions: how many kinds of things are there? and how many things are there? Different answers to each question are compatible, and the possible combination of views provide a popular way of ...
38f27671036102e4d13fbcd1a5475fca
https://www.britannica.com/topic/plurality-system
Plurality system
Plurality system Plurality system, electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected. It is distinguished from the majority system, in which, to win, a candidate must receive more votes than all other candidates combined. Election by a plurality is the most common method...
6f279fb9e4f1e6a8a61c9c6abe5fccb6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pocket-billiards
Pocket billiards
Pocket billiards Pocket billiards, also called Pool, a billiards game, most popular in the United States and Canada, played with a white cue ball and 15 consecutively numbered coloured balls on a rectangular table with six pockets (one at each corner and one at the midpoints of both longer sides). The dimensions of th...
214e5c623d0fca7791d4a29619c80b55
https://www.britannica.com/topic/podesta
Podesta
Podesta Podesta, Italian Podestà, or Potestà, (“power”), in medieval Italian communes, the highest judicial and military magistrate. The office was instituted by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in an attempt to govern rebellious Lombard cities. From the end of the 12th century the communes became somewha...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poedjangga-Baroe
Poedjangga Baroe
Poedjangga Baroe …writers, who created the journal Poedjangga Baroe (“The New Writer”). Published in the Indonesian language, as opposed to Dutch, this literary periodical was devoted to disseminating new ideas and expressions that ran counter to the type of writing sanctioned by the colonial government. Under the inte...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poetics
Poetics
Poetics In his Poetics, perhaps the most influential work on art ever written, he makes it clear that art is a moral issue, since it deals with human character. “The objects of imitation…represent men either as better than in real life, or as worse, or as they are.”… …much of the corpus of Aristotle), is testimony to t...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/poffertjes
Poffertjes
Poffertjes Poffertjes, small Dutch pancakes, traditionally served with powdered sugar and knobs of butter. They are made of a batter that typically includes yeast and buckwheat flour, yielding a light, fluffy texture. The batter is poured over a hot cast-iron pan with shallow half-spherical molds, and then each pancak...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/pogrom
Pogrom
Pogrom Pogrom, (Russian: “devastation,” or “riot”), a mob attack, either approved or condoned by authorities, against the persons and property of a religious, racial, or national minority. The term is usually applied to attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first extensi...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pokemon-electronic-game
Pokémon
Pokémon Pokémon, electronic game series from Nintendo that debuted in Japan in February 1996 as Pokémon Green and Pokémon Red. The franchise later became wildly popular in the United States and around the world. The series, originally produced for the company’s Game Boy line of handheld consoles, was introduced in 199...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pokemon-fictional-characters
Pokémon
Pokémon Pokémon, 20th- and 21st-century Japanese fantasy-based cartoon creatures that spawned a video- and card-game franchise. In the Pokémon—or “Pocket Monsters”—video-game series, players were able to explore the game’s fictional world by looking for wild Pokémon creatures to capture and tame. As Pokémon trainers, ...
50f7fbb0a5e1c64b98ede4c902518e95
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Polabian-language
Polabian language
Polabian language Nevertheless, the Polab language, related to Kaszub and Polish, survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony. The extinct Polabian language, which bordered the Sorbian dialects in eastern Germany, was spoken by the Slavic population of the Elbe River...
50a3afa1f9e933a0a768b6d4891f5ddc
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Polaris-Australis
Polaris Australis
Polaris Australis …pole; the present southern polestar, Polaris Australis (also called σ Octantis), is only of the 5th magnitude and is thus barely visible to the naked eye.
59b8cc7b514b7290929b5303b478a876
https://www.britannica.com/topic/police
Police
Police Police, body of officers representing the civil authority of government. Police typically are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities. These functions are known as policing. Police are often also entrusted with vari...
2013140cafdf3d5a6cc106df9b200253
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Police-Brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580/Antibrutality-campaigns
Antibrutality campaigns
Antibrutality campaigns Most victims of police brutality, including not only African Americans but also whites and other ethnic groups, have come from the ranks of the poor and low-income working classes. They have consequently lacked significant political influence or the financial resources that are sometimes necessa...
e89786d63b820bc5afc2c68edb9b9e8c
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Police-Brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580/Police-brutality-after-World-War-II
Police brutality after World War II
Police brutality after World War II For a variety of reasons, incidences of police brutality against African Americans became more frequent and more intense throughout the country in the decades following World War II. First, the victory of the forces of democracy in the war overseas created among African Americans exp...
b7e47b32b8efba84564987f59f1b2339
https://www.britannica.com/topic/police/Mobility
Mobility
Mobility To be effective, police forces must be in close proximity to the citizens they serve. The first and most basic means of maintaining that close contact was the foot patrol. Officers were deployed by time of day (watches) and area (beats). Beats were kept geographically small to allow officers to respond to inci...
8f45a45e003772d815c24136c7e1466d
https://www.britannica.com/topic/police/The-decline-of-constabulary-police
The decline of constabulary police
The decline of constabulary police Although the system of social obligation remained in place for more than 800 years and was transplanted to several of England’s colonial possessions (Australia, Canada, and the United States), it had serious weaknesses that were amplified by industrialization and urbanization. The sys...
0d28a9f0164d2359a0702010a25e1999
https://www.britannica.com/topic/police/The-history-of-policing-in-the-West
The history of policing in the West
The history of policing in the West Understood broadly as a deliberate undertaking to enforce common standards within a community and to protect it from internal predators, policing is much older than the creation of a specialized armed force devoted to such a task. The activity of policing preceded the creation of the...
d2675b4962a031da5d3c80c76a6e09dd
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness Political correctness (PC), term used to refer to language that seems intended to give the least amount of offense, especially when describing groups identified by external markers such as race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation. The concept has been discussed, disputed, criticized, and sati...
84649175fd4f4fd9c5ff595cea0abd85
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-economy
Political economy
Political economy Political economy, branch of social science that studies the relationships between individuals and society and between markets and the state, using a diverse set of tools and methods drawn largely from economics, political science, and sociology. The term political economy is derived from the Greek p...
e3679f75a8246b3ab2511b63405b37e5
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-party
Political party
Political party Political party, a group of persons organized to acquire and exercise political power. Political parties originated in their modern form in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, along with the electoral and parliamentary systems, whose development reflects the evolution of parties. The term...
ec9e5a4acb6147b007cac4f014cd20cf
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-party/Party-systems
Party systems
Party systems Party systems may be broken down into three broad categories: two-party, multiparty, and single-party. Such a classification is based not merely on the number of parties operating within a particular country but on a variety of distinctive features that the three systems exhibit. Two-party and multiparty ...
640eaf2433d81af4b09f32a993ba6782
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-philosophy/Foucault-and-postmodernism
Foucault and postmodernism
Foucault and postmodernism The work of the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault (1926–84) has implications for political philosophy even though it does not directly address the traditional issues of the field. Much of Foucault’s writing is not so much philosophy as it is philosophically informed intellectua...
b52e3396607d1462f9ed9b15bad10dc0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-philosophy/Hobbes
Hobbes
Hobbes The 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who spent his life as a tutor and companion to great noblemen, was a writer of genius with a greater power of phrase than any other English political philosopher. He was not, as he is sometimes misrepresented, a prophet of “bourgeois” individualism, advocating ...
46186be3bd91b9a4a449347a28f0ddf0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-philosophy/St-Augustine
St. Augustine
St. Augustine When Christianity became the predominant creed of the empire under Constantine (converted 312) and the sole official religion under Theodosius (379–395), political philosophy changed profoundly. St. Augustine’s City of God (413–426/427), written when the empire was under attack by Germanic tribes, sums up...
cbe5ded2983abe45e8822a4214ab1f98
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-philosophy/Western-political-philosophy-from-the-start-of-the-20th-century
Western political philosophy from the start of the 20th century
Western political philosophy from the start of the 20th century Nineteenth-century European civilization had been the first to dominate and pervade the whole world and to create a new self-sustaining productivity in which all eventually might share. But, as Saint-Simon had pointed out, this civilization had a fatal fla...
7d7f5a085314e9181129159417326206
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-science/Behavioralism
Behavioralism
Behavioralism Behavioralism, which was one of the dominant approaches in the 1950s and ’60s, is the view that the subject matter of political science should be limited to phenomena that are independently observable and quantifiable. It assumes that political institutions largely reflect underlying social forces and tha...
f34adbcd62dc120aad44e4b8ea9faeb0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-spin
Political spin
Political spin Political spin, in politics, the attempt to control or influence communication in order to deliver one’s preferred message. Spin is a pejorative term often used in the context of public relations practitioners and political communicators. It is used to refer to the sophisticated selling of a specific me...
055d5a2b9735362b1d7c3fd83e13fdd6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-succession
Political succession
Political succession A key problem of all political orders is that of succession. “The king is dead; long live the king” was the answer, not always uncontested, of European hereditary monarchy to the question of who should rule after the monarch’s death. A second, closely related problem is in what manner and… …period ...
822d7cadce4203386df3b3e7aac5ef44
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-system/Confederations-and-federations
Confederations and federations
Confederations and federations Confederations are voluntary associations of independent states that, to secure some common purpose, agree to certain limitations on their freedom of action and establish some joint machinery of consultation or deliberation. The limitations on the freedom of action of the member states ma...
d42fb20292ff5a8caf8213b3528f0229
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-system/Dictatorship
Dictatorship
Dictatorship While royal rule, as legitimized by blood descent, had almost vanished as an effective principle of government in the modern world, monocracy—a term that comprehends the rule of non-Western royal absolutists, of generals and strongmen in Latin America and Asia, of a number of leaders in postcolonial Africa...
8d9b5938a42b634b49988c84ca925e78
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-system/Hereditary-succession
Hereditary succession
Hereditary succession Although dictators still occasionally seek to establish their sons as their heirs, they usually rely on force rather than the claims of heredity to achieve their object. Apart from a few states where the dynastic ruler is the effective head of the government, the hereditary principle of succession...
880e6fe05c4d9a8bb294219def943921
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-system/The-functions-of-government
The functions of government
The functions of government In all modern states, governmental functions have greatly expanded with the emergence of government as an active force in guiding social and economic development. In countries with a command economy, government has a vast range of responsibilities for many types of economic behaviour. In tho...
3311a95f1a1a21ae77fb05ba8f17b127
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Politics-of-Disablement-A-Sociological-Approach
Politics of Disablement: A Sociological Approach
Politics of Disablement: A Sociological Approach …into academia with his book Politics of Disablement: A Sociological Approach (1990), in which he analyzed how a social issue such as disability gets cast as an individual medicalized phenomenon.
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Politiques
Politiques
Politiques …of the emergence of the Politique Party after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day. In the opinion of this moderate Catholic group, toleration should be granted to the Huguenots for the sake of peace and national unity. The Politiques were the spiritual heirs of the chancellor L’Hospital and represented an...
f5df9cdc27c8deab786ec6d476a7a11e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Polonaise-in-G-Minor
Polonaise in G Minor
Polonaise in G Minor At seven he wrote a Polonaise in G Minor, which was printed, and soon afterward a march of his appealed to the Russian grand duke Constantine, who had it scored for his military band to play on parade. Other polonaises, mazurkas, variations, ecossaises, and a rondo followed, with the result…
04ba618d17224c8a9f8c16b8bb98acaa
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Polyphemus-Greek-mythology
Polyphemus
Polyphemus Polyphemus, in Greek mythology, the most famous of the Cyclopes (one-eyed giants), son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and the nymph Thoösa. According to Ovid in Metamorphoses, Polyphemus loved Galatea, a Sicilian Nereid, and killed her lover Acis. When the Greek hero Odysseus was cast ashore on the coast of S...
570bbeff01c8e8833ef764ceb39f7aea
https://www.britannica.com/topic/polytheism/Types-of-polytheism
Types of polytheism
Types of polytheism By the time of the establishment of the Roman Empire, the Greek tradition was already exerting considerable influence on the Roman, to the extent that once relatively independent traditions became somewhat fused. Equations between gods were freely made: Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus, a...
cf50dd75b89eea7a96ae99fdc2f1c8cb
https://www.britannica.com/topic/pompadour
Pompadour
Pompadour Pompadour, style of dressing the hair in which the front hair is rolled back and the side hair up to meet it in a roll that is drawn high over the forehead; also a type of bodice that is cut square and low over the bosom. The styles were introduced by Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France...
f207d3c58e79e85804a2bf0f3d2a7d0f
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pompidou-Centre
Pompidou Centre
Pompidou Centre Pompidou Centre, French Centre Pompidou, in full Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou (“Georges Pompidou National Art and Cultural Centre”), French national cultural centre on the Rue Beaubourg and on the fringes of the historic Marais section of Paris; a regional branch is located in M...
47aabc46419a515052c2122683df3fc6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pong
Pong
Pong Pong, groundbreaking electronic game released in 1972 by the American game manufacturer Atari, Inc. One of the earliest video games, Pong became wildly popular and helped launch the video game industry. The original Pong consisted of two paddles that players used to volley a small ball back and forth across a scr...
df89d2e5d5ef3d50f4151713e3223fb0
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pont-de-la-Concorde?utm_campaign=b-extension&utm_medium=chrome&utm_source=ebinsights&utm_content=Pont%20de%20la%20Concorde
Pont de la Concorde
Pont de la Concorde Pont de la Concorde, (French: “Bridge of Concord”), stone-arch bridge crossing the Seine River in Paris at the Place de la Concorde. The masterpiece of Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, conceived in 1772, the bridge was not begun until 1787 because conservative officials found the design too daring. Perronet...
0460573a09a2bee37cfd5304b0252a37
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pont-du-Gard
Pont du Gard
Pont du Gard Pont du Gard, (French: “Bridge of the Gard”), giant bridge-aqueduct, a notable ancient Roman engineering work constructed about 19 bc to carry water to the city of Nîmes over the Gard River in southern France. Augustus’ son-in-law and aide, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, is credited with its conception. Three ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pont-Neuf
Pont Neuf
Pont Neuf Pont Neuf, oldest existing bridge across the Seine River via the Île de la Cité in Paris, built, with interruptions in the work, from 1578 to 1607. It was designed by Baptiste Du Cerceau and Pierre des Illes, who may have made use of an earlier design by Guillaume Marchand. For centuries the Pont Neuf, fille...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/pontifex
Pontifex
Pontifex Pontifex, (Latin: “bridge builder”, ) plural Pontifices, member of a council of priests in ancient Rome. The college, or collegium, of the pontifices was the most important Roman priesthood, being especially charged with the administration of the jus divinum (i.e., that part of the civil law that regulated th...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pontifical-Gendarmerie
Pontifical Gendarmerie
Pontifical Gendarmerie Pontifical Gendarmerie, Italian Gendarmeria Pontifica, former police force of Vatican City. The Pontifical, or Papal, Gendarmerie was created in the 19th century under the formal supervision of the pope. The gendarmes were responsible for maintaining the internal order and security of Vatican Ci...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pontifical-Gregorian-University
Pontifical Gregorian University
Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University, Latin Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, bynames The Greg or Gregorian University, Roman Catholic institution of higher learning in Rome. It was founded in 1551 as the Collegium Romanum (College of Rome) by St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Borgia a...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pony-Express
Pony Express
Pony Express Pony Express, byname of Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company, system of U.S. mail delivery by continuous horse-and-rider relays between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, and from Sacramento to San Francisco, California, by steamer (April 1860–October 1861). Although a ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poor-Peoples-March
Poor People's Campaign
Poor People's Campaign Poor People’s Campaign, also called Poor People’s March, political campaign that culminated in a demonstration held in Washington, D.C., in 1968, in which participants demanded that the government formulate a plan to help redress the employment and housing problems of the poor throughout the Uni...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pop-comic-strip
Pop
Pop …exclusively for adults—was the witty Pop (1921–60), by John Millar Watt. Pop, together with Reginald Smythe’s Andy Capp (begun 1957), were among the very few European strips to be exported to the United States. For all its satire on the working class, Andy Capp, with its work-shy title character, surprisingly…
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/pope
Pope
Pope Pope, (Latin papa, from Greek pappas, “father”), the title, since about the 9th century, of the bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. It was formerly given, especially from the 3rd to the 5th century, to any bishop and sometimes to simple priests as an ecclesiastical title expressing affectionate...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pope-Marcellus-Mass
Pope Marcellus Mass
Pope Marcellus Mass Pope Marcellus Mass, Latin Missa Papae Marcelli, mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the best known of his more than 100 masses. Published in 1567, the work is renowned for its intricate interplay of vocal lines and has been studied for centuries as a prime example of Renaissance polyphonic c...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popeye
Popeye
Popeye Popeye, a pugnacious, wisecracking cartoon sailor who possesses superhuman strength after ingesting an always-handy can of spinach. Popeye was created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who in 1929 introduced the character into his existing newspaper cartoon strip, Thimble Theatre. Popeye is a scrappy little seaman with b...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popol-Vuh
Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh Popol Vuh, Maya document, an invaluable source of knowledge of ancient Mayan mythology and culture. Written in K’iche’ (a Mayan language) by a Mayan author or authors between 1554 and 1558, it uses the Latin alphabet with Spanish orthography. It chronicles the creation of humankind, the actions of the gods, ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popular-Party-Spain
Popular Party
Popular Party Popular Party, Spanish Partido Popular (PP), formerly called Popular Alliance, Spanish conservative political party. The Popular Party (PP) traces its origins to the Popular Alliance, a union of seven conservative political parties formed in the 1970s by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a prominent cabinet member ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/popular-sovereignty
Popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty, also called squatter sovereignty, in U.S. history, a controversial political doctrine according to which the people of federal territories should decide for themselves whether their territories would enter the Union as free or slave states. Its enemies, especially in New Englan...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Population-Registration-Act
Population Registration Act
Population Registration Act …was made possible through the Population Registration Act of 1950, which classified all South Africans as either Bantu (all Black Africans), Coloured (those of mixed race), or white. A fourth category—Asian (Indian and Pakistani)—was later added. The Population Registration Act (1950) class...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poque
Poque
Poque …developed a similar game called poque, first played in French America in 1803, when the Louisiana Purchase made New Orleans and its environs territories of the United States. During the next 20 years, English-speaking settlers in the Louisiana Territory adopted the game, Anglicized its name to poker, and establi...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/pork
Pork
Pork Pork, flesh of hogs, usually slaughtered between the ages of six months and one year. The most desirable pork is grayish pink in colour, firm and fine-grained, well-marbled, and covered with an outer layer of firm white fat. About 30 percent of the meat is consumed as cooked fresh meat; the remainder is cured or ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Portail-Royal
Portail Royal
Portail Royal …of the figures on the Portail Royal (“Royal Portal”) of Chartres cathedral does both: it enhances their otherworldliness and also integrates them with the columnar architecture.
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Porthos
Porthos
Porthos Porthos, fictional character, one of the heroes of The Three Musketeers (published 1844, performed 1845) by Alexandre Dumas père. Like the other two musketeers, Athos and Aramis, Porthos is a swashbuckling French soldier who becomes involved in court intrigue during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Portrait-in-Sepia
Portrait in Sepia
Portrait in Sepia …and Retrato en sepia (2000; Portrait in Sepia), about a woman tracing the roots of her past. El Zorro (2005; Zorro) is a retelling of the well-known legend, and Inés del alma mía (2006; Inés of My Soul) tells the fictionalized story of Inés Suárez, the mistress of conquistador Pedro…
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Portuguese-Conquest-of-Goa
Battle of Goa
Battle of Goa Battle of Goa, (9–10 December 1510). The first part of India to fall to European colonial rule was Goa on the west coast. Its conquest was the work of energetic Portuguese viceroy Afonso de Albuquerque, who recognized that the port-city would make a perfect permanent base for Portugal’s navy and commerce...
3f0b2dc7a6e21345d4abe3ea3a6792c9
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon Poseidon, in ancient Greek religion, god of the sea (and of water generally), earthquakes, and horses. He is distinguished from Pontus, the personification of the sea and the oldest Greek divinity of the waters. The name Poseidon means either “husband of the earth” or “lord of the earth.” Traditionally, he wa...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/positive-sum-game
Positive-sum game
Positive-sum game Positive-sum game, in game theory, a term that refers to situations in which the total of gains and losses is greater than zero. A positive sum occurs when resources are somehow increased and an approach is formulated in which the desires and needs of all concerned are satisfied. One example would be...
b8ea221f6a980446941eb209ab18b71e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/positivism/The-later-positivism-of-logical-empiricism
The later positivism of logical empiricism
The later positivism of logical empiricism Logical positivism, essentially the doctrine of the Vienna Circle, underwent a number of important changes and innovations in the middle third of the century, which suggested the need for a new name. The designation positivism had been strongly connected with the Comte-Mach tr...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/positivism/The-verifiability-criterion-of-meaning-and-its-offshoots
The verifiability criterion of meaning and its offshoots
The verifiability criterion of meaning and its offshoots The most noteworthy, and also most controversial, contribution of the logical positivists was the so-called verifiability criterion of factual meaningfulness. In its original form, this criterion had much in common with the earlier pragmatist analysis of meaning ...
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/positron-emission-tomography
Positron emission tomography
Positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET), imaging technique used in diagnosis and biomedical research. It has proved particularly useful for studying brain and heart functions and certain biochemical processes involving these organs (e.g., glucose metabolism and oxygen uptake). In PET a chemical...
eb6ab73f0825e2d6f13ce40d57ce509e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Post-Partum-Document
Post-Partum Document
Post-Partum Document Mary Kelly’s important Post-Partum Document (completed 1979) consisted of a 135-item record, in a variety of modes of documentation (including fecal stains on diapers), of the rearing of her male child. It asserted that gender identity is produced via accession to language and that gender positions...
dab580134568d95ce64653679bc40f8b
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postal-code
Postal code
Postal code …to mechanization is an alphanumeric postal code that provides for sorting by machine at every stage of handling, including the carrier’s delivery route. The coding equipment translates the postal code into a pattern of dots by means of which machines can sort mail at eight times the speed of manual…
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https://www.britannica.com/topic/postal-system/National-postal-systems
National postal systems
National postal systems Although the first official reference to overseas mail arrangements (concerning the receipt of overseas mail at Fairbanks’ Tavern in Boston) dates to 1639, little real progress was made in building a postal system in colonial America until the appointment of Benjamin Franklin, formerly postmaste...
b3160fd04c08b6fb6b4fd1de102cb74b
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postal-system/Postal-technology
Postal technology
Postal technology Postal administrations have been among the first to utilize new forms of transport. They have often applied considerable technical skill in maximizing the benefits to be derived from progress in this field, particularly in originating the traveling post-office concept and apparatus enabling express tr...
87e58d9e0fd2d034bbce4a95971a4ab6
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Posterior-Analytics
Posterior Analytics
Posterior Analytics In the Posterior Analytics, Aristotle (384–322 bce) claims that each science consists of a set of first principles, which are necessarily true and knowable directly, and a set of truths, which are both logically derivable from and causally explained by the first principles. The demonstration of a… I...
678a39a6c238e9ed44dd57fafce3f157
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmaterialism
Postmaterialism
Postmaterialism Postmaterialism, value orientation that emphasizes self-expression and quality of life over economic and physical security. The term postmaterialism was first coined by American social scientist Ronald Inglehart in The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western Publics (1977)...
78d4d883e5ac2e75b859f5ebed6d8214
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Potawatomi
Potawatomi
Potawatomi Potawatomi, Algonquian-speaking tribe of North American Indians who were living in what is now northeastern Wisconsin, U.S., when first observed by Europeans in the 17th century. Their name means “people of the place of the fire.” Like many other Native peoples, the Potawatomi had slowly moved west as the F...