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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


plant hormone
Substance produced by a plant that has a marked effect on its growth, flowering, leaf fall, fruit ripening, or some other process. Examples include auxin, gibberellin, ethene, and cytokinin. Unlike animal hormones, these substances are not produced by a particular area of the plant body, and they may be less specific in their effects. It has theref...

plough
Click images to enlargeAgricultural implement used for tilling the soil. The plough dates from about 3500 BC, when oxen were used to pull a simple wooden blade, or ard. In about 500 BC the iron ploughshare came into use. By about AD 1000 horses as well as oxen were being used to pull wheeled ploughs, equipped with a ploug...

Pluto
(mythology) In Greek mythology, lord of Hades, the underworld and also his original name. His Roman counterpart was Dis (also Orcus). He was the son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea; and brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter. He abducted and married Persephone, daughter of the ...

plainsong
Traditional single-line chant melodies used for singing the texts of the Christian church. Plainsong was first adopted by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, and then by Pope Gregory in the 6th century, the latter being referred to as Gregorian chant. It is properly sung in unison, without harmony and with no definitely measured rhythms. Its groupings of...

Plath, Sylvia
US poet and novelist. Her powerful, highly personal poems, often expressing a sense of desolation, are distinguished by their intensity and sharp imagery. Her Collected Poems (1981) was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar (1961) deals with the events surrounding a young woman's...

plum
Smooth-skinned, oval, reddish-purple or green edible fruit of the plum tree. There are many varieties, including the Victoria, czar, egg-plum, greengage, and damson; the wild sloe (P. spinosa), which is the fruit of the blackthorn, is closely related. Dried plums are known as prunes. (Genus Prunus domesti...

Plaatje, Sol(omon) T(shekisho)
South African novelist, journalist, and political campaigner. Plaatje is best known for Mhudi: An Epic of South African Native Life a Hundred Years Ago (1930; written c. 1920–21), the first novel in English by a black South African. In 1912 he was a founding member of the South African Native Natio...

PLO
Abbreviation for Palestine Liberation Organization, founded in 1964 to bring about an independent state of Palestine

plc
Abbreviation for public limited company

placebo
Any harmless substance, often called a `sugar pill`, that has no active ingredient, but may nevertheless bring about improvement in the patient's condition. The use of placebos in medicine is limited to drug trials, where a placebo is given alongside the substance being tested,to compare effects. The `placebo effect`, first ...

pleadings
In law, documents exchanged between the parties to court actions, which set out the facts that form the basis of the case they intend to present in court, and (where relevant) stating what damages or other remedy they are claiming

plain
Land, usually flat, upon which grass predominates. The plains cover large areas of the Earth's surface, especially between the deserts of the tropics and the rainforests of the Equator, and have rain in one season only. In such regions the climate belts move north and south during the year, bringing rainforest conditions at one time and desert ...

plateau
Click images to enlargeElevated area of fairly flat land, or a mountainous region in which the peaks are at the same height. An intermontane plateau is one surrounded by mountains. A piedmont plateau is one that lies between the mountains and low-lying land. A continental plateau rises abruptly from low-lying land...

Pliocene Epoch
Fifth and last epoch of the Tertiary period of geological time, 5.2–1.64 million years ago. The earliest hominid, the humanlike ape Australopithecines, evolved in Africa

plutonic rock
Igneous rock derived from magma that has cooled and solidified deep in the crust of the Earth; granites and gabbros are examples of plutonic rocks

Pleistocene epoch
First part of the Quaternary period of geological time, beginning 1.64 million years ago and ending 10,000 years ago. The polar ice caps were extensive and glaciers were abundant during the ice age of this period, and humans evolved into modern Homo sapiens sapiens about 100,000 years ago

platelet
Tiny disc-shaped structure found in the blood, which helps it to clot. Platelets are not true cells, but membrane-bound cell fragments without nuclei that bud off from large cells in the bone marrow. They play a vital role in blood clotting as they release blood clotting factors at the site of a cut. Over twelve clotting factors have been d...

Planck's constant
Fundamental constant that relates the energy (E) of one quantum of electromagnetic radiation (a `packet` of energy; see quantum theory) to the frequency (f) of its radiation by E = hf. Its value is 6.6262 × 10-34 joule secon...

plasmid
Small, mobile piece of DNA found in bacteria that, for example, confers antibiotic resistance, used in genetic engineering. Plasmids are separate from the bacterial chromosome but still multiply during cell growth. Their size ranges from 3% to 20% of the size of the chromosome. Some plasmids carry `fertility genes` that enable the...

plesiosaur
Prehistoric carnivorous marine reptile of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, which reached a length of 12 m/36 ft, and had a long neck and paddlelike limbs. The pliosaurs evolved from the plesiosaurs

pliosaur
Prehistoric carnivorous marine reptile, descended from the plesiosaurs, but with a shorter neck, and longer head and jaws. It was approximately 5 m/15 ft long. In 1989 the skeleton of one of a previously unknown species was discovered in northern Queensland, Australia. A hundred million years ago, it lived in the sea that once covered the Great...

plaque
Any abnormal deposit on a body surface, especially the thin, transparent film of sticky protein (called mucin) and bacteria on tooth surfaces. If not removed, this film forms tartar (calculus), promotes tooth decay, and leads to gum disease. Another form of plaque is a deposit of fatty or fibrous material in the walls of blood vessels causing ather...

playa
Temporary lake in a region of interior drainage (it has no outlet to the sea). Such lakes are common features in arid desert basins that are fed by intermittent streams. The streams bring dissolved salts to the playa, and when it shrinks during dry spells, the salts precipitate as evaporite deposits

plug, three-pin
Click images to enlargeInsulated device with three metal projections used to connect the wires in the cable of an electrical appliance with the wires of a mains supply socket. In the UK, plugs have pins of rectangular section, and must comply with the British Standard BS 1363 laid down by the British Standards Institute. ...

platoon
In the army, the smallest infantry subunit. It contains 30–40 soldiers and is commanded by a lieutenant or second lieutenant. There are three or four platoons in a company

plantation
Large farm or estate where commercial production of one crop – such as rubber (in Malaysia), palm oil (in Nigeria), or tea (in Sri Lanka) – is carried out. Plantations are usually owned by large companies, often multinational corporations, and run by an estate manager. Many plantations were...

plate
One of several relatively distinct sections of the lithosphere, approximately 100 km/60 mi thick, which together comprise the outermost layer of the Earth (like the pieces of the cracked shell of a hard-boiled egg). The plates are made up of two types of crustal material: oceanic crust (sima) and continental crust (sial), both of which ...

place value
Value given to a digit because of its position within a number. For example, in the decimal number 2,465 the 2 represents two thousands, the 4 represents four hundreds, the 6 represents six tens, and the 5 represents five units

plot
The storyline in a novel, play, film, or other work of fiction. A plot is traditionally a scheme of connected events. Novelists in particular have at times tried to subvert or ignore the reader's expectation of a causally linked story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, with no loose ends. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf wrote novels that e...

plural
Indication of number. Most English words form their plurals by the addition of s, as in boy, boys; cat, cats; book, books. The ending es is the next most common, as in watch, watches; church, churches;...

plaintiff
In law, a person who brings a civil action in a court of law seeking relief (for example, damages)

Plantation of Ireland
Colonization and conquest of Ireland by English and Scottish settlers from 1556 to 1660. There were several rebellions against the plantation by the Irish and the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. Major plantations included the Munster plantation, from 1586, and the Ulster plantation, from 1609. The final stages of the conquest took place under Cromwell...

plasma display
Type of flat display, which uses an ionized gas between two panels containing grids of wires. When current flows through the wires a pixel is charged causing it to light up. This technology has been developed to produce wall-hung flat screen televisions of up to 182 cm/72 in when measured diagonally

plainchant
Type of medieval church music; see plainsong

Plains Wars
Series of conflicts between the Plains Indians and the US Army 1850–90, during the era of US westward expansion. The Great Plains had been promised to the American Indians forever under the Permanent Indian Frontier policy of 1830, but had been increasingly invaded from the 1840s and the Indians forced onto Indian reservations. The wars were m...

plane
(art) In art, an imaginary surface for determining points in a drawing. The illusion of three-dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface can be created by using linear perspective. Firstly, a horizon line is established, with a vanishing point. All other lines parallel to the viewer ...

plasticity
In art appreciation, quality of a flat, two-dimensional figure that gives it the strong impression of being solid. In sculpture it refers either to the malleability of a material (the extent to which it can be modelled or moulded) or to its three-dimensional quality

plant cell
Cell in a plant, which, like all eukaryotic cells, has a cell membrane, cytoplasm, and a nucleus, but which differs from an animal cell by having a cell wall outside the cell surface membrane and a large vacuole. They may also have chloroplasts in the cytoplasm. The cell surface membrane keeps the cell together by being strong, although it is still...

play
A dramatic composition or performance, a drama

plate margin
The meeting place of one plate (plates make up the top layer of the Earth's structure) with another plate. There are four types of plate margin – destructive, constructive, collision, and conservative. A volcano may be found along two of the types of plate margin, and an earthquake may occur at all four plate margins. Destructive or conver...

PM10
Clusters of small particles, such as carbon particles, in the air that come mostly from vehicle exhausts. There is a link between increase in PM10 levels and a rise in death rate, increased hospital admissions, and asthma incidence. The elderly and those with chronic heart or lung disease are most at risk. The smaller the particulates the more dang...

pneumonia
Inflammation of the lungs, generally due to bacterial or viral infection but also to particulate matter or gases. It is characterized by a build-up of fluid in the alveoli, the clustered air sacs (at the ends of the air passages) where oxygen exchange takes place. Symptoms include fever and pain in the chest. With widespread availability of ant...

pneumoconiosis
Disease of the lungs caused by an accumulation of dust, especially from coal, asbestos, or silica. Inhaled particles make the lungs gradually fibrous and the victim has difficulty breathing. Over many years the condition causes severe disability

pneumatic drill
Drill operated by compressed air, used in mining and tunnelling, for drilling shot holes (for explosives), and in road repairs for breaking up pavements. It contains an air-operated piston that delivers hammer blows to the drill bit many times a second. The French engineer Germain Sommeiller (1815–1871) developed the pneumatic drill in 186...

pneumothorax
Presence of air in the pleural cavity, between a lung and the chest wall. It may be due to a penetrating injury of the lung or to lung disease, or it may occur without apparent cause (spontaneous pneumothorax) in an otherwise healthy person. Prevented from expanding normally, the lung is liable to collapse

pneumonectomy
Surgical removal of all or part of a lung

Poznan
Industrial city on the river Warta in western Poland; population (2001 est) 580,200. Poznan was the capital of Poland until the 13th century and is the capital of the Great Poland Province. It is the centre of the Wielkopolska region and is located 300 km/186 mi from Berlin, Germany. The city is regarded as Poland's capital of commerce ...

Podgorica
Capital of Montenegro; population (2003) 136,500. Industries include metalworking, furniture-making, and tobacco. It was damaged in World War II and after rebuilding was renamed in honour of Marshal Tito; it reverted to its original name with the collapse of communism. It was the birthplace of the Roman emperor Diocletian

poinsettia
Winter-flowering shrub with large red leaves encircling small greenish-yellow flowers. It is native to Mexico and tropical America and is a popular houseplant in North America and Europe. (Genus Euphorbia pulcherrima, family Euphorbiaceae.)

Powys
(authority) Unitary authority in central Wales, created in 1996 from the former county of Powys. Area 5,179 sq km/1,999 sq mi Towns Llandrindod Wells (administrative headquarters), Brecon, Builth Wells, Newtown, Welshpool Physical...

power of attorney
In law, legal authority to act on behalf of another, for a specific transaction, or for a particular period

Powys, John Cowper
English novelist. His mystic and erotic books include Wolf Solent (1929) and A Glastonbury Romance (1933); Owen Glendower (1940) is the most successful of his historical novels. He was one of six brothers, including Theodore Francis Powys (1875–1953) who is best known for the novel &...

Powell, Anthony Dymoke
English novelist and critic. He wrote the series of 12 volumes A Dance to the Music of Time (1951–75) that begins shortly after World War I and chronicles a period of 50 years in the lives of Nicholas Jenkins and his circle of upper- and middle-class friends and acquaintances. It is written in an elegant style which ...

pound
(money) British standard monetary unit, issued as a gold sovereign before 1914, as a note 1914–83, and as a circular yellow metal-alloy coin from 1983. The pound is also the name given to the unit of currency in Egypt, Lebanon, Malta, Sudan, and Syria

pound
(mass) Imperial unit of mass. The commonly used avoirdupois pound, also called the imperial standard pound (7,000 grains/0.45 kg), differs from the pound troy (5,760 grains/0.37 kg), which is used for weighing precious metals. It derives from the Roman libra, which w...

Pound, Ezra Loomis
US poet and cultural critic. He is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century literature, and his work revolutionized modern poetry. His Personae and Exultations (1909) established and promoted the principles of Imagism, and influenced nume...

Poulenc, Francis Jean Marcel
French composer and pianist. A self-taught composer of witty and irreverent music, he was a member of the group of French composers known as Les Six. Among his many works are the operas Les Mamelles de Tirésias/The Breasts of Tiresias (1947) and Dialogues des Carmélites/Dialogues ...

Potteries, the
Home of the china and earthenware industries, in central England. Wedgwood and Minton are factory names associated with the Potteries. The Potteries lie in the upper Trent basin of north Staffordshire, covering the area around Stoke-on-Trent, and include the formerly separate towns of Burslem, Hanley, Longton, Fenton, and Tunstall

Potter,
(Helen) English writer and illustrator of children's books. Her first book was The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1900), followed by The Tailor of Gloucester (1902), based on her observation of family pets and wildlife. Other books in the series include
Potsdam Conference
Conference held in Potsdam, Germany, 17 July–2 August 1945, between representatives of the USA, the UK, and the USSR. They established the political and economic principles governing the treatment of Germany in the initial period of Allied control at the end of World War II, and sent an ultimatu...

Potsdam
Click images to enlargeCapital of the Land (administrative region) of Brandenburg, Germany, on the River Havel southwest of Berlin; population (2005 est) 147,600. Industries include arts and crafts, tourism, banking and finance, information and communication technology, services, software developmen...

Potomac
River of the eastern USA, forming the boundaries between West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland states. Rising in the Allegheny Mountains, it flows 459 km/285 mi southeast into Chesapeake Bay. It is created by the confluence of the North Potomac, 153 km/95 mi long, and South Potomac, 209 km/130 mi long, and its chief tributaries are the ...

Potemkin, Grigory Aleksandrovich
Russian politician. He entered the army and attracted the notice of Catherine II, whose friendship he kept throughout his life. He was an active administrator who reformed the army, built the Black Sea Fleet, conquered the Crimea in 1783, developed southern Russia, and founded the Kherson arsenal in 1788 (the first Russian naval base on the Black S...

post-Impressionism
Broad term covering various developments in French painting that developed out of Impressionism in the period from about 1880 to about 1905. Some of these developments built on the achievements of Impressionism, but others were reactions against its concentration on surface appearances, seeking to reintroduce a concern with emotional and symbolic v...

poster
Public notice used for advertising or propaganda, often illustrated. Ancestors of the modern poster were handbills with woodcut illustrations, which were posted up in public places. The French artist Jules Chéret pioneered the medium of colour lithography in his posters of the early 1860s, but the 1890s were the classic age of the poster, nota...

Portsmouth
(UK) Port and administrative centre of Portsmouth City unitary authority in south England, on the peninsula of Portsea Island opposite the Isle of Wight, 118 km/73 mi southwest of London; population (2001) 187,050. Famed for its naval history, some naval facilities remain despite the c...

Porto-Novo
Port and capital of Benin, on Porto-Novo lagoon; population (2002) 223,600. It trades in palm oil, palm kernels, and cotton. A former Portuguese centre for the slave and tobacco trade with Brazil, it became a French protectorate in 1863. The National Museum of Ethnography is here. Although Porto-Novo is the official capital, most politi...

Port Moresby
Capital and port of Papua New Guinea, on the south coast of New Guinea; population (2000 est) 254,200. The port trades in coffee, copper, gold, copra, palm oil, and timber; sawmilling, plywood production, brewing, and tobacco manufacture are the leading industries. There is an airport; the town is the country's centre for national b...

Porter, Cole
(Albert) US composer and lyricist. He wrote mainly musical comedies. His witty, sophisticated songs like `Let's Do It` (1928), `I Get a Kick Out of You` (1934), and `Don't Fence Me In` (1944) have been widely recorded and admired. His shows, many of which ...

Port Elizabeth
Industrial port in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, about 710 km/440 mi east of Cape Town, on Algoa Bay; population (2001) 1,005,800. Local industries include motor assembly plants, shoemaking, foundries, sawmills, flour mills, canning factories, engineering, food processing, and the production of soap, tyres, furniture, chemicals, safe...

pornography
Obscene literature, pictures, photos, or films considered to be of no artistic merit and intended only to arouse sexual desire. Standards of what is obscene and whether a particular work has artistic value are subjective, hence there is often difficulty in determining whether a work violates the obscenity laws. Opponents of pornography claim that i...

popular front
Political alliance of liberals, socialists, communists, and other centre and left-wing parties. This policy was propounded by the Communist International in 1935 against fascism and was adopted in France and Spain, where popular-front governments were elected in 1936; that in France was overthrown in 1938 and the one in Spain fell with ...

pop art
Movement in modern art that took its imagery from the glossy world of advertising and from popular culture such as comic strips, films, and television; it developed in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s, notably in Britain and the USA. Pop art reflected the new wealth, consumerism, and light-hearted attitudes that followed the austerity ...

pop music
Any contemporary music not categorizable as jazz or classical. Pop music contains strong rhythms of African origin, simple harmonic structures often repeated to strophic melodies, and the use of electrically amplified instruments. Pop music generically includes the areas of rock, country and western,...

poor law
English system for relief for the poor, established by the Poor Relief Act of 1601. Each parish was responsible for its own poor, paid for by a parish tax. The care of the poor was transferred to the Ministry of Health in 1919, but the poor law remained in force until 1929. Elizabethan poor law Before the reign of Elizabeth I the approach to povert...

Poona
Former spelling of Pune, a city in India; after independence in 1947 the form Poona was gradually superseded by Pune

Poole
(port) Industrial town, port, and, since 1997, administrative headquarters of Poole unitary authority in southern England, 8 km/5 mi west of Bournemouth; area 64 sq km/25 sq mi; population (2001) 144,800. It was part of the county of Dorset until 1997. Poole Harbour is a centre...

pony
Click images to enlargeSmall horse under 1.47 m/4.5 ft (14.2 hands) shoulder height. Although of Celtic origin, all the pony breeds have been crossed with thoroughbred and Arab stock, except for the smallest – the hardy Shetland, which is less than 105 cm/42 in shoulder height

Pontiac
(person) American Indian, chief of the Ottawa from 1755. Allied with the French forces during the French and Indian War (the North American branch of the Seven Years' War), Pontiac was hunted by the British after the French withdrawal. He led the `Conspiracy of Pontiac` 1763–...

Pontefract
Industrial town in West Yorkshire, northern England, 34 km/21 mi southwest of York, near the junction of the rivers Aire and Calder; population (2001) 28,300. Industries include coalmining, iron founding, engineering, tanning, brewing, corn milling, market gardening, and the manufacture of furniture and confectionery. The town gives its nam...

Pompeii
Ancient city in Italy, near the volcano Vesuvius, 21 km/13 mi southeast of Naples. In AD 63 an earthquake destroyed much of the city, which had been a Roman port and pleasure resort; it was completely buried beneath volcanic ash when Vesuvius, a composite – and therefore explosive – volcano erupted in AD 79. Over 2,000 people were...

Pomerania
Region along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, including the island of Rügen, divided between Poland and (west of the Oder–Neisse line) East Germany 1945–90, and the Federal Republic of Germany after reunification in 1990. The chief port is Gdansk. It was formerly a province of Germany. An independent Slavic duchy in the 11th cen...

polytheism
The worship of many gods, as opposed to monotheism (belief in one god). Examples are the religions of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Mexico. Modern Hinduism, while worshipping God in many forms, teaches an underlying unity of the godhead

polyp
(medicine) Small `stalked` benign tumour, usually found on mucous membrane of the nose or bowels. Intestinal polyps are usually removed, since some have been found to be precursors of cancer

polytechnic
Formerly, in the UK, an institution for higher education offering courses mainly at degree level and concentrating on full-time vocational courses, although many polytechnics provided a wide range of part-time courses at advanced levels. In April 1989 the polytechnics in England and Wales became independent corporations. In 1992 all polytec...

Polynesia
Islands of Oceania east of 170° E latitude, including Hawaii, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Samoa, Cook Islands, and French Polynesia

polygamy
The practice of having more than one spouse at the same time. It is found among many peoples. Normally it has been confined to the wealthy and to chiefs and nobles who can support several women and their offspring, as among ancient Egyptians, Teutons, Irish, and Slavs. Islam limits the number of legal wives a man may have to four. Certain Christian...

Polybius
Greek politician and historian of Rome. He was a senior politician of the Achaean League against the Romans and, following the defeat of the Macedonians at Pydna in 168 BC, he was taken, together with other Achaean aristocrats, as a political hostage to Italy. He was allowed to settle in Rome, became a valued member of the circle of Scipio Africanu...

polyandry
System whereby a woman has more than one husband at the same time. It is found in various parts of the world, for example, in Madagascar, Malaysia, and certain Pacific isles, and among certain Inuit and American Indian groups. In Tibet and parts of India, polyandry takes the form of the marriage of one woman to several brothers, as a means of keepi...

polonium
Radioactive, metallic element, atomic number 84, relative atomic mass 210. Polonium occurs in nature in small amounts and was isolated from pitchblende. It is the element having the largest number of isotopes (27) and is 5,000 times as radioactive as radium, liberating considerable amounts of heat. It was the first element to have its radioactive p...

polonaise
Polish dance in stately 3/4 time that was common in 18th-century Europe. The composer Frédéric Chopin developed the polonaise as a pianistic form

polo
Stick-and-ball game played between two teams of four on horseback. It originated in Iran, spread to India, and was first played in England in 1869. Polo is played on the largest field of any game, measuring up to 274 m/300 yd by 182 m/200 yd. A small solid ball is struck with the side of a long-handled mallet through goals at ea...

Pollock,
(Paul) US painter. He was a pioneer of abstract expressionism and one of the foremost exponents of action painting. His style is characterized by complex networks of swirling, interwoven lines of great delicacy and rhythmic subtlety. In the early 1940s Pollock moved from a vivid expressionist ...

Pollaiuolo
Two Italian artists, brothers. They ran an artistic workshop in their hometown Florence and later in Rome. Both were painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, engravers, and designers. Antonio, widely considered the better artist, is said to have been the first Renaissance artist to make a serious study of anatomy. The Martyrdom of St Sebastian<...

polka
Bohemian dance in quick duple time (2/4). Originating in the 19th century, it became popular throughout Europe. The basic step is a hop followed by three short steps. The polka spread with German immigrants to the USA, becoming a style of Texas country music. It was also used by European composers, including Bedrich Smetana in The Bart...

Polk, James Knox
11th president of the USA 1845–49, a Democrat. Presiding over a period of westward expansion, he allowed Texas admission to the Union, and forced the war on Mexico that resulted in the annexation of California and New Mexico

Politburo
Contraction of `political bureau`, the executive committee (known as the Presidium 1952–66) of the Supreme Soviet in the USSR, which laid down party policy. It consisted of about 12 voting and 6 candidate (nonvoting) members

polarized light
Light in which the electromagnetic vibrations take place in one particular plane. In ordinary (unpolarized) light, the electric fields vibrate in all planes perpendicular to the direction of propagation. After reflection from a polished surface or transmission through certain materials (such as Polaroid), the electric fields are confined to one dir...

Poitiers
Administrative centre of the département of Vienne and capital of the Poitou-Charentes region in western France, at the confluence of the Rivers Clain and Boivre; population (2001 est) 87,000. Industries include metallurgy, electronics, agri-business, and printing works. Chemicals, electrical and metal goods, and...

poison
Any substance that causes injury, illness, or death, especially by chemical means. In biology, the word poison is reserved for substances that are most likely to enter the body via the mouth or airways. Poisonous substances injected by biting or stinging animals are called venom, while those released by bacteria in an infection are known as toxins....