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


Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer and geographer. His Almagest developed the theory that Earth is the centre of the universe, with the Sun, Moon, and stars revolving around it. In 1543 the Polish astronomer Copernicus proposed an alternative to the Ptolemaic system. Ptolemy's Geography was a standard source of informatio...

Ptolemy I
Ruler of Egypt from 323 BC, king from 304 BC. One of Alexander the Great's most valued generals, he was given Egypt as his share of Alexander's conquests. His capital, Alexandria, became a centre of trade and learning; here, the mathematician Euclid worked under his patronage, and construction of the great library and museum began. Ptol...

Ptolemy XIII
Joint ruler of Egypt with his sister-wife Cleopatra in the period preceding the Roman annexation of Egypt. He was killed fighting against Julius Caesar

pt
Symbol for pint

pterodactyl
Genus of pterosaur

Ptolemy II
Ruler of Egypt 283–246 BC. He consolidated Greek control and administration, constructing a canal from the Red Sea to the Nile as well as the museum, library, and the Pharos (lighthouse) at Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. He was the son of Ptolemy I,

puffball
Ball-shaped fruiting body of certain fungi (see fungus) that cracks open when it ripens, releasing the enclosed spores in the form of a brown powder; for example, the common puffball (L. perlatum). (Genera Lycoperdon and Calvatia.)

Pushtu
Another name for the Pashto language of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich
Russian poet and writer. His works include the novel in verse Eugene Onegin (1823–31) and the tragic drama Boris Godunov (1825). Pushkin's range was wide, and his willingness to experiment freed later Russian writers from many of the archaic conventions of the literature of his time. Pushkin was born i...

Pusey, Edward Bouverie
English Church of England priest and theologian. In 1835 he joined J H Newman in the Oxford Movement, and contributed to the series Tracts for the Times. After Newman's conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845, Pusey became leader of the High Church Party, or Puseyites, striving until his death to keep them from conversion

Pusan
Chief industrial port of Korea; population (2002 est) 4,085,300. It was invaded by the Japanese in 1592 and opened to foreign trade in 1883. It was a United Nations supply port during the Korean War (1950–53). Industries include shipbuilding, motor vehicles, chemicals, electrical goods, and pottery

pus
Yellowish fluid that forms in the body as a result of bacterial infection; it includes white blood cells (leucocytes), living and dead bacteria, dead tissue, and serum. An enclosed collection of pus is called an abscess

purpura
Condition marked by purplish patches on the skin or mucous membranes due to localized spontaneous bleeding. It may be harmless, as sometimes with the elderly, or linked with disease, allergy, or drug reactions

Puritan
From 1564, a member of the Church of England who wished to eliminate Roman Catholic survivals in church ritual, or substitute a presbyterian for an episcopal form of church government. Activities included the Marprelate controversy, a pamphleteering attack carried out under the pseudonym `Martin...

Punjab
(Pakistan) Click images to enlargeState of northeast Pakistan; area 205,344 sq km/79,263 sq mi; population (1998 est) 72,585,400. The capital is Lahore. Wheat is cultivated (by irrigation). The state contains a semi-arid alluvial plai...

purgatory
In Roman Catholic belief, a purificatory state or place where the souls of those who have died in a state of grace can expiate their venial sins, with a limited amount of suffering, before going to heaven

Punjab
(former state) Former state of British India, now divided between India and Pakistan. Punjab was annexed by Britain in 1849 after the Sikh Wars (1845–46 and 1848–49), and formed into a province with its capital at Lahore. Un...

Punjab
(India) State of northwest India, bordering Pakistan; area 50,362 sq km/19,445 sq mi; population (2001 est) 24,289,300. The capital is Chandigarh, which is also the capital of Hindi-speaking state of Haryana. Both industry and agriculture are very productive and support a popul...

Punic Wars
Three wars between Rome and Carthage: First Punic War 264–241 BC, resulted in the defeat of the Carthaginians under Hamilcar Barca and the cession of Sicily to Rome; Second Punic War 218–201 BC, Hannibal invaded Italy, defeated the Romans at Trebia, Trasimene, and at Cannae (under Fabius Maximus), but was finally defeated himself ...

Pune
City in Maharashtra state, India, 100 km/60 mi southeast of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on the Mutha River; population (2001 est) 2,540,100. Products include chemicals, rubber, rice, sugar, cotton, paper, and jewellery. Industries include cars, trucks, scooters, and motorbikes; pumps, cables, machinery, arms and ammunitions, cutting tools,...

Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore
English architect and designer. He collaborated with Charles Barry in the detailed design of the New Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament). He did much to instigate the Gothic Revival in England, largely through his books Contrasts: or a Parallel between the Architecture of the 15th and 19th Centuries (1836) and
Puerto Rico
Easternmost island of the Greater Antilles, situated between the US Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic; area 9,000 sq km/3,475 sq mi; population (2000 est) 3,808,600. The capital is San Juan. Exports include sugar, tobacco, rum, pineapples, textiles, plastics, chemicals, processed foods, vegetables, and coffee. It is a self-g...

pueblo
Settlement of flat-roofed stone or adobe houses that are the communal dwelling houses of the Hopi, Zuni, and other American Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. The word has also come to refer to the pueblo-dwelling American Indians of the southwest themselves. Typical pueblos are the Taos, San Ildefonso, and Zuni pueblos in New Mexico. Many ...

Puccini, Giacomo
(Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria) Italian opera composer. His music shows a strong gift for melody and dramatic effect and his operas combine exotic plots with elements of verismo (realism). They include Manon Lescaut (1893), La Bohème...

public sector net cash requirement
Amount of money that the UK government has to borrow each year when its expenditure exceeds its income (formerly known as the public sector borrowing requirement, or PSBR). It indicates the extent to which the public sector borrows from other sectors of the economy and overseas to finance the balance of spending and receipts. In accruals terms, thi...

public school
In England and Wales, a prestigious fee-paying independent school. In Scotland, the USA, and many other English-speaking countries, a `public` school is a state-maintained school, and independent schools are generally known as `private` schools. Some English public schools (for example Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester...

Public Order Act
UK act of Parliament in 1986 that abolished the common-law offences of riot, rout, unlawful assembly, and affray, and created a new expanded range of statutory offences: riot, violent disorder, affray, threatening behaviour, and disorderly conduct. These are all arrestable offences that may be committed in both private and public places. Pr...

public lending right
Method of paying a royalty to authors when books are borrowed from libraries, similar to a royalty on performance of a play or piece of music. Payment to the copyright holder for such borrowings was introduced in Australia in 1974 and in the UK in 1984

pubes
Lowest part of the front of the human trunk, the region where the external generative organs are situated. The underlying bony structure, the pubic arch, is formed by the union in the midline of the two pubic bones, which are the front portions of the hip bones. In women this is more prominent than in men, to allow more room for the passage of the ...

purdah
Seclusion of women practised by some Islamic and Hindu peoples. It had begun to disappear with the adoption of Western culture, but the fundamentalism of the 1980s revived it; for example, the wearing of the chador (an all-enveloping black mantle) in Iran. The Koran actually enjoins only `modesty` in dress

puppet
Figure manipulated on a small stage, usually by an unseen operator. The earliest known puppets are from 10th-century BC China. The types include finger or glove puppets (such as Punch); string marionettes (which reached a high artistic level in ancient Burma and Sri Lanka and in Italian princely courts from the 16th to 18th centuries, and f...

purchasing-power parity
System for comparing standards of living between different countries. Comparing the gross domestic product (GDP) of different countries involves first converting them to a common currency (usually US dollars), a conversion which is subject to large fluctuations with variations in exchange rates. Purchasing-power parity aims to overcome this by ...

puma
Large wild cat Felis concolar found in North and South America. Tawny-coated, it is 1.5 m/4.5 ft long with a 1-m/3-ft tail. Pumas live alone, with each male occupying a distinct territory; they eat deer, rodents, and cattle. Pumas need large territories, with females maintaining up to 100 sq km and males e...

pug
Breed of small dog with short wrinkled face, hanging ears, chunky body, and tail curled over the hip. It weighs 6–8 kg/13–18 lb. Its short coat may be black, beige or grey; the beige or grey dogs have black on the face and ears

puffin
Click images to enlargeAny of various sea birds of the genus Fratercula of the auk family, found in the northern Atlantic and Pacific. The puffin is about 35 cm/14 in long, with a white face and front, red legs, and a large deep bill, very brightly coloured in summer. Having short wings and webbed f...

puffer fish
Fish of the family Tetraodontidae. As a means of defence it inflates its body with water until it becomes spherical and the skin spines become erect. Puffer fish are mainly found in warm waters, where they feed on molluscs, crustaceans, and coral. There are approximately 120 puffer fish species. They...

pulse
(food) Crop such as peas and beans. Pulses are grown primarily for their seeds, which provide a concentrated source of vegetable protein, and make a vital contribution to human diets in poor countries where meat is scarce, and among vegetarians. Soybeans are the major temperate protein crop in...

puberty
Stage in human development when the individual becomes sexually mature. It may occur from the age of ten upwards, but each person is individual. The sexual organs take on their adult form and pubic hair grows. In girls, menstruation begins, and the breasts develop; in boys, the voice breaks and b...

punctuated equilibrium model
Evolutionary theory developed by Niles Eldredge and US palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould in 1972 to explain discontinuities in the fossil record. It claims that evolution continues through periods of rapid change alternating with periods of relative stability (stasis), and that the appearance of new lineages is a separate process from the gradual e...

pupa
Nonfeeding, largely immobile stage of some insect life cycles, in which larval tissues are broken down, and adult tissues and structures are formed. In many insects, the pupa is exarate, with the appendages (legs, antennae, wings) visible outside the pupal case; in butterflies and moths, it is called a chrysalis, and is obtect, with the appenda...

pumped storage
Hydroelectric plant that uses surplus electricity to pump water back into a high-level reservoir. In normal working conditions the water flows from this reservoir through the turbines to generate power for feeding into the grid. At times of low power demand, electricity is taken from the grid to turn the turbines into pumps that then pump the w...

pump
Any device for moving liquids and gases, or compressing gases. Some pumps, such as the traditional lift pump used to raise water from wells, work by a reciprocating (up-and-down) action. Movement of a piston in a cylinder with a one-way valve creates a partial vacuum in the cylinder, thereby sucking water into it. Gear pumps, used to pu...

punctuation
System of conventional signs (punctuation marks) and spaces employed to organize written and printed language in order to make it as readable, clear, and logical as possible. Standard punctuation marks and conventions include the full stop (also known as period or point), commas, colon, semicolon, exclamation mark (or exclamation point), question m...

pun
Figure of speech, a play on words, or double meaning that is technically known as paronomasia (Greek `adapted meaning`). Double meaning can be accidental, often resulting from homonymy, or the multiple meaning of words; puns, however, are deliberate, intended as jokes or as clever and compact remarks. The success of a pun is a matter ...

Puglia
Italian form of Apulia, a region of Italy

pulsar
Celestial source that appears to flash at radio and other wavelengths at regular intervals, ranging from a few seconds to a few thousandths of a second. Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars. They were discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge, England. Pulsars slow down ...

pumpkin
Creeping plant whose large round fruit has a thick orange rind, pulpy flesh, and many seeds. Pumpkins are used in cookery (especially pies and soups) and are hollowed out to form candle lanterns at Halloween. (Genus Cucurbita pepo, family Cucurbitaceae.)

punk
Musical movement of disaffected youth in the late 1970s. It combined simple melodies and harmonies with strong lyrics (often crude and deliberately offensive) about youth rebellion. Image was important to punk and consisted of bizarre and outlandish fashions, spiked hair, and scowling expressions. Punk music stressed an aggressive performance desig...

pumice
Light volcanic rock produced by the frothing action of expanding gases during the solidification of lava. It has the texture of a hard sponge and is used as an abrasive

pulley
Simple machine consisting of a fixed, grooved wheel, sometimes in a block, around which a rope or chain can be run. A simple pulley serves only to change the direction of the applied effort (as in a simple hoist for raising loads). The use of more than one pulley results in a mechanical advantage, so...

Puducherry
Union Territory of southeast India; area 492 sq km/190 sq mi; population (2001 est) 973,800. Its capital is Puducherry which lies on the Coromandel Coast, 196 km/122 mi south of Chennai (formerly Madras). Its products include rice, millet, groundnuts, cotton, and sugar; industries include textiles, food processing, electrical ap...

purge
Removal (for example, from a political party) of suspected opponents or persons regarded as undesirable (often by violent means). During the 1930s purges were conducted in the USSR under Joseph Stalin, carried out by the secret police against political opponents, Communist Party members, minorities, civil servants, and large sections of the armed f...

public limited company
A UK company registered as a plc under the Companies Act 1980. The company's name must carry the words `public limited company` or initials `plc` and must have authorized share capital over £50,000, with £12,500 paid up – paid to the company by the shareholders. Plcs may offer shares to the public and are more...

public corporation
Company structure that is similar in organization to a public limited company but with no shareholder rights. Such corporations are established to carry out state-owned activities, but are financially independent of the state and are run by a board. The first public corporation to be formed in the UK was the Central Electricity Board in the 192...

public spending
Expenditure by government, covering the military, health, education, infrastructure, development projects, and the cost of servicing (paying off the interest on) overseas borrowing. A principal source of revenue or income to pay for public expenditure is taxation. Most countries present their plans for spending in their annual budgets

Pu-Yi
Alternative transliteration of the name of the last Chinese emperor, Henry P'u-i

pulmonary
Pertaining to the lungs

Purim
Jewish festival celebrated in February or March (the 14th of Adar in the Jewish calendar), commemorating Esther, who saved the Jews from extermination by the Persian king's vizier (executive officer) in 473 BC during the Persian occupation

puja
Worship, in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism

Pure Land Buddhism
Dominant form of Buddhism in China and Japan. It emphasizes faith in and love of Amida Buddha (Sanskrit Amitabha; Amituofo in China), the ideal `Buddha of boundless light`, who has vowed that all believers who call on his name will be reborn in his Pure Land, or Western Paradise, Sukhavati. There are over 16 million Pure Land Buddhist...

pulse
(biology) In biology, impulse transmitted by the heartbeat throughout the arterial systems of vertebrates. When the heart muscle contracts, it forces blood into the aorta (the chief artery). Because the arteries are elastic, the sudden rise of pressure causes a throb or sudden swelling through...

Punjabi
The majority ethnic group living in the Punjab. Approximately 37 million live in the Pakistan half of Punjab, while another 14 million live on the Indian side of the border. In addition to Sikhs, there are Rajputs in Punjab, some of whom have adopted Islam. The Punjabi language belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family....

Punic
Relating to Carthage, ancient city in North Africa founded by the Phoenicians

puddle clay
Clay, with sand or gravel, that has had water added and mixed thoroughly so that it becomes watertight. The term was coined in 1762 by the canal builder James Brindley, although the use of such clay in dams goes back to Roman times

public health acts
In the UK, acts passed by Parliament in 1848, 1872, and 1875 to deal with squalor and disease and to establish a code of sanitary law. The first act set up a Central Board of Health, which in turn imposed local boards of health in districts where the death rate was above the national average; other local boards of health could be established by...

punched card
In computing, an early form of data storage and input, now almost obsolete. The 80-column card widely used in the 1960s and 1970s was a thin card, measuring 190 mm × 84 mm/7.5 in × 3.33 in, holding up to 80 characters of data encoded as small rectangular holes. The punched card was invented by French textile manufacturer Joseph Ma...

Puget Sound
Inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of Washington State, USA, extending southwards for about 160 km/100 mi, from the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Olympia, the state capital. It covers an area of about 5,180 sq km/1,990 sq mi, and contains a number of islands; Whidbey, Vashon, and Bainbridge are the largest. The ...

Punjab massacres
In the violence occurring after the partition of India in 1947, more than a million people died while relocating in the Punjab. The eastern section became an Indian state, while the western area, dominated by the Muslims, went to Pakistan. Violence occurred as Muslims fled from eastern Punjab, and Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan to India

pulse-code modulation
In physics, a form of digital modulation in which radio waves, microwaves, light waves, or other `carrier waves` are switched on and off in pulses of varying length according to a binary code. It is a relatively simple matter to transmit data that are already in binary code, such as those u...

public sector debt repayment
Amount left over when government expenditure (public spending) is subtracted from government receipts. This occurs only when government spending is less than government receipts. A PSDR enables a government to repay some of the national debt

pull factor
Any factor that tends to attract people to an area (see migration). Examples include higher wages, better housing, and better educational opportunities

push factor
Any factor that tends to repel people from an area (see migration). Examples are crop failure, pollution, natural disasters, and poor living standards

public sector
The part of the economy that is owned and controlled by the state, namely central government, local government, and government enterprises. In a command economy, the public sector provides most of the resources in the economy. The opposite of the public sector is the private sector, where resources are provided by private individuals and business o...

Purcell, Henry
English baroque composer. His works include the opera Dido and Aeneas (1689) and music for John Dryden's King Arthur (1691) and The Fairy Queen (1692). He wrote more than 500 works, ranging from secular operas and incidental music for plays to cantatas and church music

public-domain software
Any computer program that is not under copyright and can therefore be used freely without charge. Public-domain software should not be confused with shareware, which is under copyright, and may be freely distributed for evaluation purposes, but requires purchasing to use in the longer term

public art
Any work of visual art produced for and owned by the community. It is usually designed for display in an open public space, and intended to be part of a community's social life. The term came into use in the 1970s, although the tradition dates back to prehistoric cave painting, and includes religious works and public memorials throughout the ag...

Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich
Russian politician, president 2000–08 and prime minister from 2008. Appointed prime minister in August 1999 and chosen by President Boris Yeltsin as his preferred successor, Putin, a former KGB (Russian secret police) spy, was not a well-known figure either in Russia or abroad. He became acting president following Yeltsin's resignation...

public health
(history) Promotion of health at community level by government rather than on an individual basis. Public health includes the prevention of disease through the provision of clean water and sewage disposal, legislation for clean air, health education programmes, and medical care for the whole p...

pujari
Hindu priest. A pujari looks after the chief murti (sacred image of a god) of a mandir (temple), and performs ceremonies such as arti, an offering of ghee, incense, flowers, and water; and havan, a fire-offering. The pujari will also lead the bhajan (hymn singing) in larger temples. After waking the murti in the morning, the pujari carefull...

Pulau Pinang
Malay name for Penang, a state in western Peninsular Malaysia

purity
In chemistry, the extent to which a substance consists only one type of material. Pure substances may be simple elements made up of atoms such as carbon or silver. They may be molecules, like oxygen or hydrogen, or they may be compounds like water. Compounds are pure substances because each particle is the same type. Pure substances have individual...

purification
In chemistry, the process of separating a mixture into its individual components, and removing impurities to achieve purity of a substance. The method of purification depends on the individual mixture but all depend on the physical properties of the substances. Most substances when first obtained are in an impure form. Common methods of purificatio...

Publisher
Desktop publishing program created by Microsoft and aimed mainly at the entry-level home user. While satisfying most simple publication needs, it does not offer features such as layering, advanced font controls, or colour separation, which are required to achieve professional results. Microsoft Publisher offers help to the user through wizards ...

PVC
Abbreviation for polyvinyl chloride

pyrite
Iron sulphide FeS2. It has a yellow metallic lustre and a hardness of 6–6.5 on the Mohs scale. It is used in the production of sulphuric acid

pyroxene
Any one of a group of minerals, silicates of calcium, iron, and magnesium with a general formula X,YSi2O6, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The internal structure is based on single chains of silicon and oxygen. Diopside (X = Ca, Y =...

pyrethrum
Popular name for several cultivated chrysanthemums. The ornamental species C. coccineum, and hybrids derived from it, are commonly grown in gardens. Pyrethrum powder, made from the dried flower heads of some species, is a powerful pesticide for aphids and mosquitoes. (Genus Chrysanthemum, family Compositae.)

Pyrrhus
(king) King of Epirus (an area of northwestern Greece and southern Albania) from 307 BC. In the early years of his reign he struggled to maintain his throne and retain independence from Macedonian control. In 280 BC he invaded Italy as an ally of the Tarentines against Rome. He twice defeated ...

Pyrenees
Mountain range in southwest Europe between France and Spain, extending from the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) to the Mediterranean Sea (Golfe du Lion); length about 435 km/270 mi; highest peak Aneto (French Néthon) 3,404 m/11,172 ft. Andorra lies entirely within the range. Hydro...

pyramid
(architecture) Click images to enlargeFour-sided building with triangular sides. Pyramids were used in ancient Egypt to enclose a royal tomb, such as the Great Pyramid of Khufu/Cheops at El Gîza, near Cairo, which is 230 m/755 ...

Pyongyang
Capital and largest city of North Korea, lying in the west of the country on the Taedong River, 50 km/30 mi inland from the Yellow Sea; population (2002 est) 2,724,700, conurbation 3,171,800. It is the leading commercial, transport, and manufacturing centre of North Korea, and industries include aircraft, tractors and electrical vehicles, i...

Pynchon, Thomas
US novelist. With great stylistic verve, he created a bizarre, labyrinthine world in his books, the first of which was V (1963), a parodic detective story in pursuit of the endlessly elusive Lady V. It was followed by the shorter comic quest novel, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), before his gargantuan tour-de&...

Pym, John
English Parliamentarian, largely responsible for the Petition of Right in 1628. As leader of the Puritan opposition in the Long Parliament from 1640, he moved the impeachment of Charles I's advisers the Earl of Strafford and William Laud, drew up the Grand Remonstrance, and was the chief of five members of Parliament Charles I wanted arrested i...

Pygmy
Member of any of several groups of small-statured, dark-skinned peoples living in the equatorial jungles of Africa. The most important groups are the Twa, Aka, Mbuti, Binga, Baka, Gelli Efé; their combined population is less than 200,000. They were probably the aboriginal inhabitants of the region, before the arrival of farming peo...

pyelitis
Inflammation of the renal pelvis, the central part of the kidney where urine accumulates before discharge. It is caused by bacterial infection and is more common in women than in men

Pygmalion
In Greek mythology, a king of Cyprus who fell in love with an ivory statue he had carved. When Aphrodite breathed life into it, he married the woman and named her Galatea. Their children were Paphos and Metharme

pyridine
Heterocyclic compound (see cyclic compounds). It is a liquid with a sickly smell and occurs in coal tar. It is soluble in water, acts as a strong base, and is used as a solvent, mainly in the manufacture of plastics

python
Any constricting snake of the Old World subfamily Pythoninae of the family Boidae, which also includes boas and the anaconda. Pythons are found in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Unlike boas, they lay eggs rather than produce living young. Some species are small, but the reticulated python Python reticulatus of Southe...

pyramid
(geometry) In geometry, a solid shape with triangular side-faces meeting at a common vertex (point) and with a polygon as its base. The volume V of a pyramid is given by V = 1/3
Pythagoras
Greek mathematician and philosopher who formulated Pythagoras' theorem. Much of Pythagoras' work concerned numbers, to which he assigned mystical properties. For example, he classified numbers into triangular ones (1, 3, 6, 10, ...), which can be represented as a triangular array, and square ...