Adjacent Words

Pica definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PI'CA, n. In ornithology, the pie or mag-pie, a species of Corvus.
1. In medicine, a vitiated appetite which makes the patient crave what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.
2. A printing type of a large size; probably named from litera picata, a great black letter at the beginning of some new order in the liturgy; hence,
3. Pica, pye or pie,formerly an ordinary, a table or directory for devotional services; also, an alphabetical catalogue of names and things in rolls and records.
Pica marina, the sea-pye, ostralegus, or oyster-catcher; an aquatic fowl of the genus Haematopus. This fowl feeds on oysters, limpets and marine insects.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an eating disorder, frequent in children, in which non- nutritional objects are eaten persistently
2: a linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing [syn: em, pica em, pica]
3: magpies [syn: Pica, genus Pica]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, magpie — more at pie Date: 1563 an abnormal desire to eat substances (as chalk or ashes) not normally eaten II. noun Etymology: probably from Medieval Latin, collection of church rules Date: 1588 1. 12-point type 2. a unit of about 1/6 inch used in measuring typographic material 3. a typewriter type providing 10 characters to the linear inch and six lines to the vertical inch

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. Printing 1 a unit of type-size (1/6 inch). 2 a size of letters in typewriting (10 per inch). Etymology: AL pica 15th-c. book of rules about church feasts, perh. formed as PIE(2) 2. n. Med. the eating of substances other than normal food. Etymology: mod.L or med.L, = magpie

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pica Pi"ca, n. [L. pica a pie, magpie; in sense 3 prob. named from some resemblance to the colors of the magpie. Cf. Pie magpie.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) The genus that includes the magpies. 2. (Med.) A vitiated appetite that craves what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, etc.; chthonophagia. 3. (R. C. Ch.) A service-book. See Pie. [Obs.] 4. (Print.) A size of type next larger than small pica, and smaller than English. Note: This line is printed in pica Note: Pica is twice the size of nonpareil, and is used as a standard of measurement in casting leads, cutting rules, etc., and also as a standard by which to designate several larger kinds of type, as double pica, two-line pica, four-line pica, and the like. Small pica (Print.), a size of type next larger than long primer, and smaller than pica. Note: This line is printed in small pica

Moby Thesaurus

analgesia, anesthesia, anxiety equivalent, ascender, back, bastard type, beard, belly, bevel, black letter, body, cap, capital, case, counter, depraved appetite, descender, em, en, face, fat-faced type, feet, font, groove, italic, letter, ligature, logotype, lower case, majuscule, minuscule, neurasthenia, nick, paresthesia, parorexia, pi, point, print, roman, sans serif, script, shank, shoulder, small cap, small capital, speech abnormality, stamp, stem, type, type body, type class, type lice, typecase, typeface, typefounders, typefoundry, upper case