2. (Med.) A disease of the mind; especially, a functional mental
disorder, that is, one unattended with evident organic changes.
Psy`cho*zo"ic (?), a. [Psycho- + Gr. &?; life.] (Geol.)Designating, or
applied to the Era of man; as, the psychozoic era.
Psy*chrom"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. psychro`s cold + -meter: cf. F.
psychromËtre.] An instrument for measuring the tension of the aqueous
vapor in the atmosphere, being essentially a wet and dry bulb
hygrometer.
Psy`chro*met"ric*al (?), a. Of or pertaining to the psychrometer or
psychrometry.
Psy*chrom"e*try (?), n. Hygrometry.
||Psyl"la (?), n.; pl. PsyllÊ (#). [NL., from Gr. &?; a flea.] (Zoˆl.)
||Any leaping plant louse of the genus Psylla, or family PsyllidÊ.
Ptar"mi*gan (?), n. [Gael. tarmachan; cf. Ir. tarmochan, tarmonach.]
(Zoˆl.) Any grouse of the genus Lagopus, of which numerous species are
known. The feet are completely feathered. Most of the species are brown
in summer, but turn white, or nearly white, in winter.
They chiefly inhabit the northern countries and high mountains of
Europe, Asia, and America. The common European species is Lagopus
mutus. The Scotch grouse, red grouse, or moor fowl (L. Scoticus), is
reddish brown, and does not turn white in winter. The white, or willow,
ptarmigan (L. albus) is found in both Europe and America.
||Pte`no*glos"sa (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr.&?; feathered + &?; tongue.]
||(Zoˆl.) A division of gastropod mollusks having the teeth of the
||radula arranged in long transverse rows, somewhat like the barbs of a
||feather.
Pte`no*glos"sate (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the Ptenoglossa.
Pte*ran"o*don (?), n. [Gr. &?; wing + &?; priv. + &?;, &?;, a tooth.]
(Paleon.) A genus of American Cretaceous pterodactyls destitute of
teeth. Several species are known, some of which had an expanse of wings
of twenty feet or more.
||Pte*ran`o*don"ti*a (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Paleon.) A group of
||pterodactyls destitute of teeth, as in the genus Pteranodon.
||Pte*rich"thys (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; wing + &?; fish.] (Paleon.) A
||genus of Devonian fossil fishes with winglike appendages. The head
||and most of the body were covered with large bony plates. See
||Placodermi.
Pter`i*dol"o*gist (?), n. One who is versed in pteridology.
Pter`i*dol"o*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, a fern + -logy.] That department
of botany which treats of ferns.
Pter`i*do*ma"ni*a (?), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, a fern + E. mania.] A madness,
craze, or strong fancy, for ferns. [R.] C. Kingsley.
||Pter`i*doph"y*ta (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. &?;, &?;, a fern + &?; a
||plant.] (Bot.) A class of flowerless plants, embracing ferns,
||horsetails, club mosses, quillworts, and other like plants. See the
||Note under Cryptogamia. -- Pter"i*do*phyte` (#), n.
This is a modern term, devised to replace the older ones acrogens and
vascular Cryptogamia.
||Pter`o*bran"chi*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a wing + &?; &?;.]
||(Zoˆl.) An order of marine Bryozoa, having a bilobed lophophore and
||an axial cord. The genus Rhabdopleura is the type. Called also
||Podostomata. See Rhabdopleura.
||Pte*roc"e*ras (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a wing + &?; a horn.] (Zoˆl.)
||A genus of large marine gastropods having the outer border of the lip
||divided into lobes; -- called also scorpion shell.
||Pter`o*cle"tes (?), n. pl. [NL., fr Pterocles, the typical genus, fr.
||Gr. &?; feather + &?;, &?;, a key, tongue of a clasp.] (Zoˆl.) A
||division of birds including the sand grouse. They are in some
||respects intermediate between the pigeons and true grouse. Called
||also PteroclomorphÊ.
Pter`o*dac"tyl (?), n. [Gr. &?; a wing + &?; finger, toe: cf. F.
ptÈrodactyle.] (Paleon.) An extinct flying reptile; one of the
Pterosauria. See Illustration in Appendix.
||Pter`o*dac"ty*li (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Paleon.) Same as Pterosauria.
Pter`o*glos"sal (?), a. [Gr. &?; a feather + &?; tongue.] (Zoˆl.)
Having the tongue finely notched along the sides, so as to have a
featherlike appearance, as the toucans.
Pte"ron (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a wing.] (Anat.) The region of the
skull, in the temporal fossa back of the orbit, where the great wing of
the sphenoid, the temporal, the parietal, and the frontal hones
approach each other.
||Pter`o*pap"pi (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. &?; a feather, a bird + &?;
||a grandfather.] (Zool.) Same as OdontotormÊ.
Pter"o*phore (?), n. [Gr. &?; a feather + &?; to bear.] (Zoˆl.) Any
moth of the genus Pterophorus and allied genera; a plume moth. See
Plume moth, under Plume.
Pter"o*pod (?), n. [Gr. &?; wing-footed; &?; a feather, wing + &?;,
&?;, foot: cf. F. ptÈropode.] (Zoˆl.) One of the Pteropoda.
||Pte*rop"o*da (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoˆl.) A class of Mollusca in which
||the anterior lobes of the foot are developed in the form of broad,
||thin, winglike organs, with which they swim at near the surface of
||the sea.
The Pteropoda are divided into two orders: Cymnosomata, which have the
body entirely naked and the head distinct from the wings; and
Thecosomata, which have a delicate transparent shell of various forms,
and the head not distinct from the wings.
Pte*rop"o*dous (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the Pteropoda.
Pter"o*saur (?), n. [Gr. &?; wind + &?; a lizard.] (Paleon.) A
pterodactyl.
||Pter`o*sau"ri*a (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Paleon.) An extinct order of
||flying reptiles of the Mesozoic age; the pterodactyls; -- called also
||Pterodactyli, and Ornithosauria.
The wings were formed, like those of bats, by a leathery expansion of
the skin, principally supported by the greatly enlarged outer or "
little" fingers of the hands. The American Cretaceous pterodactyls had
no teeth. See Pteranodontia, and Pterodactyl.
Pter`o*sau"ri*an (?), a. (Paleon.) Of or pertaining to the Pterosauria.
||Pter`o*stig"ma (?), n.; pl. Pterostigmata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; wing
||+ &?;, &?;, a mark.] (Zoˆl.) A thickened opaque spot on the wings of
||certain insects.
Pte*ro"tic (?), a. [Gr. &?; wing + &?;, &?;, ear.] (Anat.) Of or
pertaining to, or designating, a bone between the proˆtic and epiotic
in the dorsal and outer part of the periotic capsule of many fishes. --
n. The pterotic bone.
The pterotic bone is so called because fancied in some cases to
resemble in form a bird's wing
||Pte*ryg"i*um (?), n.; pl. E. Pterygiums (#), L. Pterygia (#). [NL.,
||fr. Gr. &?;, properly a dim, akin to &?; a feather.] (Med.) A
||superficial growth of vascular tissue radiating in a fanlike manner
||from the cornea over the surface of the eye.
Pter"y*goid (?), a. [Gr. &?;, &?;, a wing + -oid.] (Anat.) (a) Like a
bird's wing in form; as, a pterygoid bone. (b) Of, pertaining to, or in
the region of, the pterygoid bones, pterygoid processes, or the whole
sphenoid bone. -- n. A pterygoid bone.
Pterygoid bone (Anat.), a bone which corresponds to the inner plate of
the pterygoid process of the human skull, but which, in all vertebrates
below mammals, is not connected with the posterior nares, but serves to
connect the palatine bones with the point of suspension of the lower
jaw. -- Pterygoid process (Anat.), a process projecting downward from
either side of the sphenoid bone, in man divided into two plates, an
inner and an outer. The posterior nares pass through the space, called
the pterygoid fossa, between the processes.
Pter`y*go*max"il*la*ry (?), a. [Pterygoid + maxillary.] (Anat.) Of or
pertaining to the inner pterygoid plate, or pterygoid bone, and the
lower jaw.
Pter`y*go*pal"a*tine (?), a. [Pterygoid + palatine.] (Anat.) Of or
pertaining to the pterygoid processes and the palatine bones.
||Pter`y*go*po"di*um (?), n.; pl. Pterygopodia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?;,
||&?;, a fin + &?;, dim. of &?;, &?;, a foot.] (Anat.) A specially
||modified part of the ventral fin in male elasmobranchs, which serves
||as a copulatory organ, or clasper.
Pter`y*go*quad"rate (?), a. [Pterygoid + quadrate.] (Anat.) Of,
pertaining to, or representing the pterygoid and quadrate bones or
cartilages.
||Pte*ry"la (?), n.; pl. PterylÊ (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; feather + &?;
||wood, forest.] (Zoˆl.) One of the definite areas of the skin of a
||bird on which feathers grow; -- contrasted with apteria.
Pter`y*log"ra*phy (?), n. [Pteryla + -graphy.] (Zoˆl.) The study or
description of the arrangement of feathers, or of the pterylÊ, of
birds.
||Pter`y*lo"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. NL. & E. pteryla.] (Zoˆl.) The
||arrangement of feathers in definite areas.
Ptil"o*cerque (?), n. [Gr. &?; a feather + &?; tail.] (Zool.) The
pentail.
||Ptil`o*pÊ"des (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a feather + &?;, &?;,
||offspring.] (Zoˆl.) Same as DasypÊdes.
Ptil`o*pÊd"ic (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Having nearly the whole surface of the
skin covered with down; dasypÊdic; -- said of the young of certain
birds.
||Pti*lop"te*ri (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a downy feather + &?;
||wing.] (Zoˆl.) An order of birds including only the penguins.
||Pti*lo"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr &?; a feather.] (Zoˆl.) Same as
||Pterylosis.
Ptis"an (?), n. [L. ptisana peeled barley, barley water, Gr. &?;, from
&?; to peel, husk; cf. F. ptisane, tisane.] 1. A decoction of barley
with other ingredients; a farinaceous drink.
2. (Med.) An aqueous medicine, containing little, if any, medicinal
agent; a tea or tisane.
Ptol`e*ma"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to Ptolemy, the geographer and
astronomer.
Ptolemaic system (Astron.), the system maintained by Ptolemy, who
supposed the earth to be fixed in the center of the universe, with the
sun and stars revolving around it. This theory was received for ages,
until superseded by the Copernican system.
Ptol"e*ma`ist (?), n. One who accepts the astronomical system of
Ptolemy.
Pto"ma*ine (?), n. [From Gr. &?; a dead body.] (Physiol. Chem.) One of
a class of animal bases or alkaloids formed in the putrefaction of
various kinds of albuminous matter, and closely related to the
vegetable alkaloids; a cadaveric poison. The ptomaines, as a class,
have their origin in dead matter, by which they are to be distinguished
from the leucomaines.
||Pto"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a falling.] (Med.) Drooping of the
||upper eyelid, produced by paralysis of its levator muscle.
<! p. 1159 !>
Pty"a*lin (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle. See Ptyalism.] (Physiol. Chem.) An
unorganized amylolytic ferment, on enzyme, present in human mixed
saliva and in the saliva of some animals.
Pty"a*lism (?), n. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to spit much, fr. &?; spittle, fr.
&?; to spit: cf. F. ptyalisme.] Salivation, or an excessive flow of
saliva. Quain.
Pty*al"o*gogue (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle + &?; driving.] (Med.) A
ptysmagogue.
Ptys"ma*gogue (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle + &?; driving: cf. F.
ptysmagogue.] (Med.) A medicine that promotes the discharge of saliva.
||Ptyx"is (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a folding.] (Bot.) The way in which
||a leaf is sometimes folded in the bud.
Pub"ble (?), a. [Perhaps fr. bubble.] Puffed out, pursy; pudgy; fat.
[Obs.] Drant.
Pu"ber*al (?), a. [From L. puber, pubes, grown up, adult.] Of or
pertaining to puberty.
Pu"ber*ty (?), n. [L. pubertas, fr. puber, pubes, adult: cf. F.
pubertÈ.] 1. The earliest age at which persons are capable of begetting
or bearing children, usually considered, in temperate climates, to be
about fourteen years in males and twelve in females.