pianoforte 
or three wires, which are tuned in unison, and placed so 
that they shall be struck simultaneously by a single ham- 
mer (c) The founding-board is a thin plate of selected 
wood so placed under the strings that it is drawn into 
sympathetic vibration with them. The sonority and 
duality of the tones depend much upon its material, form, 
and attachment. At the side or end next the string- 
plate there is an opening in the sounding-board for the 
hammers (d) The action comprises the entire system of 
levers, hammers, etc., by which the player causes the 
strings to sound. It includes a keyboard (which see) 
made up of keys or digitals, each of which works on a 
pivot near its center. When the front end of a key is de- 
pressed, the back end is raised, carrying with it a rod 
called a jac!t, the upper end of which propels a felt-tipped 
hammer ag.iinst one or more strings with a blow. At the 
same instant a damper is lifted from the strings so that 
they can vibrate freely. After the blow is given the ham- 
mer falls back against a check, while the damper remains 
lifted until the key is released. Various exceedingly in- 
genious devices are used to prevent noise, to insure ease, 
precision, and power, and to provide for extreme rapidity 
of manipulation. Various mechanical effects are pro- 
duced by means of pedals, such as the damper or loud 
pnlal, which lifts the dampers from all the strings at 
once, so that all the strings sounded shall continue to 
sound, and other strings shall be drawn into sympathetic 
vibration until the pedal is released ; a sustaining pedal, 
which holds up all the dampers that happen to be raised 
when it is pressed down, so that selected tones may be 
4470 
prolonged at will ; and a soft pedal, which either inter- 
poses a strip of thin felt between the hammers and the 
strings, or diminishes the distance from which the ham- 
mers strike, or moves them to one side, that they may strike 
only one instead of two or three strings, so that a soft 
tone shall be produced. The compass of the keyboard 
varies from five to seven and a half octaves. Great care 
is taken that the hammers shall strike the strings at such 
a point as to bring out their desirable harmonies, and 
suppress the others. () The case is a wooden box in 
which the whole instrument is contained. Its form va- 
ries according to the variety of the pianoforte. A grand 
piano the largest form of which is called a concert grand, 
is harp-shaped, like the harpsichord, and has the strings 
strung horizontally at right angles to the keyboard. A 
square piano, until lately the commonest form for private 
use, is rectangular, like the clavichord, and has the strings 
strung horizontally, parallel with the keyboard. An up- 
right or cabinet piano is like a square set up on edge, and 
has the strings strung vertically behind the keyboard. In 
both these varieties the case is often made of precious 
woods elaborately carved and inlaid. The importance of 
the pianoforte rests upon its powerful and finely graduated 
tone, its convenience for the production of concerted 
music, and its universal popularity. Its wide-spread use 
brings into prominence, however, the disadvantages of a 
percussive tone, which cannot be sustained or varied af- 
ter the initial stroke, of an ease of manipulation which 
invites slovenly and vulgar use, and of a temperament 
which, with the common neglect of frequent tuning, 
often hopelessly corrupts the player's musical ear. The 
technique of the pianoforte has developed gradually out 
of that of the harpsichord and clavichord. Abbreviated 
p/. Oblique pianoforte. See oblique. Pianoforte- 
player's cramp, an occupation-neurosis, allied to writer's 
cramp, developing in pianoforte-players. Sostinente pi- 
anoforte, a name given to various forms of the piano- 
forte constructed with a view to sustain the full ton e like an 
organ. No such instruments have remained long in use. 
pianograph (pi-au'o-graf), n. [< E. piano + Gr. 
-ypaQia, (ypatyeiv, write.] A form of music-re- 
corder. See music-recorder. 
piano-maker (pi-an'6-ma"ker), n. A maker of 
pianofortes. 
piano-music (pi-an'6-mu"zik), n. Music writ- 
ten for or performed on a pianoforte. 
piano-school (pi-an'6-sk81), n. 1. A school for 
giving instruction in playing on the pianoforte. 
2. A particular method or system of piano- 
forte instruction; also, a book showing such 
method. 
piano-stool (pi-an'6-stol), n. A stool, gener- 
ally adjustable in height, used by a performer 
on the pianoforte. 
piano-Violin (pi-an'6-vi-o-lin"), n. Same as 
harmonieliord. 
piarachnoid (pi-a-rak'noid), n. [< pi(a mater) 
+ arachnoid: see arachnoid, 2 (a).] The pia 
mater and the arachnoid taken together. 
Piarist (pi'a-rist), n. [< NL. "Piarista, < L. 
plus, pious: see pious.] In the Bom. Cath. 
Ch., a member of the Pauline Congregation of 
the Mother of God, a secular order founded at 
Kome by Joseph Calasanza about 1600 and sanc- 
tioned a few years later. In addition to the three 
usual monastic vows, the Piarists devoted themselves to 
the free instruction of youth. They are found especially 
in the Austrian empire. 
piarrhsemla (pi-a-re'mi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. ma- 
p6f, fat, + alfta, blood.] Same as liptemia. 
piassava, piassaba (pi-as'a-va, -ba), n. [Pg. 
piassava, piacaba; a Braz. name.] 1. A coarse 
fiber yielded by two palms, Attalea funifera and 
Leopohlitlia Piassaba. in South America it is made 
into coarse but durable ropes ; in Europe it is used chiefly 
for street-brooms. The product of the latter species is 
less valued, and forms but a small percentage of the com- 
mercial article. See Attalea, bast-palm, Leopoldinia, Para 
grass, and cut in next column. 
Since the introduction of Piassaba . . . the manufacture 
of "bass brooms" has become an important branch of the 
brush-making industry. Spans' Encyc. Manuf., 1. 654. 
2. Either of the above palms. 
Piassava (A ttalea Junifera). 
a, the upper part of the stem with the fibers. 
piaster, piastre (pi-as'ter), n. [< F. piastre 
= Sp. Pg. piastra, piaster, < It. piastra (ML. 
plustra, a piaster), a thin plate of any metal, a 
dollar, < L. empldstrum, a plaster : see plaster.] 
1. The unit of Turkish currency, represented 
by a silver coin worth about 4.4 United States 
cents (the Turkish name for it is gliuruxli). 2. 
The Spanish dollar. See dollar, 1, and peso. 
piationt (pi-a'shon), n. [< L. piatio(n-), an ap- 
peasing of the gods by offerings, < piare, ap- 
pease : see piacle.] The act of making atone- 
ment; expiation. Imp. Diet. 
piazza (pi-az'a; It.prou. piat'sa), . [< It. pi- 
azza, a square, market-place, = Sp. plaza = Pg. 
praca = F.place,< L. platea, place : see place 1 .] 
1. An open square in a town surrounded by 
buildings or colonnades ; a plaza: as, ihe piazza 
of Covent Garden; the Piazza del Popolo in 
Rome ; the Piazza dell' Annunziatain Florence. 
Whereupon the next morning, being Sunday, Wolfe 
came to Chaloner's Chamber, and prayed him familiarly 
to go walk with him abroad to the piazza or marketstead. 
Foxe, Martyrs, an. 1555. 
Din'd at my Lo. Treasurer's, the Earle of Southampton, 
in Blomesbury, where he was building a noble square or 
piazza, a little towne. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 9, 1665. 
The benediction was much finer than on Thursday, the 
day magnificent, the whole piazza filled with a countless 
multitude, all in their holiday dresses. 
GremUe, Memoirs, April 11, 1830. 
2. An arcaded or colonnaded walk upon the 
exterior of a building; a veranda; a gallery. 
[A less correct use.] 
The low projecting eaves forming a piazza along the 
front, capable of being closed up in bad weather. 
Iraing, Sketch-Book, p. 429. 
He has put a broad verandah (what we so commonly call 
& piazza) all around the house. 
Motley, Correspondence, II. 283. 
piazzian (pi-az'i-an), a. [< piazza + 4an.] Per- 
taining to, resembling, or characteristic of a 
piazza. 
Where in Pluto's gardens palatine 
Mulciber's columns gleam in far piazzian line. 
Keats, Lamia, i. 
pibblet, n. An obsolete form of pebble. 
pibble-pabble (pib'l-pab'l), . [An imitative 
word, a varied reduplication of "pabble, equiv. 
to babble.] Tattle ; babble. Worcester. 
pibroch (pe'broch), n. [< Gael, piobaireachd, 
the art of playing on the bagpipe, pipe-music, 
< piobair, a piper, < piob, a pipe, bagpipe (see 
pipe 1 ), + fear, a man.] A wild, irregular kind 
of music, peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, 
performed upon the bagpipe, it consists of a 
picaresque 
Pica 1 (pi'ka), fl. [NL. (Brisson, 1760), < L. pica, 
a magpie: see pie 2 .] 1. A genus of oscine 
passerine birds of the family Corvidse and sub- 
family Gamilinee, having an extremely long 
graduated tail, the nostrils covered with an- 
trorse plumules, and the plumage iridescent 
black and white ; the magpies. The common magpie 
of Europe is P. rustica, P. caudata, or P. pica. That of 
America is commonly called P. hudsonica, but it is scarcely 
a distinct species. The yellow-billed magpie of California 
is P. nuttalli. See cut under magpie. 
2. [7. c. ] A bird of the genus Pica ; a pie ; a mag- 
pie. Pica marina, an old name, not technical, of the 
oyster-catcher, translating the popular name sea-pie. 
pica'- 2 (pi'ka), n. [= F. Sp. Pg. It. pica, < NL. 
pica, a vitiated appetite, so called in allusion 
to the omnivorous habits of the magpie ; < L. 
pica, a magpie : see Pica 1 .] In mod., a vitiated 
craving for what is unfit for food, as chalk, 
ashes, or coal. 
pica 3 (pi'ka), n. [< ML. pica, the ordinal, so 
called on account of the color and confused 
appearance of the rules, they being printed in 
the old black-letter type on white paper, and 
thus looking pied; < L. pica, a magpie: see 
Pica 1 and pie 2 .] 1. Eccles., same as ordinal, 
2(c). 
Suppose then one that is sick should have this Pica, and 
long to be annoiled ; why might not a lay-friend annoil as 
well as baptize? Bp. Hacket, Abp. Williams, p. 218. 
2. An alphabetical catalogue of names and 
things in rolls and records. 
pica 4 (pi'ka), n. [So called with ref. to the 
black-letter type in which the pica or ordinal 
was printed: see^ica 3 .] A size of printing- 
type, about 6 lines to the inch, intermediate 
between the sizes English (larger) and small- 
pica (smaller). It is equal to 12 points in the new sys- 
tem of sizes. (See points , 14 (d).) The sizes of type respec- 
tively called 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-line pica have bodies that 
are equal to 2, 3, 4, 6, and 6 lines of pica. Leads are 
described by their numerical relation to the pica body, as 
6-to-pica or 10-to-pica, according as 6 or 10 set together 
make a line of pica. 
This is Pica Type. 
Double pica, in England, a size of type equal to 2 lines 
of small-pica. Double small-pica, in printing, a size of 
type giving about SJ lines to the inch. In Great Britain 
this size is known as double pica. Two-line pica, a size 
of type of about 3 lines to the inch, equal to 2 lines of pica, 
or to 24 points in the new system of sizes. 
picador (pik-a-dor'), n. [Sp., < pica, a pike, 
lance: see pike 1 .] In bull-fighting, one of the 
hoi-semen armed with a lance who commence 
the combat in the arena by pricking the bull 
to madness with their weapons, but purposely 
avoid disabling him. The horse of the picador is 
often disemboweled by the bull ; the man has armor for 
the legs, as much to keep them from being crushed by 
the weight of the horse falling on them as to protect them 
against the bull. 
The light darts of the picador . . . sting, bat do not 
wound. 0. W. Curtis, Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 637. 
Picas (pi'se), n.pl. [NL., pi. of Pica : see Pica 1 .] 
In the Linuean system of classification, the 
second order of birds, more fully called Aves 
picse. It consisted of the genera Psittacus, Ramphagtos, 
Buceros, Buphaga, Crotophaga, Corpus, Coracias, Oriolus, 
Gracttla, Paradisea, Troyon, Bucco, Cucitlus, Yunx (lynx), 
Picus, Sitta, Todus, Alcedo, Merops, Upupa, Certhia, and 
Trochilus. Though thus a heterogeneous and artificial 
group, it corresponds in the main with the modern order 
Picarije, of which it is the prototype. Elimination of the 
passerine forms (namely, Corms, Oriolus, Gracula, Para- 
disea, Sitta, and Certhia) would leave it very nearly the same 
as Picarise. 
picamar (pik'a-mar), n. [= F.picamare, < L. 
pix (pic-), pitch, + amarus, bitter.] The bit- 
ter principle of tar. It can be separated in the 
form of a colorless oil. 
with a quick movement called the creanduidh. Pibrochs 
usually increase in difficulty from the beginning to the 
end, and are profusely ornamented with grace-notes called 
warblers. They are generally intended to excite a mar- 
tial spirit. They also often constitute a kind of program- 
music, intended to represent the various phases of a bat- 
tlethe march, the attack, the conflict, the flight, the 
pursuit, and the lament for the fallen. The names they 
bear are often derived from historical or legendary events, 
as "The Raid of Kilchrist," attributed to the piper of 
Macdonald of Glengarry, and supposed to have been com- 
posed in 1603. The term is sometimes used figuratively 
by poets to denote the bagpipe itself. 
Wake thy wild voice anew, 
Summon Clan Conuil. 
Scott, in Albyn's Anthology, 
, n. A Middle English form of pike 1 . 
pic 2 (pik), n. [Turk, pik.] A measure of length, 
varying from 18 to 28 inches, common through- 
out Moslem nations, and used especially for 
measuring textile fabrics. 
the alleged founder.] Eccles., one of a sect in 
Bohemia about the beginning of the fifteenth 
century, suppressed by Ziska in 1421. The Pic- 
ards are accused of an attempt, under the guise of re- 
storing man's primitive state of innocence, to renew the 
practices of the Adamites, in going absolutely unclothed 
and in maintaining the community of women, etc. See 
Adamite, 3. 
picard 2 (pik'ard), n. [< F. Picard, belonging 
to Picardy.] "A shoe worn by men, introduced 
into England as the fashion of the French about 
1720. It was high-quartered, and not unlike the 
modern brogan. 
Picardist (pik'iir-dist), . [< Picard 1 + -int.] 
An occasional form of Picard 1 . 
picaresque (pik-a-resk'), . [F., < Sp. picaresco 
(= Pg. picaresco"), <picaro, a rogue: seepicaro.] 
Pertaining to or dealing with rogues or pica- 
roons: said of literary productions that deal 
with the fortunes of rogues or adventurers, and 
especially of works in Spanish literature about 
