Random Image

You are here: Random Image > Words beginning with p > Random Image for pacap

Possible definitions for pacap

cacao
Tropical New World tree (Theobroma cacao) of the chocolate family (Sterculiaceae, or Byttneriaceae). Its seeds, after fermentation and roasting, yield cocoa and chocolate. Cocoa butter is extracted from the seed. The tree is grown throughout the wet lowland tropics, often in the shade of taller trees. Its thick trunk supports a canopy of large, leathery, oblong leaves. The small, foul-smelling, pinkish flowers are borne directly on the branches and trunk; they are followed by the fruit, or pods, each yielding 20-40 seeds, or cocoa beans.


decapod
Any of more than 8,000 species (order Decapoda) of crustaceans having five pairs of legs attached to the thorax. The shrimplike species, which can be as small as 0.5 in. (12 mm), have a slender body with a long abdomen, a well-developed fantail, and, often, long, slender legs. The crablike types, whose claw span can measure 13 ft (4 m), have a flattened body and, frequently, stout short legs and a reduced tail fan. Decapods are primarily marine and are most abundant in shallow tropical waters, but they are commercially valuable throughout the world. Some species (e.g., hermit and fiddler crabs) are adapted to terrestrial environments. See also crab, crayfish, lobster, shrimp.


jacama
Leguminous vine (Pachyrhizus erosus, or P. tuberosus), also called yam bean. A native of Mexico and Central and S. America, it is grown for its edible root. The irregularly globular, brown-skinned tubers are white-fleshed, crisp, and juicy. There are two varieties, those with clear juice and those with milky juice. Both have a mild flavor and are eaten raw or cooked. Sometimes very young seedpods of the plant are eaten, but the mature seeds are highly toxic.


Lacan
French psychoanalyst. A practicing psychiatrist in Paris for much of his career, Lacan emphasized the primacy of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind and introduced the study of language into psychoanalytic theory. His major achievement was his reinterpretation of S. Freud's work in terms of structural linguistics. He became a celebrity in France with \u00c9 crits (1966; The Language of the Self) and in the 1970s was a dominant figure in French cultural life as well as a strong influence on Amer. psychoanalytic and literary theory.


macadam
Form of pavement invented by J. McAdam. McAdam's road cross-section consisted of a compacted subgrade of crushed granite or greenstone designed to support the load, covered by a surface of light stone to absorb wear and tear and shed water to the drainage ditches. In modern macadam construction, crushed stone or gravel is placed on the compacted base course and bound together with asphalt cement or hot tar. A third layer to fill the spaces is then added and rolled. Cement-sand slurry is sometimes used as the binder.


Macao
Former Portuguese territory (pop., 1996 est.: 433,000), S coast of China. It ...

Top words beginning with P: pneumopathy, pentametrist, phosphatidylserine, propagandists, pneumona, peridial, puddlers, phoronomics, presplenomegalic, perthite, prepyloric, preterseasonable, plumous, palmelloid, pasqueflowers, pitre, pennyworth, photobiology, postlaryngeal, paniquita

More words beginning with P.

Browse the alphabet: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z