Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pica"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

pica
n 1: a linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing [syn: {em}, {pica
em}]
2: magpies [syn: {Pica}, {genus Pica}]
3: eating earth or clay or chalk; occurs in some primitive
tribes or sometimes in cases of nutritional deficiency
[syn: {geophagy}, {geophagia}]


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