Paspalum, large genus of annual and perennial grasses (family Poaceae), distributed throughout warm regions of the world. Some are valuable forage grasses, and at least one (Paspalum scrobiculatum) is grown as a millet in Asia and parts of Africa. Several plants are considered invasive species in

Paspalum: Dallis grass (P. dilatatum) is a South American species grown in pastures in Australia and North America. Vasey grass (P. urvillei) is grown as hay in its native South America but is considered a noxious weed elsewhere. Water couch, or knotgrass (P. distichum), forms large…

Paspalum: Water couch, or knotgrass (P. distichum), forms large flat mats along shores and in ditches in North and South America and Europe; it is used as a lawn grass in Australia.

Paspalum: …and at least one (Paspalum scrobiculatum) is grown as a millet in Asia and parts of Africa. Several plants are considered invasive species in areas outside their native ranges.

Paspalum: Vasey grass (P. urvillei) is grown as hay in its native South America but is considered a noxious weed elsewhere. Water couch, or knotgrass (P. distichum), forms large flat mats along shores and in ditches in North and South America and Europe; it is used…

passepied, lively dance of Brittany adopted c. 1650 by French and English aristocrats, who, during the century of its popularity, frequently danced it dressed as shepherds and shepherdesses. As a court dance the passepied lost its original chain formations and became, like the minuet, a couple

Charles Pasqua was a French businessman and politician who served as the interior minister of France (1986–88; 1993–95). Pasqua was born to Corsican parents. His father, a policeman, was a member of the Resistance during World War II, as was an uncle who was deported by the Nazis in 1942. By age 15

Lina Wertmüller: …island, and Pasqualino settebellezze (1975; Seven Beauties), a film about an Italian dandy who must betray all moral values while trying to survive World War II and his internment in a Nazi death camp. For the latter, Wertmüller made history with her Academy Award nomination for best director. She also…

illuminati: Later illuminati: …Martinists, founded in 1754 by Martinez Pasqualis and propagated by Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. By 1790 Martinism had been spread to Russia by Johann Georg Schwarz and Nikolay Novikov. Both strains of “illuminated” Martinism included elements of Kabbalism and Christian mysticism, imbibing ideas from

anemone, (genus Anemone), any of more than 100 species of perennial plants in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Many colourful varieties of the tuberous poppylike anemone, A. coronaria, are grown for the garden and florist’s trade. Popular spring-flowering anemones, especially for naturalizing,

Georges Duhamel: In the Pasquier cycle, Duhamel relates the history of a French middle-class family from the 1880s to the 1920s. In this work, critics have found his gifts of humour, sympathy, and observation particularly apparent. Duhamel became a member of the Académie Française in 1935.

Étienne Pasquier was a French lawyer and man of letters who is known for his Recherches de la France, 10 vol. (1560–1621), which is not only encyclopaedic but also an important work of historical scholarship. Pasquier studied under the great Humanist legal scholars François Hotman, Jacques Cujas,

Étienne, duc de Pasquier was a French statesman who was the last chancellor of France. A descendant of the celebrated 16th-century lawyer and man of letters Étienne Pasquier, he became a counsellor in the Paris Parlement in 1787. During the Revolution his father, also a counsellor, was guillotined,

Étienne, duc de Pasquier was a French statesman who was the last chancellor of France. A descendant of the celebrated 16th-century lawyer and man of letters Étienne Pasquier, he became a counsellor in the Paris Parlement in 1787. During the Revolution his father, also a counsellor, was guillotined,

pasquinade, brief and generally anonymous satirical comment in prose or verse that ridicules a contemporary leader or national event. Pasquinade is derived from “Pasquino,” the popular name for the remains of an ancient Roman statue unearthed in Rome in 1501. “Pasquino,” supposedly named after a

basketball: Pass: Throwing, batting, or rolling the ball to another player. The main types are (1) the chest pass, in which the ball is released from a position in front of the chest, (2) the bounce pass, in which the ball is bounced on the floor…

Canonero II: …stretch and gave way to Pass Catcher, the eventual winner. Canonero II finished in fourth place, nearly five lengths behind the winner. He ran eight races after the Belmont but won only once. Canonero II died in 1981.

Pass Christian, city, Harrison county, southern Mississippi, U.S., just west-southwest of Gulfport, on Mississippi Sound (an embayment of the Gulf of Mexico). It is named for the nearby deepwater channel known as Christian’s Pass, which runs through the sound along the Gulf Coast, supposedly

Bay Saint Louis: …the British known as the Battle of Pass Christian. In the late 20th century, casino gambling fueled the growth of the city, significantly increasing tourism’s importance to the local economy. Bay Saint Louis, along with most of Hancock county, sustained severe storm damage in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina; the neighbouring…

pass law, law that required nonwhites in South Africa to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas. Pass laws were among the main instruments of apartheid until the government ended the requirement to carry documentation in 1986. The pass law system arose out of a series of

passacaglia, (Italian, from Spanish passacalle, or pasacalle: “street song”), musical form of continuous variation in 34 time; and a courtly dance. The dance, as it first appeared in 17th-century Spain, was of unsavoury reputation and possibly quite fiery. In the French theatre of the 17th and 18th

Anton Webern: Life and works: …of Richard Dehmel, the orchestral Passacaglia (1908), and the choral canon Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen (1908). These still adhere to traditional tonality, but, with the Stefan George songs (1908–09), Webern entered the realm of music no longer based on a fixed tonal centre.

Dietrich Buxtehude: Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor is indebted. The preludes are usually brief, and, with one exception, they are unlike Bach’s in having no thematic connection with the fugues that follow them. Most of the harpsichord music has been lost.

Dietrich Buxtehude: Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor is indebted. The preludes are usually brief, and, with one exception, they are unlike Bach’s in having no thematic connection with the fugues that follow them. Most of the harpsichord music has been lost.

Manoel de Oliveira: …from works by Portuguese writers: O passado e o presente (1972; “The Past and the Present”) from a play by Vicente Sanches; Benilde; ou, a Virgem Mãe (1975; “Benilde; or, The Virgin Mother”) from a play by José Régio; Amor de perdição (originally presented as a TV miniseries, 1978; “Doomed…

horsemanship: Dressage: …the impulse being upward; the passage, high-stepping trot in which the impulse is more upward than forward; the levade, in which the horse stands balanced on its hindlegs, its forelegs drawn in; the courvet, which is a jump forward in the levade position; and the croupade, ballotade, and capriole, a…

Marcel Duchamp: Farewell to art: Some of these, notably Le Passage de la Vierge à la Mariée and Mariée, both done in Munich, are among the finest works of the period. Again they were neither Cubist, nor Futurist, nor Abstract, but they expressed Duchamp’s typical vision of the body perceived in its inmost impulses.

megalith: …from the dolmen: one, the passage grave, was formed by the addition of a long stone-roofed entrance passage to the dolmen itself; and the other, the long, coffinlike cist or covered gallery grave, consisted of a long, rectangular burial chamber with no distinct passageway. Hybrid versions have also been discovered,…

rite of passage, ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that marks the passage from one social or religious status to another. This article describes these rites among various societies throughout the world, giving greatest attention to the most common types of rites;

A Passage to India, novel by E.M. Forster published in 1924 and considered one of the author’s finest works. The novel examines racism and colonialism as well as a theme Forster developed in many earlier works, namely, the need to maintain both ties to the earth and a cerebral life of the

David Lean: His last film, A Passage to India (1984), based on the E.M. Forster novel, was regarded as his best work since Lawrence of Arabia. Lean was knighted by Queen Elizabeth that year, and in 1990 he was awarded the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award. At the time…

Ireland: Neolithic Period: …the Irish Neolithic is the passage tomb. This megalithic tomb, unlike the long-barrow types, is set in a round mound, sited usually on a hilltop and grouped in cemeteries. The rich grave goods of these tombs include beads, pendants, and bone pins. Many of the stones of the tombs are…

property law: Private land-use control: servitudes: The classic case is the right-of-way, whereby an owner agrees to allow a neighbour to cross his land in order to allow the neighbour to reach his own land. What distinguishes the right-of-way and similar interests from the myriad types of enforceable agreements not to sue is that the right-of-way…

Vance Palmer: Of his novels, The Passage (1930), set in the Caloundra area of Queensland, is considered the best. It describes the life of a family and the subtle links between its members and their environment. Golconda (1948) describes the conflict between miners and management in the Mount Isa area…

falconry: Terms and equipment: …the wild is called a passager, and a hawk trapped in its adult plumage is termed a haggard. The female peregrine falcon is properly called a falcon, and the male—which, in common with most species of raptors, is smaller than the female—is known as a tiercel. Indoor housing for hawks…

Passaic, county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., bordered by New York state to the north and the Pequannock and Pompton rivers to the south; the Passaic River, which crosses the southeastern portion of the county, forms part of the southern and eastern borders. The terrain of the rural northwestern

Passaic, city, Passaic county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., on the Passaic River, 9 miles (14 km) north of Newark. It was established by the Dutch in 1678 as a fur-trading post. In 1685 Hartman Michielson purchased the site, then called Acquackanonk, from the Delaware Indians. It was renamed for

Passaic River, river, rising near Morristown, southeastern Morris county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S. It flows south past Millington, then north and east to Paterson and its Great Falls (70 feet [21 metres] high), at which point it turns south and east past Passaic and Newark and into Newark Bay.

bess beetle, (family Passalidae), any of approximately 500 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) mostly found in the tropics, with a few species found in North America. They are characterized by their large size, ranging between 30 and 40 mm (1.2 and 1.6 inches) in length. Because of their

Passamaquoddy, Algonquian-speaking North American Indians who lived on Passamaquoddy Bay, the St. Croix River, and Schoodic Lake on the boundary between what are now Maine, U.S., and New Brunswick, Can. At the time of European contact, the Passamaquoddy belonged to the Abenaki Confederacy, and

Passamaquoddy Bay, inlet of the Bay of Fundy (Atlantic Ocean), between southwestern New Brunswick, Can., and southeastern Maine, U.S., at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Deer Island and Campobello Island are in its southern part. The bay has an immense tidal flow, with about 70,000,000,000 cu ft

coleopteran: Annotated classification: Family Passandridae Few species; mostly in warm climates. Family Phalacridae (shining flower beetles) Larvae develop in certain flower heads (e.g., goldenrod), about 500 species; widely distributed; example Olibrus. Family Propalticidae

Italy: The southern kingdoms and the Papal States: Passaneto—men so powerful that contemporaries described them as “semi-kings,” having below them some 200 lesser, poor, and violent vassals. In these years, with an economy dominated largely by Catalan merchants, Sicily looked to Aragon (which in 1326 had also gained control of the island of…

Sarah Bernhardt: Early life and training: …François Coppée’s one-act verse play Le Passant (“The Passerby”)—a part that she played again in a command performance before Napoleon III.

Siegfried Passarge was a geographer and geomorphologist known for his studies of southern Africa. A professor at Breslau and Hamburg universities (1908–35), Passarge studied the climate and physical morphology of Africa. He wrote Die Kalahari (1904), Südafrika (1908), Physiologische Morphologie

Treaty of Passarowitz, (July 21, 1718), pact signed at the conclusion of the Austro-Turkish (1716–18) and Venetian-Turkish (1716–18) wars at Passarowitz (now Požerevac, Serb.). By its terms the Ottoman Empire lost substantial territories in the Balkans to Austria, thus marking the end of Ottoman

Treaty of Passarowitz, (July 21, 1718), pact signed at the conclusion of the Austro-Turkish (1716–18) and Venetian-Turkish (1716–18) wars at Passarowitz (now Požerevac, Serb.). By its terms the Ottoman Empire lost substantial territories in the Balkans to Austria, thus marking the end of Ottoman

Passau, city, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. It lies at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers, on the Austrian border. Originally the Celtic settlement of Bojodurum, it was later the site of a Roman camp, Castra Batava, and was made an episcopal see in 739. The bishops

Italian literature: Religious and historical literature: …author of religious literature was Jacopo Passavanti, whose Specchio di vera penitenza (“The Mirror of True Penitence”) is a collection of sermons preached in 1354. Less polished but of greater literary value are the translations of Latin legends concerning St. Francis and his followers collected in the anonymous Fioretti di…

Battle of Passchendaele, (July 31–November 6, 1917), World War I battle that served as a vivid symbol of the mud, madness, and senseless slaughter of the Western Front. The third and longest battle to take place at the Belgian city of Ypres, Passchendaele was ostensibly an Allied victory, but it

password, in computing, a sequence of characters used to authenticate a user’s identity and authorize access to a computer system, website, mobile phone, or other digital device. A password is intended to be secret (known only by an authorized user) and is often paired with a username to confirm an

pear: History and types: varieties include Curato, Coscia, and Passe Crassane, the latter also being popular in France. In Asian countries the pear crop comprises primarily local varieties of native species, such as the Asian, or Chinese, pear (P. pyrifolia).

Driss Chraïbi: His first novel—Le Passé simple (1954; “Simple Past”), published shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in Algeria—is a powerful, bitter, ironic cry of revolt against oppressive traditionalism. Les Boucs (1955; The Butts) shifted the author’s accusatory finger from a paternalistic Islamic formalism to the oppressed condition of…

Asghar Farhadi: …turmoil in Le Passé (2013; The Past), which centres on an Iranian man who travels from Tehrān to Paris in order to finalize his divorce so his estranged French wife can remarry, and in Forushande (2016; The Salesman), about a couple whose relationship becomes strained after the wife is assaulted.…

Georges de Porto-Riche: …his best plays, Amoureuse (1891), Le Passé (1897), and Le Vieil Homme (1911), all of which examine the eternal triangle of the wife, the husband, and the lover. The so-called théâtre d’amour that Porto-Riche innovated was highly influential and was much imitated for some years. He was elected to the…

medal: The Netherlands: Simon van de Passe produced similar work and went to London, where he created a series of Tudor and Stuart portraits.

baseball: The scorecard: …to catch it) or a passed ball (a pitch that should have been handled by the catcher). Members of the media and fans often choose to keep score of the game also. Official scorers and media professionals use detailed forms to record every pitch. Fans, who typically buy a simple…

railroad: Passenger cars: The first passenger cars were simply road coaches with flanged wheels. Almost from the beginning, railroads in the United States began to use longer, eight-wheel cars riding on two four-wheel trucks. In Britain and Europe, however, cars with more than six wheels were…

ship: Passenger carriers: Most passenger ships fall into two subclasses, cruise ships and ferries.

passenger pigeon, (Ectopistes migratorius), migratory bird hunted to extinction by humans. Billions of these birds inhabited eastern North America in the early 1800s; migrating flocks darkened the skies for days. As settlers pressed westward, however, passenger pigeons were slaughtered by the

cruise ship, a large ship used primarily for leisure cruising. While earlier cruises were usually undertaken on ships that had been built for a different primary purpose—such as mail delivery ships or ocean liners meant for transportation—modern cruise ships are essentially floating holiday resorts

airport: Passenger terminal layout and design: As passenger throughput at airports increases, the passenger terminal becomes a more important element of the airport, attaining a dominant status in the largest facilities. The passenger terminal may amount to less than 10 percent of the total…

airport: Passenger requirements: As passenger throughput at airports increases, the passenger terminal becomes a more important element of the airport, attaining a dominant status in the largest facilities. The passenger terminal may amount to less than 10 percent of the total investment in a small airport,…

Cormac McCarthy: His next novel, The Passenger, was not released until 2022. It centres on a salvage diver who struggles with the decades-old suicide of his sister as he becomes increasingly paranoid after working on a mysterious plane crash. The companion work Stella Maris was published later that year. McCarthy…

Laurence Fishburne: …other films from 2016 included Passengers, a sci-fi romance about hibernating space travelers heading to another planet.

Indic writing systems: …inhabitants of Sikkim, India—and the Passepa writing system of the Chinese Imperial chancery under the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368); the Passepa system is no longer in use.

passepied, lively dance of Brittany adopted c. 1650 by French and English aristocrats, who, during the century of its popularity, frequently danced it dressed as shepherds and shepherdesses. As a court dance the passepied lost its original chain formations and became, like the minuet, a couple

dice: Cheating with dice: Loaded dice (called tappers, missouts, passers, floppers, cappers, or spot loaders, depending on how and where extra weight has been applied) may prove to be perfect cubes when measured with calipers, but extra weight just below the surface on some sides will make the opposite…

house sparrow, (Passer domesticus), one of the world’s best-known and most abundant small birds, sometimes classified in the family Passeridae (order Passeriformes). It lives in towns and on farms, worldwide, having accompanied Europeans from its original home—most of Eurasia and northern Africa.

Jean Passerat was a French poet who composed elegant and tender verse and was one of the contributors to the “Satire Ménippée,” the manifesto of the moderate Royalist party in support of Henry of Navarre’s claim to the throne. Passerat studied at the University of Paris, became a teacher at the

sparrow: …birds with reddish-brown caps; the savanna sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) and the vesper sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), finely streaked birds of grassy fields; the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) and the fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca), heavily streaked skulkers in woodlands; and the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) and

sparrow: …sparrow (Melospiza melodia) and the fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca), heavily streaked skulkers in woodlands; and the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) and the white-throated sparrow (Z. albicollis), larger species with black-and-white crown stripes. The rufous-collared sparrow (Z. capensis) has an exceptionally wide breeding distribution: from Mexico and Caribbean

Passeri, bird suborder (order Passeriformes) that includes all songbirds. Birds belonging to the suborder Passeri are also referred to as oscines. See

songbird, any member of the suborder Passeri (or Oscines), of the order Passeriformes, including about 4,000 species—nearly half the world’s birds—in 35 to 55 families. Most cage birds belong to this group. Songbirds are alike in having the vocal organ highly developed, though not all use it to

Passeridae, sparrow weaver family of small gregarious birds, based on the genus Passer, the well-known sparrows. In this work these birds are classified as a subfamily (Passerinae) in the weaverfinch family (Ploceidae), order

passeriform, (order Passeriformes), any member of the largest order of birds and the dominant avian group on Earth today. The passeriform birds are true perching birds, with four toes, three directed forward and one backward. Considered the most highly evolved of all birds, passerines have

passeriform, (order Passeriformes), any member of the largest order of birds and the dominant avian group on Earth today. The passeriform birds are true perching birds, with four toes, three directed forward and one backward. Considered the most highly evolved of all birds, passerines have

bunting: …species in two other genera, Passerina and Plectrophenax. In some species, males are very brightly coloured.

bunting: The painted bunting (P. ciris), native to the American Southeast, is sometimes called the “nonpareil” because of the male’s unrivaled colouring—indigo head and neck, scarlet breast, and lemon back.

Passeridae: …classified as a subfamily (Passerinae) in the weaverfinch family (Ploceidae), order Passeriformes.

songbird, any member of the suborder Passeri (or Oscines), of the order Passeriformes, including about 4,000 species—nearly half the world’s birds—in 35 to 55 families. Most cage birds belong to this group. Songbirds are alike in having the vocal organ highly developed, though not all use it to

passeriform, (order Passeriformes), any member of the largest order of birds and the dominant avian group on Earth today. The passeriform birds are true perching birds, with four toes, three directed forward and one backward. Considered the most highly evolved of all birds, passerines have

Stephen Hawes: …is a long allegorical poem, The Passetyme of Pleasure, the chief theme of which is the education and pilgrimage through life of the knight Graunde Amoure. Completed in 1506, it was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509. Another allegory by Hawes, The Example of Vertu, is simpler and shorter.…

Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Sidney Webb also helped reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions and served in the government as a Labour Party member. Pioneers in social and economic reforms as well as distinguished historians, the Webbs deeply affected social thought and institutions in…

Palestine: The British mandate: …formed the basis of the Passfield White Paper, issued in October 1930, which accorded some priority to Britain’s obligations to the Arabs. Not only did it call for a halt to Jewish immigration, but it also recommended that land be sold only to landless Arabs and that the determination of…

passion flower, (genus Passiflora), genus of more than 500 species of mostly tendril-bearing vines in the family Passifloraceae and their characteristic flowers. Most species are found throughout neotropical regions of the Americas. Some are cultivated as ornamentals, while others are grown for

purple passion fruit, (Passiflora edulis), species of passion flower (family Passifloraceae) and its edible fruit. The plant is native to Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Argentina and is grown in tropical regions throughout the world. The fruit’s intensely sharp flavour has notes of

passion flower: Major species: The wild passion flower, passion vine, or maypop (Passiflora incarnata) climbs about 3 to 9 metres (10 to 30 feet) high and has pink and white flowers about 4 to 7.5 cm (1.5 to 3 inches) across and a yellow berrylike edible fruit about 5 cm…

passion flower: Major species: edulis), and the yellow granadilla, or water lemon (P. laurifolia), as well as the wild passion flower, are widely grown in tropical America for their fruit. P. maliformis is the sweet calabash of the West Indies. The size of these fruits usually does not exceed that of a…

passion flower: Major species: The yellow passion flower (P. lutea) is a smaller plant with greenish yellow flowers and purple fruits.

passion flower: Major species: maliformis is the sweet calabash of the West Indies. The size of these fruits usually does not exceed that of a hen’s egg, but the fruit of the giant granadilla is like a gourd and may weigh up to 3.5 kg (about 8 pounds).

passion flower: Major species: …delicate dessert fruits, as the giant granadilla (P. quadrangularis). The purple passion fruit, also called purple granadilla or maracuyá (P. edulis), and the yellow granadilla, or water lemon (P. laurifolia), as well as the wild passion flower, are widely grown in tropical America for their fruit. P. maliformis is the…

Passifloraceae, the passion-flower family, in the order Malpighiales, containing 16 genera and 705 species of herbaceous or woody vines, shrubs, and trees, mostly of warm regions. Passifloraceae is most highly developed in the Neotropics and in Africa. The largest genus in the family is Passiflora,

Passing: A film version of the novel was released in 2021.

Passing, novel by Nella Larsen, published in 1929. Larsen’s novel, which closely followed her prizewinning Quicksand (1928), explores the complexities of racial identity in early 20th-century New York. Its central character, Irene Redfield, is a member of the African American bourgeoisie that

Australian literature: Nationalism and expansion: …her experiences the standard phrase The Passing of the Aborigine (1938). Aboriginal people had become the subject of anthropological interest in the work of Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen in Central Australia, and Aboriginal legends had been collected and rewritten by K. Langloh Parker, although there was…

Penelope Lively: …on her recollections of Egypt; Passing On (1989); City of the Mind (1991); and Cleopatra’s Sister (1993). Heat Wave (1996) is the story of the disintegration of a marriage, and a retired anthropologist reflects on her past in Spiderweb (1998). In The Photograph (2003) a man finds and investigates posthumous…

tennis: Strategy and technique: …is always vulnerable to a passing shot—one angled cross-court or played down-the-line, beyond reach—but if the serve or approach shot puts the opponent under enough pressure, the server, now at the net, has the upper hand, since a volley is generally easier to put away (play for a point) than…

novel: Antinovel: … (1959), and Michel Butor in Passing Time (1957) and Degrees (1960) wish mainly to remove the pathetic fallacy from fiction, in which the universe, which is indifferent to man, is made to throw back radar reflections of man’s own emotions. Individual character is not important, and consciousness dissolves into sheer…

Cornish literature: …and the promise of salvation; Passio Domini (“Passion of the Lord”) describes Christ’s temptation and his Crucifixion; Resurrexio Domini (“Resurrection of the Lord”) covers the Resurrection and Ascension. The Ordinalia cannot be dated with certainty but may be from the late 14th or early 15th century. Unlike contemporary works in…