pi

plural pis

1. countableuncountableThe sixteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek.
2. countableuncountablemathematicsAn irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its diameter; approximately 3.14159265.

   Synonyms: Archimedes' constant, Ludolphian number, Ludolph's constant, Ludolph's number

plural pis

1. countableuncountableletterpress typographyMetal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered.

present singular third person pies · participle present piing · participle past pied · past pied

1. letterpress typographyTo spill or mix printing type.

1. not comparablemediaNot part of the usual font character set; especially, non-Roman type or symbols as opposed to standard alphanumeric Roman type.

   In computing, pi characters may be entered with special key combinations.

1. mediapica (conventionally, 12 points = 1 pica, 6 picas = 1 inch).
2. Piaster.

1. Pious.

   “Those are very 'pi' sentiments. Was a preacher in Staffordshire— I was raised chapel, though've tried to forget it—he talked that way... redemption and the lot.”

   1972, Anya Seton, Green Darkness, Hachette UK, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Our Major was "Cherub" Cheeseman, noted for his foul language. I am afraid he lost a tidy little legacy that he was expecting from his aunt, the Dowager Lady Shuttlecock (a very "pi" old lady), through this same habit of his.

   1927, Magdalen King-Hall, I Think I Remember: Being the Random Recollections of Sir Wickham Woolicomb, an Ordinary English Snob and Gentleman

   In Sense and Sensibility, as even you might agree, there's at least the danger of a rather pi moral framework clamping down on the spontaneous fun and leaving the sisters to survive - a bit drearily - on the periphery of a mean world.

   1994, Roger Gard, Jane Austen's Novels: The Art of Clarity, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 101

alternative P.I. · alternative P. I.

1. abbreviationAbbreviation of Piauí: a state of Brazil.
2. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of Prison Industries, the prison-run work program for inmates.
3. PhilippinesUSabbreviationdatedhistoricalinitialismInitialism of Philippine Islands.

   We're going back to the PI for a vacation this summer.

   Synonyms: PH, PHL, PHI

comparative more PI · superlative most PI · alternative P.I. · alternative P. I.

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of politically incorrect (see PC).

plural PIs · alternative P.I. · alternative P. I.

1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablecomputingInitialism of processing instruction.
2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of partial induction (see AI).
3. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of personal injury.
4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of principal investigator (“lead researcher on a grant-funded project”).
5. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of private investigator.
6. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of parallel import.
7. abbreviationcountableuncountablebiochemistryAbbreviation of phosphatidylinositol, a phospholipid component of eukaryotic cell membranes, also abbreviated in PtdIns.
8. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of protease inhibitor.
9. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablechemistryInitialism of polyimide.
10. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of ponderal index.
11. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of penile inversion.
12. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablebusinessInitialism of power integrity.
13. abbreviationcountableuncountableAbbreviation of prohibited immigrant.
14. abbreviationcountableinitialismslanguncountablelifestyleInitialism of pseudoincest.
15. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableautomotiveInitialism of port injection (“fuel injection”).
16. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablehuman sciencesInitialism of paradoxical intention.
17. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablebusinessInitialism of pro forma invoice.
18. PhilippinesabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablegovernmentInitialism of people's initiative.
19. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablelawInitialism of preliminary injunction.

alternative Pe · alternative P'i

1. historicalA county of Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

   Pi County has brought democracy into full play. The peasants there are electing production team leaders and other production team cadres by secret ballot.

   1978 November 27 [1978 November 19], “Szechwan Peasants Elect Production Team Leader By Secret Ballot”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 228, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Chengtu Szechwan Provincial Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →ISSN, →OCLC, People's Republic of China: Southwest Region, page J 1

   2 more examples

   [...]water carriers, the sedanchair carriers, the pawn brokers, and even the manure collectors in a market town in Pi county, Szechwan in the late Ch'ing period.

   1983, Cheng-yün Liu, The Ko-lao Hui in Late Imperial China, →OCLC, page 133

   In addition to my own residential complex, I also engaged in ethnographic observation and conducted interviews with Party cadres and local residents in four similar apartment complexes in Dujiangyan and two in neighboring Pi County.

   2017, Christian P. Sorace, “The Utopia of Urban Planning”, in Shaken Authority: China's Communist Party and the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 82

   Synonyms: Pixian, Pe Heen, P'i Hsien, Pidu