<B>plankter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the organisms in a plankton. <BR> <I>Ex. The sediments are made up in part of the remains of the innumerable plankters that swarm in fertile seas (Science News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plankton">
<B>plankton, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the small animal and plant organisms that float or drift in water, especially at or near the surface. Plankton includes small crustaceans, algae, and protozoans, and serves as an important source of food for larger animals, such as fish. <BR> <I>Ex. Fine mesh nets are towed from a ship to bring up hundreds of kinds of microscopic sea life, lumped under the general name of plankton (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="planktonic">
<B>planktonic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with plankton. <DD><B> 2. </B>characteristic of plankton. </DL>
<A NAME="planless">
<B>planless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without a plan or design; haphazard; unsystematic. (SYN) disorderly. adv. <B>planlessly.</B> noun <B>planlessness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="plannedobsolescence">
<B>planned obsolescence,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the manufacture of products designed to deteriorate or become outdated after a shorter period of time than might normally be expected. <BR> <I>Ex. "planned obsolescence," the policy of redesigning each year to keep the buyers coming back (Jerry M. Flint).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plannedparenthood">
<B>planned parenthood,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>regulation or limitation of the number of children in a family by means of birth control; family planning. <BR> <I>Ex. Planned parenthood in wedlock by the use of contraceptive devices cannot constitutionally be forbidden (Arthur Krock).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>Planned Parenthood,</B> a service mark for an organization that assists people in family planning. </DL>
<A NAME="planner">
<B>planner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who plans or makes a plan; deviser; arranger. <BR> <I>Ex. It is true to say that the task of the planner is the more effective mobilisation of all economic resources (Economist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="planoblast">
<B>planoblast, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the free-swimming form of certain hydrozoans. </DL>
<A NAME="planoconcave">
<B>plano-concave, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> flat on one side and concave on the other. </DL>
<A NAME="planoconvex">
<B>plano-convex, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> flat on one side and convex on the other. </DL>
<A NAME="planocylindrical">
<B>plano-cylindrical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> flat on one side and cylindrical on the other. </DL>
<A NAME="planograph">
<B>planograph, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to print from a plane surface. <DD><I>noun </I> a print or plate made by planography. </DL>
<A NAME="planographic">
<B>planographic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with planography. <DD><B> 2. </B>used in planography. <DD><B> 3. </B>produced by planography. <BR> <I>Ex. Offset is a planographic technique.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="planographist">
<B>planographist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who prints by means of planography. </DL>
<A NAME="planography">
<B>planography, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> printing done from plane surfaces, as in lithography, collotype, and offset, in contrast to intaglio or relief work. </DL>
<A NAME="planometer">
<B>planometer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a flat plate, usually of iron, used as a standard gauge for plane surfaces. </DL>
<A NAME="planospiral">
<B>planospiral, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> coiled in one plane. <BR> <I>Ex. The shell of the nautilus is planospiral.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="planpositionindicator">
<B>plan position indicator,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a circular radarscope with a graduated scale and concentric rings that show the direction and distance of the object tracked, echoes from which appear on the screen as bright, arc-shaped blips. (Abbr:) PPI </DL>
<A NAME="plant">
<B>plant, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>any living thing that is not an animal; a vegetable, in the widest sense. A plant is traditionally distinguished from an animal by the absence of locomotion and of special organs of sensation and digestion, and by its power of living wholly upon inorganic substances. Trees, shrubs, vines, grass, vegetables, seaweed, fungi, and algae are plants. <BR> <I>Ex. The oxygen in the air we breathe comes from plants (Donald Mandell).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an herb or other living thing that has leaves, roots, and a soft stem, and is small in contrast with a tree or a shrub. <BR> <I>Ex. a tomato plant, a house plant.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a shoot or slip recently sprouted from seed, or rooted as a cutting or layer. <DD><B> 4. </B>a young growth ready to be set out in another place. <BR> <I>Ex. The farmer set out 100 cabbage plants.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the buildings, machinery, and tools used in manufacturing some article, producing power, or carrying on some other industrial process. <BR> <I>Ex. an aircraft plant, a power plant.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>the workmen employed at a plant. <BR> <I>Ex. The whole plant is on strike.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>the complete apparatus used for a specific mechanical operation or process. <BR> <I>Ex. the heating plant on a ship.</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>the complete equipment for any purpose. <BR> <I>Ex. a plant of a few hundred aeroplanes ... armed with machine guns, and the motor repair vans and so forth needed to go with the aeroplanes (H. G. Wells).</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>the buildings, equipment, or any other material resources belonging to, or needed to maintain, an institution. <BR> <I>Ex. a college plant. (Figurative.) No one knows the total cost of bringing the U.S. educational plant up to the size required to handle expected enrollments (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Slang.) a scheme or plot to swindle or defraud a person. <BR> <I>Ex. "It's a conspiracy," said Ben Allen. "A regular plant," added Mr. Bob Sawyer (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 11. </B>(Slang.) a person or thing so placed or a plan so devised as to trap, trick, lure, or deceive criminals or wrongdoers. <DD><B> 12. </B>(Figurative.) a person, supposedly a member of the audience, who assists a performer on the stage. <BR> <I>Ex. a magician's plant.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put in the ground to grow, as seeds, young trees, shoots, or cuttings. <BR> <I>Ex. to plant potatoes.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to lay out and prepare by putting seed or seedlings in the ground; furnish with plants. <BR> <I>Ex. to plant an orchard or a crop, to plant a field with trees. Growers are expected to plant 17,443,000 acres to cotton this year (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to set firmly; put; place. <BR> <I>Ex. Columbus planted the Spanish flag in the ground. The boy planted his feet far apart.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to post; station. <BR> <I>Ex. to plant guards at an entrance.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to establish (as a colony or city); settle. <DD><B> 6. </B>to establish (a person) as a settler or colonist. <DD><B> 7. </B>to colonize or settle (an area); stock, as with inhabitants or cattle. <DD><B> 8. </B>to locate or situate. <BR> <I>Ex. a town planted at the mouth of a river.</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>(Figurative.) to put in (ideas or feelings); introduce and establish firmly (a doctrine, religion, principle, or practice). <BR> <I>Ex. Parents try to plant ideas in their children. That noble thirst of fame and reputation which is planted in the hearts of all men (Sir Richard Steele).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>to introduce (a breed of animals) into a country. <DD><B> 11. </B>to deposit (young fish, spawn, oysters), as in a river or tidal water. <DD><B> 12. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to deliver (as a blow) with a definite aim. <DD><B> 13. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to hide (as something stolen). <DD><B> 14. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to place (a person or thing) as a plant, trap, or trick. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] denied that the story had been "planted" with him by a Government source (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 15. </B>(Slang.) to salt (a mine or claim). adj. <B>plantlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="plantagenet">
<B>Plantagenet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the royal family that ruled England from 1154 to 1485. The English kings from Henry II through Richard III were Plantagenets. The houses of Lancaster and York were branches of this family. </DL>
<A NAME="plantaginaceous">
<B>plantaginaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> belonging to the family of plants typified by the plantain. </DL>
<A NAME="plantain">
<B>plantain</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a treelike, tropical, herbaceous plant closely related to the banana. <DD><B> 2. </B>its fruit, longer and more starchy than the banana, and usually eaten cooked. It is one of the chief articles of food in tropical countries. </DL>
<A NAME="plantain">
<B>plantain</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a common weed with broad, flat leaves spread out close to the ground, and long, slender spikes carrying seeds and tiny greenish flowers. <DD><B> 2. </B>any of several related herbs. </DL>
<A NAME="plantainlily">
<B>plantain lily,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any lily of a group native to China and Japan, grown for its attractive ribbed foliage and tubular white or bluish flowers; funkia. </DL>
<A NAME="plantanimal">
<B>plant-animal, </B>noun. <B>=zoophyte.</B></DL>
<A NAME="plantar">
<B>plantar, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the sole of the foot. <BR> <I>Ex. a plantar wart.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="plantararch">
<B>plantar arch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the main arch of the foot, extending from the heel to the ball of the foot. </DL>
<A NAME="plantation">
<B>plantation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical climate, on which cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, coffee, rubber trees, or other crops are raised. The work on a plantation is done by laborers who live there. <DD><B> 2. </B>a large group of trees or other plants that have been planted. <BR> <I>Ex. a rubber plantation. From its palm plantations comes much of the oil for Britons' soap and margarine (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a colony; settlement. <BR> <I>Ex. the Virginia plantation.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a local, minor civil division in Maine. <BR> <I>Ex. Local government is administered by the state's three classes of municipalities--towns, cities, and plantations (Robert M. York).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the act of planting. </DL>
<A NAME="plantbug">
<B>plant bug,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various hemipterous insects that attack the flowers, leaves, and fruit of many plants. </DL>
<A NAME="plantcaterpillar">
<B>plant caterpillar,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a caterpillar, the larva of any one of several Australasian moths, within which a parasitic fungus is growing, killing the caterpillar and sending up a long shoot from the head. </DL>
