Pica

/ˈpaɪkə/ · noun

Meaning

(pathology, usually uncountable) A disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances, such as chalk, clay, dirt, ice, or sand..

Definitions by Sense

1. (pathology, usually uncountable) A disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances, such as chalk, clay, dirt, ice, or sand.
2. (countable) A magpie.
3. (typography, printing, uncountable) A size of type between small pica and English, now standardized as 12-point.
4. (typography, uncountable, usually with qualifier) A font of this size.
5. (typography, countable) A unit of length equivalent to 12 points, officially ³⁵⁄₈₃ cm (0.166 in) after 1886 but now (computing) ¹⁄₆ in.
6. (uncommon, ecclesiastical) A pie or directory: the book directing Roman Catholic observance of saints' days and other feasts under various calendars.
7. Archaic form of pika (“small lagomorph”).

Example Sentences

The three most common nonfood picas were eating of strings and rags; feces, vomit, and urine; and paper, cigarettes, and soil.

I had been at Baldwin's before dinner in consequence of a letter from him which showed me that, by using a pica instead of an English letter in printing my book, I might comprise it within such a number of sheets as a guinea-volume should contain […].

The difference to you of treacle on a marble background is scarcely greater than that of printers' ink on newspaper to me. But anything smaller than pica I do not read with comfort, and below long primer I cannot read at all.

Most travellers in the Himalaya are familiar with the pretty little Rodents, known as picas, tailless hares, or mouse-hares, which may be seen in the higher regions[…]

Synonyms for pica

Antonyms for pica

Related Words

Word Forms

• picas

Usage Notes

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