Paddock -
Noun.
A usually enclosed area used especially for pasturing or exercising animals; especially : an enclosure where racehorses are saddled and paraded before a race
"Dictionary." Marriam-Webster. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paddock>.
Paleocene -
Noun, Adj.
The earliest epoch of the Tertiary period.
Of or relating to the earliest epoch of the Tertiary period.
-Merriam-Webster English Dictionary
Paloverde -
Noun.
A spiny, desert shrub, Cercidium floridum, of the legume family, of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, having green bark (dictionary.com).
Sample sentence: Paloverde trees held out sharp green spikes.
Word source: Mountain Lion
Definition Source: Dictionary.com
Papillae -
Noun.
1. Any small, nipplelike process or projection.
2. One of certain small protuberances concerned with the senses of touch, taste, and smell: the papillae of the tongue.
3. A small vascular process at the root of a hair.
4. A papule or pimple.
“Projections on the skin called papillae add to the disguise by changing textures to blend more readily with substances like coral or sand.”
Horton, Jennifer. "How Octopuses Work" 13 March 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/marine-life/octopus.htm> 14 May 2012.
http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna/Spell_pron_key.html
Paradigm -
Noun.
A typical example or pattern of something; a model
Animated Bestiary
Source- Dictionary
Parturition -
Noun.
The action of giving birth to young; childbirth.
" Everything possible that can make the actual birth of a lamb easy and successful should be done early, as it may be too late after a ewe has paralysis or trouble begins to develop during parturition."
Definitions from Oxford Dictionaries Online
Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/>.
Juergenson, Elwood M. Approved Practices in Sheep Production. Danville, Illinois: The Interstate, 1973. Print.
Phenomenological -
Noun - Philosophy
The science of phenomena as distinct from that of the nature of being.
An approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience.
late 16th century Latin from Greek "phainomenon" ('thing appearing to view') + "ology"
Plasmaticness -
Adj.
The state of having a fluid, plastic form. A rejection to once-and-forever allotted form, freedom from ossification, the ability to assume any form.
Eisenstein: “An ability that I’d call ‘Plasmaticness’, for here we have a being represented in drawing, a being of definite form, a being which has attained a definite appearance, and which behaves like the primal protoplasm, not yet possessing a ‘stable’ form, but capable of assuming any form and which, skipping along the rungs of the evolutionary ladder, attaches itself to any and all forms as animal existence.” (Lecture and Eisenstein on Disney.)
“Plasmaticness understands the ‘poly-formic capabilities of an object’. Elasticity attracts—for it provides a palette of all possible forms for us. Eisenstein does not think it very possible that an archaic memory resides within us… but he does insist that there exists a universal feeling for a multiplicity of forms.”-Leslie pg. 233 Hollywood Flatlands
Encountered: Wells and lecture
Polemical -
Noun.
Of, relating to, or being a polemic : controversial
"I wasn’t to find a way of speaking to fellow human beings that will be cool rather than heated, philosophical rather than polemical, that will being enlightenment rather than seeking to divide us into the righteous and the sinners, the saved and the damned, the sheep and the goats." Coetzee p22
Definition Source: Merriam-Webster
Polygyny -
Noun.
(among male animals) the habit or system of having two or more mates, either simultaneously or successively.
1. the practice or condition of having more than one wife at one time.
2. (among male animals) the habit or system of having two or more mates, either simultaneously or successively.
3. (among social insects) the condition of having two or more functioning queens in a colony.
4. Botany . the state or condition of having many pistils or styles.
ex: Raccoons commonly practice polygyny within their social groups, with males usually having two females that they mate with.
Animal
->as found in Raccoons: A Natural History
Dictionary.com
Post-Modernism -
Noun.
The state, condition, or period subsequent to that which is modern; spec. in architecture, the arts, literature, politics, etc., any of various styles, concepts, or points of view involving a conscious departure from modernism, esp. when characterized by a rejection of ideology and theory in favour of a plurality of values and techniques. Also in extended use in general contexts, freq. used ironically.- Online OED
Meaning of no manifest with uses of reflexivity and multiplicity. Suggests that realities are only social constructs and are therefore subject to change. -Lecture
“Human-animal mergers are also central to the work of postmodern animal studies, particularly in motifs that reconfigure the animal form representing multiple meanings and blurred boundaries.”-Kalof and Fitzgerald, pg. 249 The Animals Reader
Encountered: Lecture, The Animals Reader
Prelapsarian -
Adj.
Characteristic of or pertaining to any innocent or carefree period: a prelapsarian youth.
Sample sentence: Which, maybe, goes to show that the prelapsarian world of wise talking beasts is really but a hop, skip, and a jump away from paranoia.
Word source: Animals in the Nursery.
Definition Source: Dictionary.com
Proprioception -
Noun
Sense of how one's limbs are oriented in space.
Proselytize -
Verb [ trans. ]
To convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.
Late-middle English. From Greek "proseluthos" ("stranger, convert")
Oxford American Dictionary
Prosimian -
Noun.
Member of the primitive primate group Prosimii, which includes lemurs and tarsiers.
Lower order of primates.
-Merriam-Webster English Dictionary
Proustian -
Adj.
Of or relating to Marcel Proust, the French novelist, his style, or his works.
-thefreedictionary.com
Putative -
Adj.
Commonly accepted or supposed.
"It’s putative to say that most animals should be observed without interfering with their lives."
Linda Kalof, Amy Fitzgerald. The Animals Reader. Oxford: Berg, 2007. Print.