One day Holmes and Watson are flying a dirigible balloon. It is foggy around, they have lost their way. Suddenly they see - a shepherd is grazing sheep below. The men are very glad and shout:
- The dear, tell us, please, where we are now?
- You are in the dirigible balloon.
- I understand... - Holmes says. - We are flying over Russia.
- But why? - Watson is surprised.
- It’s elementary, Buddy! Only a programmer could give such an exact and useless answer at the same time. And only in Russia programmers can look after sheep.
- perfect person, thing, or example. to perfection exactly; completely. [latin: related to *perfect]
PERFORMING
arts n.pl. Drama, music, dance, etc.
PERIHELION
n. (pl. -lia) point of a planet's or comet's orbit where it is nearest the sun's centre. [related to *peri-, greek helios sun]
PERIODICAL
—n. Newspaper, magazine, etc. Issued at regular intervals. —adj. Periodic. periodically adv.
PERIPHERAL
nervous system n. Nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.
- —adj. - of minor importance; marginal.
- of the periphery. —n. Any input, output, or storage device that can be controlled by a computer's central processing unit, e.g. A floppy disk or printer.
PERISHABLE
—adj. Liable to perish; subject to decay. —n. Thing, esp. A foodstuff, subject to rapid decay.
PERITONEUM
n. (pl. -s or -nea) membrane lining the cavity of the abdomen. peritoneal adj. [greek peritonos stretched around]
PERIWINKLE
n. Evergreen trailing plant with blue, purple, or white flowers. [latin pervinca]
- n. = *winkle. [origin unknown]
PERMAFROST
n. Subsoil which remains frozen all year, as in polar regions. [from *permanent, *frost]
PERMISSION
n. (often foll. By to + infin.) Consent; authorization. [latin permissio: related to *permit]
