Word of the Day: Pi and Pie

pi pi  /  pī noun (1), plural pis  

1. the 16^th letter of the Greek alphabet (Π, π) , equivalent to the Roman letter P

Since partnering with The Dictionary Project in 2005, the Alpha Pi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma has provided dictionaries to over 7,000 students.  

2. an irrational mathematical number equal to approximately 3.14159265, represented by the symbol π, which expresses the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter

Love is like Pi: natural, irrational, and very important. Lisa Hoffman, 1954 –   noun (2), plural pies  

1. a quantity of printer’s type that is jumbled or mixed randomly

Unlike the dessert, printer’s pie (or more properly, pi) is a mess of dropped and disorderly type that slipped from some printer’s fingers. From “Printers Pie (Pi)” May 25, 2010, http://letterpressdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/05/printers-pie-pi.html   verb  

1. to jumble or spill type characters

State of Illinois, City of Nauvoo. To the Marshal of said City [Nauvoo], greeting. You are hereby commanded to destroy the printing press from whence issues the ‘Nauvoo Expositor’ and pi the type of said printing establishment in the street, and burn all the Expositors and libelous handbills found in said establishment; and if resistance be offered to your execution of this order by the owner or others, demolish the house: and if anyone threatens you or the Mayor or the officers of the city, arrest those who threaten you, and fail not to execute this order without delay, and make due return thereon. By order of the City Council, JOSEPH SMITH, MAYOR, June 10, 1844 pie pie /  pī noun  

1. a dish made with fruit, meat, vegetables, etc. surrounded by a pastry crust on the bottom and sometimes on the top

Humility means you’re willing to give someone a bigger slice of the pie.  Frederick Lenz, 1950 – 1998  

2. (informal) pizza

If Pizza sizes were given in area not diameter, you’d see instantly that a 7 inch is less than half the size of a 10 inch pie. Neil deGrasse Tyson, 1958 –  

3. an entirety that can be divided into portions

Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.  Milton Friedman, 1912 – 2006  

4. an activity or enterprise

I’ve got my fingers in many pies and I’m very excited about creating stuff and watching it blossom and bloom and harvest it and get on with the next thing. Nikki Sixx, 1958 –  

5. a magpie bird

For whenever a pie’s nest you see, Her charming warm canopy view, All birds’ nests but hers seem to be A magpie’s nest just cut in two. “The Magpie’s Nest, Or A Lesson Of Docility” by Charles Lamb, 1775 – 1834