n., pl. pap·pi (păp'ī).

A modified calyx, composed of scales, bristles, or featherlike hairs, in plants of the composite family, such as the dandelion and the thistle.

[Latin, old man, down on certain seeds, from Greek pappos.]

pappose pap'pose (-ōs) or pap'pous (-əs) adj.

(păp'əs) , fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collection (8 books; date conjectural). The six and a half extant books, edited and translated into Latin by Commandinus (1588), stimulated a revival of geometry in the 17th cent.; Descartes expounded several of his problems. The collection was reedited by Frederick Hultsch (1876–78). Pappus' other works include a commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest.

Bibliography

See T. L. Heath, A Manual of Greek Mathematics (1931).

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: calyx composed of scales or bristles or featherlike hairs in plants of the Compositae such as thistles and dandelions

---