perch

perch

¹

1. another name for rod

2. a solid measure for stone, usually taken as 198 inches by 18 inches by 12 inches

3. a pole joining the front and rear axles of a carriage

4. a frame on which cloth is placed for inspection

5. Obsolete or dialect a pole

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perch

²

1. any freshwater spiny-finned teleost fish of the family Percidae, esp those of the genus Perca, such as P. fluviatilis of Europe and P. flavescens (yellow perch) of North America: valued as food and game fishes

2. any of various similar or related fishes

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

perch

[pərch]

(mechanics)

Also known as pole; rod.

A unit of length, equal to 5.5 yards, or 16.5 feet, or 5.0292 meters.

A unit of area, equal to 30.25 square yards, or 272.25 square feet, or 25.29285264 square meters.

(navigation)

A staff placed on top of a buoy, rock, or shoal as a mark for navigators; a ball or cage is sometimes placed at the top of the perch, as an identifying mark.

(vertebrate zoology)

Any member of the family Percidae.

The common name for a number of unrelated species of fish belonging to the Centrarchidae, Anabantoidei, and Percopsiformes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

perch

A unit of cubic measure used by stone masons; usually 16½ ft by 1½ ft by 1 ft (5.03 m by 0.46 m by 0.30 m).

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Perch

 

(perch pole), a piece of circus equipment, a wooden or metal pole 2 to 10 m long. It is equipped with special devices at the top for the performance of acrobatic and gymnastic feats. The lower acrobat or gymnast balances the perch on his forehead, shoulder, hand, or waist, while the upper acrobat (acrobats) performs (perform) equilibristic, acrobatic, and other feats on the perch. The perch dates from the Middle Ages.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.