(pod, occasionally "POD") A simple markup language used to embed documentATion, literATe programming-style, in Perl programs. Pod readers and converters are part of the standard Perl distribution and the documentATion provided with Perl is all in pod formAT. {The Pod SpecificATion (http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/doc/manual/html/pod/perlpod.html)}. (1998-12-18)