22-letter words containing a, n, d
- on a shoestring budget — with very little money to spend
- on a wing and a prayer — with only the slightest hope of succeeding
- one-eyed trouser snake — a vulgar term for the male member; penis
- operation desert storm — the codename for the US-led UN operation to liberate Kuwait from Iraq (1991)
- operational data store — (database) (ODS) A group of integrated databases designed to support the monitoring of operations. Unlike function oriented databases, an ODS contains subject-oriented, dynamic, current enterprise-wide information that is continually updated to show the current state of operations.
- outside awareness port — (humour) (OAP) A humorous IBM term for a window (the glass kind) rather than the GUI kind.
- over-industrialization — the large-scale introduction of manufacturing, advanced technical enterprises, and other productive economic activity into an area, society, country, etc.
- paddle one's own canoe — any of various slender, open boats, tapering to a point at both ends, propelled by paddles or sometimes sails and traditionally formed of light framework covered with bark, skins, or canvas, or formed from a dug-out or burned-out log or logs, and now usually made of aluminum, fiberglass, etc.
- para-aminobenzoic acid — part of the folic acid molecule, a white or yellowish, crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid, C 7 H 7 NO 2 , the para isomer of aminobenzoic acid: used chiefly in the manufacture of dyes and pharmaceuticals and in sunscreens to protect against ultraviolet light. Abbreviation: PABA.
- paranoid schizophrenia — severe psychiatric disorder
- parker morris standard — (in Britain) a set of minimum criteria for good housing construction, design, and facilities, recommended by the 1961 report of the Central Housing Advisory Committee chaired by Sir Parker Morris. Subsequent governments have urged private and local authority house-builders to achieve these standards
- pavlovian conditioning — conditioning (def 2).
- peanut-butter sandwich — a sandwich with a filling of peanut-butter
- personal rapid transit — a short system of small, self-propelled, automated, rubber-tired vehicles that usually run on elevated concrete tracks and allow a passenger a limited selection of routes, as in an amusement park or at an airport. Abbreviation: PRT.
- picture of dorian gray — a novel (1891) by Oscar Wilde.
- planck's radiation law — the law that energy associated with electromagnetic radiation, as light, is composed of discrete quanta of energy, each quantum equal to Planck's constant times the corresponding frequency of the radiation: the fundamental law of quantum mechanics.
- plastic pin grid array — (hardware, processor) (PPGA) The package used for certain Intel Celeron processors. PPGA processors fit into Socket 370 motherboard sockets. The Plastic Pin Grid Array packaging is similar to that used on Pentium processors. The silicon core is covered by a heat slug that faces down toward the motherboard. The Celeron 300A to the 533 use a PPGA package. The Celeron 566 onward use a FC-PGA package. Celeron processors are also available in Slot 1 SEPP packaging.
- play into the hands of — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- play one's cards right — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
- poor richard's almanac — an almanac (1732–58) written and published by Benjamin Franklin.
- portable standard lisp — (language) (PSL) A dialect of Lisp from Utah University. PSL is available as a kit for 68000 and also runs on VAX. It compiles Lisp to C-code virtual machine language.
- post office department — former name of United States Postal Service.
- potassium ferricyanide — a bright-red, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 , used chiefly in the manufacture of pigments, as Prussian blue, and of paper, especially blueprint paper.
- potassium ferrocyanide — a lemon-yellow, crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 4 Fe(CN) 6 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in casehardening alloys having an iron base and in dyeing wool and silk.
- potassium-argon dating — a method for estimating the age of a mineral or rock, based on measurement of the rate of decay of radioactive potassium into argon.
- prawn-sandwich brigade — sports fans who are perceived to lack passion and commitment, and who it is supposed attend matches in order to eat food and buy merchandise rather than cheer on their team
- preestablished harmony — (in the philosophy of Leibnitz) synchronous operation of all monads, since their simultaneous creation, in accordance with the preexisting plan of God.
- primate of all england — a title of the archbishop of Canterbury.
- prince edward islander — a native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island
- prince of wales island — the largest island in the Alexander Archipelago, in SE Alaska. 1500 sq. mi. (3990 sq. km).
- principal ideal domain — a commutative integral domain with multiplicative identity in which every ideal is principal.
- procurement department — the department of (a company, organization, etc) responsible for purchasing and buying
- productivity agreement — an agreement whereby the employees of an organization agree to changes which are intended to improve productivity in return for an increase in pay or other benefits
- programmed instruction — a progressively monitored, step-by-step teaching method, employing small units of information or learning material and frequent testing, whereby the student must complete or pass one stage before moving on to the next.
- propositional attitude — a relation between a person and a proposition, such as belief, desire, intention, etc
- public domain software — public domain
- public limited company — A public limited company is the same as a public company. The abbreviation plc is used after such companies' names.
- punctuated equilibrium — theory of, Biology. a hypothesis holding that the evolution of species proceeds in a characteristic pattern of relative stability for long periods of time interspersed with much shorter periods during which many species become extinct and new species emerge. Also called punctuationalism. Compare gradualism (def 3).
- pure food and drug act — a law passed in 1906 to remove harmful and misrepresented foods and drugs from the market and regulate the manufacture and sale of drugs and food involved in interstate trade.
- pushing up the daisies — dead and buried
- quantum chromodynamics — a quantum field theory that describes quarks and gluons and their interactions, with the color of the quarks playing a role analogous to that of electric charge. Abbreviation: QCD. Also called chromodynamics. Compare color (def 18).
- quarter inch cartridge — (storage) /kwik/ (QIC) a type of magnetic tape and tape drive. Development standards for QIC make it possible for tapes written on one QIC drive to be read on another. QIC drives are made to work with different lengths of tape. The model number of the drive consists of QIC followed by a number which indicates the drives tape capacity in megabytes (MB).
- rabbit-eared bandicoot — any of several bandicoots of the genus Macrotis, especially M. lagotis, of the Australian region, having leathery, rabbitlike ears and a long, pointed snout: an endangered species.
- radio direction finder — a navigational aid establishing a fix by means of the bearings of two known radio stations. Abbreviation: RDF.
- range of accommodation — the range of distance over which an object can be accurately focused on the retina by accommodation of the eye.
- rapid deployment force — a U.S. military organization consisting of one Marine division and four Army divisions, established in 1979 to respond quickly to any distant threat to national interests.
- read between the lines — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- read someone a lecture — to scold or reprimand someone
- received pronunciation — the pronunciation of British English considered to have the widest geographical distribution and the fewest regional peculiarities, originally the pronunciation of educated speakers in southern England and traditionally that used in the public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge universities, adopted by many speakers elsewhere in England and widely used in broadcasting. Abbreviation: RP.
- rectangular coordinate — Usually, rectangular coordinates. either of two Cartesian coordinates in which the axes meet at right angles.