20-letter words containing a, p, t, i

epitaxial transistor — a transistor made by depositing a thin pure layer of semiconductor material (epitaxial layer) onto a crystalline support by epitaxy. The layer acts as one of the electrode regions, usually the collector
equalization payment — a financial grant made by the federal government to a poorer province in order to facilitate a level of services equal to that of a richer province
equivalent air speed — the speed at sea level that would produce the same Pitot-static tube reading as that measured at altitude
essential complexity — (programming) A measure of the "structuredness" of a program.
explication de texte — a close textual analysis of a literary work
explicit parallelism — A feature of a programming language for a parallel processing system which allows or forces the programmer to annotate his program to indicate which parts should be executed as independent parallel tasks. This is obviously more work for the programmer than a system with implicit parallelism (where the system decides automatically which parts to run in parallel) but may allow higher performance.
external respiration — exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across external or respiratory surfaces, as gills or lungs, in multicellular organisms
factor of production — any instrument, agent, etc., employed in the production of goods and services.
feather in one's cap — one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side.
file descriptor leak — (programming) (Or "fd leak" /F D leek/) A kind of programming bug analogous to a core leak, in which a program fails to close file descriptors ("fd"s) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually runs out of them. See leak.
first point of aries — the vernal equinox.
fixed action pattern — a highly stereotyped pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a particular species.
fixed penalty (fine) — a fine of a fixed amount of money for a particular offence
fixed-price contract — a contract in which the price is preset and invariable, regardless of the actual costs of production.
fore-and-aft topsail — gaff topsail (def 1).
forty-ninth parallel — an informal name for the Canadian border with the USA, which is in part delineated by the parallel line of latitude at 49°N
free-range parenting — Informal. a style of child rearing in which parents allow their children to move about without constant adult supervision, aimed at instilling independence and self-reliance.
freefall parachuting — a variety of parachuting in which the jumper manoeuvres in free fall before opening the parachute
freight pass-through — a special allowance or discounted price given a bookseller or bookstore by a publishing house for paying the freight charge on a shipment of books ordered: so called because the shipping charge is passed on to the consumer by an increase in the suggested retail price for each book. Abbreviation: FPT.
fulminating compound — a fulminate.
function application — A function applied to (some of) its arguments. If it is not applied to all its argument then it is a "partial application". Application is usually written in the form f(x) but some languages such as command-line interpreters and many functional languages use juxtaposition: f x. Lisp places the parentheses around the whole application: (f x).
fundamental particle — elementary particle.
gaff-topsail catfish — a sea catfish, Bagre marinus, occurring in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico from Cape Cod to Panama, and having the spine of the dorsal fin greatly prolonged and flattened.
general postal union — former name of Universal Postal Union. Abbreviation: GPU.
general practitioner — a medical practitioner whose practice is not limited to any specific branch of medicine or class of diseases. Abbreviation: G.P.
generative phonology — a theory of phonology that uses a set of rules to derive phonetic representations from abstract underlying forms.
glucosamine sulphate — a compound used in some herbal remedies and dietary supplements, esp to strengthen joint cartilage
go like the clappers — to move extremely fast
gorno-altai republic — a constituent republic of S Russia: mountainous, rising over 4350 m (14 500 ft) in the Altai Mountains of the south. Capital: Gorno-Altaisk. Pop: 202 900 (2002). Area: 92 600 sq km (35 740 sq miles)
graphics accelerator — (graphics, hardware) Hardware (often an extra circuit board) to perform tasks such as plotting lines and surfaces in two or three dimensions, filling, shading and hidden line removal.
group representation — representation in a governing body on the basis of interests rather than by geographical location.
happy hunting ground — the North American Indian heaven, conceived of as a paradise of hunting and feasting for warriors and hunters.
hard gelatin capsule — A hard gelatin capsule is a type of capsule that is usually used to contain medicine in the form of dry powder or very small pellets.
have an itching palm — to desire money greedily
he's no oil painting — he is not good-looking
heat of vaporization — the heat absorbed per unit mass of a given material at its boiling point that completely converts the material to a gas at the same temperature: equal to the heat of condensation.
helicopter parenting — a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life: In typical helicopter parenting, a mother or father swoops in at any sign of challenge or discomfort.
heteropolysaccharide — (carbohydrate) any polysaccharide formed from two or more different kinds of monosaccharide.
high-energy particle — Physics
hipparchus satellite — an astronometric satellite launched in 1989 by the European Space Agency that measured the position, proper motion, and brightness of 118 218 stars down to 12th magnitude and the magnitude and colour of a million stars down to 10th magnitude
hire-purchase system — a system of payment for a commodity in regular installments while using it.
hit the panic button — an alarm button for use in an emergency, as to summon help.
holy water sprinkler — morning star (def 2).
horizontally opposed — A horizontally opposed engine has the cylinders set horizontally at either side of the crankshaft.
hospitality industry — the hotel and accommodation industry
houses of parliament — In Britain, the Houses of Parliament are the British parliament, which consists of two parts, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The buildings where the British parliament does its work are also called the Houses of Parliament.
hydrostatic pressure — Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure exerted by a liquid that depends on how deep it is.
hyperadrenocorticism — Cushing's syndrome.
hyperbolic cotangent — a hyperbolic function that is the ratio of cosh to sinh, being the reciprocal of tanh; coth
hypercholesterolemia — the presence of an excessive amount of cholesterol in the blood.

Was this page helpful?

Yes No

Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page

Tell us why?