15-letter words containing c, a, b
- object language — the language to which a metalanguage refers.
- objectification — to present as an object, especially of sight, touch, or other physical sense; make objective; externalize.
- objectionable-c — (abuse, humour, language) A hackish take on "Objective C". Objectionable-C uses a Smalltalk-like syntax, but lacks the flexibility of Smalltalk method calls, and (like many such efforts) comes frustratingly close to attaining the Right Thing without actually doing so.
- observation car — a railroad passenger car having a lounge or platform from which the scenery can be viewed.
- obsidional coin — siege piece.
- obstacle course — a military training area having obstacles, as hurdles, ditches, and walls, that must be surmounted or crossed in succession.
- octanitrocubane — (organic compound) A high explosive derived from cubane.
- omega-algebraic — In domain theory, a complete partial order is algebraic if every element is the lub of some chain of compact elements. If the set of compact elements is countable it is omega-algebraic. Usually written with a Greek letter omega (LaTeX \omega).
- opening balance — the amount of money in an account at the start of an accounting period
- orthoboric acid — boric acid (def 1). Compare ortho- (def 2).
- orthopaedic bed — a specially firm bed designed to help correct or ameliorate the discomfort of disorders of the spine and joints
- pack one's bags — If you pack your bags, you leave a place where you have been staying or living.
- parachute brake — a parachute opened horizontally from the tail of an airplane upon landing, used as an aid in braking. Also called parabrake. Compare drogue parachute (def 2).
- parti québécois — (in Canada) a political party in Quebec, formed in 1968 and originally advocating the separation of Quebec from the rest of the country
- pat on the back — to strike lightly or gently with something flat, as with a paddle or the palm of the hand, usually in order to flatten, smooth, or shape: to pat dough into flat pastry forms.
- peachblow glass — an American art glass made in various pale colors and sometimes having an underlayer of milk glass.
- perfluorocarbon — a fluorocarbon consisting only of fluorine and carbon atoms
- perissosyllabic — (of a line of verse) containing more syllables than expected for the metre being used
- pick up the tab — If you pick up the tab, you pay a bill on behalf of a group of people or provide the money that is needed for something.
- pickaback plane — a powered airplane designed to be carried aloft by another airplane and released in flight.
- pickaback plant — piggyback plant.
- picture library — A picture library is a collection of photographs that is held by a particular company or organization. Newspapers or publishers can pay to use the photographs in their publications.
- piggyback plant — a plant, Tolmiea menziesii, of the saxifrage family, native to western North America, that produces new plants at the base of its broad, hairy leaves and that is popular as a houseplant.
- pinball machine — the tablelike, usually coin-operated machine on which pinball is played.
- pitch blackness — extreme darkness; lack of light
- plug compatible — of or relating to computers or peripheral devices that are functionally equivalent to, and may be substituted for, other models.
- plug-compatible — of or relating to computers or peripheral devices that are functionally equivalent to, and may be substituted for, other models.
- plumbaginaceous — belonging to the Plumbaginaceae, the leadwort family of plants.
- polycarboxylate — a salt or ester of a polycarboxylic acid. Polycarboxylate esters are used in certain detergents
- polysyllabicism — a polysyllabic style
- pre-celebration — an act of celebrating.
- prism binocular — Usually, prism binoculars. Optics. binocular (def 1).
- problematically — of the nature of a problem; doubtful; uncertain; questionable.
- procrustean bed — a plan or scheme to produce uniformity or conformity by arbitrary or violent methods.
- psychobiography — a biographical study focusing on psychological factors, as childhood traumas and unconscious motives.
- public footpath — a footpath along which the public has right of way
- public lavatory — a public toilet
- public nuisance — act, thing: anti-social
- public speaking — the act of delivering speeches in public.
- publicity agent — A publicity agent is a person whose job is to make sure that a large number of people know about a person, show, or event so that they are successful.
- pulmobranchiate — possessing a pulmobranch
- pyrometric bead — (in a kiln) a ball of material that indicates by changing color that a certain temperature has been reached.
- quadruple bucky — Obsolete. 1. On an MIT space-cadet keyboard, use of all four of the shifting keys (control, meta, hyper, and super) while typing a character key. 2. On a Stanford or MIT keyboard in raw mode, use of four shift keys while typing a fifth character, where the four shift keys are the control and meta keys on *both* sides of the keyboard. This was very difficult to do! One accepted technique was to press the left-control and left-meta keys with your left hand, the right-control and right-meta keys with your right hand, and the fifth key with your nose. Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in practice, because when one invented a new command one usually assigned it to some character that was easier to type. If you want to imply that a program has ridiculously many commands or features, you can say something like: "Oh, the command that makes it spin the tapes while whistling Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle." See double bucky, bucky bits, cokebottle.
- quasi-objective — something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target: the objective of a military attack; the objective of a fund-raising drive.
- queen substance — a pheromone secreted from the mandibular glands of a queen honeybee and smelled, eaten, and absorbed by the worker bees, having the effect of preventing them from producing or rearing rival queens.
- radio broadcast — sth transmitted via radio signal
- ratafia biscuit — a macaroon.
- rechargeability — (of a storage battery) capable of being charged repeatedly. Compare cordless (def 2).
- recognizability — to identify as something or someone previously seen, known, etc.: He had changed so much that one could scarcely recognize him.
- recombinant dna — DNA in which one or more segments or genes have been inserted, either naturally or by laboratory manipulation, from a different molecule or from another part of the same molecule, resulting in a new genetic combination.