27-letter words containing c, i, p, u
- physiological salt solution — isotonic sodium chloride solution.
- polyalphabetic substitution — a system of substitution that mixes together a number of cipher alphabets in a cryptogram so that each plaintext letter is represented by a cipher that repeatedly changes.
- polymorphic lambda-calculus — (language, types) (Or "second order typed lambda-calculus", "System F", "Lambda-2"). An extension of typed lambda-calculus allowing functions which take types as parameters. E.g. the polymorphic function "twice" may be written: twice = /\ t . \ (f :: t -> t) . \ (x :: t) . f (f x) (where "/\" is an upper case Greek lambda and "(v :: T)" is usually written as v with subscript T). The parameter t will be bound to the type to which twice is applied, e.g.: twice Int takes and returns a function of type Int -> Int. (Actual type arguments are often written in square brackets [ ]). Function twice itself has a higher type: twice :: Delta t . (t -> t) -> (t -> t) (where Delta is an upper case Greek delta). Thus /\ introduces an object which is a function of a type and Delta introduces a type which is a function of a type. Polymorphic lambda-calculus was invented by Jean-Yves Girard in 1971 and independently by John C. Reynolds in 1974.
- precession of the equinoxes — the earlier occurrence of the equinoxes in each successive sidereal year because of the slow retrograde motion of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, caused by the precession of the earth's axis of rotation; a complete precession of the equinoxes requires about 25,800 years.
- proclaim from the housetops — to announce (something) publicly
- product liability insurance — Product liability insurance is insurance for a producer or supplier of goods against injury to third parties or loss of or damage to their property that is caused by a fault in the goods.
- protestant episcopal church — Episcopal Church in America.
- public broadcasting service — a network of independent, noncommercial television stations that operate with public and government funding instead of with revenues from advertising. Abbreviation: PBS.
- public service broadcasting — publicly-funded broadcasting
- public works administration — the U.S. federal agency (1933–44) that instituted and administered projects for the construction of public works. Abbreviation: PWA, P.W.A.
- publius-licinius-valerianus — (Publius Licinius Valerianus) died a.d. c260, Roman emperor 253–60.
- republic of the philippines — a republic in SE Asia, occupying an archipelago of about 7100 islands (including Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, and Negros): became a Spanish colony in 1571 but ceded to the US in 1898 after the Spanish-American War; gained independence in 1946. The islands are generally mountainous and volcanic. Official languages: Filipino, based on Tagalog, and English. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Manila. Pop: 105 720 644 (2013 est). Area: 300 076 sq km (115 860 sq miles)
- respiratory syncytial virus — a myxovirus causing infections of the nose and throat, esp in young children. It is thought to be involved in some cot deaths
- rough endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
- supreme court of judicature — an English court formed in 1873 from several superior courts and consisting of a court of original jurisdiction (High Court of Justice) and an appellate court (Court of Appeal)
- synchronous optical network — (networking) (SONET) A broadband networking standard based on point-to-point optical fibre networks. SONET will provide a high-bandwidth "pipe" to support ATM-based services. The SONET standard will establish a digital hierarchical network with a consistent worldwide transport scheme. SONET has been designed to take advantage of fibre, in contrast to the plain old telephone system which was designed for copper wires. SONET carries circuit-switched data in frames at speeds in multiples of 51.84 megabits per second (Mbps) up to 48 * 51.84 Mbps = 2.488 gigabits per second. Since SONET uses multiple channels to transmit data, each SONET frame can be considered to be a two-dimensional table of bytes that is 9 rows high and 90 columns deep. For every OC-n level, SONET can transmit n number of frames at a given time. Groups of frames are called superframes. SONET is the American version of SDH.
- tandem application language — Transaction Application Language
- the buck stops here/with me — If you say 'The buck stops here' or 'The buck stops with me', you mean that you have to take responsibility for something and will not try to pass the responsibility on to someone else.
- to practise what you preach — If you say that someone practises what they preach, you mean that they behave in the way that they encourage other people to behave in.
- to put your thinking cap on — to ponder a matter or problem
- to stop dead in your tracks — If someone or something stops you in your tracks, or if you stop dead in your tracks, you suddenly stop moving because you are very surprised, impressed, or frightened.
- universal computer protocol — (communications, protocol) An earlier form of External Machine Interface (EMI).
- weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, biological and chemical arms