17-letter words containing d, r, o, p
- dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
- drilling platform — a structure, either fixed to the sea bed or mobile, which supports the machinery and equipment (the drilling rig), together with the stores, required for digging an offshore oil well
- drool-proof paper — (jargon) Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down, to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the "drool-proof paper syndrome" or to have been "written on drool-proof paper". For example, this is an actual quote from Apple Computer's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame."
- drop on the floor — To react to an error condition by silently discarding messages or other valuable data. "The gateway ran out of memory, so it just started dropping packets on the floor." Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay sites that lose messages. See also black hole, bit bucket.
- drop one's bundle — several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together: a bundle of hay.
- droplet infection — infection spread by airborne droplets of secretions from the nose, throat, or lungs.
- echocardiographer — A person who performs echocardiography.
- echocardiographic — Of or pertaining to echocardiography.
- ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
- electrodeposition — The deposition of a metal on a cathode during electrolysis; used as a method of purification.
- employer-provided — Employer-provided insurance is arranged or funded by the organization for which the policyholder works.
- enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
- epicycloidal gear — a gear of an epicyclic train
- european standard — a specification to be used as a consistent rule or guideline in the manufacture or selling of a certain product or service traded within Europe
- exception handler — Special code which is called when an exception occurs during the execution of a program. If the programmer does not provide a handler for a given exception, a built-in system exception handler will usually be called resulting in abortion of the program run and some kind of error indication being returned to the user. Examples of exception handler mechanisms are Unix's signal calls and Lisp's catch and throw.
- export department — the department of a business concerned with the export of the business's goods or services
- export-orientated — (of an industry, company, etc) mainly concerned with the export of goods or services
- five-spice powder — a mixture of spices used especially in Chinese cooking, usually including cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, pepper, and star anise.
- floppy disk drive — disk drive
- four-eyed opossum — a small opossum, Metachirops (Philander) opossum, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, having a white spot above each eye.
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- frederick pollock — Sir Frederick, 1845–1937, English legal scholar and author.
- freedom of speech — the right of people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference, subject to the laws against libel, incitement to violence or rebellion, etc.
- front-end payment — a payment required or incurred in advance of a project in order to get it under way
- garden heliotrope — the common valerian, Valeriana officinalis, especially when cultivated as an ornamental.
- gender expression — the external expression of gender roles, as through socially defined behaviors and ways of dressing.
- gold export point — an exchange rate at which it is as cheap to settle international accounts by exporting gold bullion as by buying bills of exchange
- gold import point — an exchange rate at which it is as cheap to settle international accounts by importing gold bullion as by selling bills of exchange
- graduated pension — the money that an employee receives after retirement if they have paid into the graduated pension scheme
- grain of paradise — Usually, grains of paradise. one of the pungent, peppery seeds of an African plant, Aframomum melegueta, of the ginger family, used to strengthen cordials and in veterinary medicine.
- greensand process — a process for casting iron with sand not previously heated.
- gridiron pendulum — a clock pendulum having, as part of its shaft, an arrangement of brass and steel rods having different coefficients of expansion, such that the pendulum has the same length at any temperature.
- ground provisions — starchy vegetables, esp root crops and plantains
- hardware platform — a group of compatible computers that can run the same software.
- hermaphrodite rig — jackass rig.
- hoare powerdomain — powerdomain
- holding operation — a plan or procedure devised to prolong the existing situation
- hot-and-sour soup — a spicy Chinese soup made with pork, chicken, beans, vinegar, etc., served hot
- hydrogen peroxide — a colorless, unstable, oily liquid, H 2 O 2 , an aqueous solution of which is used chiefly as an antiseptic and a bleaching agent.
- hydrogen sulphide — Chemistry
- hydrotherapeutics — hydrotherapy.
- hydrotherapy pool — a pool of water used for hydrotherapy
- hydroxytryptamine — (organic compound) Any hydroxy derivative of tryptamine, but especially 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin).
- hypochlorous acid — a weak, unstable acid, HOCl, existing only in solution and in the form of its salts, used as a bleaching agent and disinfectant.
- hypochondriacally — In a hypochondriacal manner.
- hypodermic needle — a hollow needle used to inject solutions subcutaneously.
- hypophrygian mode — a plagal church mode represented on the white keys of a keyboard instrument by an ascending scale from B to B, with the final on E.
- i beg your pardon — You say 'Pardon?' or 'I beg your pardon?' or, in American English, 'Pardon me?' when you want someone to repeat what they have just said because you have not heard or understood it.
- illegal procedure — a penalty assessed against the offensive team for a technical rules violation, as in assuming an illegal formation.