12-letter words containing e, l, i, p
- pilot engine — a locomotive sent on ahead of a railroad train to see that the way is clear and the track safe.
- pilot jacket — a type of leather jacket associated with U.S. Army pilots in World War II
- pilot ladder — Jacob's ladder (def 2a).
- pimelic acid — a crystalline compound, C 7 H 1 2 O 4 , soluble in alcohol and ether: used in polymers and as a plasticizer.
- pinch roller — a flexible device that presses magnetic tape against the capstan in a tape recorder.
- pine warbler — a warbler, Dendroica pinus, inhabiting pine forests of the southeastern U.S.
- pineal gland — a small, cone-shaped endocrine organ in the posterior forebrain, secreting melatonin and involved in biorhythms and gonadal development.
- pinealectomy — a surgical operation to remove the pineal gland
- pink-slipped — (of an employee) given notice of redundancy
- pipe cleaner — a short length of twisted flexible wires covered with tufted fabric, used to clean the stem of a smoker's pipe and for various handicrafts.
- piperacillin — a broad-spectrum semisynthetic penicillin, C 2 3 H 2 6 N 5 NaO 7 , used against certain susceptible Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and certain anaerobes, especially P. aeruginosa.
- pisciculture — the breeding, rearing, and transplantation of fish by artificial means.
- piss-elegant — displaying a contrived, often pretentious, sophistication, opulence, etc.
- pit dwelling — a primitive dwelling consisting of a pit excavated in the earth and roofed over.
- pitch a tale — to tell a story, usually of a fantastic nature
- pitch chisel — a broad-edged chisel for cutting plane surfaces on stones.
- pitch circle — an imaginary circle within the profiles of the teeth of a gear, such that it rotates against a similar circle rotating at the same rate on a meshing gear.
- placentation — Anatomy, Zoology. the formation of a placenta. the manner of placement or construction of a placenta.
- placentiform — shaped like a placenta, with a flat rounded form
- plagiohedral — (of a crystal) having faces arranged obliquely in a helix.
- plaid screen — [XEROX PARC] A "special effect" that occurs when certain kinds of memory smashes overwrite the control blocks or image memory of a bit-mapped display. The term "salt and pepper" may refer to a different pattern of similar origin. Though the term as coined at PARC refers to the result of an error, some of the X demos induce plaid-screen effects deliberately as a display hack.
- plain people — the Mennonites, Dunkers, and Amish people
- plain turkey — a bustard
- plain-spoken — candid; frank; blunt.
- plainclothes — Plainclothes police officers wear ordinary clothes instead of a police uniform.
- plane strain — Plane strain is a two-dimensional state of strain in which all the shape changes of a material happen on a single plane.
- plane ticket — entitlement to travel by aircraft
- planetesimal — one of the small celestial bodies that, according to one theory (planetesimal hypothesis) were fused together to form the planets of the solar system.
- plasteriness — the state of being made of or resembling plaster
- plate girder — an iron or steel beam built up from plates and shapes welded or riveted together, usually including a plate or plates for a web, four angle irons forming two flanges, and a pair of plates to reinforce the flanges.
- play chicken — to engage in a test of courage in which, typically, two vehicles are driven directly toward one another in order to see which driver will swerve away first
- play it safe — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- play reading — the activity when a group of people read the parts of a play
- player piano — a piano that can play automatically when the keys are actuated electronically or by a pneumatic device controlled by a piano roll.
- plea bargain — to engage in plea bargaining.
- plea-bargain — to engage in plea bargaining.
- plead guilty — defendant: declare guilt
- pleased with — satisfied or content with
- pleiochasium — a flowering system in which several buds come out at the same time
- pleiotropism — the condition of a gene affecting more than one characteristic of the phenotype
- plenipotence — the possession of total authority
- plenipotency — the state of being plenipotent
- pleomorphism — existence of an organism in two or more distinct forms during the life cycle; polymorphism.
- plerocercoid — the wormlike larval stage of some tapeworms, intermediate between the first parasitic larval stage and adult.
- plumbiferous — yielding or containing lead.
- plunge basin — a cavity at the base of a falls or cataract, formed by the action of the falling water.
- pluriliteral — (in Hebrew grammar) containing more than three letters in the root
- poeticalness — the characteristic of being poetical
- poikilotherm — an organism with poikilothermic qualities
- polar circle — either the Arctic or the Antarctic Circle.