0%

19-letter words containing e, p, h, o

  • philosophers' stone — a substance sought by alchemists that would be capable of transmuting baser metals into gold or silver and of prolonging life.
  • photodisintegration — the disintegration of a nucleus, induced by its absorption of a photon.
  • photoelectric meter — an exposure meter using a photocell for the measurement of light intensity.
  • photographic memory — total recall
  • photopolymerization — polymerization induced by light.
  • photoreconnaissance — reconnaissance using aerial photography.
  • photovoltaic effect — the phenomenon in which the incidence of light or other electromagnetic radiation upon the junction of two dissimilar materials, as a metal and a semiconductor, induces the generation of an electromotive force.
  • phthalocyanine blue — a pigment used in painting, derived from copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its brilliant, dark-blue color and by permanence.
  • piece of the action — the process or state of acting or of being active: The machine is not in action now.
  • pied-de-biche spoon — a spoon having a handle with a trifid end.
  • pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
  • pistachio ice cream — ice cream flavoured with pistachios
  • pistol-handle knife — a table knife, especially of the 18th century, having a slightly curved handle resembling the grip of a flintlock pistol.
  • play footsie (with) — to touch feet or rub knees (with) in a caressing way, as under the table
  • play to the gallery — a raised area, often having a stepped or sloping floor, in a theater, church, or other public building to accommodate spectators, exhibits, etc.
  • pneumoencephalogram — an encephalogram made after the replacement of the cerebrospinal fluid by air or gas, rarely used since the development of the CAT scanner.
  • pocket-handkerchief — handkerchief (def 1).
  • point the finger at — to accuse or blame
  • police headquarters — building where police are stationed
  • political geography — the branch of human geography that deals with the relationship between political processes and spatial structures (regions, territories, etc)
  • polyethylene glycol — any of a series of polymers of ethylene glycol, having a molecular weight of from about 200 to 6000, obtained by condensation of ethylene glycol or of ethylene oxide and water, used as an emulsifying agent and lubricant in ointments, creams, etc.
  • polyphonic ringtone — (in mobile phones) a ringtone in which more than one musical note is played at the same time
  • polytene chromosome — a giant, cross-banded chromosome that results from multiple replication of its genetic material with the duplicated chromatin strands remaining closely associated.
  • portobello mushroom — a dark mushroom, strong in flavor, having a broad, flat cap that is often grilled and eaten
  • potassium hydroxide — a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, KOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, as a laboratory reagent, and as a caustic.
  • potassium phosphate — any of the three orthophosphates of potassium ((potassium monophosphate) (K 2 HPO 4), (potassium diphosphate) (KH 2 PO 4), and (tripotassium phosphate) (K 3 PO 4) )
  • preach to the choir — to express an opinion to someone who is already in agreement with it
  • prescription charge — a charge, set by the government, to be paid by a patient for medicines
  • primitive methodist — a member of a Protestant denomination (Primitive Methodist Church) founded in England in 1812 and later established in the U.S., characterized by its adherence to the basic doctrines, principles, and practices taught by John Wesley.
  • priority scheduling — (operating system)   Processes scheduling in which the scheduler selects tasks to run based on their priority as opposed to, say, a simple round-robin. Priorities may be static or dynamic. Static priorities are assigned at the time of creation, while dynamic priorities are based on the processes' behaviour while in the system. For example, the scheduler may favour I/O-intensive tasks so that expensive requests can be issued as early as possible. A danger of priority scheduling is starvation, in which processes with lower priorities are not given the opportunity to run. In order to avoid starvation, in preemptive scheduling, the priority of a process is gradually reduced while it is running. Eventually, the priority of the running process will no longer be the highest, and the next process will start running. This method is called aging.
  • professional school — a postgraduate school or college which trains students for a particular profession
  • programmer's switch — (hardware)   A button on the front of some Apple Macintosh computers which, when pressed, causes a command line prompt to appear. This gives access to the built-in mini-debugger, which has commands to dump memory, return to the application that was broken out, and others. A more sophisticated debugger must be installed in order to inspect breakpoints, etc.
  • protease inhibitors — a drug that inhibits the action of protease, especially any of a class of antiviral drugs that prevent the cleavage and replication of HIV proteins.
  • pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
  • pseudo-hieroglyphic — noting or pertaining to a script dating from the second millennium b.c. that appears to be syllabic and to represent the Phoenician language and that is inscribed on objects found at Byblos.
  • pseudohermaphrodite — an individual having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics resembling those of the other sex or being ambiguous in nature. Compare hermaphrodite (def 1).
  • pseudopsychological — of or relating to psychology.
  • psychoendocrinology — the study of the relationship between the endocrine system and various symptoms or types of mental illness.
  • psychological novel — a novel that focuses on the complex mental and emotional lives of its characters and explores the various levels of mental activity.
  • psychotechnological — of or relating to psychotechnology
  • psychrometric chart — a chart for calculating values of relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew point from psychrometer readings.
  • puerperal psychosis — a mental disorder sometimes occurring in women after childbirth, characterized by deep depression, delusions of the child's death, and homicidal feelings towards the child
  • pugwash conferences — international peace conferences of scientists held regularly to discuss world problems: Nobel peace prize 1995 awarded to Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) , one of the founders of the conferences, secretary-general (1957–73), and president (1988–97)
  • pull in one's horns — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
  • push comes to shove — matters become serious or reach a critical point where some action or decision is required
  • put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
  • put on the feed bag — Also called nose bag. a bag for feeding horses, placed before the mouth and fastened around the head with straps.
  • put sth to the test — If you put something to the test, you find out how useful or effective it is by using it.
  • pyorrhea alveolaris — a chronic periodontitis of the gums and tooth sockets, characterized by the formation of pus and, usually, by loosening of the teeth
  • pyorrhea-alveolaris — Pathology. a discharge of pus.
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?