14-letter words containing f, a, r, p
- patresfamilias — a plural of paterfamilias.
- pay for itself — If something that you buy or invest in pays for itself after a period of time, the money you gain from it, or save because you have it, is greater than the amount you originally spent or invested.
- peace offering — any offering made to procure peace.
- peacock-flower — royal poinciana.
- pelican-flower — a woody vine, Aristolochia grandiflora, of the West Indies, having heart-shaped leaves and purple-spotted, purple-veined flowers from 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) wide with a long, taillike structure at the tip of the corolla.
- penny dreadful — a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.
- penny-dreadful — a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.
- penny-farthing — a high bicycle of an early type, with one large wheel in front and one small wheel behind.
- pentland firth — a strait between N Scotland and the Orkney Islands, linking the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean: noted for its rough sea conditions. 14 miles (23 km) long.
- perfect square — a rational number that is equal to the square of another rational number.
- performability — the quality of being performable
- personal staff — the aides of a general officer or a flag officer.
- phenosafranine — safranine (def 2).
- picture-framer — a person or company whose job is to frame photographs, paintings etc
- pigeon fancier — sb who breeds pigeons
- pinafore dress — a sleeveless dress worn over a blouse or sweater
- plantar reflex — a normal reflex flexion of the toes, especially in persons above one year of age, resulting from stroking the sole of the foot.
- platform frame — a building frame having studs only one story high, regardless of the number of stories built, each story having a box sill.
- platform party — the group on the platform at a meeting
- platform scale — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- platform shoes — shoes: thick sole
- platform soles — very thick soles on a pair of shoes
- play for keeps — to do something seriously and without showing any mercy
- play with fire — a state, process, or instance of combustion in which fuel or other material is ignited and combined with oxygen, giving off light, heat, and flame.
- pleasure craft — A pleasure craft is the same as a pleasure boat.
- portrait flask — a glass flask of the 19th century having a portrait molded onto the side.
- post-breakfast — the first meal of the day; morning meal: A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.
- potts-fracture — a fracture of the lower fibula and of the malleolus of the tibia, resulting in outward displacement of the foot.
- poultry farmer — a person who rears domestic fowls, esp chickens, for their eggs or meat
- prairie falcon — a North American falcon, Falco mexicanus, grayish-brown above and white barred with brown below.
- prefabrication — to fabricate or construct beforehand.
- preferentially — of, relating to, or of the nature of preference: preferential policies.
- preformulation — to express in precise form; state definitely or systematically: He finds it extremely difficult to formulate his new theory.
- premanufacture — to manufacture in advance
- preperformance — occurring before a performance
- press fastener — snap fastener.
- prettification — to make pretty, especially in a small, petty way: to prettify a natural beauty.
- preunification — of the period before unification
- pride of china — the chinaberry, Melia azedarach.
- pride of place — the highest or most outstanding position; first place.
- pride-of-india — chinaberry (sense 1)
- primacy effect — the process whereby the first few items on a list are learnt more rapidly than the middle items
- printing frame — a shallow, boxlike device with a glass plate on one side and an opaque, removable back, for holding a negative firmly against printing paper in contact printing.
- processor farm — (computer, parallel) A parallel processor where tasks are distributed, or "farmed out", by one "farmer" processor to several "worker" processors, and results are sent back to the farmer. This arrangement is suitable for applications which can be partitioned into many separate, independent tasks, the canonical examples being ray tracing and the Mandelbrot set. In order to be efficient, the extra time spent on communications must be small compared to the time spent processing each task.
- professionally — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- profit sharing — the sharing of profits, as between employer and employee, especially in such a way that the employee receives, in addition to wages, a share in the profits of the business.
- profit warning — a public announcement made by a company to shareholders and others warning that profits for a stated period will be much lower than had been expected
- profit-sharing — the sharing of profits, as between employer and employee, especially in such a way that the employee receives, in addition to wages, a share in the profits of the business.
- public affairs — (used with a plural verb) matters of general interest or concern, especially those dealing with current social or political issues.
- public welfare — state aid to the poor