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17-letter words containing f, e, p, a

  • passenger traffic — number of passengers
  • past life therapy — a form of hypnosis or meditation based on the belief that an individual's present problems are rooted in events that occurred before birth in this life
  • pate de foie gras — See under foie gras.
  • peacock butterfly — a European nymphalid butterfly, Inachis io, having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot
  • peer of the realm — any of a class of peers in Great Britain and Ireland entitled by heredity to sit in the House of Lords.
  • perforation gauge — a marked ruler used to measure the number of perforations per unit length along the borders of a stamp.
  • performance bonus — a monetary bonus paid to staff who have performed well in their job
  • performance drugs — the drugs that are taken illegally by athletes to enhance their sporting performance
  • petrol filler cap — a small cover that goes over the hole in a vehicle into which you put petrol
  • phase of the moon — Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon." See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a Lisp program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter "corrected" it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug.
  • phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
  • play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
  • plug and feathers — an apparatus for splitting stone, consisting of two tapered bars (feathers) inserted into a hole drilled into the stone, between which a narrow wedge (plug) is hammered to spread them.
  • point of purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
  • point-of-purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
  • polarizing filter — a camera lens filter used to control the plane of polarization of light entering the lens.
  • political refugee — a person who has fled from a homeland because of political persecution.
  • port orford cedar — a tall tree, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, of coastal Oregon, having flattened, scalelike foliage and wood highly valued as timber.
  • portfolio manager — a person employed by others to make investments for them
  • positive feedback — Electronics. the process of returning part of the output of a circuit, system, or device to the input, either to oppose the input (negative feedback) or to aid the input (positive feedback) acoustic feedback.
  • potassium sulfate — a crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 2 SO 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, alums, and mineral water, and as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
  • potato leafhopper — any of various leafhoppers that are serious pests, damaging a wide variety of cultivated and wild plants, especially potatoes.
  • power of attorney — a written document given by one person or party to another authorizing the latter to act for the former.
  • pre-configuration — the relative disposition or arrangement of the parts or elements of a thing.
  • pre-manifestation — an act of manifesting.
  • pre-modifications — an act or instance of modifying.
  • pre-qualification — a quality, accomplishment, etc., that fits a person for some function, office, or the like.
  • prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
  • preference shares — a share of preferred stock.
  • preferential shop — a shop in which union members are preferred, usually by agreement of an employer with a union.
  • prelingually deaf — deaf from birth or having acquired deafness before learning to speak
  • pro forma invoice — an invoice issued before an order is placed or before the goods are delivered giving all the details and the cost of the goods
  • probation officer — an officer who investigates and reports on the conduct of offenders who are free on probation.
  • professional army — an army of trained soldiers
  • professional foul — In football, if a player commits a professional foul, they deliberately do something which is against the rules in order to prevent another player from scoring a goal.
  • proficiency badge — an insignia or device granted by the Girl Scouts and worn especially on a uniform to indicate special achievement.
  • proof of coverage — A policyholder's proof of coverage is a document from an insurer stating that they have insurance coverage.
  • proof of purchase — a document, such as a receipt, etc, that proves that you have purchased or bought something
  • proof-of-purchase — a sales slip, label, box top, or other item associated with a product that is presentable as evidence of actual purchase, as for claiming a refund or rebate.
  • protection factor — a figure representing the relative degree of protection from the sun's rays afforded by a particular sunscreen
  • protective tariff — a tariff levied on imports to protect the domestic economy rather than to raise revenue
  • purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
  • refractory period — a short period after a nerve or muscle cell fires during which the cell cannot respond to additional stimulation.
  • refuse a proposal — If an insurer refuses a proposal, it does not agree to underwrite a risk proposed by a potential client.
  • repeating firearm — a firearm capable of discharging a number of shots without reloading.
  • republic of china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
  • republic of korea — a former country in E Asia, on a peninsula SE of Manchuria and between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea: a kingdom prior to 1910; under Japanese rule 1910–45; now divided at 38° N into North Korea and South Korea. Compare Korean War.
  • republic of palau — a republic comprising a group of islands in the W Pacific, in the W Caroline Islands; administratively part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1947–87; entered into an agreement of free association with the US (1980); became fully independent in 1994. Chief island: Babelthuap. Capital: Ngerulmud on Babelthuap (functions moved from Koror in 2006). Pop: 21 108 (2013 est). Area: 476 sq km (184 sq miles)
  • republic-of-china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
  • return of capital — A return of capital is a situation in which you receive back money that was previously invested.
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