12-letter words containing n, o, s, p
- isoteniscope — an instrument used to measure vapour pressure
- japonaiserie — stylistic characteristics, as in art, decor, or film, influenced by or reflective of Japanese culture and tradition.
- jeopardising — Present participle of jeopardise.
- joseph brant — Joseph (Thayendanegea) 1742–1807, Mohawk Indian chief who fought on the side of the British in the American Revolution.
- jumpstations — Plural form of jumpstation.
- keep tabs on — a small flap, strap, loop, or similar appendage, as on a garment, used for pulling, hanging, or decoration.
- ken thompson — (person) The principal inventor of the Unix operating system and author of the B language, the predecessor of C. In the early days Ken used to hand-cut Unix distribution tapes, often with a note that read "Love, ken". Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalised, because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is widely understood (on Usenet in particular) that without a last name "Ken" refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, Dennis without last name means Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr). Ken was first hired to work on the Multics project, which was a huge production with many people working on it. Multics was supposed to support hundreds of on-line logins but could barely handle three. In 1969, when Bell Labs withdrew from the project, Ken got fed up with Multics and went off to write his own operating system. People said "well, if zillions of people wrote Multics, then an OS written by one guy must be Unix!". There was some joking about eunichs as well. Ken's wife Bonnie and son Corey (then 18 months old) went to visit family in San Diego. Ken spent one week each on the kernel, file system, etc., and finished UNIX in one month along with developing SPACEWAR (or was it "Space Travel"?). See also back door, brute force, demigod, wumpus.
- keystone kop — Usually, Keystone Kops. (in early silent movies) a team of comic policemen noted for their slapstick routines.
- kinesophobia — Fear of movement.
- kinetoplasts — Plural form of kinetoplast.
- kitchen soap — heavy-duty soap intended for use in the kitchen
- labour pains — the pains felt during the contractions of childbirth
- laryngoscope — a rigid or flexible endoscope passed through the mouth and equipped with a source of light and magnification, for examining and performing local diagnostic and surgical procedures on the larynx.
- laryngoscopy — an examination by means of a laryngoscope.
- laryngospasm — An uncontrolled, spasmodic closure of the larynx.
- laser weapon — weapons which make use of lasers or lasers used as weapons
- lepidosirens — Plural form of lepidosiren.
- ligniperdous — (of insects) wood-destroying
- limnophilous — (of animals) living in lakes or freshwater marshes
- linespersons — Plural form of linesperson.
- lipoproteins — Plural form of lipoprotein.
- lipoxygenase — (enzyme) Any of a class of enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
- lithopedions — Plural form of lithopedion.
- lopsidedness — heavier, larger, or more developed on one side than on the other; unevenly balanced; unsymmetrical.
- lycanthropes — Plural form of lycanthrope.
- machine shop — a workshop in which metal and other substances are cut, shaped, etc., by machine tools.
- magnetopause — the boundary between the earth's magnetosphere and interplanetary space, about 40,000 miles (65,000 km) above the earth, marked by an abrupt decrease in the earth's magnetic induction.
- magnoliopsid — (botany) a member of the class Magnoliopsida. Circumscription of this class will vary with the taxonomic system being used.
- main-topmast — the mast next above the main lower mast.
- main-topsail — a topsail set on the mainmast.
- malpositions — Plural form of malposition.
- manipulators — Plural form of manipulator.
- marine corps — a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces trained for land, sea, and air combat, typically for land combat in conjunction with an amphibious or airborne landing, and whose commandant is responsible to the secretary of the navy.
- master point — a point awarded to a bridge player who has won or placed in an officially recognized tournament.
- media person — a person who works in the mass media
- meeting post — a timber with a chamfer at the outer edge of a lock gate that fits against the meeting post of another lock gate.
- meganthropus — a proposed genus of extinct, late lower Pleistocene primates based on two large lower jaws found in Java, and believed to be either Australopithecine or human.
- melanophores — Plural form of melanophore.
- mesoappendix — the mesentery of the vermiform appendix.
- mesoplankton — plankton that live at middle depths.
- mesopotamian — an ancient region in W Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers: now part of Iraq.
- microphonics — (electronics) The phenomenon where certain components in electronic devices transform mechanical vibrations into an unwanted electrical signal.
- microphonism — a usually undesirable property of some electronic circuits or components in which mechanical vibrations of a component affect the signal being transmitted through the circuit.
- mifepristone — an antigestational drug, C 29 H 35 NO 2 , that prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall by blocking the action of progesterone.
- millilampson — /mil'*-lamp"sn/ A unit of talking speed, abbreviated mL. Most people run about 200 milliLampsons. The eponymous Butler Lampson (a CS theorist and systems implementor highly regarded among hackers) goes at 1000. A few people speak faster. This unit is sometimes used to compare the (sometimes widely disparate) rates at which people can generate ideas and actually emit them in speech. For example, noted computer architect C. Gordon Bell (designer of the PDP-11) is said, with some awe, to think at about 1200 mL but only talk at about 300; he is frequently reduced to fragments of sentences as his mouth tries to keep up with his speeding brain.
- mis-position — condition with reference to place; location; situation.
- misanthropes — Plural form of misanthrope.
- misanthropic — of, relating to, or characteristic of a misanthrope.
- misoperation — an act or instance, process, or manner of functioning or operating.
- mispronounce — Pronounce (a word) incorrectly.