15-letter words containing o, a, f
- overforwardness — the quality of being too familiar
- oyster toadfish — See under toadfish (def 1).
- pacific madrone — any of several evergreen trees belonging to the genus Arbutus, of the heath family, especially A. menziesii (Pacific madrone) of western North America, having red, flaky bark and bearing edible reddish berries.
- pandorae fretum — an area in the southern hemisphere of Mars.
- paradise flower — a prickly vine, Solanum wendlandii, of the nightshade family, native to Costa Rica, having branched clusters of showy lilac-blue flowers.
- parking offence — the act of leaving your car somewhere illegally
- part of fortune — the celestial longitude of the moon plus the celestial longitude of the ascendant minus the celestial longitude of the sun: said to connote an area of life through which one achieves emotional satisfaction.
- passifloraceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Passifloraceae, a tropical and subtropical family of climbing plants including the passionflowers: the flowers have five petals and threadlike parts forming a dense mass (corona) around the central disc
- passport office — an office which issues passports
- patio furniture — furniture in an area adjoining a house, esp one that is paved and used for outdoor activities
- peace offensive — an active program, policy, propaganda campaign, etc., by a national government for the purpose of terminating a war or period of hostility, lessening international tensions, or promoting peaceful cooperation with other nations.
- peacock feather — a (distinctive and brightly coloured) feather from the peacock
- perfluorocarbon — a fluorocarbon consisting only of fluorine and carbon atoms
- perforating gun — A perforating gun is a device used to make holes in oil and gas wells in preparation for production.
- performance art — a collaborative art form originating in the 1970s as a fusion of several artistic media, as painting, film, video, music, drama, and dance, and deriving in part from the 1960s performance happenings.
- performance car — a car that can go very fast and can increase its speed very quickly
- performing arts — dance, drama, music
- personal friend — a person who is a friend, rather than a colleague or acquaintance
- personification — the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.
- peter of amiens — c1050–1115, French monk: preacher of the first Crusade 1095–99.
- photoflood lamp — an incandescent tungsten lamp in which high intensity is obtained by overloading voltage: used in photography, television, etc.
- photofluorogram — a recording on photographic film of images produced by a fluoroscopic examination.
- photorefractive — of or relating to a change in the index of refraction by spatial variations of the light intensity, as in a laser.
- phytoflagellate — any microscopic flagellate that is photosynthetic.
- plain of sharon — a plain in W Israel, between the Mediterranean and the hills of Samaria, extending from Haifa to Tel Aviv
- platform rocker — a rocking chair supported on a stationary base
- platform scales — a weighing machine which has a platform that you put something on to be weighed
- platform tennis — a variation of tennis played on a wooden platform enclosed with chicken wire in which the players hit a rubber ball with wooden paddles following the same basic rules as tennis except that only one serve is permitted and balls can be played off the back and side fences.
- platform ticket — a pass allowing a visitor to enter upon a railroad platform from which those not traveling are ordinarily excluded.
- play favourites — to display favouritism
- please yourself — You say 'please yourself' to indicate in a rather rude way that you do not mind or care whether the person you are talking to does a particular thing or not.
- pontifical mass — (sometimes lowercase) Roman Catholic Church. a High Mass celebrated by a bishop or other prelate.
- popeye catalufa — See under catalufa.
- posttransfusion — occurring after or as a result of a transfusion
- potash feldspar — any of the feldspar minerals having the composition KAlSi 3 O 8 , as orthoclase.
- pott's fracture — a fracture of the lower fibula and of the malleolus of the tibia, resulting in outward displacement of the foot.
- poultry farming — breeding and keeping fowl
- power amplifier — an amplifier for increasing the power of a signal.
- power breakfast — If business people have a power breakfast, they go to a restaurant early in the morning so that they can have a meeting while they eat breakfast.
- pre-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
- prefix notation — (language) (Or "prefix syntax") One of the possible orderings of functions and operands: in prefix notation the function precedes all its operands. For example, what may normally be written as "1+2" becomes "(+ 1 2)". A few languages (e.g., lisp) have strictly prefix syntax, many more employ prefix notation in combination with infix notation. The opposite, postfix notation, is somewhat rarer.
- preformationism — the belief in the theory of preformation
- preformationist — someone who advocates the theory of preformation
- premodification — an act or instance of modifying.
- prenotification — notice that is given or served prior to a specific date; advance notice.
- preprofessional — of or relating to the time preceding one's concentrated study or practice of a profession: preprofessional training.
- press of canvas — the most sail a vessel can carry under given conditions
- preverification — the state of being verified.
- price inflation — inflation fuelled by rising prices
- primrose family — the plant family Primulaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants having simple, opposite, whorled, or basal leaves, flowers with a five-lobed corolla, and capsular fruit, and including cyclamen, loosestrife of the genus Lysimachia, pimpernel, primrose, and shooting star.