23-letter words containing o, c, t, a, v
- national health service — In Britain, the National Health Service is the state system for providing medical care. It is paid for by taxes.
- nonverbal communication — gesture and facial expression
- over-the-counter market — a security market that deals in securities that are not listed or quoted on a stock exchange
- overnight accommodation — accommodation provided by an establishment (such as a hotel) where guests can sleep or spend the night
- own occupation coverage — Own occupation coverage is insurance that covers a person if they cannot work in their own occupation, following an accident, injury, or disability.
- participant observation — a technique of field research, used in anthropology and sociology, by which an investigator (participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities.
- positive discrimination — special opportunities
- private limited company — a company whose shares can be bought by the public
- productivity bargaining — the process of reaching an agreement (productivity agreement) through collective bargaining whereby the employees of an organization agree to changes which are intended to improve productivity in return for an increase in pay or other benefits
- progressive cavity pump — A progressive cavity pump is a pump with an electric motor that rotates rods to make fluid in cavities move upward.
- provocative maintenance — [Common ironic mutation of "preventive maintenance"] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such "maintenance" often *induces* problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an *un*usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey.
- quantum flavourdynamics — a gauge theory of the electromagnetic and weak interactions
- quote chapter and verse — [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from an appropriate bible. "I don't care if "rn" gets it wrong; "Followup-To: poster" is explicitly permitted by RFC 1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you don't believe me." See also legalese, language lawyer, RTFS (sense 2).
- relative molecular mass — the sum of all the relative atomic masses of the atoms in a molecule; the ratio of the average mass per molecule of a specified isotopic composition of a substance to one-twelfth the mass of an atom of carbon-12
- saint christopher-nevis — St. Kitts-Nevis.
- secondary seventh chord — a chord formed by superposition of three thirds upon any degree of the scale except the dominant.
- seneca falls convention — a women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.
- sovereignty association — (in Canada) a proposed arrangement by which Quebec would become independent but would maintain a formal association with Canada
- to have a police record — If you say that somebody has a police record, you mean that they have committed a crime or crimes and the police have a record of this.
- to save someone's bacon — If someone or something saves your bacon, they get you out of a dangerous or difficult situation.
- topological equivalence — the property of two topological spaces such that there is a homeomorphism from one to the other.
- urban conservation area — an urban area that is protected, preserved and carefully managed
- variable contrast paper — printing paper in which the contrast of the image is controlled by the color of the printing light.
- velocity of circulation — the frequency with which a single unit of currency or the total money supply turns over within the economy in a given year.
- vestibulocochlear nerve — either one of the eight pairs of cranial nerves that supply the cochlea and semicircular canals of the internal ear and contribute to the sense of hearing
- video cassette recorder — See VCR.
- virtual device location — (Or "Virtual Address") The address of a device (e.g. disk, printer, terminal) belonging to a "guest" operating system. Such an address is mapped to a physical device. VM may remap several virtual disks to different parts of a single physical disk.
- viscount horatio nelson — Viscount Horatio, 1758–1805, British admiral.
- volumetric displacement — the volume of air per revolution that passes through a mechanical pump when the pressure at the intake and the exhaust is the same as that of the atmosphere
- voter registration card — a card that enables a person to register in order to vote
- wind cave national park — a national park in SW South Dakota. 41½ sq. mi. (107 sq. km).