16-letter words containing o, f, s, p
- isle of portland — a rugged limestone peninsula in SW England, in Dorset, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and by Chesil Bank: the lighthouse of Portland Bill lies at the S tip; famous for the quarrying of Portland stone, a fine building material. Pop (town): 12 000 (latest est)
- isoplastic graft — syngraft.
- josephson effect — a high-speed switch, used in experimental computers, that operates on the basis of a radiative phenomenon (Jo·sephson effect) exhibited by a pair of superconductors separated by a thin insulator.
- lady of pleasure — a prostitute.
- law of exponents — the theorem stating the elementary properties of exponents, as the property that the product of the same bases, each raised to an exponent, is equal to the base raised to the sum of the exponents: xa ⋅ xb = xa + b .
- law of parsimony — a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions.
- lay oneself open — to make oneself vulnerable (to criticism, attack, etc)
- line of position — a line connecting all the possible positions of a ship or aircraft, as determined by a single observation. Abbreviation: LOP.
- liver of sulphur — a mixture of potassium sulphides used as a fungicide and insecticide and in the treatment of skin diseases
- matthew of paris — c1200–59, English chronicler.
- misspecification — An incorrect specification.
- multiple factors — polygene.
- multiple fission — fission into more than two new organisms.
- newspaper office — an office where the editorial and production staff of a newspaper work
- nonprofessionals — Plural form of nonprofessional.
- offensive weapon — an instrument designed to be used in attack, or an object which may be used in attack
- okefenokee swamp — a large wooded swamp area in SE Georgia.
- on-the-spot fine — a fine that is charged immediately upon being caught and found guilty of a crime
- one's cup of tea — the dried and prepared leaves of a shrub, Camellia sinensis, from which a somewhat bitter, aromatic beverage is prepared by infusion in hot water.
- pacific sturgeon — a dark gray sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, inhabiting marine and fresh waters along the northwestern coast of North America, valued as a food and sport fish.
- pair of scissors — two-bladed cutting tool
- paraprofessional — a person trained to assist a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or other professional, but not licensed to practice in the profession.
- parrot's-feather — a South American water milfoil, Myriophyllum aquaticum, having hairlike pinnate leaves, widely cultivated as an aquarium plant.
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- paulinus of nola — Saint. ?353–431 ad, Roman consul and Christian poet; bishop of Nola (409–431). Feast day: June 22
- pearls of wisdom — good advice, wise words
- pearly razorfish — See under razorfish.
- pension benefits — the benefits that are paid to a person in accordance with his pension scheme
- performance test — a test requiring little or no use of language, the test materials being designed to elicit manual or behavioral responses rather than verbal ones.
- permafrost table — the variable surface constituting the upper limit of permafrost. Compare frostline (def 2).
- person of colour — a person who is not White
- personal effects — belongings
- petrified forest — a national park in E Arizona, containing petrified coniferous trees about 170 000 000 years old
- philip of swabia — 1180?–1208, king of Germany and uncrowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 1198–1208 (son of Frederick I).
- phosphor fatigue — screen saver
- pique oneself on — to be proud of
- place of worship — religious house: church, temple
- plaster of paris — calcined gypsum in white, powdery form, used as a base for gypsum plasters, as an additive of lime plasters, and as a material for making fine and ornamental casts: characterized by its ability to set rapidly when mixed with water.
- play off against — If you play people off against each other, you make them compete or argue, so that you gain some advantage.
- point of sailing — the bearing of a sailing vessel, considered with relation to the direction of the wind.
- post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
- postfix notation — (language) (Or "Reverse Polish Notation", RPN) One of the possible orderings of functions and operands: in postfix notation the functions are preceded by all their operands. For example, what may normally be written as "1+2" becomes "1 2 +". Postfix notation is well suited for stack based architectures but modern compilers reduced this advantage considerably. The best-known language with postfix syntax is FORTH. Some Hewlett-Packard calculators use it, e.g. HP-25, HP-29C, HP-41C, HP-23SII. Compare: infix notation, prefix notation.
- preference stock — preferred stock.
- presence of mind — a calm state of mind that allows one to think clearly or act effectively in an emergency.
- prespecification — the act of specifying.
- press conference — a prearranged interview with news reporters, held to elicit publicity or, as granted by a dignitary, public official, research scientist, etc., to fulfill a request from the press.
- pribilof islands — a group of islands in the Bering Sea, off SW Alaska, belonging to the US: the breeding ground of the northern fur seal. Area: about 168 sq km (65 sq miles)
- pride oneself on — to be proud of
- prisoner of bill — (humour) (PoB) A derisory term, in use generally among Unix users, for anyone who uses Microsoft products either because they don't know there is anything better (i.e. Unix) or because they would be incapable of working anything more complex (i.e. Unix). The interesting and widespread presumption among users of the term is that (at least at the time of writing, 1998) using anything other than Unix or a Microsoft OS (whether VMS, Macintosh, Amiga) is so eccentric a choice as to be at least somewhat praiseworthy.
- professionalisms — professional character, spirit, or methods.