16-letter words containing o, p, s, i
- avalon peninsula — a large peninsula of Newfoundland, between Trinity and Placentia Bays. Area: about 10 000 sq km (4000 sq miles)
- aversion therapy — a method of suppressing an undesirable habit, such as excessive smoking, by causing the subject to associate an unpleasant effect, such as an electric shock or nausea, with the habit
- azuero peninsula — a peninsula in SW Panama, bordered on the E by the Gulf of Panama.
- bargaining scope — the range of topics within the scope of a particular set of negotiations leading to a collective agreement
- basque provinces — an autonomous region of N Spain, comprising the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya: inhabited mainly by Basques, who retained virtual autonomy from the 9th to the 19th century. Pop: 1 840 700 (2003 est). Area: about 7250 sq km (2800 sq miles)
- bastard pointing — an imitation of tuck pointing, having a fillet made from the mortar of the joint.
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
- belgian sheepdog — any of a Belgian breed of large herding dog with a black coat, sometimes used as a guide dog
- beside the point — If you say that something is beside the point, you mean that it is not relevant to the subject that you are discussing.
- bicapitalisation — The act said to have been performed on trademarks (such as PostScript, NeXT, NeWS, VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of common coinage by nonstandard capitalisation. Too many marketroid types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the 2,317th time they do it. Compare studlycaps.
- big bag of pages — (BIBOP) Where data objects are tagged with some kind of descriptor (giving their size or type for example) memory can be saved by storing objects with the same descriptor in one "page" of memory. The most significant bits of an object's address are used as the BIBOP page number. This is looked up in a BIBOP table to find the descriptor for all objects in that page. This idea is similar to the "zones" used in some Lisp systems (e.g. LeLisp).
- bipolar disorder — Bipolar disorder is a mental illness in which a person's state of mind changes between extreme happiness and extreme depression.
- bird of paradise — A bird of paradise is a songbird which is found mainly in New Guinea. The male birds have very brightly coloured feathers.
- bird's-nest soup — a rich spicy Chinese soup made from the outer part of the nests of SE Asian swifts of the genus Collocalia
- bird-of-paradise — Also called bird-of-paradise flower. any of several plants of the genus Strelitzia, native to southern Africa, especially S. reginae, having a large, showy orange and blue inflorescence.
- boatswain's pipe — a whistle used formerly to give orders on board ship
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- boundary dispute — dispute between neighbours about the boundary between their properties
- branchiopneustic — breathing by means of gills, as certain aquatic insect larvae.
- bristlecone pine — a coniferous tree, Pinus aristata, of the western US, bearing cones with bristle-like prickles: one of the longest-lived trees, useful in radiocarbon dating
- brood parasitism — a type of parasitism in which a bird (brood parasite), as a cowbird or European cuckoo, lays and abandons its eggs in the nest of another species
- button one's lip — to stop talking: often imperative
- bypass capacitor — a capacitor which provides a low-impedance path for alternating current while not passing any direct current
- bypass operation — an operation involving redirection of blood flow, either to avoid a diseased blood vessel or in order to perform heart surgery
- camomile shampoo — a liquid or cream preparation of soap or detergent with camomile extract to wash the hair
- capsizing moment — the moment of an upsetting couple.
- carboxypeptidase — any of several digestive enzymes that catalyze the removal of an amino acid from the end of a peptide chain having a free carbonyl group.
- castor-oil plant — a tall euphorbiaceous Indian plant, Ricinus communis, cultivated in tropical regions for ornament and for its poisonous seeds, from which castor oil is extracted
- catastrophically — of the nature of a catastrophe, or disastrous event; calamitous: a catastrophic failure of the dam.
- checking deposit — a deposit on which cheques may be drawn
- chemical weapons — toxic chemicals used as weapons
- chemolithotrophs — Plural form of chemolithotroph.
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs
- child psychology — the study of the mental states and processes of children.
- chinese pavilion — crescent (def 6).
- chinese primrose — any plant of the genus Primula, as P. vulgaris (English primrose) of Europe, having yellow flowers, or P. sinensis (Chinese primrose) of China, having flowers in a variety of colors. Compare primrose family.
- chinese-pavilion — a shape resembling a segment of a ring tapering to points at the ends.
- chipped potatoes — chips
- chipping sparrow — a common North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, having brown-and-grey plumage and a white eye stripe
- chondrodysplasia — (medicine) A genetic disorder characterized by short-limbed dwarfism.
- chromatographies — Plural form of chromatography.
- chymotrypsinogen — the inactive precursor of chymotrypsin
- circumscriptions — Plural form of circumscription.
- circumsporozoite — (biology, of a protein) Located on the surface of a sporozoite (and involved in host cell recognition and invasion); abbreviated as CS.
- closed-captioned — (of a video recording) having subtitles which appear on screen only if the cassette is played through a special decoder
- colorado springs — a city and resort in central Colorado. Pop: 370 448 (2003 est)
- commissionership — The role or office of commissioner.
- common spoonbill — a wading bird of warm regions, Platalea leucorodia, having a long horizontally flattened bill: family Threskiornithidae, order Ciconiiformes
- community spirit — willingness and desire to participate in activities that promote a community