20-letter words containing o, s, e, t
- organization expense — the costs associated with organizing a business entity and bringing it into existence
- orthognathic surgery — the surgical correction of deformities or malpositions of the jaw.
- orthopaedic mattress — a specially firm mattress designed to help correct or ameliorate the discomfort of disorders of the spine and joints
- oscillating universe — a variant model of the closed universe in which the universe undergoes cycles of expansion and contraction.
- ostensive definition — the definition of a term by pointing to one or more examples to which the term can be applied.
- ousterhout's fallacy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- outside (of) the box — in a fresh, inventive, unconventional way
- overenthusiastically — With excessive enthusiasm.
- overseer of the poor — a minor official of a parish attached to the workhouse or poorhouse
- pale western cutworm — the larva of a noctuid moth, Agrotis orthogonia, of the western U.S. and Canada, that seriously damages grains, beets, potatoes, alfalfa, etc., by feeding underground on roots and stems.
- palos verdes estates — a town in S California.
- paper qualifications — qualifications gained through official examinations, etc, rather than through experience
- parametric equations — one of two or more equations expressing the location of a point on a curve or surface by determining each coordinate separately.
- partitioned data set — (file format) (PDS) A data set on an IBM mainframe that contains members, each of which acts like a separate data set. Partitioned data sets are more space-efficient than individual data sets, because they can put more than one data set on a track. They are also used to hold libraries, with one function per member. The syntax for a member is NAME.OF.PDS(MEMBER) although some systems (such as Phoenix) could use NAME.OF.PDS:MEMBER Original PDSes were of fixed size, and needed frequent compression to recover space after deleting or changing members. Newer PDS/E Extended PDSes do not have this problem.
- pass the time of day — to exchange casual greetings (with an acquaintance)
- pave the way for sth — If one thing paves the way for another, it creates a situation in which it is possible or more likely that the other thing will happen.
- pay through the nose — the part of the face or facial region in humans and certain animals that contains the nostrils and the organs of smell and functions as the usual passageway for air in respiration: in humans it is a prominence in the center of the face formed of bone and cartilage, serving also to modify or modulate the voice.
- peaceful coexistence — competition without war, or a policy of peace between nations of widely differing political systems and ideologies, especially between Communist and non-Communist nations: peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- peasecod breastplate — a breastplate having a long central ridge terminating in a raised area overhanging the waistline.
- peculiar institution — black slavery in the southern U.S. before the Civil War.
- pentobarbital sodium — a barbiturate drug used in medicine as a sedative and hypnotic. Formula: C11H17N2O3Na
- pentose nucleic acid — a nucleic acid containing a pentose.
- people's paths cross — If you cross someone's path or if your paths cross, you meet them by chance.
- periarteritis nodosa — polyarteritis.
- person of no account — (University of California at Santa Cruz) Used when referring to a person with no network address, frequently to forestall confusion. Most often as part of an introduction: "This is Bill, a person of no account, but he used to be [email protected]". Compare return from the dead.
- personality disorder — any of a group of mental disorders characterized by deeply ingrained maladaptive patterns of behavior and personality style, which are usually recognizable as early as adolescence and are often lifelong in duration.
- personnel department — business: human resources
- personnel management — the branch of management dealing with staff recruitment and matters relating to employees
- pest control officer — a person who gets rid of pests such as rats and mice
- philoprogenitiveness — producing offspring, especially abundantly; prolific.
- phosphorus pentoxide — a white, deliquescent, crystalline powder, P 2 O 5 , that, depending upon the amount of water it absorbs, forms orthophosphoric acid, metaphosphoric acid, or pyrophosphoric acid, produced by the burning of phosphorus in dry air: used in the preparation of phosphoric acids, as a drying and dehydrating agent, and in organic synthesis.
- photogelatin process — collotype (def 1).
- physical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- physical examination — an examination, usually by a physician, of a person's body in order to determine his or her state of health or physical fitness, as for military service or participation in a sport.
- physical meteorology — the branch of meteorology dealing with the study of optical, electrical, acoustical, and thermodynamic phenomena in the atmosphere, including the physics of clouds and precipitation.
- planetary precession — the small component of the precession of the equinoxes contributed by the motion of the ecliptic, the change in orientation of the plane of the earth's orbit being produced by the gravitational attraction of the planets.
- pleased with oneself — If someone seems very satisfied with something they have done, you can say that they are pleased with themselves, especially if you think they are more satisfied than they should be.
- poke one's nose into — to prod or push, especially with something narrow or pointed, as a finger, elbow, stick, etc.: to poke someone in the ribs.
- poor man's something — a (cheaper) substitute for something
- population explosion — the rapid increase in numbers of a particular species, especially in the world's human population since the end of World War II, attributed to an accelerating birthrate, a decrease in infant mortality, and an increase in life expectancy.
- population inversion — a condition of matter in which more electrons are in a high energy state than in a lower energy state, as is required for the operation of a laser.
- portuguese water dog — one of a breed of medium-sized dogs originally developed to assist Portuguese fishermen and having a profuse black or brown coat with or without white markings and webbed feet.
- positive electricity — the electricity present in a body or substance that has a deficiency of electrons, as the electricity developed on glass when rubbed with silk.
- possessive adjective — See at possessive (def 4a).
- post office protocol — (messaging, protocol) (POP) A protocol designed to allow single-user computers to retrieve electronic mail from a POP server via TCP/IP. The default port is 110. The POP server might be a computer with a permanent Internet connection whereas its clients might only connect to it occasionally, e.g. by modem. There are (in 1994) three versions: POP, POP2, and POP3. Later versions are NOT compatible with earlier ones.
- post-order traversal — traversal
- postal delivery zone — zone (def 10).
- postcode prescribing — the practice of prescribing more or less expensive and effective medical treatments to patients depending on where they live in a country, and which treatments their health board is willing and able to provide
- posted write-through — A cache with a posted write-through policy (e.g. Intel 80386) delays the write-back to main memory until the bus is not in use.
- postgraduate student — a student who has obtained a degree from a university, etc, and is pursuing studies for a more advanced qualification