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16-letter words containing o, s, t, p, r, e

  • parrot's-feather — a South American water milfoil, Myriophyllum aquaticum, having hairlike pinnate leaves, widely cultivated as an aquarium plant.
  • parser generator — A program which takes a formal description of a grammar (e.g. in BNF) and outputs source code for a parser which will recognise valid strings obeying that grammar and perform associated actions. Unix's yacc is a well known example.
  • parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
  • pascal's theorem — the theorem that the lines joining adjacent vertices of a hexagon intersect the same straight line if alternate vertices lie on two intersecting straight lines.
  • past progressive — a verb form consisting of an auxiliary be in the past tense followed by a present participle and used especially to indicate that an action or event was incomplete or in progress at a point of reference in the past, as was sleeping in I was sleeping when the phone rang.
  • pastoral epistle — any one of three New Testament books, I or II Timothy or Titus, that stress pastoral and ecclesiastical concerns.
  • paterson's curse — a purple-flowered noxious plant, Echium plantagineum, a close relative of viper's bugloss, naturalized in Australia and NZ where its harmfulness to livestock has prompted attempts to limit its spread
  • peasants' revolt — the first great popular rebellion in English history (1381), caused by the imposition of an unpopular poll tax: it lasted less than a month and failed as a social revolution
  • pectoralis major — the larger of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
  • pectoralis minor — the smaller of the two large chest muscles that assist in movements of the shoulder and upper arm
  • pension mortgage — an arrangement whereby a person takes out a mortgage and pays the capital repayment instalments into a pension fund and the interest to the mortgagee. The loan is repaid out of the tax-free lump sum proceeds of the pension plan on the borrower's retirement
  • people's charter — the principles or movement of a party of political reformers, chiefly workingmen, in England from 1838 to 1848: so called from the document (People's Charter or National Charter) that contained a statement of their principles and demands.
  • 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-to-person — (of a long-distance telephone call) chargeable only upon speaking with a specified person at the number called: a person-to-person call to her brother in California. Compare station-to-station.
  • personal details — details about a person such as their name and address
  • personal effects — belongings
  • personal liberty — the liberty of an individual to do his or her will freely except for those restraints imposed by law to safeguard the physical, moral, political, and economic welfare of others.
  • personal stylist — a person employed by a rich or famous client to offer advice on clothes, hairstyles, and other aspects of personal appearance
  • personal trainer — a person who works one-on-one with a client to plan or implement an exercise or fitness regimen.
  • personal tuition — private tuition
  • personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
  • personality test — an instrument, as a questionnaire or series of standardized tasks, used to measure personality characteristics or to discover personality disorders.
  • personality type — a cluster of personality traits commonly occurring together
  • petrified forest — a national park in E Arizona, containing petrified coniferous trees about 170 000 000 years old
  • pharmacogenetics — the branch of pharmacology that examines the relation of genetic factors to variations in response to drugs.
  • pharmacokinetics — the branch of pharmacology that studies the fate of pharmacological substances in the body, as their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
  • phlebothrombosis — the presence of a thrombus in a vein.
  • phosphor fatigue — screen saver
  • photorespiration — the oxidation of carbohydrates in many higher plants in which they get oxygen from light and then release carbon dioxide, somewhat different from photosynthesis.
  • picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
  • pincers movement — a military maneuver in which both flanks of an enemy force are attacked with the aim of attaining complete encirclement.
  • 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.
  • platoon sergeant — the senior noncommissioned officer in a platoon, equivalent to sergeant first class.
  • pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
  • pocket secretary — a long, narrow walletlike case, usually of leather and containing pockets for credit and business cards, paper money, etc., and sometimes a notepad and pencil.
  • poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
  • police inspector — rank of police officer in the UK
  • poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
  • poor white trash — white trash.
  • port authorities — the body with overall responsibility for a port
  • portuguese india — a former Portuguese overseas territory on the W coast of India, consisting of the districts of Gôa, Daman, and Diu: annexed by India December 1961. Capital: Gôa.
  • portuguese timor — former (1914-75) Portuguese territory in the Malay Archipelago
  • posigrade rocket — an auxiliary rocket used to separate the sections of a multistage rocket, fired in the direction of flight.
  • post-reformation — the act of reforming; state of being reformed.
  • post-renaissance — the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.
  • postcode lottery — a situation in which the standard of medical care, education, etc, received by the public varies from area to area, depending on the funding policies of various health boards, local authorities, etc
  • postremogeniture — a system of inheritance under which the estate of a deceased person goes to his youngest son. Also called ultimogeniture. Compare primogeniture (def 2).
  • poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
  • practical reason — (in Kantian ethics) reason applied to the problem of action and choice, especially in ethical matters.
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