16-letter words containing o, u
- palmtop computer — a computer that has a small screen and compressed keyboard and is small enough to be held in the hand, often used as a personal organizer
- palomar mountain — mountain in SW Calif., near San Diego: site of an astronomical observatory: 6,140 ft (1,871 m)
- panel discussion — a formal discussion before an audience for which the topic, speakers, etc., have been selected in advance.
- parasol mushroom — a common edible field mushroom, Macrolepiota (Lepiota) procera, having a light-brown, scaly cap.
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- parkerhouse roll — a yeast roll shaped by folding over a flat, round piece of buttered dough
- part way through — mid-way; before the end
- partial function — A function which is not defined for all arguments of its input type. E.g. f(x) = 1/x if x /= 0. The opposite of a total function. In denotational semantics, a partial function f : D -> C may be represented as a total function ft : D' -> lift(C) where D' is a superset of D and ft x = f x if x in D ft x = bottom otherwise where lift(C) = C U bottom. Bottom (LaTeX \perp) denotes "undefined".
- 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
- paulinus of nola — Saint. ?353–431 ad, Roman consul and Christian poet; bishop of Nola (409–431). Feast day: June 22
- pay-as-you-throw — denoting a system for waste collection in which households are charged according to the amount of refuse they leave
- pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
- people smuggling — People smuggling or people trafficking is the practice of bringing immigrants into a country illegally.
- people's commune — a usually rural, Communist Chinese social and administrative unit of from 2000 to 4000 families combined for collective farming, fishing, mining, or industrial projects.
- percussion drill — a drill that is operated by percussion
- perforated ulcer — an ulcer that bursts through the stomach wall and leaks food and gastric juices into the abdominal cavity
- period furniture — furniture that was made during a particular period in time
- perpetual motion — the motion of a theoretical mechanism that, without any losses due to friction or other forms of dissipation of energy, would continue to operate indefinitely at the same rate without any external energy being applied to it.
- person of colour — a person who is not White
- personal pronoun — any one of the pronouns used to refer to the speaker, or to one or more to or about whom or which he or she is speaking, as, in English, I, we, you, he, she, it, they.
- personal tuition — private tuition
- personality cult — deliberately cultivated adulation of a person, esp a political leader
- phase modulation — radio transmission in which the carrier wave is modulated by changing its phase to transmit the amplitude and pitch of the signal.
- phosphor fatigue — screen saver
- phosphorous acid — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble acid of phosphorus, H 3 PO 3 , from which phosphites are derived.
- phosphoryl group — the trivalent group ≡P≡O.
- photoautotrophic — any organism that derives its energy for food synthesis from light and is capable of using carbon dioxide as its principal source of carbon.
- photocoagulation — a surgical technique using an intense beam of light from a laser or a xenon-arc bulb to seal blood vessels or coagulate tissue, used primarily in ophthalmology to repair detached retinas or to treat certain kinds of retinopathy.
- photograph album — bound book for photos
- photoluminescent — luminescence induced by the absorption of infrared radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet radiation.
- phytosuccivorous — feeding on sap, as certain sucking insects.
- pick up stompies — to come late to a conversation and so misunderstand what is being discussed
- picture moulding — the edge around a framed picture
- picture postcard — postcard (def 1).
- pigeon guillemot — a black or brown-speckled seabird of the genus Cepphus, of northern seas, having a sharply pointed black bill, red legs, and white wing patches, as C. grylle (black guillemot) of the North Atlantic and the similar C. columba (pigeon guillemot) of the North Pacific.
- pilot production — sth produced on a trial basis
- pique oneself on — to be proud of
- plymouth company — a company, formed in England in 1606 to establish colonies in America and that founded a colony in Maine in 1607.
- pneumatic trough — a trough filled with liquid, especially water, for collecting gases in bell jars or the like by displacement.
- pneumonic plague — a form of plague characterized by lung involvement.
- pneumonoconiosis — pneumoconiosis.
- pocono mountains — ridge of the Appalachians, in E Pa.: resort area: c. 2,000 ft (610 m) high
- poiseuille's law — the law that the velocity of a liquid flowing through a capillary is directly proportional to the pressure of the liquid and the fourth power of the radius of the capillary and is inversely proportional to the viscosity of the liquid and the length of the capillary.
- poitou-charentes — a region of W central France, on the Bay of Biscay: mainly low-lying
- political asylum — asylum provided by one nation to refugees, especially political refugees, from another nation.
- pop the question — to make a short, quick, explosive sound: The cork popped.
- port authorities — the body with overall responsibility for a port
- portmanteau word — a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, especially a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.
- 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