19-letter words containing p, a, c, t

photovoltaic effect — the phenomenon in which the incidence of light or other electromagnetic radiation upon the junction of two dissimilar materials, as a metal and a semiconductor, induces the generation of an electromotive force.
phthalocyanine blue — a pigment used in painting, derived from copper phthalocyanine and characterized chiefly by its brilliant, dark-blue color and by permanence.
physical impairment — A physical impairment is a condition in which a part of a person's body is damaged or is not working properly.
physical sequential — (file format) (PS, QSAM, Queued Sequential Access Method) The simplest data set on an IBM mainframe. Sequential files can only be read or written from the beginning: they do not support random access.
physician assistant — a person trained and certified to perform various medical procedures under the supervision of a physician
piece de resistance — the principal dish of a meal.
piece of the action — the process or state of acting or of being active: The machine is not in action now.
piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
pileated woodpecker — a large, black-and-white American woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, having a prominent red crest.
pinwheel escapement — a clock escapement in which two pallets, usually of unequal length, alternately engage and release pins set on the escape wheel perpendicular to its plane of rotation.
pirates of penzance — an operetta (1879) by Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
pistachio ice cream — ice cream flavoured with pistachios
plastic deformation — In plastic deformation a material changes shape when a stress is applied to it and does not go back to its original state when the stress is removed.
pneumatic conveying — Pneumatic conveying is the movement of powdered or granulated solids using air.
pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
pocket-handkerchief — handkerchief (def 1).
poincare conjecture — Mathematics. the question of whether a compact, simply connected three-dimensional manifold is topologically equivalent to a three-dimensional sphere.
police headquarters — building where police are stationed
political geography — the branch of human geography that deals with the relationship between political processes and spatial structures (regions, territories, etc)
political scientist — A political scientist is someone who studies, writes, or lectures about political science.
political-scientist — a social science dealing with political institutions and with the principles and conduct of government.
politically correct — marked by or adhering to a typically progressive orthodoxy on issues involving especially ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or ecology: The actor’s comment about unattractive women was not politically correct. The CEO feels that people who care about being politically correct are overly sensitive. Abbreviations: PC, P.C.
polyclonal antibody — a mixture of antibodies of different specificities, as in the serum of a person immunized to various antigens.
population genetics — the branch of genetics concerned with the hereditary makeup of populations.
port jackson willow — an Australian acacia tree, Acacia cyanophylla, introduced in the 19th century into South Africa, where it is now regarded as a pest
post-and-rail fence — a fence constructed of upright wooden posts with horizontal timber slotted through it
postage and packing — the cost of packing and mailing an item bought by post
postsynchronization — the process of adding sound, such as dubbing, to a film or video after shooting or videotaping is completed
posttranscriptional — Genetics, Biochemistry. occurring after the formation of RNA from DNA but before the RNA strand leaves the nucleus.
potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
preach to the choir — to express an opinion to someone who is already in agreement with it
predicate adjective — an adjective used in the predicate, especially with a copulative verb and attributive to the subject, as in He is dead, or attributive to the direct object, as in It made him sick.
predicate objective — objective complement.
preproduction trial — a trial to test a prototype of a product before the product goes into full-scale production
prescription charge — a charge, set by the government, to be paid by a patient for medicines
presumption of fact — a presumption based on experience or knowledge of the relationship between a known fact and a fact inferred from it.
pretty as a picture — girl: sweetly attractive
pretty good privacy — (tool, cryptography) (PGP) A high security RSA public-key encryption application for MS-DOS, Unix, VAX/VMS, and other computers. It was written by Philip R. Zimmermann <[email protected]> of Phil's Pretty Good(tm) Software and later augmented by a cast of thousands, especially including Hal Finney, Branko Lankester, and Peter Gutmann. PGP was distributed as "guerrilla freeware". The authors don't mind if it is distributed widely, just don't ask Philip Zimmermann to send you a copy. PGP uses a public-key encryption algorithm claimed by US patent #4,405,829. The exclusive rights to this patent are held by a California company called Public Key Partners, and you may be infringing this patent if you use PGP in the USA. This is explained in the PGP User's Guide, Volume II. PGP allows people to exchange files or messages with privacy and authentication. Privacy and authentication are provided without managing the keys associated with conventional cryptographic software. No secure channels are needed to exchange keys between users, which makes PGP much easier to use. This is because PGP is based on public-key cryptography. PGP encrypts data using the International Data Encryption Algorithm with a random session key, and uses the RSA algorithm to encrypt the session key. In December 1994 Philip Zimmermann faced prosecution for "exporting" PGP out of the United States but in January 1996 the US Goverment dropped the case. A US law prohibits the export of encryption software out of the country. Zimmermann did not do this, but the US government hoped to establish the proposition that posting an encryption program on a BBS or on the Internet constitutes exporting it - in effect, stretching export control into domestic censorship. If the government had won it would have had a chilling effect on the free flow of information on the global network, as well as on everyone's privacy from government snooping.
primary containment — Primary containment is the main means of preventing leaks and spills using equipment in direct content with the oil or gas being stored or transported.
prismatic telescope — a telescope having an eyepiece at the side or top equipped with a reflecting prism, used for taking sights at steep angles.
private first class — a soldier ranking above a private and below a corporal or specialist fourth class in the U.S. Army, and above a private and below a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.
private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
production platform — offshore power station
programmer's switch — (hardware) A button on the front of some Apple Macintosh computers which, when pressed, causes a command line prompt to appear. This gives access to the built-in mini-debugger, which has commands to dump memory, return to the application that was broken out, and others. A more sophisticated debugger must be installed in order to inspect breakpoints, etc.
property speculator — a person who takes part in property speculation
propositional logic — (logic) (or "propositional calculus") A system of symbolic logic using symbols to stand for whole propositions and logical connectives. Propositional logic only considers whether a proposition is true or false. In contrast to predicate logic, it does not consider the internal structure of propositions.
proton-proton chain — a series of thermonuclear reactions, responsible for the energy production in stars like the sun, in which the nuclei of hydrogen atoms are transformed into helium nuclei by sequential addition of single hydrogen nuclei.
pseudo-aristocratic — of or relating to government by an aristocracy.
pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
pseudo-intellectual — a person exhibiting intellectual pretensions that have no basis in sound scholarship.

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