17-letter words containing p, a, r, t, l
- cyrillic alphabet — the alphabet derived from that of the Greeks, supposedly by Saint Cyril, for the writing of Slavonic languages: now used primarily for Russian, Bulgarian, and the Serbian dialect of Serbo-Croat
- cytotrophoblastic — Relating to, or containing, cytotrophoblasts.
- dagestan republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the Caspian Sea: annexed from Persia in 1813; rich mineral resources. Capital: Makhachkala. Pop: 2 584 200 (2002). Area: 50 278 sq km (19 416 sq miles)
- departmentalizing — Present participle of departmentalize.
- depersonalisation — Alternative spelling of depersonalization.
- depersonalization — the act or an instance of depersonalizing
- dephosphorylation — the removal of a phosphate group from an organic compound, as in the changing of ATP to ADP.
- development grant — a grant awarded, esp by a government, to a person or company in order to fund the development of a new product
- dialect geography — linguistic geography
- diaphragmatically — By use of the diaphragm; in a diaphragmatic way.
- diethyltryptamine — a synthetic derivative of tryptamine with hallucinogenic and psychotogenic effects. Abbreviation: DET.
- digital footprint — one's unique set of digital activities, actions, and communications that leave a data trace on the Internet or on a computer or other digital device and can identify the particular user or device: Our online browsing habits are part of our passive digital footprint, created without our consent or knowledge, but our active digital footprint, especially on social media, can more easily be managed. Compare footprint (def 4).
- disaster planning — disaster recovery
- display standards — display standard
- disproportionally — not in proportion; disproportionate.
- disrespectability — Lack of respectability.
- dissipation trail — a clear rift left behind an aircraft flying through a thin cloud layer.
- doorstep salesman — a door-to-door salesman
- drilling platform — a structure, either fixed to the sea bed or mobile, which supports the machinery and equipment (the drilling rig), together with the stores, required for digging an offshore oil well
- drive up the wall — to cause to become crazy or furious
- duality principle — the principle that a mathematical duality exists under certain conditions.
- ehelp corporation — (company) A vendor of Microsoft Windows application development tools such as RoboHELP and RoboDemo. EHelp were formerly (around 1997) Blue Sky Software. Address: 7777 Fay Avenue, Suite 201, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Telephone: +1-800-793-0364, +1 (619) 459 6365. Fax: +1 (619) 459 6366.
- electromyographic — Using electromyography.
- elevator operator — a person who operates a platform raised or lowered in a vertical shaft to transport people from floor to floor in a building
- elliptical spring — An elliptical spring is a spring that is made from two springs in the shape of elongated ovals laid cut in half and back-to-back.
- emotional cripple — someone who is unable to feel or show true emotion and so cannot form relationships with other people
- enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
- entrepreneurially — In an entrepreneurial manner.
- equal opportunity — policies that bar discrimination
- esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
- ethnopharmacology — The scientific study correlating ethnic groups, their health, and how it relates to their physical habits and methodology in creating and using medicines.
- exception handler — Special code which is called when an exception occurs during the execution of a program. If the programmer does not provide a handler for a given exception, a built-in system exception handler will usually be called resulting in abortion of the program run and some kind of error indication being returned to the user. Examples of exception handler mechanisms are Unix's signal calls and Lisp's catch and throw.
- experimental lisp — (language) (xlisp) An experimental programming language combining a subset of Common Lisp with an object-oriented extension capability (Class and Object types). It was implemented by David Micheal Betz at Apple to allow experimentation with object-oriented programming on small computers. The C source code has been ported to Unix, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari, and MS-DOS. Version 2.1 of the interpreter, by Tom Almy is closer to Common Lisp. E-mail: Tom Almy <[email protected]>.
- extrasolar planet — any other celestial body revolving around a star, illuminated by light from that star
- feint-ruled paper — writing paper with light horizontal lines printed across at regular intervals
- fingerling potato — a finger-shaped potato
- flash photography — photography using a momentary flash of artificial light as a source of illumination.
- front-line player — a regular player on a sports team or one who plays in the farthest forward position
- garden heliotrope — the common valerian, Valeriana officinalis, especially when cultivated as an ornamental.
- glove compartment — a compartment in the dashboard of an automobile for storing small items.
- golf ball printer — IBM 2741
- grapefruit league — a series of training games played by major-league teams before the opening of the season (so named because they take place in the citrus-growing South, as in Florida).
- grey-faced petrel — a dark-coloured New Zealand petrel, Pterodroma macroptera gouldi
- half-breadth plan — a diagrammatic plan of one half of the hull of a vessel divided lengthwise amidships, showing water lines, stations, diagonals, and bow and buttock lines.
- hardware platform — a group of compatible computers that can run the same software.
- health care proxy — a legal document in which a person can appoint someone to make decisions about medical treatment in the event that he or she is no longer mentally competent or able to communicate.
- helicopter parent — a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life: In typical helicopter parenting, a mother or father swoops in at any sign of challenge or discomfort.
- henry of portugal — ("the Navigator") 1394–1460, prince of Portugal: sponsor of geographic explorations.
- historiographical — the body of literature dealing with historical matters; histories collectively.
- holding operation — a plan or procedure devised to prolong the existing situation