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18-letter words containing p, a, s

  • assessment process — a series of steps that constitute a method of assessing students or workers
  • assignment problem — (mathematics, algorithm)   (Or "linear assignment") Any problem involving minimising the sum of C(a, b) over a set P of pairs (a, b) where a is an element of some set A and b is an element of set B, and C is some function, under constraints such as "each element of A must appear exactly once in P" or similarly for B, or both. For example, the a's could be workers and the b's projects. The problem is "linear" because the "cost function" C() depends only on the particular pairing (a, b) and is independent of all other pairings.
  • associated company — a company which is largely controlled by its parent company because the latter owns anything up to 50% of the shares
  • assumption of risk — Assumption of risk is the practice of paying for minor losses yourself, but protecting against catastrophic losses by buying insurance cover.
  • ast computers, llc — (company)   The private company formed in January 1999 when Mr. Beny Alagem, the former chairman of Packard Bell NEC, Inc., bought the name and intellectual property of AST Research, Inc.. AST Computers, LLC provide hardware, software, and services for small US businesses. Address: Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • asymptotic freedom — a property of the force between quarks, according to quantum chromodynamics, such that they behave almost like free particles when they are close together within a hadron.
  • at your fingertips — If you say that something is at your fingertips, you approve of the fact that you can reach it easily or that it is easily available to you.
  • athletic supporter — jockstrap
  • atmospheric engine — an early form of single-acting engine in which the power stroke is provided by atmospheric pressure acting upon a piston in an exhausted cylinder.
  • atmospheric window — wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be transmitted through the earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric windows occur in the visible, infrared, and radio regions of the spectrum
  • auditory phonetics — the branch of phonetics concerned with the perception of speech sounds by humans
  • australopithecines — Plural form of australopithecine.
  • automatic exposure — the automatic adjustment of the lens aperture and shutter speed of a camera by a control mechanism
  • autonomous phoneme — a phoneme that is defined or determined by its contrast in sound with other phonemes, without reference to its role in morphology or any other level of linguistic analysis beyond the phonetic level.
  • avoirdupois weight — a British and American system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces
  • ballistic pendulum — a device consisting of a large mass hung from a horizontal bar by two rods, used to measure the velocity of an object, as a bullet, by retaining the object upon impact, its velocity being a function of the displacement of the mass.
  • bankers-acceptance — a draft or bill of exchange that a bank has accepted. Abbreviation: BA. Also called banker's acceptance. Compare acceptance (def 6).
  • barbershop quartet — a group of four singers who perform a style of music sung in four-part harmony
  • baritone saxophone — the second lowest instrument in the family of saxophones
  • basement apartment — an apartment below the ground floor of a building
  • behaviour patterns — the characteristic ways in which a person or animal acts
  • benchmark position — a public service job used for comparison with a similar position, such as a position in commerce, for wage settlements
  • bichromate process — any of several methods of photography in which the light-sensitive medium is alkaline bichromate associated with a colloid such as gum, albumen, or gelatin.
  • biological parents — the biological mother and father of a child
  • bipolar transistor — (electronics)   A transistor made from a sandwich of n- and p-type semiconductor material: either npn or pnp. The middle section is known as the "base" and the other two as the "collector" and "emitter". When used as an amplifying element, the base to emitter junction is in a "forward-biased" (conducting) condition, and the base to collector junction is "reverse-biased" or non-conducting. Small changes in the base to emitter current (the input signal) cause either holes (for pnp devices) or free electrons (for npn) to enter the base from the emitter. The attracting voltage of the collector causes the majority of these charges to cross into and be collected by the collector, resulting in amplification. Contrast field effect transistor.
  • blue-plate special — an inexpensive restaurant meal served at a fixed price on a large plate, originally blue
  • bomb disposal unit — a unit of the police or armed services specializing in bomb disposal
  • bore the pants off — to bore extremely
  • brazilian sapphire — a blue variety of tourmaline used as a gem: not a true sapphire.
  • burkitt's lymphoma — a cancer characterized by tumors containing lymphoid cells, occurring esp. in children, in the jaw, eyes, and internal organs: it is associated with the Epstein-Barr virus
  • calliper compasses — an instrument for measuring internal or external dimensions, consisting of two steel legs hinged together
  • camp david accords — a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt issuing from talks at Camp David between Egyptian President Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and the host, U.S. President Carter: signed in 1979.
  • cape breton island — an island off SE Canada, in NE Nova Scotia, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso: its easternmost point is Cape Breton. Pop: 132 298 (2006). Area: 10 280 sq km (3970 sq miles)
  • cape saint vincent — a headland at the SW extremity of Portugal: scene of several important naval battles, notably in 1797, when the British defeated the French and Spanish
  • capital allowances — the money spent by a company on fixed assets which can be taken off the profits of the company before tax is imposed
  • capital investment — the money that is invested in something
  • capital punishment — Capital punishment is punishment which involves the legal killing of a person who has committed a serious crime such as murder.
  • captain james cook — Frederick Albert, 1865–1940, U.S. physician and polar explorer.
  • cassiopeia's chair — the five brightest stars in the constellation Cassiopeia that seem to form the shape of a W or M
  • castration complex — an unconscious fear of having one's genitals removed, as a punishment for wishing to have sex with a parent
  • catastrophe theory — a mathematical theory that classifies surfaces according to their form
  • cathode dark space — Crookes dark space.
  • chagos archipelago — group of islands in the Indian Ocean 1,180 mi (1,899 km) northeast of Mauritius, comprising the British Indian Ocean Territory: chief island, Diego Garcia
  • championship point — a point that would decide the winner of a match that would decide the championship
  • change one's spots — to reform one's character
  • character graphics — ASCII art
  • christine de pisan — ?1364–?1430, French poet and prose writer, born in Venice. Her works include ballads, rondeaux, lays, and a biography of Charles V of France
  • christmas shopping — shopping especially for Christmas presents, but also for Christmas food and drink, and all the other things required over the Christmas period.
  • chronostratigraphy — The branch of geology concerned with establishing the absolute ages of strata.
  • citizenship papers — the document stating that a naturalized person has been formally declared a citizen
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