18-letter words containing p, a, t, r, o
- to play favourites — to display favouritism
- to plough a furrow — If you say that someone ploughs a particular furrow or ploughs their own furrow, you mean that their activities or interests are different or isolated from those of other people.
- to put years on sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has put years on someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much older
- to scrape a living — If you say that someone scrapes a living or scratches a living, you mean that they manage to earn enough to live on, but it is very difficult. In American English, you say they scrape out a living or scratch out a living.
- to speak your mind — If you speak your mind, you say firmly and honestly what you think about a situation, even if this may offend or upset people.
- to sweep the board — If someone sweeps the board in a competition or election, they win nearly everything that it is possible to win.
- to watch your step — If someone tells you to watch your step, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
- traditional option — an option that once purchased cannot be resold
- traditional policy — a life assurance policy in which the policyholder's premiums are paid into a general fund and his or her investment benefits are calculated according to actuarial formulae
- traditional weapon — a weapon having ceremonial tribal significance, such as an assegai or knobkerrie
- transient response — A transient response of a circuit is a temporary change in the way that it behaves due to an external excitation, that will disappear with time.
- transporter bridge — a bridge for carrying passengers and vehicles by means of a platform suspended from a trolley.
- transverse process — a process that projects from the sides of a vertebra.
- triphosphoric acid — the hypothetical acid H 5 P 3 O 10 , known chiefly by its salts.
- under-compensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- under-depreciation — decrease in value due to wear and tear, decay, decline in price, etc.
- unfair competition — acts done by a seller to confuse or deceive the public with intent to acquire a larger portion of the market, as by cutting prices below cost, misleading advertising, selling a spurious product under a false identity, etc.
- unisys corporation — (company) The company formed in 1984-5 when Burroughs Corporation merged with Sperry Corporation. This was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was coined. Unisys is one of the largest providers of information services, technology, and software in the world. They employ about 49,000 people and do business in some 100 countries. In 1994 about 80 percent of revenue was derived from commercial information systems and services, with the remainder coming from electronic systems and services for the defense market. The defense business was sold to Loral in early 1995. Slightly more than half of Unisys's revenue is from business in the United States. They specialise in providing business-critical solutions, based on open information networks, for organisations that operate in transaction-intensive environments. These organisations include financial services companies, airlines, telecommunications companies, government agencies, and other commercial enterprises. In August 1994, quarterly sales were $1799M and profits $50M.
- upper palaeolithic — the latest of the three periods of the Palaeolithic, beginning about 40 000 bc and ending, in Europe, about 12 000 bc: characterized by the emergence of modern man, Homo sapiens
- upper partial tone — overtone (def 1).
- urban contemporary — popular dance music incorporating elements of rap, rhythm-and-blues, funk, and soul.
- vectorcardiography — a method of determining the direction and magnitude of the electrical forces of the heart.
- videotape recorder — a device for recording television programs on magnetic tape for delayed transmission or for storage.
- visitor's passport — (formerly, in Britain) a passport, valid for one year and for certain countries only, that could be purchased from post offices
- warehouse capacity — the amount of storage space in a warehouse
- withdrawal symptom — effects of stopping a drug
- women at point sur — a narrative poem (1927) by Robinson Jeffers.
- work-study program — a program enabling high-school or college students to combine academic work with actual job experience.
- x-ray spectrometer — a spectrometer using x-rays to activate the inner electrons of an atom in order to separate and identify the chemical constituents of a substance and their concentrations.
- x-ray spectrometry — the use of an x-ray spectrometer.
- zion national park — a park in SW Utah. 148 sq. mi. (383 sq. km).