21-letter words containing p, e, t, r, i, f
- profit-sharing scheme — a scheme employing profit-sharing; a system in which a portion of the net profit of a business is distributed to its employees, usually in proportion to their wages or their length of service
- program temporary fix — (programming) (PTF) (Colloquially: Probably This Fixes) An IBM sanctioned patch, often implemented using ZAP or SUPERZAP.
- promoter of the faith — devil's advocate (def 2).
- reinforcement therapy — a behavior modification technique in which appropriate behavior is strengthened through systematic reinforcement.
- return from interrupt — (programming) (RTI) An instruction mnemonic on many computers including the 6502 and 6800. The variant "RETI" is found among former Zilog Z80 hackers (almost nobody programs these things in assembly code anymore). The Intel 80x86 equivalent is "IRET".
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- scientific empiricism — the philosophy that there are no real differences between the sciences.
- single parent benefit — a form of government funded financial assistance paid to single parents
- snap one's fingers at — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- south pacific current — an ocean current that flows E in the South Pacific Ocean parallel to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
- spirits of turpentine — oil of turpentine.
- split-finger fastball — a type of fastball that sinks abruptly as it nears home plate, thrown with the grip used for a forkball
- split-screen facility — a facility allowing different scenes to be shown on screen at the same time
- sun protection factor — SPF.
- supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
- surface of projection — the surface upon which an image or a set of points is projected.
- sweet spirit of nitre — ethyl nitrite spirit.
- the acting profession — actors considered as a group
- the oldest profession — prostitution
- the origin of species — (On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) a treatise (1859) by Charles Darwin setting forth his theory of evolution.
- the shipping forecast — a radio broadcast made by the BBC of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles
- the supreme sacrifice — the sacrifice of one's life
- theater of operations — the part of the theater of war, including a combat zone and a communications zone, that is engaged in military operations and their support.
- to fall into the trap — If someone falls into the trap of doing something, they think or behave in a way which is not wise or sensible.
- to shoot from the hip — If you say that someone shoots from the hip or fires from the hip, you mean that they react to situations or give their opinion very quickly, without stopping to think.
- tripartite and fretty — (of a cross) having the limbs divided into three longitudinal strips each, intermingled in the manner of those in a cross parted and fretty.
- whip-and-tongue graft — a graft prepared by cutting both the scion and the stock in a sloping direction and inserting a tongue in the scion into a slit in the stock.
- wildlife photographer — someone that specializes in taking photographs of wild animals, especially in their natural habitats, and plants
- writ of habeas corpus — law: petition for hearing
- xfree86 project, inc. — (operating system, graphics) A non-profit organisation that produces XFree86, a freely redistributable implementation of the X Window System that runs on Unix and Unix-like operating systems and OS/2. The XFree86 Project has traditionally focused on Intel x86 based platforms (hence the "86"), but the current release supports other platforms.