17-letter words containing p, f
- dna amplification — an increase in the frequency of replication of a DNA segment.
- 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
- drool-proof paper — (jargon) Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down, to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the "drool-proof paper syndrome" or to have been "written on drool-proof paper". For example, this is an actual quote from Apple Computer's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame."
- drop on the floor — To react to an error condition by silently discarding messages or other valuable data. "The gateway ran out of memory, so it just started dropping packets on the floor." Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay sites that lose messages. See also black hole, bit bucket.
- droplet infection — infection spread by airborne droplets of secretions from the nose, throat, or lungs.
- east pacific rise — a long north-south elevation of the sea floor in the E Pacific Ocean extending southward from SW Mexico to the Antarctic Ocean.
- efficiency expert — a person who studies the methods, procedures, and job characteristics of a business or factory with the object of devising ways to increase the efficiency of equipment and personnel.
- empirical formula — a chemical formula indicating the proportion of each element present in a molecule
- employee benefits — benefits, such as health insurance, pension payments, or childcare, given to employees in addition to their usual salary or wage
- employment office — any of a number of government offices established to collect and supply to the unemployed information about job vacancies and to employers information about availability of prospective workers
- explicit function — a function whose values may be computed directly, as y = x2 + 1
- explosive forming — a rapid method of forming a metal object in which components are made by subjecting the metal to very high pressures generated by a controlled explosion
- factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
- fair market price — the price of something at which both a seller and a buyer are willing to strike a deal.
- falling diphthong — a diphthong in which the first of the two apparent vocalic elements is of greater stress or sonority and the second is of lesser stress or sonority, as in (ī), (ou), (oi), etc.
- fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fee-paying school — a school which charges fees to parents of pupils
- feint-ruled paper — writing paper with light horizontal lines printed across at regular intervals
- fictitious person — a legal entity or artificial person, as a corporation.
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- field penny-cress — the common penny-cress, Thlaspi arvense.
- field post office — a place to which mail intended for military units in the field is sent to be sorted and forwarded
- financial planner — a person whose business is advising individuals in the management of their financial affairs
- fingerling potato — a finger-shaped potato
- fingertip control — control exercised through your fingertips, e.g. by touching a touchscreen
- first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
- first-loss policy — an insurance policy for goods in which a total loss is extremely unlikely and the insurer agrees to provide cover for a sum less than the total value of the property
- fitness programme — a plan to help someone improve their health and physical condition
- five-spice powder — a mixture of spices used especially in Chinese cooking, usually including cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, pepper, and star anise.
- flash photography — photography using a momentary flash of artificial light as a source of illumination.
- flat as a pancake — without any curves or bumps
- flexible response — a military strategy that enables the response to an attack to be adapted to the nature and strength of the attack
- flight of capital — When people lose confidence in a particular economy or market and withdraw their investment from it, you can refer to a flight of capital from that economy or market.
- flight supplement — an additional charge payable on the price of an air ticket
- floppy disk drive — disk drive
- fluorescent strip — a fluorescent light in the form of a long strip
- foolscap envelope — an envelope of dimensions suitable to hold an unfolded sheet of foolscap paper
- foot-pound-second — of or relating to the system of units in which the foot, pound, and second are the principal units of length, mass, and time. Abbreviation: fps, f.p.s.
- for the most part — a portion or division of a whole that is separate or distinct; piece, fragment, fraction, or section; constituent: the rear part of the house; to glue the two parts together.
- forest enterprise — a British government department responsible for maintaining and expanding forests
- foucault pendulum — a pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the earth by exhibiting an apparent change in its plane of oscillation.
- four-eyed opossum — a small opossum, Metachirops (Philander) opossum, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, having a white spot above each eye.
- four-part harmony — harmony in which each chord has four tones, creating, in sum, four melodic lines.
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- fra filippo lippi — Lippi, Fra Filippo.
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- francisco pizarro — Francisco [fran-sis-koh;; Spanish frahn-thees-kaw,, -sees-] /frænˈsɪs koʊ;; Spanish frɑnˈθis kɔ,, -ˈsis-/ (Show IPA), c1470–1541, Spanish conqueror of Peru.
- frederick pollock — Sir Frederick, 1845–1937, English legal scholar and author.
- freedom of speech — the right of people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference, subject to the laws against libel, incitement to violence or rebellion, etc.
- french provincial — noting, pertaining to, or resembling a style of furnishings and decoration originating in the provinces of France in the 18th century, derived from but less ornate than styles then current in Paris and featuring simply carved wood furniture, often with decorative curved moldings.