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18-letter words containing p, i, e, c, r

  • crown-jewel option — an option given by a company subjected to an unwelcome takeover bid to a friendly firm, allowing this firm to buy one or more of its best businesses if the bid succeeds
  • crystal microphone — a microphone that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert sound energy into electrical energy
  • currency principle — the principle that banks should be permitted to issue notes only against bullion or coin.
  • cursor dipped in x — (jargon)   The metaphorical source of the electronic equivalent of a poisoned-pen letter. Derived from English metaphors of the form "pen dipped in X" (where X = e.g. "acid", "bile", "vitriol"). These map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, when one is composing on-line). "Talk about a nastygram! He must've had his cursor dipped in acid when he wrote that one!"
  • cyclic pitch lever — a lever in a helicopter to change the angle of attack of individual rotor blades, causing the helicopter to move forwards, backwards, or sideways
  • decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
  • decision procedure — a procedure, as an algorithm, for determining in a finite number of steps the validity of any of a certain class of propositions.
  • decompartmentalize — to remove excessive compartmentalization from (an organization)
  • depth-first search — (algorithm)   A graph search algorithm which extends the current path as far as possible before backtracking to the last choice point and trying the next alternative path. Depth-first search may fail to find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph. This can be avoided if we never extend a path to a node which it already contains. Opposite of breadth first search. See also iterative deepening.
  • descriptive clause — a relative clause that describes or supplements but is not essential in establishing the identity of the antecedent and is usually set off by commas in English. In This year, which has been dry, is bad for crops the clause which has been dry is a nonrestrictive clause.
  • developing country — a nonindustrialized poor country that is seeking to develop its resources by industrialization
  • diphosphoglycerate — an ester of phosphoric acid and glyceric acid that occurs in the blood and that promotes the release of hemoglobin-bound oxygen.
  • diphtheria vaccine — a vaccine used to produce immunity against diphtheria
  • diplomatic service — diplomatic corps
  • discharge printing — a fabric-printing method in which the material is dyed and then certain areas are discharged so as to permit the original hue or its color replacement to act as a pattern against the colored ground.
  • doctype decoration — (humour)   When a web author adds a doctype declaration but doesn't bother to write valid HTML.
  • dominican republic — a republic in the West Indies, occupying the E part of the island of Hispaniola. 19,129 sq. mi. (49,545 sq. km). Capital: Santo Domingo.
  • drop in the bucket — a deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semicircular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit, etc.; pail.
  • eclipsing variable — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
  • economic geography — a branch of geography that deals with the relation of physical and economic conditions to the production and utilization of raw materials and their manufacture into finished products.
  • eggshell porcelain — a type of very thin translucent porcelain originally made in China
  • ejaculatio praecox — premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse
  • electric potential — the work required to transfer a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a given point against an electric field
  • electrocardiograph — A machine used for electrocardiography.
  • electronic receipt — An electronic receipt is one created in a computerized cash register, or by an online retailer. It will usually show the date and time, how payment is made, and other details of the sale.
  • electrotherapeutic — Relating to electrotherapeutics.
  • employment service — (in the United States) a government department established to collect and supply to the unemployed information about job vacancies and to employers information about availability of prospective workers
  • endangered species — animal, plant becoming extinct
  • energy consumption — amount of energy used
  • equinoctial spring — either of the two highest spring tides that occur at the equinoxes
  • erectile impotence — impotence caused by the inability of the penis to become sufficiently firm to penetrate the vagina
  • european community — an economic and political association of European States that came into being in 1967, when the legislative and executive bodies of the European Economic Community merged with those of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community: subsumed into the European Union in 1993
  • examination script — a script with answers written on it by an examination candidate taking a written examination
  • excess profits tax — a tax on profits exceeding a certain amount
  • executive producer — a producer of a film or television programme who is involved with business or technical issues rather than the technical aspects of film or television production
  • exercise equipment — equipment that can be used for exercising, such as tread mills, rowing machines, etc
  • exercise programme — a programme detailing a range of physical exercises and the amount of time each exercise should be performed, used especially in gymnasiums, where they are typically tailored to individuals' needs
  • extermination camp — a camp where people are imprisoned and killed
  • feeping creaturism — /fee'ping kree"ch*r-izm/ A deliberate spoonerism for creeping featurism, meant to imply that the system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of hacks. This term isn"t really well defined, but it sounds so neat that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their customary noises.
  • fermat's principle — Optics. the law that the path taken by a ray of light in going from one point to another point will be the path that requires the least time.
  • forced perspective — the use of objects or images that are larger or smaller than they should be, to suggest that they are nearer or further away than they really are
  • forward compatible — forward compatibility
  • ftp software, inc. — (company)   Developers of the original PC/TCP Packet Driver specification. Address: 26 Princess St. Wakefield, MA 01880-3004. Telephone: +1 (617) 246 0900.
  • funeral procession — ceremonial cortège at a burial
  • general precession — the precession that results from both lunisolar precession and planetary precession; precession of the equinoxes.
  • gensym corporation — (company)   A company that supplies software and services for intelligent operations management. Common applications include quality management, process optimisation, dynamic scheduling, network management, energy and environmental management, and process modelling and simulation. Their products include G2.
  • geometrical optics — the branch of optics dealing with light as rays, especially in the study of the effects of lenses and mirrors on light beams and of their combination in optical instruments.
  • give sb the creeps — If someone or something gives you the creeps, they make you feel very nervous or frightened.
  • gravity escapement — an escapement, used especially in large outdoor clocks, in which the impulse is given to the pendulum by means of a weight falling through a certain distance.
  • great expectations — a novel (1861) by Charles Dickens.
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