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17-letter words containing p, i, n, o

  • lake winnipegosis — a lake in S Canada, in W Manitoba. Area: 5400 sq km (2086 sq miles)
  • lambda expression — (mathematics)   A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
  • larmor precession — the precession of charged particles, as electrons, placed in a magnetic field, the frequency of the precession (Larmor frequency) being equal to the electronic charge times the strength of the magnetic field divided by 4π times the mass.
  • least fixed point — (mathematics)   A function f may have many fixed points (x such that f x = x). For example, any value is a fixed point of the identity function, (\ x . x). If f is recursive, we can represent it as f = fix F where F is some higher-order function and fix F = F (fix F). The standard denotational semantics of f is then given by the least fixed point of F. This is the least upper bound of the infinite sequence (the ascending Kleene chain) obtained by repeatedly applying F to the totally undefined value, bottom. I.e. fix F = LUB {bottom, F bottom, F (F bottom), ...}. The least fixed point is guaranteed to exist for a continuous function over a cpo.
  • legal proceedings — court case
  • leizhou peninsula — a peninsula of SE China, in SW Guangdong province, separated from Hainan Island by Hainan Strait
  • lempert operation — fenestration (def 3c).
  • let something rip — If you let something rip, you do it as quickly or as forcefully as possible. You can say 'let it rip' or 'let her rip' to someone when you want them to make a vehicle go as fast as it possibly can.
  • life imprisonment — long-term prison sentence
  • lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
  • liquid propellant — a rocket propellant in liquid form.
  • load displacement — the weight, in long tons, of a cargo vessel loaded so that the summer load line touches the surface of the water.
  • logic programming — (artificial intelligence, programming, language)   A declarative, relational style of programming based on first-order logic. The original logic programming language was Prolog. The concept is based on Horn clauses. The programmer writes a "database" of "facts", e.g. wet(water). ("water is wet") and "rules", e.g. mortal(X) :- human(X). ("X is mortal is implied by X is human"). Facts and rules are collectively known as "clauses". The user supplies a "goal" which the system attempts to prove using "resolution" or "backward chaining". This involves matching the current goal against each fact or the left hand side of each rule using "unification". If the goal matches a fact, the goal succeeds; if it matches a rule then the process recurses, taking each sub-goal on the right hand side of the rule as the current goal. If all sub-goals succeed then the rule succeeds. Each time a possible clause is chosen, a "choice point" is created on a stack. If subsequent resolution fails then control eventually returns to the choice point and subsequent clauses are tried. This is known as "backtracking". Clauses may contain logic variables which take on any value necessary to make the fact or the left hand side of the rule match a goal. Unification binds these variables to the corresponding subterms of the goal. Such bindings are associated with the choice point at which the clause was chosen and are undone when backtracking reaches that choice point. The user is informed of the success or failure of his first goal and if it succeeds and contains variables he is told what values of those variables caused it to succeed. He can then ask for alternative solutions.
  • logical operation — Boolean operation.
  • lumpenproletariat — the lowest level of the proletariat comprising unskilled workers, vagrants, and criminals and characterized by a lack of class identification and solidarity.
  • lymphadenopathies — Plural form of lymphadenopathy.
  • lymphangiographic — Relating to lymphangiography.
  • m-expression lisp — (MLISP) The original "meta-language" syntax of Lisp, designed by John McCarthy in 1962. MLISP was intended for external use in place of the parenthesised S-expression syntax.
  • magnetic monopole — a hypothetical very heavy particle with an isolated magnetic north pole or magnetic south pole.
  • make no apologies — If you say that you make no apologies for what you have done, you are emphasizing that you feel that you have done nothing wrong.
  • malayo-polynesian — a family of languages extending from Madagascar to the central Pacific, including Malagasy, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, and Polynesian
  • manpower planning — a procedure used in organizations to balance future requirements for all levels of employee with the availability of such employees
  • mariner's compass — a compass used for navigational purposes, consisting of a pivoted compass card in a gimbal-mounted, nonferrous metal bowl.
  • matter of opinion — a point open to question; a debatable statement
  • mean piston speed — The mean piston speed is the distance traveled by a piston in a specified amount of time.
  • mean proportional — (between two numbers a and b) a number x for which a/x = x/b : The number 3 is a mean proportional between 1 and 9.
  • meissen porcelain — Dresden china.
  • melissopalynology — The study of honey and its composition.
  • memory protection — (memory management)   A system to prevent one process corrupting the memory (or other resources) of any other, including the operating system. Memory protection usually relies on a combination of hardware (a memory management unit) and software to allocate memory to processes and handle exceptions. The effectiveness of memory protection varies from one operating system to another. In most versions of Unix it is almost impossible to corrupt another process' memory, except in some archaic implementations and Lunix (not Linux!). Under Microsoft Windows (version? hardware?) any 16 bit application(?) can circumvent the memory protection, often leading to one or more GPFs. Currently (April 1996) neither Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 95, nor Mac OS offer memory protection. Windows NT has it, and Mac OS System 8 will offer a form of memory protection.
  • mercury poisoning — illness caused by exposure to mercury
  • metalloproteinase — (enzyme) Any of several proteinases that have a metal atom (often zinc) at their active centre.
  • methylidyne group — the trivalent group ≡CH.
  • microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
  • micromanipulation — the technique of performing mechanical operations under high magnification through the use of specialized tools.
  • micromanipulators — Plural form of micromanipulator.
  • micropaleontology — the branch of paleontology dealing with the study of microscopic fossils.
  • microphanerophyte — any shrub or tree having a height of 2 to 8 metres
  • microreproduction — a photographic image too small to be read by the unaided eye.
  • midmorning prayer — the third of the seven canonical hours; terce
  • mind-body problem — the problem of explaining the relation of the mind to the body.
  • misappropriations — Plural form of misappropriation.
  • misinterpretation — An instance of misinterpreting.
  • misrepresentation — to represent incorrectly, improperly, or falsely.
  • mississippi sound — an arm of the Gulf of Mexico, extending from Lake Borgne, SE Louisiana, to Mobile Bay, SW Alabama: part of the Intracoastal Waterway. About 100 miles (160 km) long.
  • mitre corporation — (body)   A US federally funded R&D center, spun off in 1958 from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory (also an FFRDC). MITRE is a non-profit corporation chartered to do R&D in the public interest. MITRE were responsible for system engineering and implementation oversight of SAGE. MITRE does not stand for MIT Research and Engineering, though it could have.
  • mongolian hot pot — a stewlike dish of sliced meat, seafood, and vegetables cooked together in hot broth, often in a clay pot, and seasoned with a hot sauce.
  • moon and sixpence — a novel (1919) by W. Somerset Maugham.
  • morphic resonance — the idea that, through a telepathic effect or sympathetic vibration, an event or act can lead to similar events or acts in the future or an idea conceived in one mind can then arise in another
  • mount kirkpatrick — a mountain in Antarctica, in S Victoria Land in the Queen Alexandra Range. Height: 4528 m (14 856 ft)
  • mounted policeman — policemen who patrol on horseback
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