18-letter words containing p, i, r, a, o
- paint the town red — a substance composed of solid coloring matter suspended in a liquid medium and applied as a protective or decorative coating to various surfaces, or to canvas or other materials in producing a work of art.
- pair of spectacles — a score of 0 in each innings of a match
- pairs championship — an event in a sport such as tennis or darts open to pairs of competitors
- palmer archipelago — a group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the NW coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
- pan american union — a former organization of American republics dedicated to furthering understanding and peace: replaced in 1970 by the secretariat of the Organization of American States.
- parallactic motion — the apparent motion of stars due to the earth's orbital motion.
- parallel computing — parallel processing
- parallel evolution — the independent development of closely corresponding adaptive features in two or more groups of organisms that occupy different but equivalent habitats, as marsupial mammals in Australia and placental mammals on other continents.
- parallel importing — the importing of certain goods, esp pharmaceutical drugs, by dealers who undersell local manufacturers
- parallel reduction — A form of applicative order reduction in which all redexes in an expression are reduced simultaneously. Variants include parallel outermost reduction and lenient reduction. See normal order reduction.
- parathyroid glands — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
- partial evaluation — (compiler, algorithm) (Or "specialisation") An optimisation technique where the compiler evaluates some subexpressions at compile-time. For example, Partial evaluation might change the termination properties of the program if, for example, the expression (x * 0) was reduced to 0 it would terminate even if x (and thus x * 0) did not. It may be necessary to reorder an expression to partially evaluate it, e.g. f x y = (x + y) + 1 g z = f 3 z If we rewrite f: f x y = (x + 1) + y then the expression x+1 becomes a constant for the function g and we can say g z = f 3 z = (3 + 1) + z = 4 + z Partial evaluation of built-in functions applied to constant arguments is known as constant folding. See also full laziness.
- passing-out parade — a ceremonial parade of cadets who have completed their training
- passive vocabulary — all the words, collectively, that a person can understand
- peacekeeping force — a force designated to the maintenance of peace, esp the prevention of further fighting between hostile forces in an area
- peasant proprietor — a peasant who owns land, especially the land he or she tills.
- pectoral sandpiper — an American sandpiper, Calidris melanotos, the male of which, when courting, inflates its chest conspicuously.
- pellitory of spain — a small Mediterranean plant, Anacyclus pyrethrum, the root of which contains an oil formerly used to relieve toothache: family Asteraceae (composites)
- people trafficking — the practice of bringing immigrants into a country illegally
- peppermint camphor — menthol.
- percussion flaking — a method of forming a flint tool by striking flakes from a stone core with another stone or a piece of bone or wood.
- performance artist — an artist that is involved in a theatrical presentation that incorporates various art forms, such as dance, sculpture, music, etc
- perlocutionary act — the action of affecting someone by uttering certain words
- pernicious anaemia — Pernicious anaemia is a very severe blood disease.
- personal assistant — aide
- personal exemption — Your personal exemption is the amount of money that is deducted from your gross income before you have to start paying income tax.
- personal insurance — insurance on personal risk, such as car insurance, health insurance or loss of earnings insurance
- personal organizer — a small notebook with sections for personal information, as dates and addresses.
- pescadores-islands — (used with a plural verb) Penghu.
- peter tschaikowsky — Peter Ilyich [il-yich] /ˈɪl yɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich.
- phanerocrystalline — (of a rock) having the principal constituents in the form of crystals visible to the naked eye.
- phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- phantom withdrawal — the unauthorized removal of funds from a bank account using an automated teller machine
- philharmonic pitch — a standard of pitch in which A above middle C is established at 440 vibrations per second.
- phoenician juniper — a type of juniper that is found in the Mediterranean region
- phosphatidylserine — any of a class of phospholipids occurring in biological membranes and fats
- photoisomerization — isomerization induced by light.
- physical geography — the branch of geography concerned with natural features and phenomena of the earth's surface, as landforms, drainage features, climates, soils, and vegetation.
- physical inventory — To carry out a physical inventory is to count all the stock on hand.
- pileolated warbler — either of two western subspecies of Wilson's warbler.
- pilotless aircraft — an aircraft equipped for operation by radio or by robot control, without a human pilot aboard; drone.
- pitch-and-run shot — chip shot.
- plains grasshopper — a large, destructive short-horned grasshopper, Brachystola magna, of the western U.S., marked by pinkish hind wings.
- plane polarization — a type of polarization in which the electric vector of waves of light or other electromagnetic radiation is restricted to vibration in a single plane
- plane trigonometry — the branch of trigonometry dealing with plane triangles.
- pneumatic conveyor — a tube through which powdered or granular material, such as cement, grain, etc is transported by a flow of air
- point d'angleterre — a bobbin lace in which the design is worked out with either a needle or bobbin.
- point of departure — Nautical. the precise location of a vessel, established in order to set a course, especially in beginning a voyage in open water.
- point-bearing pile — a pile depending on the soil or rock beneath its foot for support.
- political prisoner — sb imprisoned for political dissidence