12-letter words containing p, i, s, e, r
- picture show — motion picture.
- piercing saw — a small, fine-gauge saw blade with uniformly spaced, angled teeth, inserted in a jeweler's saw frame and used to cut precious metal and such soft materials as ivory and shell.
- piercingness — the quality or condition of being piercing
- pig islander — a New Zealander
- pirate coast — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- pisciculture — the breeding, rearing, and transplantation of fish by artificial means.
- plaid screen — [XEROX PARC] A "special effect" that occurs when certain kinds of memory smashes overwrite the control blocks or image memory of a bit-mapped display. The term "salt and pepper" may refer to a different pattern of similar origin. Though the term as coined at PARC refers to the result of an error, some of the X demos induce plaid-screen effects deliberately as a display hack.
- plane strain — Plane strain is a two-dimensional state of strain in which all the shape changes of a material happen on a single plane.
- plasteriness — the state of being made of or resembling plaster
- pleiotropism — the condition of a gene affecting more than one characteristic of the phenotype
- pleomorphism — existence of an organism in two or more distinct forms during the life cycle; polymorphism.
- plumbiferous — yielding or containing lead.
- poetastering — the profession of being a poetaster
- point source — a source of radiation sufficiently distant compared to its length and width that it can be considered as a point.
- point spread — a betting device, established by oddsmakers and used to attract bettors for uneven competitions, indicating the estimated number of points by which a stronger team can be expected to defeat a weaker team, the point spread being added to the weaker team's actual points in the game and this new figure then compared to the stronger team's points to determine winning bets.
- point-spread — a betting device, established by oddsmakers and used to attract bettors for uneven competitions, indicating the estimated number of points by which a stronger team can be expected to defeat a weaker team, the point spread being added to the weaker team's actual points in the game and this new figure then compared to the stronger team's points to determine winning bets.
- policeperson — a member of a police force.
- policymakers — a person responsible for making policy, especially in government.
- poliorcetics — the science of siegecraft
- politicaster — an ill-suited or disliked politician
- polycentrism — the doctrine that a plurality of independent centers of leadership, power, or ideology may exist within a single political system, especially Communism.
- polydisperse — of or noting a sol that contains particles of different sizes.
- polyhedrosis — an often fatal disease of certain insect larvae or decapod crustaceans, caused by viruses containing DNA.
- polyisoprene — a thermoplastic polymer, (C 5 H 8) n , the major constituent of natural rubber and also obtained synthetically.
- polyneuritis — inflammation of several nerves at the same time; multiple neuritis.
- polyribosome — polysome.
- poodle skirt — 1950s-style woman's circular skirt
- porcelainous — made of or resembling porcelain
- porcellanise — to bake into porcelain
- postcardlike — (of a scene) resembling a postcard
- postdelivery — of, relating to, or occurring after a delivery
- poster child — a child appearing on a poster for a charitable organization.
- poster paint — an opaque, water-based, typically bright-colored paint with a glue-size or gum binder, that is suitable for use on posters and is usually packaged in jars.
- posteriority — the state or quality of being posterior.
- posteruptive — occurring after a volcanic eruption
- postexercise — bodily or mental exertion, especially for the sake of training or improvement of health: Walking is good exercise.
- postimperial — of, relating to, or designating the period after an empire
- postliterate — of or relating to a (hypothetical) time or stage in society when literacy is no longer necessary or valued
- postmeridian — of or relating to the afternoon.
- postmistress — a woman in charge of a post office.
- power assist — a procedure for supplementing or replacing the manual effort needed to operate a device or system, often by hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical means.
- power series — an infinite series in which the terms are coefficients times successive powers of a given variable, or times products of powers of two or more variables.
- prairie rose — a climbing rose, Rosa setigera, of the central U.S., having pinkish to white flowers: the state flower of North Dakota.
- prairie soil — a soil that forms in subhumid, temperate regions with tall grass as native vegetation.
- praiseworthy — deserving of praise; laudable: a praiseworthy motive.
- prankishness — the quality or condition of being prankish
- praseodymium — a rare-earth, metallic, trivalent element, named from its green salts. Symbol: Pr; atomic weight: 140.91; atomic number: 59; specific gravity: 6.77 at 20°C.
- praxinoscope — a toy in which a sequence of images, depicted on the inner surface of a cylinder and reflected in a series of mirrors, gives the illusion of motion as the cylinder rotates
- pre-assigned — Law. to transfer: to assign a contract.
- pre-disaster — a calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure.