19-letter words containing p, i, u, s
- priority scheduling — (operating system) Processes scheduling in which the scheduler selects tasks to run based on their priority as opposed to, say, a simple round-robin. Priorities may be static or dynamic. Static priorities are assigned at the time of creation, while dynamic priorities are based on the processes' behaviour while in the system. For example, the scheduler may favour I/O-intensive tasks so that expensive requests can be issued as early as possible. A danger of priority scheduling is starvation, in which processes with lower priorities are not given the opportunity to run. In order to avoid starvation, in preemptive scheduling, the priority of a process is gradually reduced while it is running. Eventually, the priority of the running process will no longer be the highest, and the next process will start running. This method is called aging.
- private prosecution — a prosecution started by a private individual rather than by the police
- privatization issue — an issue of shares available for purchase by members of the public when a publicly owned organization is transferred to the private sector
- profitability study — a study of how much profit a company, organization, etc, makes or how profitable it is
- progressive judaism — Reform Judaism.
- pseudo-aristocratic — of or relating to government by an aristocracy.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- pseudo-conservative — disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
- pseudo-experimental — pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
- pseudo-hieroglyphic — noting or pertaining to a script dating from the second millennium b.c. that appears to be syllabic and to represent the Phoenician language and that is inscribed on objects found at Byblos.
- pseudo-intellectual — a person exhibiting intellectual pretensions that have no basis in sound scholarship.
- pseudo-intransitive — denoting an occurrence of a normally transitive verb in which a direct object is not explicitly stated or forms the subject of the sentence, as in Margaret is cooking or these apples cook well
- pseudo-professional — following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
- pseudohermaphrodite — an individual having internal reproductive organs of one sex and external sexual characteristics resembling those of the other sex or being ambiguous in nature. Compare hermaphrodite (def 1).
- pseudopsychological — of or relating to psychology.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- puerperal psychosis — a mental disorder sometimes occurring in women after childbirth, characterized by deep depression, delusions of the child's death, and homicidal feelings towards the child
- pull in one's horns — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
- purse-string suture — a suture for a circular opening, stitched around the edge, that closes it when pulled.
- put a figure on sth — When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.
- put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
- put one's finger on — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- put sth into action — If you put an idea or policy into action, you begin to use it or cause it to operate.
- put the skids under — a plank, bar, log, or the like, especially one of a pair, on which something heavy may be slid or rolled along.
- reflux oesophagitis — inflammation of the gullet caused by regurgitation of stomach acids, producing heartburn: may be associated with a hiatus hernia
- republic of letters — the collective body of literary people.
- reserved occupation — in time of war, an occupation from which one will not be called up for military service
- respiratory failure — a condition in which the respiratory system is unable to provide an adequate supply of oxygen or to remove carbon dioxide efficiently
- ruffini's corpuscle — an end organ of certain sensory neurons that branches out parallel to the skin and responds to steady pressure.
- saddharma-pundarika — a Mahayana sutra, forming with its references to Amida and the Bodhisattvas the basis for the doctrine that there is something of Buddha in everyone, so that salvation is universally available: a central text of Mahayana Buddhism.
- samuel de champlain — Samuel de [sam-yoo-uh l duh;; French sa-my-el duh] /ˈsæm yu əl də;; French sa müˈɛl də/ (Show IPA), 1567–1635, French explorer in the Americas: founder of Quebec; first colonial governor 1633–35.
- san juan capistrano — a city in SW California: site of old Spanish mission; known for annual return of swallows, said to occur on March 19.
- sb's spiritual home — your spiritual home is the place where you feel that you belong, usually because your ideas or attitudes are the same as those of the people who live there
- setting-up exercise — any of a set of exercises, as deep knee bends and push-ups, for improving one's posture, muscle tone, or limberness, or for reducing one's weight.
- sexual reproduction — reproduction involving the union of gametes.
- sexual stereotyping — the formation or promotion of a fixed general idea or image of how men and women will behave
- sharp-focus realism — photorealism.
- sharp-tailed grouse — a grouse, Pedioecetes phasianellus, of prairies and open forests of western North America, similar in size to the prairie chicken but with a more pointed tail.
- simple closed curve — a curve that is closed and that has no loops or points missing; a curve for which there exists a homeomorphism mapping it to a circle.
- slugging percentage — a number expressing a player's average effectiveness in making extra-base hits, calculated by dividing the total number of bases (from all singles, doubles, triples, and home runs) by the number of official at bats
- sodium hypochlorite — a pale-green, crystalline compound, NaOCl, unstable in air, soluble in cold water, decomposes in hot water: used as a bleaching agent for paper and textiles, in water purification, in household use, and as a fungicide.
- sodium thiosulphate — a white soluble substance used, in the pentahydrate form, in photography as a fixer to dissolve unchanged silver halides and also to remove excess chlorine from chlorinated water. Formula: Na2S2O3
- south pacific ocean — the part of the Pacific Ocean extending S from the Equator to the Antarctic continent.
- southern hemisphere — the half of the earth between the South Pole and the equator.
- spanish inquisition — the Inquisition in Spain, under state control from 1480 to 1834, marked by the extreme severity and cruelty of its proceedings in the 16th century.
- speaking in tongues — a form of glossolalia in which a person experiencing religious ecstasy utters incomprehensible sounds that the speaker believes are a language spoken through him or her by a deity.
- specialized subject — a school or university subject that concentrates on a particular field of knowledge
- specular reflection — Specular reflection is reflection of heat or light in which the angles of different parts of the surface are important.
- speculative fiction — a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements
- sphere of influence — any area in which one nation wields dominant power over another or others.