14-letter words containing p, l, a
- apple polisher — a sycophant; toady
- apple turnover — a pastry containing apple
- apple-polisher — to curry favor with someone, especially in an obsequious or flattering manner.
- appleton layer — the F region of the ionosphere
- applicableness — applying or capable of being applied; relevant; suitable; appropriate: an applicable rule; a solution that is applicable to the problem.
- appreciational — gratitude; thankful recognition: They showed their appreciation by giving him a gold watch.
- appreciatively — feeling or showing appreciation: an appreciative audience at the concert.
- apprehensively — uneasy or fearful about something that might happen: apprehensive for the safety of the mountain climbers.
- approach light — one of a series of lights installed along the projected centerline of an airport runway to assist a pilot in aligning the aircraft during the approach to landing at night.
- apsidal motion — the rotation of the major axis of an eccentric orbit in the plane of the orbit.
- arborsculpture — The art and craft technique of growing and shaping tree trunks.
- archencephalon — the primitive forebrain region of the embryo, anterior to the notochord, that gives rise to the midbrain and forebrain.
- archetypically — the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
- archiepiscopal — of or associated with an archbishop
- arctic redpoll — a finch, Carduelis hornemanni, of the family Fringillidae, which breeds in tundra birch forest
- area pellucida — the translucent central area of the blastoderm of birds and reptiles within which the embryo develops.
- armour-plating — The armour-plating on a vehicle or building is the hard metal covering which is intended to protect it from gunfire and other missiles.
- arthroplasties — Plural form of arthroplasty.
- asphalt jungle — an expression used to refer to a city environment, which emphasizes its dangerous nature
- assault troops — soldiers of the infantry who are specially trained to lead an attack
- assault weapon — any of various automatic and semiautomatic military firearms utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge, designed for individual use. Compare assault rifle.
- assembly plant — An assembly plant is a factory where large items such as cars are put together, usually using parts which have been made in other factories.
- assembly point — a designated place where people have been told to wait after evacuating a building in the event of a fire or other emergency
- assemblyperson — a member of a legislative assembly, especially a member of the lower house of the legislature in certain states of the U.S.
- assisted place — a place at a private school reserved for a pupil from a family with a low income, with the fees paid by the government
- asymptotically — of or relating to an asymptote.
- at one's peril — If you say that someone does something at their peril, you are warning them that they will probably suffer as a result of doing it.
- attemptability — the capability of being attempted or condition of being attemptable
- autopilot code — (jargon, humour) Code that was written by a programmer on "auto-pilot" who wasn't really thinking about what they were doing.
- autopolyploidy — having more than two haploid sets of chromosomes that are derived from the same ancestral species.
- autotetraploid — an individual or strain whose chromosome complement consists of four copies of a single genome due to doubling of an ancestral chromosome complement
- autotransplant — autograft.
- avoidance play — a play by the declarer designed to prevent a particular opponent from taking the lead.
- bachelor party — A bachelor party is a party for a man who is getting married very soon, to which only men are invited.
- back-pedalling — a retreat from or a retraction of a previously held view
- backflap hinge — Building Trades. flap (def 20a).
- backstrap loom — a simple horizontal loom, used especially in Central and South America, on which one of two beams holding the warp yarn is attached to a strap that passes across the weaver's back.
- balance spring — hairspring.
- ballast pocket — a depression that is formed beneath the ballast layer by penetration of ballast particles into the subgrade and that tends to collect moisture.
- ballet slipper — a heelless cloth or leather slipper worn by ballet dancers.
- balsam of peru — an aromatic balsam that is obtained from the tropical South American leguminous tree Myroxylon pereirae and is similar to balsam of Tolu
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bandar lampung — a port in Indonesia, in S Sumatra on the Sunda Strait; formed by merging the cities of Tanjungkarang and Telukbetung, and sometimes still referred to as Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung. Pop: 742 749 (2000)
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baptismal name — Christian name (def 1).
- baptismal vows — the solemn promises made during baptism, either by the person baptized or by his or her sponsors
- bathygraphical — (of a maps) representing the contours of the seabed
- bay psalm book — a translation of the Psalms by John Eliot and others: the first book published (1640) in America.
- beauty parlour — A beauty parlour is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example to have their hair, nails or make-up done.