18-letter words containing p, l, a
- australopithecines — Plural form of australopithecine.
- authorized capital — the total amount of value of the shares that a company is allowed to distribute
- autobiographically — In a autobiographical manner.
- axile placentation — a type of placenta structure in an ovary with the ovules forming at the angles where the septa join the central placenta
- bachelor apartment — a flat consisting of one room that is used as a sitting room and bedroom, as well as a kitchenette and a bathroom
- bachelorette party — A bachelorette party is a party for a woman who is getting married very soon, to which only women are invited.
- balanced computing — (jargon) Matching computer tools to job activities so that the computer system structure parallels the organisation structure and work functions. Both personal computers and employees operate in a decentralised environment with monitoring of achievement of management objectives from centralised corporate systems.
- ballistic pendulum — a device consisting of a large mass hung from a horizontal bar by two rods, used to measure the velocity of an object, as a bullet, by retaining the object upon impact, its velocity being a function of the displacement of the mass.
- band-tailed pigeon — a wild pigeon, Columba fasciata, of western North America, having a gray band on its tail.
- beautiful hook-tip — a similar but unrelated species, Laspeyria flexula
- beta-naphthylamine — a white to reddish, crystalline, water-soluble, extremely toxic solid, C 10 H 9 N, used chiefly in the manufacture of azo dyes.
- biological parents — the biological mother and father of a child
- biological therapy — biotherapy
- biomedical package — (language, library, statistics) (BMDP) A statistical language and library of over forty statistical routines developed in 1961 at UCLA, Health Sciences Computing Facility under Dr. Wilford Dixon. BMDP was first implemented in Fortran for the IBM 7090. Tapes of the original source were distributed for free all over the world. BMDP is the second iteration of the original BIMED programs. It was developed at UCLA Health Sciences Computing facility, with NIH funding. The "P" in BMDP originally stood for "parameter" but was later changed to "package". BMDP used keyword parameters to defined what was to be done rather than the fixed card format used by original BIMED programs. BMDP supports many statistical funtions: simple data description, survival analysis, ANOVA, multivariate analyses, regression analysis, and time series analysis. BMDP Professional combines the full suite of BMDP Classic (Dynamic) release 7.0 with the BMDP New System 2.0 Windows front-end.
- bipolar transistor — (electronics) A transistor made from a sandwich of n- and p-type semiconductor material: either npn or pnp. The middle section is known as the "base" and the other two as the "collector" and "emitter". When used as an amplifying element, the base to emitter junction is in a "forward-biased" (conducting) condition, and the base to collector junction is "reverse-biased" or non-conducting. Small changes in the base to emitter current (the input signal) cause either holes (for pnp devices) or free electrons (for npn) to enter the base from the emitter. The attracting voltage of the collector causes the majority of these charges to cross into and be collected by the collector, resulting in amplification. Contrast field effect transistor.
- blocking capacitor — a capacitor that blocks the passage of direct current but allows alternating current to pass
- blue-plate special — an inexpensive restaurant meal served at a fixed price on a large plate, originally blue
- bomb disposal unit — a unit of the police or armed services specializing in bomb disposal
- brazilian sapphire — a blue variety of tourmaline used as a gem: not a true sapphire.
- broad-leaved maple — a maple, Acer macrophyllum, of western North America, characterized by dark green, thickened leaves that may reach 12 inches (30 cm) or more in width.
- burkitt's lymphoma — a cancer characterized by tumors containing lymphoid cells, occurring esp. in children, in the jaw, eyes, and internal organs: it is associated with the Epstein-Barr virus
- calcium propionate — a white, water-soluble powder, CaC 6 H 10 O 4 , used in bakery products to inhibit the growth of fungi.
- calliper compasses — an instrument for measuring internal or external dimensions, consisting of two steel legs hinged together
- campbell-bannerman — Sir Henry. 1836–1908, British statesman and leader of the Liberal Party (1899–1908); prime minister (1905–08), who granted self-government to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony
- cape breton island — an island off SE Canada, in NE Nova Scotia, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso: its easternmost point is Cape Breton. Pop: 132 298 (2006). Area: 10 280 sq km (3970 sq miles)
- capital allowances — the money spent by a company on fixed assets which can be taken off the profits of the company before tax is imposed
- capital investment — the money that is invested in something
- capital punishment — Capital punishment is punishment which involves the legal killing of a person who has committed a serious crime such as murder.
- career development — a progression through a series of jobs, each with more responsibility and a higher income than the last
- castration complex — an unconscious fear of having one's genitals removed, as a punishment for wishing to have sex with a parent
- catapult launching — the fact of launching aircraft into the air by a device installed in warships
- caterpillar hunter — any of various carabid beetles of the genus Calosoma, of Europe and North America, which prey on the larvae of moths and butterflies
- cellular telephone — a mobile phone
- central projection — a projection of one plane onto a second plane such that a point on the first plane and its image on the second plane lie on a straight line through a fixed point not on either plane.
- cepheid (variable) — any of a class of pulsating, yellow, supergiant stars whose brightness varies in regular periods: from the period-luminosity relation, the distance of such a star can be determined
- chagos archipelago — group of islands in the Indian Ocean 1,180 mi (1,899 km) northeast of Mauritius, comprising the British Indian Ocean Territory: chief island, Diego Garcia
- checkpoint charlie — a crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War
- chemical potential — a thermodynamic function of a substance in a system that is the partial differential of the Gibbs function of the system with respect to the number of moles of the substance
- chemical pregnancy — a pregnancy that is confirmed by a pregnancy test but not by clinical signs and terminates before clinical signs can be observed.
- chloroacetophenone — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, C 8 H 7 ClO, used in solution as a tear gas. Abbreviation: CN.
- chromolithographer — One engaged in chromolithography.
- chromolithographic — Pertaining to, or made by, chromolithography.
- claustrophobically — In a claustrophobic way.
- clean up one's act — to start to behave in a responsible manner
- cleopatra's needle — either of two Egyptian obelisks, originally set up at Heliopolis about 1500 bc: one was moved to the Thames Embankment, London, in 1878, the other to Central Park, New York, in 1880
- clinical pathology — the branch of pathology dealing with the study of disease and disease processes by means of chemical, microscopic, and serologic examinations.
- closed corporation — a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market
- closed scholarship — a scholarship for which only certain people, such as those from a particular school or with a particular surname, are eligible
- cobalt violet deep — a medium to strong purple color.
- cock-a-leekie soup — a soup made from a fowl boiled with leeks