12-letter words containing p, l, i, e, r
- pilfer-proof — (of a supply, stock, container, etc) protected from or not susceptible to pilfering
- pilot burner — pilot light (def 1).
- pilot ladder — Jacob's ladder (def 2a).
- pinch roller — a flexible device that presses magnetic tape against the capstan in a tape recorder.
- pine warbler — a warbler, Dendroica pinus, inhabiting pine forests of the southeastern U.S.
- pipe cleaner — a short length of twisted flexible wires covered with tufted fabric, used to clean the stem of a smoker's pipe and for various handicrafts.
- piperacillin — a broad-spectrum semisynthetic penicillin, C 2 3 H 2 6 N 5 NaO 7 , used against certain susceptible Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and certain anaerobes, especially P. aeruginosa.
- pisciculture — the breeding, rearing, and transplantation of fish by artificial means.
- pitch circle — an imaginary circle within the profiles of the teeth of a gear, such that it rotates against a similar circle rotating at the same rate on a meshing gear.
- placentiform — shaped like a placenta, with a flat rounded form
- plagiohedral — (of a crystal) having faces arranged obliquely in a helix.
- 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.
- plain turkey — a bustard
- 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
- plate girder — an iron or steel beam built up from plates and shapes welded or riveted together, usually including a plate or plates for a web, four angle irons forming two flanges, and a pair of plates to reinforce the flanges.
- play reading — the activity when a group of people read the parts of a play
- player piano — a piano that can play automatically when the keys are actuated electronically or by a pneumatic device controlled by a piano roll.
- plea bargain — to engage in plea bargaining.
- plea-bargain — to engage in plea bargaining.
- 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.
- plerocercoid — the wormlike larval stage of some tapeworms, intermediate between the first parasitic larval stage and adult.
- plumbiferous — yielding or containing lead.
- pluriliteral — (in Hebrew grammar) containing more than three letters in the root
- poikilotherm — an organism with poikilothermic qualities
- polar circle — either the Arctic or the Antarctic Circle.
- police court — an inferior court with summary jurisdiction for the trial of persons accused of any of certain minor offenses, and with power to examine those charged with more serious offenses and hold them for trial in a superior court or for a grand jury.
- police force — police (def 1).
- police power — the power of a nation, within the limits of its constitution, to regulate the conduct of its citizens in the interest of the common good.
- policeperson — a member of a police force.
- policyholder — the individual or firm in whose name an insurance policy is written; an insured.
- policymakers — a person responsible for making policy, especially in government.
- poliorcetics — the science of siegecraft
- politicaster — an ill-suited or disliked politician
- pollen grain — a single granule of pollen.
- 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
- porcelainite — Mineralogy. mullite.
- porcelainize — to make into or coat with porcelain or something resembling porcelain.
- porcelainous — made of or resembling porcelain
- porcellanise — to bake into porcelain
- porcellanite — hard and dense rock resembling unglazed porcelain
- porcellanize — to bake into porcelain
- port alberni — a port in SW British Columbia, in SW Canada, on the E central part of Vancouver Island, on an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.