17-letter words containing p, o, l, r
- lighthouse keeper — a person who mans a lighthouse and makes sure that the light is working properly
- lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
- lipopolysaccaride — a molecule, consisting of lipid and polysaccharide components, that is the main constituent of the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria
- liquid petrolatum — mineral oil.
- liquid propellant — a rocket propellant in liquid form.
- lithostratigraphy — the study or character of stratified rocks based solely on their physical and petrographic features.
- loco primo citato — loc. primo cit.
- loco supra citato — l.s.c.
- logic programming — (artificial intelligence, programming, language) A declarative, relational style of programming based on first-order logic. The original logic programming language was Prolog. The concept is based on Horn clauses. The programmer writes a "database" of "facts", e.g. wet(water). ("water is wet") and "rules", e.g. mortal(X) :- human(X). ("X is mortal is implied by X is human"). Facts and rules are collectively known as "clauses". The user supplies a "goal" which the system attempts to prove using "resolution" or "backward chaining". This involves matching the current goal against each fact or the left hand side of each rule using "unification". If the goal matches a fact, the goal succeeds; if it matches a rule then the process recurses, taking each sub-goal on the right hand side of the rule as the current goal. If all sub-goals succeed then the rule succeeds. Each time a possible clause is chosen, a "choice point" is created on a stack. If subsequent resolution fails then control eventually returns to the choice point and subsequent clauses are tried. This is known as "backtracking". Clauses may contain logic variables which take on any value necessary to make the fact or the left hand side of the rule match a goal. Unification binds these variables to the corresponding subterms of the goal. Such bindings are associated with the choice point at which the clause was chosen and are undone when backtracking reaches that choice point. The user is informed of the success or failure of his first goal and if it succeeds and contains variables he is told what values of those variables caused it to succeed. He can then ask for alternative solutions.
- logical operation — Boolean operation.
- lower paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- lumpenproletariat — the lowest level of the proletariat comprising unskilled workers, vagrants, and criminals and characterized by a lack of class identification and solidarity.
- lymphangiographic — Relating to lymphangiography.
- m-expression lisp — (MLISP) The original "meta-language" syntax of Lisp, designed by John McCarthy in 1962. MLISP was intended for external use in place of the parenthesised S-expression syntax.
- malay archipelago — an extensive island group in the Indian and Pacific oceans, SE of Asia, including the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and the Philippines.
- manpower planning — a procedure used in organizations to balance future requirements for all levels of employee with the availability of such employees
- mayflower compact — an agreement to establish a government, entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620.
- mean proportional — (between two numbers a and b) a number x for which a/x = x/b : The number 3 is a mean proportional between 1 and 9.
- medical procedure — A medical procedure is a medical treatment or operation.
- meissen porcelain — Dresden china.
- metalloproteinase — (enzyme) Any of several proteinases that have a metal atom (often zinc) at their active centre.
- methylidyne group — the trivalent group ≡CH.
- microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
- microfilm plotter — a type of incremental plotter that has a film rather than a paper output
- micromanipulation — the technique of performing mechanical operations under high magnification through the use of specialized tools.
- micromanipulators — Plural form of micromanipulator.
- micropaleontology — the branch of paleontology dealing with the study of microscopic fossils.
- mind-body problem — the problem of explaining the relation of the mind to the body.
- modern pentathlon — an athletic contest consisting of five different events: horse riding with jumps, fencing with electric épée, freestyle swimming, pistol shooting, and cross-country running
- modular sb-prolog — Modular Prolog
- mother spleenwort — a fern, Asplenium bulbiferum, of tropical Africa and Australasia, the fronds often bearing bulbils that sprout into new plants while still attached, grown as an ornamental.
- multiple cropping — the use of the same field for two or more crops, whether of the same or of different kinds, successively during a single year.
- multiple exposure — the filming of more than one scene in a single frame
- muscle dysmorphia — a mental disorder primarily affecting males, characterized by obsessions about a perceived lack of muscularity, leading to compulsive exercising, use of anabolic steroids, etc. Compare body dysmorphic disorder.
- neath port talbot — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of West Glamorgan in 1996. Administrative centre: Port Talbot. Pop: 135 300 (2003 est). Area: 439 sq km (169 sq miles)
- negative polarity — the grammatical character of a word or phrase, such as ever or any, that may normally be used only in a semantically or syntactically negative or interrogative context
- nephelometrically — By means of nephelometry.
- neuropathological — (medicine) Of, pertaining to, or arising from neuropathology, the pathology of nerve tissue.
- neuropharmacology — the branch of pharmacology concerned with the effects of drugs on the nervous system.
- neurophysiologist — the branch of physiology dealing with the functions of the nervous system.
- neuropsychologist — A neurologist or psychologist whose speciality is neuropsychology.
- non-proliferation — Non-proliferation is the limiting of the production and spread of something such as nuclear or chemical weapons.
- non-stereotypical — a process, now often replaced by more advanced methods, for making metal printing plates by taking a mold of composed type or the like in papier-mâché or other material and then taking from this mold a cast in type metal.
- non-thermoplastic — soft and pliable when heated, as some plastics, without any change of the inherent properties.
- not spare oneself — to exert oneself to the full
- oceanographically — In terms of oceanography.
- oil of turpentine — a colorless, flammable, volatile essential oil having a penetrating odor and a pungent, bitter taste, obtained from turpentine oleoresin by distillation: used in paints and varnishes, and in medicine as a carminative, vermifuge, expectorant, rubefacient, and, formerly, as a diuretic.
- old age pensioner — An old age pensioner is a person who is old enough to receive an pension from their employer or the government.
- old spanish trail — an overland route from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to Los Angeles, Calif., first marked out in 1776 by Spanish explorers and missionaries.
- omphalomesenteric — (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the umbilicus and mesentery.