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17-letter words containing p, o

  • phantom limb pain — a phenomenon characterized by the experience of pain, discomfort, or other sensation in the area of a missing limb or other body part, as a breast.
  • phantom pregnancy — the occurrence of signs of pregnancy, such as enlarged abdomen and absence of menstruation, when no embryo is present, due to hormonal imbalance
  • pharmacologically — the science dealing with the preparation, uses, and especially the effects of drugs.
  • phase of the moon — Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon." See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a Lisp program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter "corrected" it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug.
  • phenethyl alcohol — a colorless, viscous, slightly water-soluble liquid, C 8 H 1 0 O, having a faint roselike odor: used chiefly in perfumery.
  • phenyl isocyanate — a liquid reagent, C 7 H 5 NO, having an unpleasant, irritating odor: used chiefly for identifying alcohols and amines.
  • phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
  • philanthropically — of, pertaining to, engaged in, or characterized by philanthropy; benevolent: a philanthropic foundation.
  • philosopher kings — the Platonic ideal of a ruler, philosophically trained and enlightened.
  • phlebotomus fever — sandfly fever.
  • phonetic alphabet — an alphabet containing a separate character for each distinguishable speech sound.
  • phonological rule — an operation in generative phonology that substitutes one sound or class of sounds for another in a phonological derivation.
  • photo opportunity — a brief period set aside for the media to take photographs of a high government official or celebrity, usually immediately before or after a newsworthy event.
  • photo-composition — any method of composition using photography, as composition by means of a photocomposer.
  • photo-respiration — the oxidation of carbohydrates in many higher plants in which they get oxygen from light and then release carbon dioxide, somewhat different from photosynthesis.
  • photoconductivity — the increase in the electrical conductivity of a substance, often nonmetallic, caused by the absorption of electromagnetic radiation.
  • photodissociation — the dissociation or breakdown of a chemical compound by radiant energy.
  • photofluorography — photography of images produced by a fluoroscopic examination, used in x-ray examination of the lungs of large groups of people.
  • photoluminescence — luminescence induced by the absorption of infrared radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet radiation.
  • photoreactivation — a process that repairs DNA damaged by ultraviolet light using an enzyme that requires visible light.
  • phototherapeutics — the branch of therapeutics that deals with the curative use of light rays.
  • photovoltaic cell — a photocell in which an electromotive force is generated by a photovoltaic effect.
  • phumiphon aduldet — (Phumiphon Aduldet; Bhumibol Adulyadej) born 1927, king of Thailand since 1946.
  • pick the eyes out — to select the best parts or pieces (of)
  • piece of business — business (def 10).
  • pietro da cortona — Pietro da [pye-traw dah] /ˈpyɛ trɔ dɑ/ (Show IPA), (Pietro Berrettini) 1596–1669, Italian painter and architect.
  • pile on the agony — to exaggerate one's distress for sympathy or greater effect
  • pillion passenger — a person who travels in a seat or place behind the rider of a motorcycle, scooter, horse, etc
  • pincushion cactus — any of various low-growing, spiny cacti of the genus Mammillaria.
  • pincushion flower — scabious2 (def 1).
  • pink-footed goose — a Eurasian goose, Anser brachyrhynchus, having a reddish-brown head, pink legs, and a pink band on its black beak
  • pinpoint accuracy — extreme accuracy
  • pioneering spirit — a willingness to endure hardship in order to explore new places or try out new things
  • pitching rotation — the regular, scheduled succession of starting pitchers designated by a manager: a four-man pitching rotation in September.
  • pitot-static tube — a device combining a Pitot tube with a static tube: used to measure airspeed.
  • plains of abraham — a high plain adjoining the city of Quebec, Canada: battlefield where the English under Wolfe defeated the French under Montcalm in 1759.
  • planck's constant — the fundamental constant of quantum mechanics, expressing the ratio of the energy of one quantum of radiation to the frequency of the radiation and approximately equal to 6.624 × 10− 27 erg-seconds. Symbol: h.
  • plastic explosive — a puttylike substance that contains an explosive charge, and is detonated by fuse or by remote control: used especially by terrorists and in guerrilla warfare.
  • plateau's problem — the problem in the calculus of variations of finding the surface with the least area bounded by a given closed curve in space.
  • platinic chloride — chloroplatinic acid.
  • play along (with) — to join in or cooperate (with)
  • play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
  • ploughman's lunch — a light lunch consisting of bread and cheese, and sometimes pickled onions.
  • plymouth brethren — a religious sect founded c. 1827, strongly Puritanical in outlook and prohibiting many secular occupations for its members. It combines elements of Calvinism, Pietism, and millenarianism, and has no organized ministry
  • pocket battleship — a small heavily armed and armored warship serving as a battleship because of limitations imposed by treaty.
  • pocket calculator — an electronic calculator small enough to be carried on one's person.
  • pocket dictionary — a small portable dictionary
  • point of presence — (PoP) A site where there exists a collection of telecommunications equipment, usually modems, digital leased lines and multi-protocol routers. An Internet access provider may operate several PoPs distributed throughout their area of operation to increase the chance that their subscribers will be able to reach one with a local telephone call. The alternative is for them to use virtual PoPs (virtual points of presence) via some third party.
  • point of purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
  • point reyes lilac — a prostrate shrub, Ceanothus gloriosus, of southern California, having leathery, roundish leaves and purplish or deep-blue flowers.
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