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21-letter words containing p, r, e, b

  • open graphics library — (graphics, library)   (OpenGL) A multi-platform software interface to graphics hardware, supporting rendering and imaging operations. The OpenGL interface was developed by Silicon Graphics, who license it to other vendors. The OpenGL graphics interface consists of several hundred functions operating on 2D and 3D objects, supporting basic techniques, such as modelling and smooth shading, and advanced techniques, such as texture mapping and motion blur. Many operations require a frame buffer. OpenGL is network-transparent, and a common extension to the X Window System allows an OpenGL client to communicate across a network with a different vendor's OpenGL server. OpenGL is based on Silicon Graphics' proprietary IRIS GL.
  • optical double (star) — double star (sense 2)
  • pick someone's brains — to obtain information or ideas from someone
  • pipelined burst cache — Pipeline Burst Cache
  • poke borak at someone — to jeer at someone
  • portable commodore 64 — (computer)   A version of the Commodore 64 modelled after the original Osborne portable PCs, with a flip-down keyboard that revealed a 5-inch colour monitor, and a built-in 1541 floppy disk drive. It is thought that few were made but that they did go on sale, at least in Canada.
  • portable common loops — (PCL) A language which started out as an implementation of CommonLoops and turned into a portable CLOS implementation. Version 1992-08-28. It runs under Lucid Common LISP 4.0.1 and CMU Common LISP 16e.
  • posterior probability — the probability assigned to some parameter or to an event on the basis of its observed frequency in a sample, and calculated from a prior probability by Bayes' theorem
  • potassium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, slightly alkaline, salty-tasting, water-soluble powder, KHCO 3 , produced by the passage of carbon dioxide through an aqueous potassium carbonate solution: used in cookery as a leavening agent and in medicine as an antacid.
  • premium savings bonds — (in Britain) bonds issued by the Treasury since 1956 for purchase by the public. No interest is paid but there is a monthly draw for cash prizes of various sums
  • printed circuit board — a circuit in which the interconnecting conductors and some of the circuit components have been printed, etched, etc., onto a sheet or board of dielectric material (PC board, printed-circuit board)
  • private member's bill — In Britain, a Private Member's Bill is a law that is proposed by a Member of Parliament acting as an individual rather than as a member of his or her political party.
  • probable maximum loss — Probable maximum loss is the maximum amount of loss that can be expected under normal circumstances.
  • propantheline bromide — a substance, C 2 3 H 3 0 BrNO 3 , used in the treatment of peptic ulcers.
  • public address system — loudspeaker
  • public health service — the agency that is responsible for the health of the general public
  • public-address system — a combination of electronic devices that makes sound audible via loudspeakers to many people, as in an auditorium or out of doors.
  • public-key encryption — (cryptography)   (PKE, Or "public-key cryptography") An encryption scheme, introduced by Diffie and Hellman in 1976, where each person gets a pair of keys, called the public key and the private key. Each person's public key is published while the private key is kept secret. Messages are encrypted using the intended recipient's public key and can only be decrypted using his private key. This is often used in conjunction with a digital signature. The need for sender and receiver to share secret information (keys) via some secure channel is eliminated: all communications involve only public keys, and no private key is ever transmitted or shared. Public-key encryption can be used for authentication, confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation. See also knapsack problem.
  • pure imaginary number — a complex number of the form iy where y is a real number and i = .
  • put sb in the picture — If you put someone in the picture, you tell them about a situation which they need to know about.
  • put sb in their place — If you put someone in their place, you show them that they are less important or clever than they think they are.
  • put sb out to pasture — If you say that someone is being put out to pasture, you mean they are no longer being employed because they are considered to be too old or no longer useful.
  • reciprocal inhibition — the theory that the pairing of an anxiety-provoking stimulus with anxiety-reducing reactions will weaken the association between the stimulus and the anxiety.
  • recompression chamber — hyperbaric chamber.
  • rectangular hyperbola — a hyperbola with perpendicular asymptotes
  • relative permeability — the ratio of the permeability of a medium to that of free space
  • rob peter to pay paul — to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
  • roodepoort-maraisburg — a city in S Transvaal, in the NE Republic of South Africa.
  • sao bernardo do campo — a city in SE Brazil, SE of São Paulo.
  • saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
  • sb/sth reigns supreme — Someone or something that reigns supreme is the most important or powerful element in a situation or period of time.
  • single parent benefit — a form of government funded financial assistance paid to single parents
  • single spanish burton — a tackle having a runner as well as the fall supporting the load, giving a mechanical advantage of three, neglecting friction.
  • space shuttle orbiter — orbiter (def 1).
  • splice the main brace — to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.
  • split-finger fastball — a type of fastball that sinks abruptly as it nears home plate, thrown with the grip used for a forkball
  • stabilization-process — the act or process of stabilizing or the state of being stabilized.
  • subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
  • supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
  • sympathetic vibration — a vibration induced by resonance.
  • the probation service — a criminal justice service that is mainly responsible for dealing with offenders by placing them under the supervision of a probation officer
  • to be public property — to be publicly owned
  • to put one over on sb — If someone puts one over on you, they make you do or believe something by telling you things that are not true.
  • to put/set sb to work — If you put someone to work or set them to work, you give them a job or task to do.
  • trustee in bankruptcy — a person appointed by a court to administer the property of a bankrupt.
  • writ of habeas corpus — law: petition for hearing
  • yellow-rumped warbler — a common North American wood warbler, Dendroica coronata, having yellow spots on the rump, crown, and sides, including a white-throated eastern subspecies (myrtle warbler) and a yellow-throated western subspecies (Audubon's warbler)
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