17-letter words containing p, r, e, d, s
- disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
- dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
- doberman pinscher — one of a German breed of medium-sized, short-haired dogs having a black, brown, or blue coat with rusty brown markings.
- doorstep salesman — a door-to-door salesman
- dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
- dressed up as sth — portrayed as
- drop one's bundle — several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together: a bundle of hay.
- east grand rapids — a town in W central Michigan, near Grand Rapids.
- ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
- electrodeposition — The deposition of a metal on a cathode during electrolysis; used as a method of purification.
- enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
- esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
- european standard — a specification to be used as a consistent rule or guideline in the manufacture or selling of a certain product or service traded within Europe
- exemplary damages — law: fine imposed as a deterrent
- fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- field penny-cress — the common penny-cress, Thlaspi arvense.
- five-spice powder — a mixture of spices used especially in Chinese cooking, usually including cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, pepper, and star anise.
- floppy disk drive — disk drive
- four-eyed opossum — a small opossum, Metachirops (Philander) opossum, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, having a white spot above each eye.
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- freedom of speech — the right of people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference, subject to the laws against libel, incitement to violence or rebellion, etc.
- garden apartments — a complex of low apartment buildings surrounded by lawn or landscaped areas
- gender expression — the external expression of gender roles, as through socially defined behaviors and ways of dressing.
- graduated pension — the money that an employee receives after retirement if they have paid into the graduated pension scheme
- grain of paradise — Usually, grains of paradise. one of the pungent, peppery seeds of an African plant, Aframomum melegueta, of the ginger family, used to strengthen cordials and in veterinary medicine.
- greensand process — a process for casting iron with sand not previously heated.
- handicap register — a list of the disabled people in its area that a local authority had a duty to compile under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
- hydrogen sulphide — Chemistry
- hydrotherapeutics — hydrotherapy.
- immunocompromised — having an impaired or compromised immune response; immunodeficient.
- in/into disrepair — If something is in disrepair or is in a state of disrepair, it is broken or in bad condition.
- indecent exposure — the intentional exposure of one's body's privates in a manner that gives offense against accepted or prescribed behavior.
- indicator species — See at indicator (def 6).
- integrated optics — an assembly of miniature optical elements of a size comparable to those used in electronic integrated circuits.
- interdependencies — the quality or condition of being interdependent, or mutually reliant on each other: Globalization of economies leads to an ever-increasing interdependence of countries.
- interdisciplinary — combining or involving two or more academic disciplines or fields of study: The economics and history departments are offering an interdisciplinary seminar on Asia.
- interrupted screw — a screw having the thread interrupted in one or more places by longitudinal channels, as in the breech of a cannon or the lead screw of a lathe.
- judgment of paris — the decision by Paris to award Aphrodite the golden apple of discord competed for by Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera.
- jurisprudentially — In terms of jurisprudence.
- kidney transplant — surgery to replace a kidney
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
- landscape painter — artist who depicts natural scenery
- landscaped garden — a garden that has been artistically designed
- lares and penates — household gods
- least upper bound — an upper bound that is less than or equal to all the upper bounds of a particular set. 3 is the least upper bound of the set consisting of 1, 2, 3. Abbr.: lub.
- legal proceedings — court case
- lepidopterologist — One who studies lepidopterology.
- lipopolysaccaride — a molecule, consisting of lipid and polysaccharide components, that is the main constituent of the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria