17-letter words containing p, r, o, t, c
- cypriot syllabary — a syllabic script in use on Cyprus in the first millennium b.c., used for the writing of Greek and of an unknown language.
- cytotrophoblastic — Relating to, or containing, cytotrophoblasts.
- despotic monarchy — absolute monarchy.
- dialect geography — linguistic geography
- dielectrophoresis — Dielectrophoresis is the movement of uncharged particles (= ones with no electrical charge) when a changing electric field is applied.
- dipterocarpaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Dipterocarpaceae, a family of trees chiefly native to tropical SE Asia, having two-winged fruits. Many species yield useful timber and resins
- discrete preorder — (mathematics) A preorder is said to be discrete if any two of its elements are incomparable.
- 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.
- droplet infection — infection spread by airborne droplets of secretions from the nose, throat, or lungs.
- ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
- ectopic pregnancy — the development of a fertilized ovum outside the uterus, as in a Fallopian tube.
- ehelp corporation — (company) A vendor of Microsoft Windows application development tools such as RoboHELP and RoboDemo. EHelp were formerly (around 1997) Blue Sky Software. Address: 7777 Fay Avenue, Suite 201, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Telephone: +1-800-793-0364, +1 (619) 459 6365. Fax: +1 (619) 459 6366.
- electrodeposition — The deposition of a metal on a cathode during electrolysis; used as a method of purification.
- electromyographic — Using electromyography.
- electrophysiology — The branch of physiology that deals with the electrical phenomena associated with nervous and other bodily activity.
- electropositivity — (uncountable) the condition of being electropositive.
- emission spectrum — the continuous spectrum or pattern of bright lines or bands seen when the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a substance is passed into a spectrometer. The spectrum is characteristic of the emitting substance and the type of excitation to which it is subjected
- emotional cripple — someone who is unable to feel or show true emotion and so cannot form relationships with other people
- ethnopharmacology — The scientific study correlating ethnic groups, their health, and how it relates to their physical habits and methodology in creating and using medicines.
- exception handler — Special code which is called when an exception occurs during the execution of a program. If the programmer does not provide a handler for a given exception, a built-in system exception handler will usually be called resulting in abortion of the program run and some kind of error indication being returned to the user. Examples of exception handler mechanisms are Unix's signal calls and Lisp's catch and throw.
- factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
- fictitious person — a legal entity or artificial person, as a corporation.
- fingertip control — control exercised through your fingertips, e.g. by touching a touchscreen
- first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
- first-loss policy — an insurance policy for goods in which a total loss is extremely unlikely and the insurer agrees to provide cover for a sum less than the total value of the property
- fluorescent strip — a fluorescent light in the form of a long strip
- gas chromatograph — a chromatograph used for the separation of volatile substances.
- glove compartment — a compartment in the dashboard of an automobile for storing small items.
- gupta corporation — (company) The vendor of SQLWindows. Gupta Corporation provides application development and deployment software for client-server applications, consisting of a relational database, application development tools and transparent connectivity software. Gupta employs 400 people in 15 offices worldwide, including the United States, Europe and Asia. Gupta's 1993 fiscal year income was $5.6 million and their revenue was $56.1 million. Gupta sells client-server system components for networks of personal computers. Address: 1060 Marsh Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. Telephone: +1 (415) 321 9500. Fax: +1 (415) 321 5471.
- health care proxy — a legal document in which a person can appoint someone to make decisions about medical treatment in the event that he or she is no longer mentally competent or able to communicate.
- helicopter parent — a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life: In typical helicopter parenting, a mother or father swoops in at any sign of challenge or discomfort.
- historiographical — the body of literature dealing with historical matters; histories collectively.
- housekeeping cart — A housekeeping cart is a large metal basket on wheels which is used by a cleaner in a hotel to move clean bed linen, towels, and cleaning equipment.
- hydrotherapeutics — hydrotherapy.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperchlorination — Chemistry. to combine or treat with chlorine. to introduce chlorine atoms into an organic compound by an addition or substitution reaction.
- hyperconnectivity — Hyperconnectivity is the use of many systems and devices so that you are always connected to social networks and other sources of information.
- hypocholesteremia — an abnormally low amount of cholesterol in the blood.
- immunotherapeutic — (immunology, medicine) Of a pharmaceutical, acting on the immune system to treat disease; used in immunotherapy.
- impersonification — (archaic) the act of impersonating; impersonation.
- improper fraction — a fraction having the numerator greater than the denominator.
- in the process of — If you are in the process of doing something, you have started to do it and are still doing it.
- incomplete flower — a flower without one or more of the normal parts, as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
- incompressibility — The quality of being incompressible, of not compressing under pressure.
- incubation period — the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.
- indecent exposure — the intentional exposure of one's body's privates in a manner that gives offense against accepted or prescribed behavior.
- indian rope-trick — the supposed Indian feat of climbing an unsupported rope
- indicator species — See at indicator (def 6).
- inspector general — a comedy (1836) by Gogol.