23-letter words containing p, s, a, n
- in the arms of morpheus — sleeping
- industrial psychologist — a person who studies human behaviour and cognitive processes in relation to the working environment
- informatics corporation — (company) Renamed to Sterling Software Corp.
- joint test action group —
- keep (a person) company — to stay with (a person) so as to provide companionship
- keep sb at arm's length — If you keep someone at arm's length, you avoid becoming too friendly or involved with them.
- keep sth under your hat — If you tell someone to keep a piece of information under their hat, you are asking them not to tell anyone else about it.
- kick against the pricks — to hurt oneself by struggling against something in vain
- l'apres-midi d'un faune — L'Après-midi d'un Faune.
- lingual protrusion lisp — a speech defect consisting in pronouncing s and z like or nearly like the th- sounds of thin and this, respectively.
- locally euclidean space — a topological space in which each point has a neighborhood that is homeomorphic to an open set in a Euclidean space of specified dimension.
- long-horned grasshopper — any of numerous insects of the family Tettigoniidae, having long, threadlike antennae and well-developed stridulating organs on the forewings of the male.
- lossy audio compression — (audio, compression) Any audio compression algorithm which does not retain every bit of data but only reproduces a signal that sounds more or less like the original. Examples are MP1, MP2, MP3, AAC.
- magnetic susceptibility — the coefficient or set of coefficients of the magnetic intensity in any expression giving the components of magnetization as linear combinations of the components of magnetic intensity.
- maximal free expression — (MFE) A free expression is sub-expression of a lambda abstraction not containing the bound variable. A maximal free expression is a free expression not contained within any other free expression. See full laziness.
- meaningful relationship — a romantic relationship based upon mutual respect and supportiveness and marked by a sense of commitment and fulfillment.
- message transport agent — Message Transfer Agent
- multiple-risk insurance — insurance that covers several risks
- national superannuation — a means-related pension paid to elderly people
- netscape public license — Open source license
- neutrosophic statistics — (statistics) Analysis of events described by neutrosophic probability.
- north ossetian republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the N slopes of the central Caucasus Mountains. Capital: Vladikavkaz. Pop: 709 900 (2002). Area: about 8000 sq km (3088 sq miles)
- not put it past someone — to consider someone capable of (the action specified)
- occupational psychology — the study of human behaviour at work, including ergonomics, selection procedures, and the effects of stress
- on-line data processing — the storing or processing of data on a computer using the internet
- orthostatic hypotension — Medicine/Medical. a fall in blood pressure associated with an upright position, usually occurring as a result of standing still for a long time or rising from a prolonged stay in bed and often causing faintness, dizziness, and vision disturbances.
- osteogenesis imperfecta — a rare hereditary disease in which abnormal connective tissue development leads to fragile bones subject to fracture.
- pan-africanist congress — a South African liberation movement founded in 1959, now a political party known as the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania
- parasexual reproduction — reproduction by recombination of genes from genetically dissimilar nuclei within binucleate or multinucleate cells, as in filamentous fungi.
- parkinson's law of data — "Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.
- parliamentary secretary — government minister's assistant
- participant observation — a technique of field research, used in anthropology and sociology, by which an investigator (participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities.
- participating insurance — insurance in which the policyholders receive dividends and share in the surplus earnings of the company.
- past one's sell-by date — If you say that someone or something is past their sell-by date, you mean they are no longer effective, interesting, or useful.
- pat someone on the back — to congratulate or encourage someone
- pay one's last respects — If you pay your last respects to someone who has just died, you show your respect or affection for them by coming to see their body or their grave.
- percentage distribution — a frequency distribution is which individual frequencies are shown as a percentage of the total frequencies
- peroxymonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- pest control department — the local government department responsible for controlling such pests as rats and mice
- pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
- phyletic classification — classification of organisms based on their assumed evolutionary histories and relationships.
- physiological phonetics — the branch of phonetics that deals with the motive processes, anatomical measurements, spirometric properties, muscle and membrane tone, and kinetic aspects of the production of speech and with related aspects of the reception of speech.
- pin someone's ears back — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
- pithecanthropus erectus — Java man
- plan position indicator — a radarscope on which an object reflecting radar waves shows its bearing and distance from the radar detector by causing a spot of light to appear on a screen that represents a map of the area around the detector. Abbreviation: PPI.
- planetesimal hypothesis — one of the small celestial bodies that, according to one theory (planetesimal hypothesis) were fused together to form the planets of the solar system.
- polish lowland sheepdog — a strongly-built medium-sized sheepdog of a Polish breed with a long thick shaggy coat that covers the eyes
- political incorrectness — Political incorrectness is the attitude or policy shown by someone who does not care if they offend or upset any group of people in society who have a disadvantage, or who have been treated differently because of their sex, race, or disability.
- positive discrimination — special opportunities
- postcode discrimination — discrimination on the basis of the area where someone lives, with relation to employment, credit rating, etc