16-letter words containing r, h, a, p
- at the sharp end — If you say that someone is at the sharp end of a particular activity or type of work, you mean that they are involved in the most difficult or dangerous aspects of it.
- atmospheric tide — a movement of atmospheric masses caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon and by daily solar heating.
- auditory aphasia — aphasia in which there is no comprehension of spoken words; word deafness.
- australopithecus — an extinct genus of small-brained,large-toothed bipedal hominids that lived in Africa between one and four million years ago.
- autobiographical — An autobiographical piece of writing relates to events in the life of the person who has written it.
- autoethnographic — Using ethnographic techniques to describe one's own life, or events in which one is a participant.
- autoradiographic — Of or pertaining to an autoradiograph, a radiographic image produced by the decay of a radioactive substance.
- aversion therapy — a method of suppressing an undesirable habit, such as excessive smoking, by causing the subject to associate an unpleasant effect, such as an electric shock or nausea, with the habit
- avian diphtheria — a virus disease of chickens and other birds characterized by warty excrescences on the comb and wattles, and often by diphtherialike changes in the mucous membranes of the head.
- ball-peen hammer — a hammer with one end of the head rounded and the other end flat
- bashkir republic — a constituent republic of E central Russia, in the S Urals: established as the first Soviet autonomous republic in 1919; rich mineral resources. Capital: Ufa. Pop: 4 012 900 (2002). Area: 143 600 sq km (55 430 sq miles)
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- batch production — production of goods in batches, rather than continuously
- bathythermograph — a device for measuring the temperature of the ocean at any specific depth down to c. 1,800 m (c. 5,900 ft)
- beauty therapist — a person whose job is to carry out treatments to improve a person's appearance, such as facials, manicures, removal of unwanted hair, etc
- behavior pattern — a recurrent way of acting by an individual or group toward a given object or in a given situation.
- behavior therapy — therapy employing behavior modification
- birthday present — a gift given to someone on their birthday
- black-light trap — a trap for insects that uses ultraviolet light as an attractant.
- bleaching powder — a white powder with the odour of chlorine, consisting of chlorinated calcium hydroxide with an approximate formula CaCl(OCl).4H2O. It is used in solution as a bleaching agent and disinfectant
- brake horsepower — the rate at which an engine does work, expressed in horsepower. It is measured by the resistance of an applied brake
- branchiopneustic — breathing by means of gills, as certain aquatic insect larvae.
- bronchopneumonia — inflammation of the lungs, originating in the bronchioles
- burkitt lymphoma — a rare type of tumour of the white blood cells, occurring mainly in Africa and associated with infection by Epstein-Barr virus
- buttercup squash — a small, usually dark-green squash that is a variety of Cucurbita maxima, having sweet orange flesh.
- calligraphically — In a calligraphic manner: using calligraphy.
- cape cod lighter — a device for lighting a fire, as in a fireplace, consisting of a lump of nonflammable material on a metal rod, that is soaked in kerosene or the like and lighted with a match.
- caregiver speech — baby talk (def 2).
- carpatho-ukraine — a region in W Ukraine: ceded by Czechoslovakia in 1945.
- carpenter gothic — (sometimes initial capital letters) a style of Victorian Gothic architecture adapted to the resources of contemporary woodworking tools and machinery.
- cartographically — the production of maps, including construction of projections, design, compilation, drafting, and reproduction.
- caryophyllaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Caryophyllaceae, a family of flowering plants including the pink, carnation, sweet william, and chickweed
- catastrophically — of the nature of a catastrophe, or disastrous event; calamitous: a catastrophic failure of the dam.
- celestial sphere — an imaginary sphere of infinitely large radius enclosing the universe so that all celestial bodies appear to be projected onto its surface
- cepheid variable — any of a class of variable stars with regular cycles of variations in luminosity (most ranging from three to fifty days). There is a relationship between the periods of variation and the absolute magnitudes, which is used for measuring the distance of such stars
- charged particle — an atomic particle with a positive or negative charge, as an electron, proton, or helium ion
- charmed particle — See at charmed (def 2).
- chattel personal — an item of movable personal property, such as furniture, domestic animals, etc
- chemoautotrophic — producing organic matter by the use of energy obtained by oxidation of certain chemicals with carbon dioxide as the carbon source
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs
- chemotherapeutic — of or used in chemotherapy
- chernobyl packet — (networking) /cher-noh'b*l pak'*t/ A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown, named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ethernet address and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet.
- chian turpentine — turpentine (def 2).
- child psychiatry — the branch of psychiatry specializing in the treatment of children.
- children's panel — (in Scotland) a group of representatives of relevant agencies, with the power to deal with a child under sixteen who is in criminal or family trouble. Its hearings are private and replace most of the functions of juvenile courts
- chinese shar-pei — Shar-Pei.
- chipping sparrow — a common North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, having brown-and-grey plumage and a white eye stripe
- chlordiazepoxide — a chemical compound used as a tranquillizer and muscle relaxant and in the treatment of delirium tremens. Formula: C16H14ClN3O
- chlorophenothane — DDT.
- chlorpheniramine — an antihistaminic compound, C 20 H 23 ClN 2 O 4 , used in treating the symptoms of allergies.