18-letter words containing s, p, o, r, t, y
- muscular dystrophy — a hereditary disease characterized by gradual wasting of the muscles with replacement by scar tissue and fat, sometimes also affecting the heart.
- natural philosophy — natural science.
- nebular hypothesis — the theory that the solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter: prominent in the 19th century following its precise formulation by Laplace.
- neo-pythagoreanism — a philosophical system, established in Alexandria and Rome in the second century b.c., consisting mainly of revived Pythagorean doctrines with elements of Platonism and Stoicism.
- non-responsibility — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- normally aspirated — A normally aspirated or naturally aspirated engine breathes air at atmospheric pressure.
- not a pretty sight — If you say that someone or something is not a pretty sight, you mean that it is not pleasant to look at.
- offset lithography — offset (def 6).
- old curiosity shop — a novel (1840–41) by Dickens.
- open heart surgery — surgery performed on the exposed heart while a heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood and diverts it from the heart.
- open-heart surgery — surgery performed on the exposed heart while a heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood and diverts it from the heart.
- orthopedic surgery — corrective operation on bones or joints
- parathyroid glands — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
- pay one's respects — a particular, detail, or point (usually preceded by in): to differ in some respect.
- pellitory of spain — a small Mediterranean plant, Anacyclus pyrethrum, the root of which contains an oil formerly used to relieve toothache: family Asteraceae (composites)
- peter tschaikowsky — Peter Ilyich [il-yich] /ˈɪl yɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich.
- phanerocrystalline — (of a rock) having the principal constituents in the form of crystals visible to the naked eye.
- phantasmagorically — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
- phosphatidylserine — any of a class of phospholipids occurring in biological membranes and fats
- physical inventory — To carry out a physical inventory is to count all the stock on hand.
- polynesian tattler — a sandpiper, H. incanus, native to the Pacific coastal regions
- polystyrene cement — a purpose-made adhesive for fixing rigid polystyrene
- positively charged — having a positive charge
- post-revolutionary — of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.
- postviral syndrome — debilitating condition occurring as a sequel to viral illness
- potassium myronate — sinigrin.
- preparatory school — a private or parochial secondary school, especially one boarding its students and providing a college-preparatory education.
- presentation layer — (networking) The second highest layer (layer 6) in the OSI seven layer model. Performs functions such as text compression, code or format conversion to try to smooth out differences between hosts. Allows incompatible processes in the application layer to communicate via the session layer. Documents: ITU Rec. X.226 (ISO 8823), ITU Rec. X.216 (ISO 8822).
- priority inversion — (parallel) The state of a concurrent system where a high priority task is waiting for a low priority task which is waiting for a medium priority task. The system may become unstable and crash under these circumstances. In an operating system that uses multiple tasks, each task (or context) may be given a priority. These priorities help the scheduler decide which task to run next. Consider tasks, L, M, and H, with priorities Low, Medium, and High. M is running and H is blocked waiting for some resource that is held by L. So long as any task with a priority higher than L is runable, it will prevent task L, and thus task H, from running. Priority inversion is generally considered either as a high-level design failure or an implementation issue to be taken into account depending on who is talking. Most operating systems have methods in place to prevent or take inversion into account. Priority inheritance is one method. The most public instance of priority inversion is the repeated 'fail-safe' rebooting of the Mars Pathfinder. base station ('Sagan Memorial Station').
- processionary moth — a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae, esp the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea), the larvae of which leave the communal shelter nightly for food in a V-shaped procession
- productivity bonus — an extra payment made to workers for being more productive or yielding more favourable results than normal
- programme of study — the prescribed syllabus that pupils must be taught at each key stage in the National Curriculum
- property insurance — insurance coverage for land and housing
- proprietary rights — rights of ownership
- protective custody — detention of a person by the police solely as protection against a possible attack or reprisal by someone.
- proton synchrotron — a synchrotron used for accelerating protons.
- psychogalvanometer — a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.
- psychotherapeutics — psychotherapy.
- raman spectroscopy — a form of spectroscopy which uses the Raman effect for studying molecules
- registered company — a company which has officially registered its business
- reporters' gallery — an area in parliament reserved for journalists and reporters
- respiratory arrest — cessation of breathing
- respiratory system — the system by which oxygen is taken into the body and an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place; in mammals the system includes the nasal passages, pharynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs.
- separation anxiety — the normal fear and apprehension expressed by infants when removed from their mothers or approached by strangers.
- september holidays — a period of time in September when people do not have to go to school, college or work
- set priority level — (SPL) The way traditional Unix kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code at high interrupt priority levels and thus blocking lower level interrupts.
- shop till you drop — If you shop till you drop, you do a large amount of shopping.
- silvery spleenwort — a fern, Diplazium pycnocarpon, of eastern North America, having fronds from 20 to 30 inches (50.8 to 76.2 cm) long on yellowish-green stalks.
- sling psychrometer — a psychrometer so designed that the wet-bulb thermometer can be ventilated, to expedite evaporation, by whirling in the air.
- slow-motion replay — a showing again in slow motion of a sequence of action, esp of part of a sporting contest immediately after it happens