23-letter words containing s, p, u, n
- 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 computer system — (OLC) A predecessor of the Culler-Fried System from UCSB ca. 1966.
- parasexual reproduction — reproduction by recombination of genes from genetically dissimilar nuclei within binucleate or multinucleate cells, as in filamentous fungi.
- participating insurance — insurance in which the policyholders receive dividends and share in the surplus earnings of the company.
- percentage distribution — a frequency distribution is which individual frequencies are shown as a percentage of the total frequencies
- peroxymonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
- pithecanthropus erectus — Java man
- posthypnotic suggestion — a suggestion made to the subject while in a hypnotic trance, to be acted upon at some time after emerging from the trance
- potassium monophosphate — any of the three orthophosphates of potassium ((potassium monophosphate) (K 2 HPO 4), (potassium diphosphate) (KH 2 PO 4), and (tripotassium phosphate) (K 3 PO 4) )
- price escalation clause — a clause in a contract allowing the seller to raise prices if the cost of inputs increases
- probabilistic automaton — nondeterministic automaton
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- profit and loss account — income account (def 2).
- program design language — Any of a large class of formal and profoundly useless pseudo-languages in which management forces one to design programs. Too often, management expects PDL descriptions to be maintained in parallel with the code, imposing massive overhead of little or no benefit. See also flow chart.
- public sector borrowing — government borrowing to fund the public sector
- put in a false position — to cause misunderstanding of the intentions, opinions, etc. of
- put one's finger on sth — If you put your finger on something, for example a reason or problem, you see and identify exactly what it is.
- put the bite on someone — to ask someone for money
- put through one's paces — a rate of movement, especially in stepping, walking, etc.: to walk at a brisk pace of five miles an hour.
- queenborough in sheppey — a town in SE England, in Kent: formed in 1968 by the amalgamation of Queenborough, Sheerness, and Sheppey. Pop: 3471 (2001)
- quote chapter and verse — [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from an appropriate bible. "I don't care if "rn" gets it wrong; "Followup-To: poster" is explicitly permitted by RFC 1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you don't believe me." See also legalese, language lawyer, RTFS (sense 2).
- relative sunspot number — a number indicating the degree of sunspot activity on the sun as a factor of observer idiosyncrasies, the number of sunspot groups, and the number of individual sunspots.
- rub sb up the wrong way — If you rub someone up the wrong way in British English, or rub someone the wrong way in American English, you offend or annoy them without intending to.
- sidewalk superintendent — a bystander who watches the building, demolition, repair, or other work being done at a construction site.
- slum clearance campaign — a campaign to rehouse those people who live in a slum area, and to prepare the area for demolition and rebuilding
- social security payment — a payment of social security made to an individual
- speak the same language — to communicate with understanding because of common background, values, etc
- spirit of nitrous ether — ethyl nitrite spirit.
- st. pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
- stand up and be counted — express opinion
- statutory maternity pay — the maternity pay a woman is legally entitled to
- structural anthropology — a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics.
- structural unemployment — unemployment caused by basic changes in the overall economy, as in demographics, technology, or industrial organization.
- sub specie aeternitatis — from the standpoint of eternity; from a universal perspective
- subscription television — pay television.
- superposition principle — principle of superposition.
- supplementary insurance — Supplementary insurance is insurance coverage that is purchased in addition to an insurance policy to provide additional benefits or coverage.
- suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
- sustainable development — supporting economy via renewable resources
- text processing utility — (language) (TPU) A DEC language for creation of text-processing interfaces, used to implement DEC's Extensible VAX Editor (EVE).
- thompson submachine gun — a portable, .45-caliber, automatic weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder or hip.
- to jump to a conclusion — If you say that someone jumps to a conclusion, you are critical of them because they decide too quickly that something is true, when they do not know all the facts.
- to keep your nose clean — If you keep your nose clean, you behave well and stay out of trouble.
- to pay through the nose — If you say that you paid through the nose for something, you are emphasizing that you had to pay what you consider too high a price for it.
- to put your mind to sth — If you put your mind to something, you start making an effort to do it.
- trans-new guinea phylum — the largest grouping of the non-Austronesian languages of Papua and New Guinea and the surrounding regions
- turn-and-slip indicator — bank-and-turn indicator.
- unincorporated business — a privately owned business, often owned by one person who has unlimited liability as the business is not legally registered as a company