17-letter words containing u, l, o, s
- potassium oxalate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 2 C 2 O 4 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and in medical tests as an anticoagulant.
- potassium sulfate — a crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 2 SO 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, alums, and mineral water, and as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
- poulter's measure — a metrical pattern using couplets having the first line in iambic hexameter, or 12 syllables, and the second in iambic heptameter, or 14 syllables.
- power supply unit — (hardware) (PSU) An electronic module that converts high voltage (110 or 240 VAC) alternating current mains electricity into smoothed direct current at the various differnt voltages required by the motherboard; internal peripheral devices, cheifly storage devices: hard disks, CD or DVD, floppy disks and external connections such as USB. A PSU needs a high enough power output rating to supply all the devices connected to it and should output as little as possible electrical noise, both on the output wires and as electromagnetic radiation. See also uninterruptable power supply.
- prison population — all the people who are confined in prison
- procurator fiscal — In the Scottish legal system, the procurator fiscal is a public official who puts people on trial.
- production values — the quality of a media production (such as a film) in regards to elements such as colours, quality, style, etc
- professional foul — In football, if a player commits a professional foul, they deliberately do something which is against the rules in order to prevent another player from scoring a goal.
- prostatic utricle — a small pouch near the prostate gland that opens into the urethra.
- pseudo-biological — pertaining to biology.
- pseudo-historical — of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events: historical records; historical research.
- pseudo-moralistic — a person who teaches or inculcates morality.
- psychoeducational — designating or of psychological methods, as intelligence tests, used in evaluating learning ability
- psycholinguistics — the study of the relationship between language and the cognitive or behavioral characteristics of those who use it.
- public prosecutor — an officer charged with the conduct of criminal prosecution in the interest of the public.
- public television — a type of noncommercial, usually educational, television programming funded by the government, grants, viewers, and corporations. Compare educational television.
- pull one's weight — the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.
- purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
- purple shore crab — any of numerous crabs that live along the shoreline between the tidemarks, as Hemigrapsus nudus (purple shore crab) of the Pacific coast of North America.
- push the envelope — a flat paper container, as for a letter or thin package, usually having a gummed flap or other means of closure.
- put on a pedestal — an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like.
- put on the gloves — to box
- pyroligneous acid — a yellowish, acidic, water-soluble liquid, containing about 10 percent acetic acid, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood: used for smoking meats.
- pyrosulfuric acid — a strong, crystalline acid, H2S2O7, prepared commercially as a heavy, oily, fuming liquid: used in making explosives and dyes, as a sulfating agent, etc.
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- reduce to silence — If someone or something reduces you to silence, they make you feel so upset or confused that you cannot speak.
- refuse a proposal — If an insurer refuses a proposal, it does not agree to underwrite a risk proposed by a potential client.
- refuse collection — the collection of rubbish and waste, usually in a rubbish or refuse truck, before final disposal
- res ipsa loquitur — the rule that an injury is due to the defendant's negligence when that which caused it was under his or her control or management and the injury would not have happened had proper management been observed.
- revascularization — the restoration of the blood circulation of an organ or area, achieved by unblocking obstructed or disrupted blood vessels or by surgically implanting replacements.
- ringer's solution — an aqueous solution of the chlorides of sodium, potassium, and calcium in the same concentrations as normal body fluids, used chiefly in the laboratory for sustaining tissue.
- rio grande do sul — a state in S Brazil. 107,923 sq. mi. (279,520 sq. km). Capital: Pôrto Alegre.
- rocket propulsion — propulsion of an object by thrust developed by a rocket.
- royal institution — a British society founded in 1799 for the dissemination of scientific knowledge
- run short/run low — If you are running short of something or running low on something, you do not have much of it left. If a supply of something is running short or running low, there is not much of it left.
- russell's paradox — a paradox of set theory in which an object is defined in terms of a class of objects that contains the object being defined, resulting in a logical contradiction.
- russian wolfhound — borzoi.
- sb could do worse — If you tell someone that they could do worse than do a particular thing, you are advising them that it would be quite a good thing to do.
- school counsellor — a counsellor who is based in a school
- school playground — school's outdoor recreation area
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.
- second lieutenant — an Army, Air Force, or Marine officer of the lowest commissioned rank. Compare ensign (def 4).
- secondary quality — one of the qualities attributed by the mind to an object perceived, such as color, temperature, or taste.
- self-constituting — to compose; form: mortar constituted of lime and sand.
- self-introduction — the act of introducing or the state of being introduced.
- self-purification — a natural process of purifying, as the ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants.
- self-renunciation — renunciation of one's own will, interests, etc.
- self-reproduction — the act or process of reproducing.
- self-rising flour — Self-rising flour is flour that makes cakes rise when they are cooked because it has chemicals added to it.