15-letter words containing u, p, r, a
- pandorae fretum — an area in the southern hemisphere of Mars.
- parachute brake — a parachute opened horizontally from the tail of an airplane upon landing, used as an aid in braking. Also called parabrake. Compare drogue parachute (def 2).
- paralinguistics — the study of paralanguage.
- parallel cousin — a cousin who is the child either of one's mother's sister or of one's father's brother.
- parent compound — a compound from which derivatives may be obtained.
- parent language — an earlier language from which another is derived.
- part of fortune — the celestial longitude of the moon plus the celestial longitude of the ascendant minus the celestial longitude of the sun: said to connote an area of life through which one achieves emotional satisfaction.
- parti québécois — (in Canada) a political party in Quebec, formed in 1968 and originally advocating the separation of Quebec from the rest of the country
- partial denture — an artificial replacement of one or several of the teeth (partial denture) or all of the teeth (full denture) of either or both jaws; dental prosthesis.
- partial product — the result obtained when a number is multiplied by one digit of a multiplier
- particularistic — exclusive attention or devotion to one's own particular interests, party, etc.
- passifloraceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Passifloraceae, a tropical and subtropical family of climbing plants including the passionflowers: the flowers have five petals and threadlike parts forming a dense mass (corona) around the central disc
- pastel-coloured — pale-coloured; in a shade such as pink or pale blue
- patchwork quilt — cover sewn from patches of cloth
- patio furniture — furniture in an area adjoining a house, esp one that is paved and used for outdoor activities
- paurometabolous — designating or of a group of insect orders, as orthopterans or hemipterans, in which metamorphosis to the adult state from the juvenile state is gradual and without any sudden, radical change of body form
- pay as you earn — a method of paying tax in which the tax is taken off your wages before they are paid to you
- peak production — the maximum production
- pearly nautilus — nautilus (def 1).
- pectoral muscle — muscle of the chest
- peculiar people — a small sect of faith healers founded in London in 1838, having no ministers or external organization
- penal servitude — imprisonment together with hard labor.
- penshurst place — a 14th-century mansion near Tunbridge Wells in Kent: birthplace of Sir Philip Sidney; gardens laid out from 1560
- perfluorocarbon — a fluorocarbon consisting only of fluorine and carbon atoms
- perforating gun — A perforating gun is a device used to make holes in oil and gas wells in preparation for production.
- pergamentaceous — (esp of plants) resembling parchment, whether in texture or composition
- perpendicularly — vertical; straight up and down; upright.
- perpetual check — a continuing series of checks resulting in a drawn game because they cannot be halted or evaded without resulting in checkmate or a serious disadvantage.
- personal column — The personal column in a newspaper or magazine contains messages for individual people and advertisements of a private nature.
- personal injury — injury to an individual
- peruvian balsam — Peru balsam.
- phantom circuit — a circuit derived from two suitably arranged pairs of wires, each pair being a circuit (side circuit) and also acting as one half of an additional derived circuit, the entire system providing the capabilities of three circuits while requiring wires for only two.
- phenylketonuria — an inherited disease due to faulty metabolism of phenylalanine, characterized by phenylketones in the urine and usually first noted by signs of mental retardation in infancy.
- phonautographic — relating to a phonautograph or a piece of equipment that records sound visually by detecting the sound waves and indicating them on a graph
- phosphate group — the group or radical obtained by removal of one or more hydrogen atoms from phosphoric acid.
- photofluorogram — a recording on photographic film of images produced by a fluoroscopic examination.
- photojournalism — journalism in which photography dominates written copy, as in certain magazines.
- piano reduction — a musical score having the parts condensed or simplified in two staves, to render the music playable on the piano by one person.
- pictorial janus — K. Kahn, Xerox. Visual extension of Janus. Requires Strand88 and a PostScript interpreter.
- picture gallery — place where art is exhibited and sold
- picture library — A picture library is a collection of photographs that is held by a particular company or organization. Newspapers or publishers can pay to use the photographs in their publications.
- picture-framing — the job of framing photos, paintings etc
- pierrot lunaire — a cycle of 21 songs (1912) for voice and instruments, by Arnold Schönberg, written in Sprechgesang style and set to poems of Albert Giraud in German translation.
- pig, run like a — To run very slowly on given hardware, said of software. Distinct from hog.
- pinochet ugarte — Augusto [ou-goos-taw] /aʊˈgus tɔ/ (Show IPA), 1915–2006, Chilean army general and political leader: president 1973–90.
- pithecanthropus — a former genus of extinct hominids whose members have now been assigned to the proposed species Homo erectus.
- pituitary gland — a small, somewhat cherry-shaped double structure attached by a stalk to the base of the brain and constituting the master endocrine gland affecting all hormonal functions in the body, consisting of an anterior region ((anterior pituitary) or (adenohypophysis)) that develops embryonically from the roof of the mouth and that secretes growth hormone, LH, FSH, ACTH, TSH, and MSH, a posterior region ((posterior pituitary) or (neurohypophysis)) that develops from the back of the forebrain and that secretes the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin, and an intermediate part (pars intermedia) derived from the anterior region but joined to the posterior region, that secretes the hormone MSH in lower vertebrates.
- plane surveying — the surveying of areas of limited size, making no corrections for the earth's curvature
- planter's punch — a punch made with rum, lime juice, sugar, and water or soda.
- plastic surgeon — doctor who performs cosmetic surgery