19-letter words containing u, s, r, i
- missouri compromise — an act of Congress (1820) by which Missouri was admitted as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′N, except for Missouri.
- missouri meerschaum — corncob (def 2).
- modulus of rigidity — shear modulus.
- molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
- mount desert island — an island off the coast of E central Maine: summer resort; forms part of Acadia National Park. 14 miles (23 km) long; 8 miles (13 km) wide.
- mouse-ear chickweed — any of various similar and related plants of the genus Cerastium
- mucopolysaccharides — Plural form of mucopolysaccharide.
- multiple-entry visa — a visa that permits the holder to enter a country several times
- mushroom ventilator — a ventilator having at the top of a vertical shaft a broad rounded cap that can be screwed down to close it.
- music to one's ears — something that is very pleasant to hear
- muster in (or out) — to enlist in (or discharge from) military service
- mutual masturbation — the act of two or more people masturbating each other
- narcotics anonymous — an organization that helps drug users recover from drug addiction
- neats vs. scruffies — (artificial intelligence, jargon) The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in artificial intelligence research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the relationship between human reasoning and AI; "neats" tend to try to build systems that "reason" in some way identifiably similar to the way humans report themselves as doing, while "scruffies" profess not to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favour looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident and not productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture "common sense" of living intelligences.
- neuropsychodynamics — The theoretical synthesis of neuroscience and psychodynamics.
- neurotransmissional — Relating to neurotransmission.
- new year resolution — a promise to yourself or decision to do something, especially to improve one's behaviour or lifestyle in some way, during the year ahead
- new york university — (NYU) Established in 1831, New York University today includes thirteen schools, colleges and divisions located in New York City's borough of Manhattan, as well as research centers and programs in the surrounding suburbs and abroad.
- nicolaus copernicus — Nicolaus [nik-uh-ley-uh s] /ˌnɪk əˈleɪ əs/ (Show IPA), (Mikolaj Kopernik) 1473–1543, Polish astronomer who promulgated the now accepted theory that the earth and the other planets move around the sun (the Copernican System)
- nine plus two array — the arrangement of microtubules in a flagellum or cilium, consisting of a ring of nine evenly spaced couplets surrounding two central singlets. Symbol: 9 + 2.
- normal distribution — a theoretical frequency distribution represented by a normal curve.
- nuclear disarmament — the gradual reduction and eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world
- nuits-saint-georges — a fine red wine produced near the town of Nuits-Saint-Georges in Burgundy
- oil-catalyst slurry — Oil-catalyst slurry is a heavy aromatic by-product of a refinery's fluid catalytic cracking unit, that forms a small part of global fuel oil supply.
- old church slavonic — the oldest attested Slavic language, an ecclesiastical language written first by Cyril and Methodius in a Bible translation of the 9th century and continued in use for about two centuries. It represents the South Slavic, Bulgarian dialect of 9th-century Salonika with considerable addition of other South and West Slavic elements. Abbreviation: OCS.
- olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
- open source license — (legal) Any document that attempts to specify open source usage and distribution of software. These licenses are usually drafted by experts and are likely to be more legally sound than one a programmer could write. However, loopholes do exist. Here is a non-exhaustive list of open source licenses: 1. Public Domain - No license. 2. BSD License - An early open source license 3. General Public License (GPL) - The copyleft license of the Free Software Foundation. Used for GNU software and much of Linux. 4. Artistic License Less restrictive than the GPL, permitted by Perl in addition to the GPL. 5. Mozilla Public Licenses. (MPL, MozPL) and Netscape Public License (NPL).
- optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- orthopaedic surgeon — a surgeon specializing in the branch of surgery concerned with disorders of the spine and joints and the repair of deformities of these parts
- orthopaedic surgery — surgery concerned with disorders of the spine and joints and the repair of deformities of these parts
- oscillating circuit — a circuit producing electrical oscillations.
- parachute spinnaker — a very large spinnaker used on a racing yacht.
- parainfluenza virus — any of a group of viruses that cause respiratory infections with influenza-like symptoms, esp in children
- particular solution — a solution of a differential equation containing no arbitrary constants.
- passenger enquiries — enquiries from passengers to a transport company such as a railway or airline
- pastoral counseling — the use of psychotherapeutic techniques by trained members of the clergy to assist parishioners who seek help for personal or emotional problems.
- peninsular malaysia — part of Malaysia, on the Malay Peninsula: consists of the former Federated Malay States, the former Unfederated Malay States, and the former Straits Settlements. Capital: Kuala Lumpur. Pop: 17 144 322 (2000). Area: 131 587 sq km (50 806 sq miles)
- percussion drilling — Percussion drilling is a drilling method which involves lifting and dropping heavy tools to break rock, and uses steel casing tubes to stop the borehole from collapsing.
- performance figures — the statistics that indicate how well or badly a company or organization has performed
- peroxysulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- persecution complex — an acute irrational fear that other people are plotting one's downfall and that they are responsible for one's failures
- persian gulf states — group of Arab sheikdoms along the Persian Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, & United Arab Emirates
- pillars of hercules — the two promontories at the E end of the Strait of Gibraltar: the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and the Jebel Musa on the African side; according to legend, formed by Hercules
- pneumogastric nerve — the vagus nerve.
- pointe-aux-trembles — a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, N of Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- police headquarters — building where police are stationed
- popular sovereignty — the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.
- population pressure — the force exerted by a growing population upon its environment, resulting in dispersal or reduction of the population.
- portuguese-speaking — being a speaker of Portuguese; having Portuguese as the national language
- posterior pituitary — 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.