17-letter words containing la
- palaeoarchaeology — the branch of archaeology concerned with the earliest fossil remains
- palaeoclimatology — the study of climates of the geological past
- palaeoethnobotany — the study of fossil seeds and grains to further archaeological knowledge, esp of the domestication of cereals
- papanicolaou test — Pap test.
- parallelogram law — Mathematics, Physics. a rule for adding two vectors, as forces (parallelogram of forces) by placing the point of application of one at the point of origin of the other and obtaining their sum by constructing the line connecting the two remaining end points, the sum being the diagonal of the parallelogram whose adjacent sides are the two vectors.
- parathyroid gland — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
- parcplace systems — (company) A company spun-off from Xerox PARC that developed the original version of VisualWorks.
- parliamentary law — the body of rules, usages, and precedents that governs proceedings of legislative and deliberative assemblies.
- particularization — to make particular.
- personality clash — friction between two people who have different personalities or points of view
- phenylacetic acid — a white crystalline, aromatic acid, C 8 H 8 O 2 , used in the manufacture of penicillin and in perfumes.
- philanthropically — of, pertaining to, engaged in, or characterized by philanthropy; benevolent: a philanthropic foundation.
- pillar-and-breast — room-and-pillar.
- pittsburg landing — a village in SW Tennessee, on the Tennessee River: battle of Shiloh in 1862.
- plains of abraham — a high plain adjoining the city of Quebec, Canada: battlefield where the English under Wolfe defeated the French under Montcalm in 1759.
- planck's constant — the fundamental constant of quantum mechanics, expressing the ratio of the energy of one quantum of radiation to the frequency of the radiation and approximately equal to 6.624 × 10− 27 erg-seconds. Symbol: h.
- plastic explosive — a puttylike substance that contains an explosive charge, and is detonated by fuse or by remote control: used especially by terrorists and in guerrilla warfare.
- plastics industry — the industry that makes plastics
- plateau's problem — the problem in the calculus of variations of finding the surface with the least area bounded by a given closed curve in space.
- platinic chloride — chloroplatinic acid.
- play along (with) — to join in or cooperate (with)
- play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- pocket calculator — an electronic calculator small enough to be carried on one's person.
- point reyes lilac — a prostrate shrub, Ceanothus gloriosus, of southern California, having leathery, roundish leaves and purplish or deep-blue flowers.
- polar continental — a type of cold, dry air mass originating at high latitudes over land areas
- polar coordinates — Usually, polar coordinates. one of two coordinates used to locate a point in a plane by the length of its radius vector and the angle this vector makes with the polar axis (polar angle)
- polarizing filter — a camera lens filter used to control the plane of polarization of light entering the lens.
- popular etymology — folk etymology.
- positive polarity — the grammatical characteristic of a word or phrase, such as delicious or rather, that may normally only be used in a semantically or syntactically positive or affirmative context
- postbaccalaureate — bachelor's degree.
- posttranslational — Genetics, Biochemistry. occurring after the synthesis of a polypeptide chain.
- 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.
- prison population — all the people who are confined in prison
- private placement — a sale of an issue of securities by the issuing company directly to a limited number of investors, often only one or two large institutional investors, such as a bank or an insurance company (opposed to public offering): required to be cleared but not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- product placement — Product placement is a form of advertising in which a company has its product placed where it can be clearly seen during a film or television programme.
- programme planner — someone who creates plans or schedules in regards to their line of work or occupation
- prothoracic gland — either of a pair of endocrine glands in the anterior thorax of some insects, functioning to promote the series of molts from hatching to adulthood.
- psychoprophylaxis — Lamaze method.
- purple granadilla — the edible fruit of any of several species of passionflower, especially Passiflora edulis (purple granadilla) or P. quadrangularis (giant granadilla)
- quadratic formula — the formula for determining theroots of a quadratic equation from its coefficients: .
- quasi-legislative — having the function of making laws: a legislative body.
- queen anne's lace — a plant, Daucus carota, the wild form of the cultivated carrot, having broad umbels of white flowers.
- radio alarm clock — an alarm clock which consists of a radio that can be set to play at a particular time
- receiving blanket — a small blanket, usually of cotton, for wrapping an infant, especially following a bath.
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- red and the black — a novel (1832) by Stendhal.
- reduction formula — a formula, such as sin (90° ± A) = cos A, expressing the values of a trigonometric function of any angle greater than 90° in terms of a function of an acute angle
- reflection nebula — a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that reflects the light of neighboring stars.
- regulated tenancy — (in Britain) the letting of a dwelling by a nonresident private landlord, usually at a registered fair rent, from which the landlord cannot evict the tenant without a possession order from a court
- relative aperture — the ratio of the diameter of a lens, especially a camera lens, to the focal length; the reciprocal of the f number or focal ratio of the lens.