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17-letter words containing the

  • past life therapy — a form of hypnosis or meditation based on the belief that an individual's present problems are rooted in events that occurred before birth in this life
  • pastoral theology — the branch of theology dealing with the responsibilities of members of the clergy to the people under their care.
  • peer of the realm — any of a class of peers in Great Britain and Ireland entitled by heredity to sit in the House of Lords.
  • phase of the moon — Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon." See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a Lisp program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter "corrected" it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug.
  • phototherapeutics — the branch of therapeutics that deals with the curative use of light rays.
  • pick the eyes out — to select the best parts or pieces (of)
  • pile on the agony — to exaggerate one's distress for sympathy or greater effect
  • plug and feathers — an apparatus for splitting stone, consisting of two tapered bars (feathers) inserted into a hole drilled into the stone, between which a narrow wedge (plug) is hammered to spread them.
  • positive theology — a theological approach or tradition in which the nature of God is thought to be knowable and is understood through positive statements. See also cataphasis (def 2).
  • protein synthesis — the process by which amino acids are linearly arranged into proteins through the involvement of ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, messenger RNA, and various enzymes.
  • psychotherapeutic — psychotherapy.
  • push the boat out — to celebrate, esp lavishly and expensively
  • 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 the gloves — to box
  • put on the market — offer for sale
  • put the finger on — to inform on or identify, esp for the police
  • put the kibosh on — nonsense.
  • put the screws on — a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, especially by means of a screwdriver.
  • quick on the draw — having fast reflexes
  • radiation therapy — x-rays used as treatment
  • radio in the loop — Wireless Local Loop
  • read the riot act — an English statute of 1715 providing that if 12 or more persons assemble unlawfully and riotously, to the disturbance of the public peace, and refuse to disperse upon proclamation they shall be considered guilty of felony.
  • red and the black — a novel (1832) by Stendhal.
  • repertory theater — repertory (def 2).
  • revealed theology — theology based on the doctrine that all religious truth is derived exclusively from the revelations of God to humans.
  • reverse apartheid — a perceived bias against White people following the end of Apartheid
  • right in the head — sane
  • right off the bat — Sports. the wooden club used in certain games, as baseball and cricket, to strike the ball. a racket, especially one used in badminton or table tennis. a whip used by a jockey. the act of using a club or racket in a game. the right or turn to use a club or racket.
  • right parenthesis — (character)   ")". ASCII character 41. Common names: right paren; right parenthesis; right; close; thesis ("(" = paren); close paren; close parenthesis; right parenthesis; right banana. Rare: already ("(" = so); rparen; ITU-T: closing parenthesis; close round bracket, right round bracket, INTERCAL: wane ("(" = wax); unparenthisey ("(" = parenthisey); right ear. Paired with left parenthesis.
  • roof of the world — Tibet, Plateau of.
  • rub the wrong way — to subject the surface of (a thing or person) to pressure and friction, as in cleaning, smoothing, polishing, coating, massaging, or soothing: to rub a table top with wax polish; to rub the entire back area.
  • run out the clock — to maintain control of the ball in the closing minutes of a game
  • salt of the earth — an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.
  • save shoe leather — to avoid wearing out shoes, as by taking a bus rather than walking
  • saved by the bell — a hollow instrument of cast metal, typically cup-shaped with a flaring mouth, suspended from the vertex and rung by the strokes of a clapper, hammer, or the like.
  • say the unsayable — to express an opinion thought to be too controversial to mention
  • scientific theory — a coherent group of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation: the scientific theory of evolution.
  • scrape the barrel — to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
  • seat-of-the-pants — using or based on experience, instinct, or guesswork: a seat-of-the-pants management style.
  • september weather — weather characteristic of the month of September, esp in being unpredictable as summer is ending and autumn is beginning
  • shorten the reins — to take up the reins so that the distance between hand and bit is lessened, in order that the horse may be more collected
  • show sb the ropes — If you show someone the ropes, you show them how to do a particular job or task.
  • sign of the cross — a movement of the hand to indicate a cross, as from forehead to breast and left shoulder to right or, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, from right shoulder to left.
  • significant other — Sociology. a person, as a parent or peer, who has great influence on one's behavior and self-esteem.
  • simulated leather — fake leather that is an imitation of real leather and is usually made from a cheaper material
  • sinbad the sailor — a merchant in The Arabian Nights who makes seven adventurous voyages
  • slap on the wrist — a sharp blow or smack, especially with the open hand or with something flat.
  • southeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of southeast. Abbreviation: SEbE.
  • southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
  • southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
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