23-letter words containing l, d, o, p
- parasexual reproduction — reproduction by recombination of genes from genetically dissimilar nuclei within binucleate or multinucleate cells, as in filamentous fungi.
- parkinson's law of data — "Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.
- parliamentary democracy — a system of government in which people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws, for example Canada and the UK
- partial differentiation — the process of finding one of the partial derivatives of a function of several variables.
- past one's sell-by date — If you say that someone or something is past their sell-by date, you mean they are no longer effective, interesting, or useful.
- patient confidentiality — the law that a doctor or medical practitioner cannot reveal anything said to them by their patients during consultation or treatment
- pentagonal dodecahedron — pyritohedron.
- perceived noise decibel — a unit for measuring perceived levels of noise by comparison with the sound pressure level of a reference sound judged equally noisy by a normal listener
- performance-related pay — salary based on individual assessment
- peroxymonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
- pest control department — the local government department responsible for controlling such pests as rats and mice
- philadelphia pepper pot — pepper pot (def 1).
- photoelectric magnitude — the magnitude of a star determined using a photometer plus a filter to select light or other radiation of the desired wavelength
- photoelectric threshold — the minimum frequency or maximum wavelength of incident radiation necessary to release photons from a given surface.
- physical memory address — physical address
- plain old documentation — (text) (pod, occasionally "POD") A simple markup language used to embed documentation, literate programming-style, in Perl programs. Pod readers and converters are part of the standard Perl distribution and the documentation provided with Perl is all in pod format.
- plan position indicator — a radarscope on which an object reflecting radar waves shows its bearing and distance from the radar detector by causing a spot of light to appear on a screen that represents a map of the area around the detector. Abbreviation: PPI.
- polish lowland sheepdog — a strongly-built medium-sized sheepdog of a Polish breed with a long thick shaggy coat that covers the eyes
- polybrominated biphenyl — PBB.
- polyvinylidene chloride — a polymer of vinylidene chloride, used chiefly in the manufacture of saran.
- portable object adapter — (architecture) (POA) Part of the CORBA architecture.
- preferred provider plan — A preferred provider plan is a health insurance plan in the U.S. written by an organization of hospitals and physicians who provide services to clients of a particular insurance company.
- presidential government — a system of government in which the powers of the president are constitutionally separate from those of the legislature.
- private limited company — a company whose shares can be bought by the public
- process hazard analysis — Process hazard analysis is calculating what might be a hazard in a process, how likely it is to happen, and what should be done if someone or something is exposed to this hazard.
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- profit and loss account — income account (def 2).
- program design language — Any of a large class of formal and profoundly useless pseudo-languages in which management forces one to design programs. Too often, management expects PDL descriptions to be maintained in parallel with the code, imposing massive overhead of little or no benefit. See also flow chart.
- publicly-quoted company — a company whose shares are traded on a stock exchange
- real simple syndication — (spelling) Illiterate form of Really Simple Syndication.
- refinery waste disposal — Refinery waste disposal is the system for dealing with waste materials, especially hazardous ones, in a refinery.
- refuse disposal service — a place or facility where rubbish and waste can be disposed
- remote desktop protocol — (protocol) (RDP) A Microsoft protocol that provides remote display and input for Windows. RDP's video driver renders display output by sending packets to the client which translates them into corresponding Microsoft Win32 graphics device interface API calls. Client mouse and keyboard events are redirected from the client to virtual keyboard and mouse drivers on the server. RDP 4.0 was introduced with Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. Windows 2000 Terminal Services included RDP 5.0. The Terminal Services Advanced Client (TSAC), an RDP client based on an ActiveX control, also supports RDP 5.0. RDP 5.0 provides enhanced performance over low-speed connections. Windows XP uses RDP 5.1 and includes Remote Desktop Web Connection, which is an updated version of the TSAC. RDP extends the ITU T.120 protocols, allowing separate virtual channels for device communication and presentation data from the server, as well as encrypted mouse and keyboard data. Compare: VNC.
- self-addressed envelope — addressed to self
- social democratic party — History/Historical. a political party in Germany advocating a form of social organization based on the economic and political ideology of Karl Marx.
- sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
- software developers kit — (jargon, product) (SDK, or "Software Development Kit") Software provided by a software vendor to allow their products to be used with those of other software vendors.
- somaliland protectorate — official name of the former British Somaliland.
- specialite de la maison — the specialty of the house (used in referring to the most important dish served by a restaurant).
- st. pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
- sustainable development — supporting economy via renewable resources
- talk/speak of the devil — People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.
- to call a spade a spade — If you say that someone calls a spade a spade, you mean that they speak clearly and directly about things, even embarrassing or unpleasant things.
- to have a police record — If you say that somebody has a police record, you mean that they have committed a crime or crimes and the police have a record of this.
- turn-and-slip indicator — bank-and-turn indicator.
- volumetric displacement — the volume of air per revolution that passes through a mechanical pump when the pressure at the intake and the exhaust is the same as that of the atmosphere
- wind cave national park — a national park in SW South Dakota. 41½ sq. mi. (107 sq. km).