0%

6-letter words starting with p

  • pc-ism — /P-C-izm/ A piece of code or coding technique that takes advantage of the unprotected single-tasking environment in IBM PCs and the like, e.g. by busy-waiting on a hardware register, direct diddling of screen memory or using hard timing loops. Compare ill-behaved, vaxism, Unixism.
  • pclips — Parallel CLIPS - U Lowell. Concurrent independent CLIPS expert systems. They use 'rassert' (remote assert) to enter facts into each other's database. "PCLIPS: A Distributed Expert System Environment", R. Miller, CLIPS Users Group Conf, Aug 1990. E-mail: <[email protected]>(?).
  • pcmcia — (body, standard)   Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. (Or People Can't Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms).
  • pdelan — Partial Differential Equation LANguage
  • pdftex — (tool)   A modification of TeX to produce PDF output instead of the canonical DVI.
  • pdp-10 — (computer)   Programmed Data Processor model 10. The series of mainframes from DEC that made time-sharing real. It looms large in hacker folklore because of its adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, including the MIT AI Lab, Stanford, and CMU. Some aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field instructions) are still considered unsurpassed. The PDP-10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX machines (descendants of the PDP-11) when DEC recognised that the PDP-10 and VAX product lines were competing with each other and decided to concentrate its software development effort on the more profitable VAX. The machine was finally dropped from DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the Jupiter Project at DEC to build a viable new model. (Some attempts by other companies to market clones came to nothing; see Foonly and Mars.) This event spelled the doom of ITS and the technical cultures that had spawned the original Jargon File, but by mid-1991 it had become something of a badge of honourable old-timerhood among hackers to have cut one's teeth on a PDP-10. See TOPS-10, AOS, BLT, DDT, DPB, EXCH, HAKMEM, JFCL, LDB, pop, push.
  • pdp-11 — Programmed Data Processor model 11. A series of minicomputers based on an instruction set designed by C. Gordon Bell at DEC in the early 1970s (late 60s?). The PDP-11 family, which came after, but was not derived from, the PDP-10, was the most successful computer of its time until it was itself succeeded by the VAX. Models included the 11/23 and 11/24 (based on the F11 chipset); 11/44, 11/04, 11/34, 11/05, 11/10, 11/15, 11/20, 11/35, 11/40, 11/45, 11/70, 11/60 (MSI and SSI); LSI-11/2 and LSI-11 (LSI-11 chipset). In addition there were the 11/8x (J11 chipset) and SBC-11/21 (T11 chip) and then there was compatibility mode in the early VAX processors. The B and C languages were both used initially to implement Unix on the PDP-11. The microprocessor design tradition owes a heavy debt to the PDP-11 instruction set. See also SEX.
  • pdp-20 — The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the TOPS-10 operating system were labelled "DECsystem-10" as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running TOPS-20 were labelled "DECSYSTEM-20" (the block capitals being the result of a lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called "system-10"), but contrary to popular lore there was never a "PDP-20"; the only difference between a 10 and a 20 was the operating system and the colour of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted "Basil Blue", whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted "Chinese Red" (often mistakenly called orange).
  • peachy — resembling a peach, as in color or appearance.
  • peahen — the female peafowl.
  • peaked — Also, on-peak. being at the point of maximum frequency, intensity, use, etc.; busiest or most active: Hotel rooms are most expensive during the peak travel seasons.
  • pealed — a loud, prolonged ringing of bells.
  • peanut — the pod or the enclosed edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea, of the legume family: the pod is forced underground in growing, where it ripens.
  • peapod — the part of a pea plant that surrounds the growing peas
  • pearls — a basic stitch in knitting, the reverse of the knit, formed by pulling a loop of the working yarn back through an existing stitch and then slipping that stitch off the needle. Compare knit (def 11).
  • pearly — like a pearl, especially in being white or lustrous; nacreous: her pearly teeth.
  • pearse — Patrick (Henry), Irish name Pádraic. 1879–1916, Irish nationalist, who planned and led the Easter Rising (1916): executed by the British
  • peasen — bill3 (def 4).
  • peavey — a cant hook with a sharply pointed end, used in handling logs.
  • pebble — a small, rounded stone, especially one worn smooth by the action of water.
  • pebbly — having or covered with pebbles: the pebbly beach at Nice.
  • pebcak — (humour)   (Or "PEBKAC", "PBCAK", "PBKAC") Tech support shorthand for "Problem (Exists) between Chair and Keyboard". An alternative is "PICNIC" - "Problem In Chair, Not In Computer". An acronym commonly used by helpdesk technicians to indicate that a problem is due to the user rather than the system. See also UBD.
  • pebkac — PEBCAK
  • pecker — a person or thing that pecks.
  • pecten — Zoology, Anatomy. a comblike part or process. a pigmented vascular membrane with parallel folds suggesting the teeth of a comb, projecting into the vitreous humor of the eye in birds and reptiles.
  • pectic — pertaining to pectin.
  • pectin — a white, amorphous, colloidal carbohydrate of high molecular weight occurring in ripe fruits, especially in apples, currants, etc., and used in fruit jellies, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics for its thickening and emulsifying properties and its ability to solidify to a gel.
  • pedalo — pedal boat
  • pedant — a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning.
  • pedate — having a foot or feet.
  • peddle — to carry (small articles, goods, wares, etc.) from place to place for sale at retail; hawk.
  • pedion — a crystal form having only a single face, without a symmetrical equivalent: unique to the triclinic system.
  • pedlar — a person who sells from door to door or in the street.
  • pedler — peddler.
  • pedway — a walkway, usually enclosed, permitting pedestrians to go from building to building, as in an urban center, without passing through traffic.
  • peeing — to urinate.
  • peeked — to look or glance quickly or furtively, especially through a small opening or from a concealed location; peep; peer.
  • peeler — a police officer.
  • peened — a wedgelike, spherical, or other striking end of a hammer head opposite the face.
  • peenge — to whine; to complain
  • peepbo — Peepbo is a game you play with babies in which you cover your face with your hands or hide behind something and then suddenly show your face, saying 'peepbo'.
  • peeper — a person who peeps in an abnormally prying manner; a voyeur.
  • peepul — pipal.
  • peerce — Jan (Jacob Pincus Perelmuth) 1904–84, U.S. opera singer.
  • peered — to look narrowly or searchingly, as in the effort to discern clearly.
  • peerie — a spinning top
  • peeved — annoyed; irritated; vexed.
  • peewee — very small; tiny.
  • peewit — the lapwing, Vanellus vanellus.
  • pegbox — the widened end of the neck of a stringed instrument, to which the tuning pegs are fixed.
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?