This page gathers the 9,098 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Engineering”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 60 of 91: from “polysilicon” to “precision approach”.
- polysilicon noun Polycrystalline silicon: A polycrystalline form of silicon used in some solid-state devices, especially solar cells.
- polyspast noun A windlass with many pulleys and truckles
- polytype noun In the Hindley–Milner type system, a data type containing variables bound by one or more ∀ (for-all) quantifiers.
- pong noun A packet sent in reply to a ping, thereby indicating the presence of a host.
- pool noun A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
- pop noun The removal of a data item from the top of a stack.
- pop in noun A performance issue in three-dimensional graphics, causing objects or textures to "pop" suddenly into view as they are loaded, rather than…
- pop out verb To appear on the screen as a temporary window or menu.
- pop rivet noun A blind rivet; a rivet which can be fixed with access only to the factory head end; after passing the bucktail through the items to be…
- popout noun A user interface element that opens a small separate section in front of the main content.
- poppet noun An upright support or guide fastened at the bottom only.
- poppet valve noun A valve (as in an internal combustion engine) which consists of a sliding shaft with a disk on the end (the disk being shaped to…
- populate verb To fill initially empty items in a collection.
- population noun The number of living cells in a pattern.
- POR noun power-on reset.
- porcelain noun The set of Git commands, such as or , which control the high-level state of the repository, each typically combining the behaviour of…
- port noun The left-hand side of a vessel, including aircraft, when one is facing the front. Used to unambiguously refer to directions relative to the…
- port forwarding noun The forwarding of a network port from one device to another; especially, such forwarding when done to provide an external user with access…
- port knocking noun A means of securing ports on a firewall by requiring the host to attempt to connect to a prespecified sequence of closed ports before being…
- port replicator noun A device used to quickly connect multiple peripherals to a laptop through a single interface, typically through a USB port.
- port triggering noun A configuration option on a NAT-enabled router that controls communication between internal and external host machines on an IP network.
- portability noun The ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.
- portable adj Of software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.
- portable computer noun A microcomputer powered by batteries with an integral display screen and integral input device (such as a keyboard) that can be used on the…
- portable executable noun A file format used for executable programs, DLLs, fonts, etc. in Microsoft Windows and some other operating systems.
- portal noun A connecting window between volumes, in portal rendering.
- portal rendering noun An algorithm for determining the visibility of objects in a three-dimensional world, based on partitioning the space into polygonal…
- portation noun The act of porting software between hardware or operating system platforms.
- porter noun One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).
- portrait noun A print orientation where the vertical sides are longer than the horizontal sides.
- portscan verb To scan (a network host) in order to detect open ports.
- portsweep noun A portscan that connects to numerous host computers in search of a specific open port rather than scanning a single computer for any open…
- posigrade noun A small rocket that gives additional forward thrust.
- posit noun Abbreviation of position.
- position noun A pin; a connector.
- position-independent executable noun An executable (a program) that is able to run correctly regardless of what memory address it is loaded into.
- positional adj An argument that is passed to a subroutine according to its position in the invocation code, rather than on its name; compare with named.
- positioning time noun Random-access time: the time required to move the hard disk arm to the desired cylinder (seek time) and for the desired sector to rotate…
- positive control noun The air traffic control practice of controlling aircraft whose positions are determined by direct radar observation.
- positive crystal noun A doubly refracting crystal in which the index of refraction for the extraordinary ray is greater than for the ordinary ray, and the former…
- positive logic noun The use of the higher voltage level to represent the Boolean value 1 and the lower voltage level to represent the Boolean value 0. For…
- positive material identification noun The process of ensuring the composition of a material, especially a metal alloy, meets specifications and standards by determining its…
- post verb To successfully perform a power-on self-test.
- post office box noun A test instrument once used by telephone engineers.
- post-decrement noun A decrement operation that takes place after evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being decremented.
- post-increment noun An increment operation that takes place after evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.
- post-PC adj After the decline of the personal computer in favour of mobile devices.
- post-tensioning noun Application of tension to a structure after it has gained a specified strength or age, especially to steel tendons in concrete to reinforce…
- post-transistor adj belonging to the time (late 1960s) after individual transistors were replaced by integrated circuits
- post-WIMP adj Belonging to user interface designs that move away from the traditional windows, icons, menus and pointer in an attempt to find something…
- postamble noun Closing statements of a computer program; final or closing part of data.
- postfiller noun In text processing systems, a pattern of text that is expected to occur after the portion of interest.
- postfix noun A suffix.
- posting noun A message posted to a computerized bulletin board, a newsgroup, a blog, etc.
- postmechanical adj Occurring after a mechanical process has completed.
- postorder adj Of a tree traversal, recursively visiting the left and right subtrees before the root.
- postsocial adj Describing a form of sociality mediated by non-human objects, digital networks, or technology, rather than direct human-to-human…
- postuniform adj Pertaining to the state where elongation is a function of the strainrate hardening exponent determined near maximum load
- pot verb To package a circuit by encasing it in resin.
- potato noun An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
- potentiometer noun A user-adjustable three-terminal variable resistor that can be used as a voltage divider.
- potiche noun A vase with a separate cover, the body usually rounded or polygonal in plan with nearly vertical sides, a neck of smaller size, and a…
- pound verb To make a jarring noise, as when running.
- pov noun Initialism of percentage of volume, a type of securities trading algorithm.
- power noun A measure of the effectiveness that a force producing a physical effect has over time. If linear, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the…
- power alley noun The line between two subwoofers where both are in phase.
- power brick noun A power supply for an electronic device which is similar in size, shape, and weight of a brick, which plugs into the device using a cord…
- power button noun A button that switches the computer on or off (or, on more recent models, often enables sleep mode).
- power consumption noun The amount of power used multiplied by the amount of time, measured either in kilowatt-hours, horsepower-hours, etc.
- power dive noun A steep dive in an aircraft accelerated by an engine delivering thrust at or near full power.
- power electronics noun A technology and engineering field within electronics, concerning electric power delivery and distribution.
- power factor noun The ratio of the actual power to the apparent power in an alternating current power system; specifically, the cosine of the phase angle…
- power scaling noun The act of increasing the output power of a laser without changing the geometry, shape, or principle of operation.
- power to gas noun The storing of generated electrical power as a gaseous substance, usually by electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen gases and…
- power user noun A person who makes heavy use of computers, running many applications and capable of using advanced functionality.
- power wall noun The rapidly increasing loss of efficiency due to overheating as the power/speed of a CPU increases.
- power-cycle verb To turn a device off and then back on again, usually to restore proper function by forcing a malfunctioning or unresponsive device to reset…
- power-egg noun A complete unitized modular engine installation, consisting of engine and all ancillary equipment, which can be swapped between suitably…
- power-hungry adj Of a device, using or requiring a large amount of electrical power.
- PowerPointer noun One who creates or delivers a presentation using PowerPoint or a similar Web-based slideshow product.
- PowerPointlessness noun The senseless and excessive use of PowerPoint as a communication medium, characterized by an overreliance of superficial visual effects…
- powerwash noun The process of resetting a Chromebook or any other ChromeOS device to its factory settings, by deleting all data from the unit.
- Poynting vector noun The vector obtained in the direction of a right-hand screw from the cross product (vector product) of the electric field vector rotated…
- PPBM noun Positive Passenger Bag Match. An airline system used to ensure that baggage is not loaded on an aircraft if the passenger does not board.
- PPD noun Initialism of pixels per degree (“a measurement of the visual fidelity of a virtual reality headset”).
- PPT noun Initialism of parts per trillion.
- PR noun Initialism of pull request.
- pragma noun A compiler directive; data embedded in source code by programmers to indicate some intention to a compiler.
- pre-decrement noun A decrement operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being decremented.
- pre-echo noun A digital audio compression artifact where a (typically percussive) sound is heard before it should occur.
- pre-hook noun A section of code that runs immediately before a hook call.
- pre-increment noun An increment operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.
- pre-stressed adj Of a structural member, having stress already applied during the manufacturing process in the opposite direction to the stress expected in…
- preamble noun A syncword.
- prebaking noun surface modification by heating prior to another operation
- precedence rule noun A set of rules specifying the order in which parts of an expression are parsed, especially when parentheses are not present.
- precertificate noun A special type of SSL/TLS certificate used in Certificate Transparency (CT) for logging purposes. It's a precursor to the actual SSL/TLS…
- prechart noun Part of a chart that must be traversed with a successful outcome in order for the main chart to have a successful outcome.
- precise adj Consistent, clustered close together, agreeing with each other (this does not mean that they cluster near the true, correct, or accurate…
- precision approach noun An instrument approach using a guidance system that provides guidance in the vertical as well as the horizontal plane, such as ILS, PAR, or…