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19-letter words containing a, b, s, e, d

  • foundation subjects — the subjects studied as part of the National Curriculum, including the compulsory core subjects
  • functional database — (database, language)   A database which uses a functional language as its query language. Databases would seem to be an inappropriate application for functional languages since, a purely functional language would have to return a new copy of the entire database every time (part of) it was updated. To be practically scalable, the update mechanism must clearly be destructive rather than functional; however it is quite feasible for the query language to be purely functional so long as the database is considered as an argument. One approach to the update problem would use a monad to encapsulate database access and ensure it was single threaded. Alternative approaches have been suggested by Trinder, who suggests non-destructive updating with shared data structures, and Sutton who uses a variant of a Phil Wadler's linear type system. There are two main classes of functional database languages. The first is based upon Backus' FP language, of which FQL is probably the best known example. Adaplan is a more recent language which falls into this category. More recently, people have been working on languages which are syntactically very similar to modern functional programming languages, but which also provide all of the features of a database language, e.g. bulk data structures which can be incrementally updated, type systems which can be incrementally updated, and all data persisting in a database. Examples are PFL [Poulovassilis&Small, VLDB-91], and Machiavelli [Ohori et al, ACM SIGMOD Conference, 1998].
  • gigabits per second — (unit)   (Gbps) A unit of information transfer rate equal to one billion bits per second. Note that, while a gigabit is defined as a power of two (2^30 bits), a gigabit per second is defined as a power of ten (10^9 bits per second, which is slightly less) than 2^30).
  • giraldus cambrensis — literary name of Gerald de Barri. ?1146–?1223, Welsh chronicler and churchman, noted for his accounts of his travels in Ireland and Wales
  • great crested grebe — a large Old World grebe, Podiceps cristatus, having black, earlike tufts of feathers projecting backward from the top of the head.
  • handlebar moustache — a man's moustache having long, curved ends that resemble the handlebars of a bicycle.
  • have one's blood up — to be or cause to be angry or inflamed
  • honorable discharge — a discharge from military service of a person who has fulfilled obligations efficiently, honorably, and faithfully.
  • hydrostatic balance — a balance for finding the weight of an object submerged in water in order to determine the upthrust on it and thus determine its relative density
  • in the catbird seat — If you say that someone is in the catbird seat, you think that their situation is very good.
  • installed user base — user base
  • intervertebral disc — any of the cartilaginous discs between individual vertebrae, acting as shock absorbers
  • intervertebral disk — the plate of fibrocartilage between the bodies of adjacent vertebrae.
  • keyboard instrument — any musical instrument that is played using a keyboard
  • knock someone bandy — to amaze or astound
  • label switched path — (networking)   (LSP) The specific path through a network that a datagram follows, based on its MPLS labels.
  • lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
  • learning disability — a disorder, as dyslexia, usually affecting school-age children of normal or above-normal intelligence, characterized by difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language, and thought to be related to impairment or slowed development of perceptual motor skills.
  • megabits per second — (unit)   (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps.
  • non-distinguishable — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
  • objectfuscated code — (humour, programming)   Object-oriented code which has been abstracted to so many levels that no-one can understand it anymore. A play on obfuscated code.
  • olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
  • optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
  • over sb's dead body — You can say over my dead body to emphasize that you feel very strongly that something should not happen, and that you will do everything you can to prevent it.
  • own flesh and blood — If you say that someone is your own flesh and blood, you are emphasizing that they are a member of your family.
  • pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
  • pseudorandom number — (programming)   One of a sequence of numbers generated by some algorithm so as to have an even distribution over some range of values and minimal correlation between successive values. Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation and encryption. They are pseudorandom not random because the sequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determined by the initial conditions. One of the simplest algorithms is x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m but this repeats after at most m numbers and successive numbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally use more previous numbers to calculate the next number.
  • redress the balance — to make a fair adjustment; see that justice is done
  • refreshable display — braille display
  • registered disabled — on a local authority register under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
  • relational database — an electronic database comprising multiple files of related information, usually stored in tables of rows (records) and columns (fields), and allowing a link to be established between separate files that have a matching field, as a column of invoice numbers, so that the two files can be queried simultaneously by the user.
  • removable hard disk — (storage)   A type of magnetic disk, or possibly magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same drive. The term "removable disk" would seem to be applicable to floppy disks but is generally reserved for hard disks in suitable cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and others. Removable disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11 in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels. Removable disks became popular on microcomputers in the 1990s as a cheap way of expanding disk space, transporting large amounts of data between computers and storing backups. Large, cheap fixed hard disks and USB memory sticks have made removable disks less attractive.
  • rhodesian ridgeback — a large short-haired breed of dog characterized by a ridge of hair growing along the back in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat. It was originally a hunting dog from South Africa
  • saber-toothed tiger — any of several extinct members of the cat family Felidae from the Oligocene to Pleistocene Epochs, having greatly elongated, saberlike upper canine teeth.
  • sabre-toothed tiger — any of various extinct Tertiary felines of the genus Smilodon and related genera, with long curved upper canine teeth
  • saddle-billed stork — a large stork, Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, of West Africa, having a white and black body and a long, red and black bill.
  • sale and lease back — leaseback.
  • san bernardino pass — a pass over the Lepontine Alps in SE Switzerland. Highest point: 2062 m (6766 ft)
  • semidetached binary — a pair of stars that are so close together that mass transfer occurs from one to the other
  • simple carbohydrate — a carbohydrate, as glucose, that consists of a single monosaccharide unit.
  • specialized subject — a school or university subject that concentrates on a particular field of knowledge
  • stanford-binet test — a revised version of the Binet-Simon scale, prepared at Stanford University for use in the U.S.
  • starve the bardies! — an exclamation of surprise or protest
  • stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
  • subjective idealism — a doctrine that the world has no existence independent of sensations or ideas.
  • switchblade (knife) — a large jackknife that snaps open when a release button on the handle is pressed
  • take sb/sth in hand — If you take something or someone in hand, you take control or responsibility over them, especially in order to improve them.
  • tarnished plant bug — a bug, Lygus lineolaris, of the family Miridae, that is a common and widely distributed pest of alfalfa and other legumes and of peach and other fruit trees.
  • the british disease — the pattern of strikes and industrial unrest in the 1970s and early 1980s supposed by many during this time to be endemic in Britain and to weaken the British economy
  • the london assembly — the devolved legislature of London, based in City Hall, Southwark
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