0%

24-letter words containing a, c, i, s

  • extra-sensory perception — Extra-sensory perception means knowing without using your ordinary senses such as sight and hearing. Some people believe this is possible. The abbreviation ESP is also used.
  • face as long as a fiddle — a dismal or gloomy facial expression
  • failure-directed testing — (programming)   (Or "heuristics testing") Software testing based on the knowledge of the types of errors made in the past that are likely for the system under test.
  • family income supplement — a benefit formerly paid to low-income families
  • federal power commission — FPC.
  • federal reserve district — the district served by a certain Federal Reserve Bank.
  • federal trade commission — FTC.
  • ferdinand lewis alcindor — (Ferdinand) Lew(is, Jr.) original name of Abdul-Jabbar.
  • fight like kilkenny cats — to fight until both parties are destroyed
  • fish protein concentrate — an odorless and tasteless high-protein food additive made from ground fish and suitable for human consumption. Abbreviation: FPC.
  • floating-point specratio — SPECfp92
  • functional specification — (programming, project)   A description of what a system (e.g. a piece of software) does or should do (but not how it should do it). The functional specification is one of the inputs to the design process. See IEEE/ANSI Std. 610.12-1990.
  • geographical determinism — the theory that human activity is determined by geographical conditions
  • give sb a song and dance — A song and dance act is a performance in which a person or group of people sing and dance.
  • glasgow haskell compiler — (language)   (GHC) A Haskell 1.2 compiler written in Haskell by the AQUA project at Glasgow University, headed by Simon Peyton Jones <[email protected]> throughout the 1990's [started?]. GHC can generate either C or native code for SPARC, DEC Alpha and other platforms. It can take advantage of features of gcc such as global register variables and has an extensive set of optimisations. GHC features an extensible I/O system based on a "monad", in-line C code, fully fledged unboxed data types, incrementally-updatable arrays, mutable reference types, generational garbage collector, concurrent threads. Time and space profiling is also supported. It requires GNU gcc 2.1+ and Perl. GHC runs on Sun-4, DEC Alpha, Sun-3, NeXT, DECstation, HP-PA and SGI. E-mail: <[email protected]>.
  • glycogen storage disease — any of several inherited disorders of glycogen metabolism that result in excess accumulation of glycogen in various organs of the body.
  • graduated pension scheme — (between 1961 and 1975) an earnings-related pension scheme which was based on the amount of an employee's National Insurance contributions
  • graphical user interface — a software interface designed to standardize and simplify the use of computer programs, as by using a mouse to manipulate text and images on a display screen featuring icons, windows, and menus.
  • grin like a cheshire cat — a constantly grinning cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • hierarchical file system — (file system)   A file system in which the files are organised into a hierarchy. The nodes of the hierarchy are called directories while the leaves are the files themselves. See also root directory. Compare flat file system.
  • high court of justiciary — the senior criminal court in Scotland, to which all cases of murder and rape and all cases involving heavy penalties are referred
  • hoop-petticoat narcissus — petticoat narcissus.
  • ichthyophthirius-disease — ich.
  • immunofluorescence assay — a diagnostic blood test using the technique of immunofluorescence. Abbreviation: IFA.
  • in someone's black books — out of favour with someone
  • in someone's good graces — elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action: We watched her skate with effortless grace across the ice. Synonyms: attractiveness, charm, gracefulness, comeliness, ease, lissomeness, fluidity. Antonyms: stiffness, ugliness, awkwardness, clumsiness; klutziness.
  • incomplete metamorphosis — insect development, as in the grasshopper and cricket, in which the change is gradual and characterized by the absence of a pupal stage. Compare complete metamorphosis.
  • industrial correspondent — a journalist who specializes in reporting the industrial news
  • insignia solutions, inc. — (company)   /in-sig'nee-* s*-loosh'nz/ A company that made its name as a provider of software that allows users to run Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS application programs on Digital, HP, IBM, Motorola, NeXT, Silicon Graphics and Sun/SPARC workstations, X terminals, Java desktops, and Apple Computer's Power Mac and Motorola 68000-based computers. Insignia Solutions was founded in 1986. Their first product, SoftPC 1.0 for Sun workstations, was introduced in 1988. Also in 1988, Insignia shipped its first version of SoftPC for Apple Computer's Macintosh. As the demand to run Windows and MS-DOS applications on non-Intel computers grew, Insignia signed OEM agreements with several companies including Data General, Digital, Fujitsu, HP, Intergraph Corp., Motorola, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems. Insignia Solutions sold its SoftWindows and RealPC product lines to FWB Software [when?]. Its major product in 2000 is the Jeode platform, a Java virtual machine for Internet appliances and embedded devices.
  • instructional technology — (education)   Design, development, use, management and evaluation of process and resources for learning. Instructional technology aims to promote the application of validated, practical procedures in the design and delivery of instruction. It is often defined either in terms of media and other technology used (e.g. audiovisual media and equipment and computers), or in terms of a systematic process which encompasses instructional design, development, delivery and evaluation.
  • internal revenue service — the division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that collects internal revenue, including income taxes and excise taxes, and that enforces revenue laws.
  • international morse code — a form of Morse code used in international radiotelegraphy.
  • internet access provider — (networking, company)   (IAP) A company or other origanisation which provides access to the Internet to businesses and/or consumers. An IAP purchases an Internet link from another company that has a direct link to the Internet and resells portions of that bandwidth to the general public. For example, an IAP may purchase a T1 link (1.544Mb/s) and resell that bandwidth in chunks consisting of ISDN (64Kb/s, 128Kb/s) and analog modems (14.4Kb/s, 28.8Kb/s). The IAP's customer base is likely to include both businesses and individuals. Individual customers usually connect to the IAP via a modem and telephone line to a (preferably local) point of presence. An IAP may also be an Internet Service Provider.
  • iterated function system — (graphics)   (IFS) A class of fractals that yield natural-looking forms like ferns or snowflakes. Iterated Function Systems use a very easy transformation that is done recursively.
  • jewish american princess — JAP.
  • knock one's head against — to have a violent or unpleasant encounter with (adverse facts or circumstances)
  • komi autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NW Russian Federation in Europe. 145,221 sq. mi. (376,122 sq. km). Capital: Syktyvkar.
  • la belle dame sans merci — a ballad (1819) by Keats.
  • lab for computer science — MIT. http://lcs.mit.edu/.
  • laryngotracheobronchitis — A respiratory disease, a form of croup.
  • laugh in a person's face — to show open contempt or defiance towards a person
  • le chatelier's principle — the principle that if a system in chemical equilibrium is subjected to a disturbance it tends to change in a way that opposes this disturbance
  • least common denominator — the smallest number that is a common denominator of a given set of fractions.
  • leave much to be desired — be inadequate
  • legal expenses insurance — Legal expenses insurance is insurance coverage against expenses incurred when you need to seek legal advice or pay for a lawsuit.
  • licensed practical nurse — a person who has graduated from an accredited school of nursing and has become licensed to provide basic nursing care under the supervision of a physician or registered nurse. Abbreviation: LPN.
  • line of least resistance — the easiest, but not necessarily the best or most honourable, course of action
  • liquid components of gas — Liquid components of gas are associated hydrocarbons in natural gas, which include ethane, propane, and butane.
  • logical block addressing — (storage)   (LBA) A hard disk sector addressing scheme used on all SCSI hard disks, and on ATA-2 conforming IDE hard disks. The addressing conversion is performed by the hard disk firmware. Prior to LBA, combined limitations of IBM PC BIOS and ATA restricted the useful capacity of IDE hard disks on IBM PCs and compatibles to 1024 cylinders * 63 sectors per track * 16 heads * 512 bytes per sector = 528 million bytes = 504 megabytes. Modern BIOSes select LBA mode automatically, and work around the 1024-cylinder BIOS limit by representing a hard disk to the OS as having e.g. half as many cylinders and twice as many heads. However, there is still an unbreakable BIOS disk size limit of 1024 cylinders * 63 sectors per track * 256 heads * 512 bytes per sector = 8 gigabytes, but modern OSes (including Windows 9x, Windows NT and Linux) are not affected by it, since they issue direct LBA-based calls, bypassing the BIOS hard disk services completely.
  • long-spined sea scorpion — Cottus bubalis or Taurulus bubalis
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?