16-letter words containing a, c, r, s
- critical section — A non-re-entrant piece of code that can only be executed by one process at a time. It will usually terminate in bounded time and a process will only have to wait a bounded time to enter it. Some synchronisation mechanism is required at the entry and exit of the critical section to ensure exclusive use.
- cross of calvary — a Latin cross with a representation of steps beneath it.
- cross-curricular — denoting or relating to an approach to a topic that includes contributions from several different disciplines and viewpoints
- cross-resistance — immunologic resistance to the pathogenic effects of a microorganism because of previous exposure to another species or type having cross-reactive antigens.
- cross-validation — a process by which a method that works for one sample of a population is checked for validity by applying the method to another sample from the same population.
- crossbow archery — the sport of shooting with a crossbow
- crosscontaminate — Alternative spelling of cross-contaminate.
- crossopterygians — Plural form of crossopterygian.
- cryoprecipitates — Plural form of cryoprecipitate.
- cryopreservation — the storage of blood or living tissues at extremely cold temperatures, often -196 degrees Celsius.
- crystal detector — a demodulator, used esp in microwave circuits and in early radio receivers, consisting of a thin metal wire in point contact with a semiconductor crystal
- crystalline lens — a biconvex transparent elastic structure in the eye situated behind the iris, serving to focus images on the retina
- crystallographer — A person skilled in crystallography.
- crystallographic — of, relating to, or dealing with crystals or crystallography.
- cumberland sauce — a cold sauce made from orange and lemon juice, port, and redcurrant jelly, served with ham, game, or other meat
- curlew sandpiper — a common Eurasian sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea, having a brick-red breeding plumage and a greyish winter plumage
- currier and ives — any of a 19th-cent. series of prints showing the manners, people, and events of the times
- customary tenant — a tenant occupying a property under the customs of the manor, often a low-status tenant with little security of tenure
- cut one's throat — to bring about one's own ruin
- cytotrophoblasts — Plural form of cytotrophoblast.
- dacryocystectomy — The surgical removal of a part of the lacrimal sac.
- dark-side hacker — (jargon, legal) A criminal or malicious hacker; a cracker. From George Lucas's Darth Vader, "seduced by the dark side of the Force". The implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Opposite: samurai.
- darwin's finches — the finches of the subfamily Geospizinae of the Galapagos Islands, showing great variation in bill structure and feeding habits: provided Darwin with evidence to support his theory of evolution
- data abstraction — (data) Any representation of data in which the implementation details are hidden (abstracted). Abstract data types and objects are the two primary forms of data abstraction.
- data compression — the act of compressing.
- davidson current — a winter countercurrent that flows N along the W coast of the U.S.
- dead sea scrolls — a collection of manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic discovered in caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956. They are widely held to have been written between about 100 bc and 68 ad and provide important biblical evidence
- deboursification — (jargon) Removal of irrelevant newsgroups from the Newsgroups header of a followup. The term applies particularly to the removal of frivolous groups added by one of the Kooks. See also: sneck.
- decentralisation — Alternative spelling of decentralization.
- dechristianizing — Present participle of dechristianize.
- dehydroascorbate — (organic compound) Any salt or ester of dehydroascorbic acid.
- delta conversion — delta reduction
- demoiselle crane — a gray crane, Anthropoides virgo, of northern Africa, Europe, and Asia, having long, white plumes behind each eye.
- dental insurance — Dental insurance is insurance that pays for treatment by a dentist.
- deputy secretary — the Deputy Secretary of State or Defense etc
- derbyshire chair — a chair of the mid-17th century, made of oak, usually without arms, and having a back of two carved rails between square uprights.
- devonshire cream — clotted cream.
- diagonal process — a form of argument in which a new member of a set is constructed from a list of its known members by making the nth term of the new member differ from the nth term of the nth member. The new member is thus different from every member of the list
- diamond district — the part of a town where diamond merchants and jewellers have their businesses
- diesel-hydraulic — a locomotive driven by a diesel engine through hydraulic transmission and torque converters
- digital research — (company) The company which developed CP/M, the operating system used on many of the first generation 8-bit microprocessor-based personal computers. Digital Research also produced DR-DOS. Address: Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
- diplomatic corps — the entire body of diplomats accredited to and resident at a court or capital.
- direct-mail shot — the posting of unsolicited sales literature to potential customers' homes or business addresses
- director's chair — a lightweight folding armchair with transversely crossed legs and having a canvas seat and back panel, as traditionally used by motion-picture directors.
- disaccreditation — to take away the accreditation or authorization of: to disaccredit a diplomat.
- disappearing act — magic trick
- discharging arch — an arch for taking some of the weight from a structural member beneath it.
- discographically — In terms of discography.
- discriminability — The condition of being discriminable.
- discriminatingly — With discrimination.