16-letter words containing a, d, e, t, h
- catherine howard — Catherine, c1520–42, fifth wife of Henry VIII.
- cathode ray tube — (hardware) (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer VDUs and monitors, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a vacuum tube. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a raster. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "pixel") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "persistence" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their dot pitch, which determines their spatial resolution, and in whether they use interlace or not.
- cathode-ray tube — A cathode-ray tube is a device in televisions and computer terminals which sends an image onto the screen.
- centrally heated — A centrally heated building or room has central heating.
- chamber of trade — a national organization representing local chambers of commerce
- chanson de geste — one of a genre of Old French epic poems celebrating heroic deeds, the most famous of which is the Chanson de Roland
- character comedy — comedy, or a comedy, in which the main source of humour is in the character of the people represented in it
- charged particle — an atomic particle with a positive or negative charge, as an electron, proton, or helium ion
- charmed particle — See at charmed (def 2).
- chase the dragon — to smoke opium or heroin
- chest of drawers — A chest of drawers is a low, flat piece of furniture with drawers in which you keep clothes and other things.
- chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse) A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
- childcare center — a place or business offering childcare for working parents
- chipped potatoes — chips
- chloracetic acid — chloroacetic acid.
- chlorinated lime — bleaching powder.
- chopped tomatoes — tomatoes cut into pieces
- christmas dinner — the main meal on Christmas day, eaten any time in the afternoon or evening
- cigarette holder — A cigarette holder is a narrow tube that you can put a cigarette into in order to hold it while you smoke it.
- clearsightedness — The property of being clearsighted.
- close by/at hand — Something that is close by or close at hand is near to you.
- cluster headache — a type of recurrent headache characterized by sudden onset and intense pain on one side of the face near the eye
- commonwealth day — the anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth, May 24, celebrated (now on the second Monday in March) as a holiday in many parts of the Commonwealth
- considering that — You use considering that to indicate that you are thinking about a particular fact when making a judgment or giving an opinion.
- crash test dummy — a dummy used in crash tests
- cut a wide swath — to make an ostentatious display or forceful impression
- dark of the moon — the period during which the moon is not visible.
- darwinian theory — Darwin's theory of evolution, which holds that all species of plants and animals developed from earlier forms by hereditary transmission of slight variations in successive generations, and that natural selection determines which forms will survive
- data warehousing — the use of large amounts of data taken from multiple sources to create reports and for data analysis
- database machine — (hardware) A computer or special hardware that stores and retrieves data from a database. It is specially designed for database access and is coupled to the main (front-end) computer(s) by a high-speed channel. This contrasts with a database server, which is a computer in a local area network that holds a database. The database machine is tightly coupled to the main CPU, whereas the database server is loosely coupled via the network.
- daylight robbery — If someone charges you a great deal of money for something and you think this is unfair or unreasonable, you can refer to this as daylight robbery.
- dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
- dealcoholization — to remove some or all of the alcohol from (a drink).
- dear john letter — a letter from someone (esp to a man) breaking off a love affair
- dearborn heights — city in SE Mich.: suburb of Detroit: pop. 58,000
- debating chamber — a room where a legislative assembly holds debates
- dechristianizing — Present participle of dechristianize.
- deep in the past — long ago
- dehumidification — Dehumidification is the removal of vapor from a gas-vapor mixture.
- dehydroascorbate — (organic compound) Any salt or ester of dehydroascorbic acid.
- dental hygienist — a dentist's assistant skilled in dental hygiene
- depart this life — to die
- dephlogisticated — Simple past tense and past participle of dephlogisticate.
- dextromethorphan — (pharmaceutical drug) An antitussive drug (a cough suppressant) that is found in many over-the-counter cold and cough preparations.
- diacetylmorphine — heroin.
- diethyl carbinol — a colorless, liquid isomer of amyl alcohol, (CH3CH2)2CHOH, used in drugs and as a solvent
- diethyltoluamide — a liquid, C 12 H 17 NO, used as an insect repellent and resin solvent.
- 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.
- dihydroxyacetone — (organic compound) The compound CO(CH2OH)2 that has a number of industrial uses.
- dimethoxymethane — methylal.