16-letter words containing a, d, h, e
- 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
- childcare worker — someone who takes care of children in return for money
- children's panel — (in Scotland) a group of representatives of relevant agencies, with the power to deal with a child under sixteen who is in criminal or family trouble. Its hearings are private and replace most of the functions of juvenile courts
- chinese calendar — the former calendar of China, in which the year consisted of 12 lunar months with an intercalary month added seven times every 19 years to reconcile the lunar year of 354 days with the solar year of 365 days, time being reckoned in 60-year cycles with the first cycle dating from 2637 b.c.
- chinese windlass — differential windlass
- chipped potatoes — chips
- chloracetic acid — chloroacetic acid.
- chlordiazepoxide — a chemical compound used as a tranquillizer and muscle relaxant and in the treatment of delirium tremens. Formula: C16H14ClN3O
- chlorinated lime — bleaching powder.
- chlorogenic acid — a colorless crystalline acid, C 16 H 18 O 9 , that is important in plant metabolism and is purportedly responsible for the browning or blackening of cut apples, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.
- 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.
- corned beef hash — a dish consisting of corned beef chopped and mixed together with mashed potatoes and various other ingredients, then fried
- corona discharge — an electrical discharge appearing on and around the surface of a charged conductor, caused by ionization of the surrounding gas
- crash test dummy — a dummy used in crash tests
- cut a wide swath — to make an ostentatious display or forceful impression
- cyclophosphamide — an alkylating agent used in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphomas
- d-glyceraldehyde — an isomer of glyceraldehyde in which the OH group is on the right side of the asymmetric carbon atom.
- dark of the moon — the period during which the moon is not visible.
- 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
- 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
- deep-sea fishing — the activity of catching fish that live in the deep parts of the sea
- 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
- deoxyhaemoglobin — (biochemistry) The form of haemoglobin that has released its oxygen.
- depart this life — to die
- dephlogisticated — Simple past tense and past participle of dephlogisticate.
- 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.
- dextromethorphan — (pharmaceutical drug) An antitussive drug (a cough suppressant) that is found in many over-the-counter cold and cough preparations.
- diacetylmorphine — heroin.