20-letter words containing a, l, d, e

make head or tail of — to attempt to understand (a problem, etc)
margaret of scotland — Saint. 1045–93, queen consort of Malcolm III of Scotland. Her piety and benefactions to the church led to her canonization (1250). Feast days: June 10, Nov 16
marquis de lafayette — Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier [ma-ree zhaw-zef pawl eev rawk zheel-ber dy maw-tyey] /maˈri ʒɔˈzɛf pɔl iv rɔk ʒilˈbɛr dü mɔˈtyeɪ/ (Show IPA), Marquis de. Also, La Fayette. 1757–1834, French soldier, statesman, and liberal leader, who served in the American Revolutionary Army as aide-de-camp to General Washington, and took a leading part in the French revolutions of 1789 and 1830.
maternal deprivation — the lack of a mother in a child's life, considered a cause of psychological problems later in life
mechanical advantage — the ratio of output force to the input force applied to a mechanism.
mechanical impedance — impedance (def 2).
mechanical-impedance — Electricity. the total opposition to alternating current by an electric circuit, equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the resistance and reactance of the circuit and usually expressed in ohms. Symbol: Z.
media access control — (networking) (MAC) The lower sublayer of the OSI data link layer. The interface between a node's Logical Link Control and the network's physical layer. The MAC differs for various physical media. See also MAC Address, Ethernet, IEEE 802.3, token ring.
medical practitioner — doctor
medical underwriting — Medical underwriting is the use of medical or health status information in the evaluation of an applicant for life or health insurance.
medieval warm period — the time, c900–1400, during which warmer temperatures existed in many parts of the world. Abbreviation: MWP.
meta-dichlorobenzene — a colorless liquid, C 6 H 4 Cl 2 , soluble in alcohol and ether: used as a fumigant and insecticide.
middle-distance race — a race of a length between the sprints and the distance events, esp the 800 metres and the 1500 metres
minimum lending rate — the official interest rate charged by the Bank of England and below which it will refrain from lending money.
monosodium glutamate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble powder, C 5 H 8 NNaO 4 ⋅H 2 O, used to intensify the flavor of foods.
mpeg-1 audio layer 1 — (audio, compression, algorithm) (MP1) A simple 32-subband audio compressor using a floating point representation for subband samples. Resolution and scale factor are stored for groups of 12 subsamples. MP1 is only used for Philips DCC Digital Compact cassette with data rates of 384 kbps.
mpeg-1 audio layer 3 — (music, file format) (MP3) A digital audio compression algorithm that acheives a compression factor of about twelve while preserving sound quality. It does this by optimising the compression according to the range of sound that people can actually hear. MP3 is currently (July 1999) the most powerful algorithm in a series of audio encoding standards developed under the sponsorship of the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and formalised by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). MP3 is very different from Layer 2, using an additional MDCT layer to increase frequency resolution. Its scale factor groups are more optimised for the human ear, and it uses nonlinear sample quantisation and Huffman coding. MP3 files (filename extension ".mp3") can be downloaded from many websites and can be played using software available for most operating systems (also downloadable), e.g. Winamp for PC, MacAmp for Macintosh, and mpeg123 for Unix. MP3 files are usually downloaded completely before playing but streaming MP3 is also possible. A program called a "ripper" can be used to copy a selection from a music CD onto your hard disk and another program called an encoder can convert it to an MP3 file.
mpeg-2 audio layer 3 — (compression, standard, algorithm, file format) An extention of MPEG-1 audio layer 3 for lower sampling rates (16-24 kHz) targeting bit rates from 32-64 kbps (possibly 8-160 kbps). It is often combined with MPEG-2 LSF.
multicast addressing — Ethernet addressing scheme used to send packets to devices of a certain type or for broadcasting to all nodes. The least significant bit of the most significant byte of a multi-cast address is one.
multimedia extension — Matrix Math eXtensions
multistep hydroplane — a motorship having a flat bottom built as a series of planes inclined forward, the ship planing on each from stem to stern as its speed increases.
net national product — the gross national product less allowance for depreciation of capital goods. Abbreviation: NNP.
netherlands antilles — a Netherlands overseas territory in the Caribbean Sea, N and NE of Venezuela; includes the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, and St. Eustatius, and the S part of St. Martin: considered an integral part of the Dutch realm. 366 sq. mi. (948 sq. km). Capital: Willemstad.
new england theology — Calvinism as modified and interpreted by the descendants of the Puritans in New England, especially Jonathan Edwards, becoming the dominant theology there from about 1730 to 1880.
new siberian islands — an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, off the N mainland of Russia, in the Sakha Republic. Area: about 37 555 sq km (14 500 sq miles)
new zealand fur seal — an Australasian seal, Arctocephalus forsteri
newcastle-under-lyme — a town in W central England, in Staffordshire. Pop: 74 427 (2001)
nonaccidental injury — damage, such as a bruise, burn, or fracture, deliberately inflicted on a child or an old person
noninstitutionalized — Not institutionalized.
nonrepeating decimal — a decimal representation of any irrational number, having the property that no sequence of digits is repeated ad infinitum.
nostalgie de la boue — a desire for or attraction to crudity, vulgarity, depravity, etc.
not hold a candle to — to be inferior or contemptible in comparison with
not worth the candle — not worth the price or trouble entailed (esp in the phrase the game's not worth the candle)
occupational disease — Also called industrial disease. a disease caused by the conditions or hazards of a particular occupation.
ode to a nightingale — a poem (1819) by Keats.
old man of the woods — an edible, mild-tasting mushroom, Strobilomyces floccopus, occurring in coniferous woodlands of eastern North America.
operational database — (database) A database containing up-to-date, modifiable data, in contrast to a decision support database.
operator overloading — overloading
ophthalmodynamometer — a device for determining the nearest point of ocular convergence.
optical mark reading — the reading of marks by an optical device whereby the information can be stored in machine-readable form
order bill of lading — a bill of lading that is issued to the order of a shipper or consignee for delivery of the goods and that can be transferred by endorsement to third parties.
oxyacetylene welding — welding using an oxyacetylene burner
packed like sardines — If you say that a crowd of people are packed like sardines, you are emphasizing that they are sitting or standing so close together that they cannot move easily.
palos verdes estates — a town in S California.
pappus of alexandria — 3rd century bc, Greek mathematician, whose eight-volume Synagoge is a valuable source of information about Greek mathematics
para-dichlorobenzene — a white, crystalline, volatile, water-insoluble solid, C 6 H 4 Cl 2 , of the benzene series, having a penetrating odor: used chiefly as a moth repellent.
parallel of altitude — almucantar.
parallel of latitude — parallel (def 9).
partial differential — an expression obtained from a given function of several variables by taking the partial derivative with respect to one of the variables and multiplying by the increment in that variable.
paternal grandfather — the father of someone's father

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