16-letter words containing a, l, d, r
- displaced person — a person driven or expelled from his or her homeland by war, famine, tyranny, etc. Abbreviation: DP, D.P.
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.
- display terminal — Visual Display Unit
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- distributionally — In a distributional manner.
- distributive law — a theorem asserting that one operator can validly be distributed over another
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- diurnal parallax — the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer.
- division algebra — a linear algebra in which each element of the vector space has a multiplicative inverse.
- divisional court — a high court in which at least two judges sit
- do like a dinner — to do for, overpower, or outdo
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- dolce far niente — pleasing inactivity.
- dollar diplomacy — a government policy of promoting the business interests of its citizens in other countries.
- domestic prelate — an honorary distinction conferred by the Holy See upon clergy, entitling them to some of the privileges of a bishop.
- domiciliary care — services, such as meals-on-wheels, health visiting, and home help, provided by a welfare agency for people in their own homes
- dominical letter — any one of the letters from A to G used in church calendars to mark the Sundays throughout any particular year, serving primarily to aid in determining the date of Easter.
- dorothy canfield — Dorothy, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield.
- double monastery — a religious community of both men and women who live in separate establishments under the same superior and who worship in a common church.
- double solitaire — a game of solitaire for two persons, each player usually having a pack and layout but pooling foundations with the opponent.
- double-barrelled — A double-barrelled gun has two barrels.
- double-breasting — the practice of employing nonunion workers, especially in a separate division, to supplement the work of higher-paid union workers.
- down memory lane — If you say that someone is taking a walk or trip down memory lane, you mean that they are talking, writing, or thinking about something that happened to them a long time ago.
- drainage channel — a channel along which drained water flows away
- draught excluder — a device (such as a strip of wood, or a long cylindrical cushion) placed at the bottom of a door to keep out draughts
- draw the longbow — to exaggerate in telling something
- drop a bombshell — If someone drops a bombshell, they give you a sudden piece of bad or unexpected news.
- dry distillation — destructive distillation.
- dry-cell battery — a dry battery
- dual carriageway — divided highway.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- dublin bay prawn — a large prawn usually used in a dish of scampi
- ducktail-haircut — DA.
- duplessis-mornay — Philippe [fee-leep] /fiˈlip/ (Show IPA), Mornay, Philippe de.
- duplex apartment — an apartment with rooms on two connected floors.
- duplicate bridge — a form of contract bridge used in tournaments in which contestants play the identical series of deals, with each deal being scored independently, permitting individual scores to be compared.
- earnings-related — An earnings-related payment or benefit provides higher or lower payments according to the amount a person was earning while working.
- earthly paradise — Bible: Garden of Eden
- editorialization — The act of editorializing, or something editorialized.
- edsel ford range — a mountain range in Antarctica, E of the Ross Sea.
- educational park — a group of elementary and high schools, usually clustered in a parklike setting and having certain facilities shared by all grades, that often accommodates students from a large area.
- edward the elder — died 924 ad, king of England (899–924), son of Alfred the Great
- electrohydraulic — Relating to electrohydraulics.
- elevated railway — an urban railway track built on supports above a road
- ellesmere island — a Canadian island in the Arctic Ocean: part of Nunavut; mountainous, with many glaciers. Area: 212 688 sq km (82 119 sq miles)
- endocranial cast — a cast made of the inside of a cranial cavity to show the size and shape of the brain: used esp in anthropology
- entente cordiale — a friendly understanding between political powers: less formal than an alliance
- ethinylestradiol — A derivative of 17\u03b2-estradiol, the major endogenous estrogen in humans, used in oral contraceptives.
- extension ladder — a ladder that can be made longer by pulling out an extra section
- external auditor — sb brought in to check financial records