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17-letter words containing a, p, o, d

  • disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
  • dissipation trail — a clear rift left behind an aircraft flying through a thin cloud layer.
  • dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
  • dna amplification — an increase in the frequency of replication of a DNA segment.
  • doberman pinscher — one of a German breed of medium-sized, short-haired dogs having a black, brown, or blue coat with rusty brown markings.
  • dog and pony show — an elaborate sales, advertising, or publicity presentation or campaign.
  • doorstep salesman — a door-to-door salesman
  • double pair royal — a set of four cards of the same denomination, worth 12 points.
  • dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
  • drilling platform — a structure, either fixed to the sea bed or mobile, which supports the machinery and equipment (the drilling rig), together with the stores, required for digging an offshore oil well
  • drool-proof paper — (jargon)   Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down, to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the "drool-proof paper syndrome" or to have been "written on drool-proof paper". For example, this is an actual quote from Apple Computer's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame."
  • echocardiographer — A person who performs echocardiography.
  • echocardiographic — Of or pertaining to echocardiography.
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
  • epicycloidal gear — a gear of an epicyclic train
  • epidemiologically — With regard to epidemiology.
  • european standard — a specification to be used as a consistent rule or guideline in the manufacture or selling of a certain product or service traded within Europe
  • exception handler — Special code which is called when an exception occurs during the execution of a program. If the programmer does not provide a handler for a given exception, a built-in system exception handler will usually be called resulting in abortion of the program run and some kind of error indication being returned to the user. Examples of exception handler mechanisms are Unix's signal calls and Lisp's catch and throw.
  • exceptional child — a gifted child
  • export department — the department of a business concerned with the export of the business's goods or services
  • export-orientated — (of an industry, company, etc) mainly concerned with the export of goods or services
  • falling diphthong — a diphthong in which the first of the two apparent vocalic elements is of greater stress or sonority and the second is of lesser stress or sonority, as in (ī), (ou), (oi), etc.
  • foucault pendulum — a pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the earth by exhibiting an apparent change in its plane of oscillation.
  • fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
  • frames per second — (unit)   (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
  • front-end payment — a payment required or incurred in advance of a project in order to get it under way
  • galapagos islands — a group of 15 islands in the Pacific west of Ecuador, of which they form a province: discovered (1535) by the Spanish; main settlement on San Cristóbal. Pop: 18 640 (2001). Area: 7844 sq km (3028 sq miles)
  • garden heliotrope — the common valerian, Valeriana officinalis, especially when cultivated as an ornamental.
  • graduated pension — the money that an employee receives after retirement if they have paid into the graduated pension scheme
  • grain of paradise — Usually, grains of paradise. one of the pungent, peppery seeds of an African plant, Aframomum melegueta, of the ginger family, used to strengthen cordials and in veterinary medicine.
  • greensand process — a process for casting iron with sand not previously heated.
  • guadalupe hidalgo — a city in the Federal District of Mexico: famous shrine; peace treaty 1848.
  • gunboat diplomacy — diplomatic relations involving the use or threat of military force, especially by a powerful nation against a weaker one.
  • gustavus adolphus — (Gustavus Adolphus) 1778–1837, king of Sweden 1792–1809 (son of Gustavus III).
  • gustavus-adolphus — (Gustavus Adolphus) 1778–1837, king of Sweden 1792–1809 (son of Gustavus III).
  • hardware platform — a group of compatible computers that can run the same software.
  • heptanedioic acid — pimelic acid.
  • hermaphrodite rig — jackass rig.
  • hoare powerdomain — powerdomain
  • holding operation — a plan or procedure devised to prolong the existing situation
  • hot-and-sour soup — a spicy Chinese soup made with pork, chicken, beans, vinegar, etc., served hot
  • hydrotherapeutics — hydrotherapy.
  • hydrotherapy pool — a pool of water used for hydrotherapy
  • hydroxytryptamine — (organic compound) Any hydroxy derivative of tryptamine, but especially 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin).
  • hypochlorous acid — a weak, unstable acid, HOCl, existing only in solution and in the form of its salts, used as a bleaching agent and disinfectant.
  • hypochondriacally — In a hypochondriacal manner.
  • hypophrygian mode — a plagal church mode represented on the white keys of a keyboard instrument by an ascending scale from B to B, with the final on E.
  • i beg your pardon — You say 'Pardon?' or 'I beg your pardon?' or, in American English, 'Pardon me?' when you want someone to repeat what they have just said because you have not heard or understood it.
  • illegal procedure — a penalty assessed against the offensive team for a technical rules violation, as in assuming an illegal formation.
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