25-letter words containing a, r, e, o, m, t
- metal oxide semiconductor — a three-layer sandwich of a metal, an insulator (usually an oxide of the substrate), and a semiconductor substrate, used in integrated circuits. Abbreviation: MOS.
- metal-free phthalocyanine — phthalocyanine (def 1).
- methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet.
- metropolitan area network — (MAN) A data network intended to serve an area the size of a large city. Such networks are being implemented by innovative techniques, such as running optical fibre through subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS. See also Local Area Network, Wide Area Network.
- mount kenya national park — a national park in Kenya, located in the regions of Mount Kenya that are above 3200 m (10 500 ft); now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park covers 1420 sq km (548 sq miles)
- multi-scene control board — preset board.
- my favourite toy language — (jargon, language) (MFTL) Describes a talk on a programming language design that is heavy on syntax (with lots of BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics (e.g. type systems), but rarely, if ever, has any content (see content-free). More broadly applied to talks - even when the topic is not a programming language --- in which the subject matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the sacrifice of any conceptual content. "Well, it was a typical MFTL talk". 2. A language about which the developers are passionate (often to the point of prosyletic zeal) but no one else cares about. Applied to the language by those outside the originating group. "He cornered me about type resolution in his MFTL." The first great goal in the mind of the designer of an MFTL is usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away from contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it in itself. Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is "Has it been used for anything besides its own compiler?". On the other hand, a language that *cannot* be used to write its own compiler is beneath contempt. See break-even point, toolsmith.
- national insurance number — a number allocated to UK citizens so that they can pay national insurance
- national unity government — a government formed by a coalition of parties, esp in time of national emergency
- non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic
- normal equivalent deviate — a value x such that the integral of a normal curve over all those values of the independent variable less than x is equal to the given probability.
- not darken someone's door — not come to someone's home
- object relational mapping — (programming, database) (ORM) The software development activity that defines a correspondence between objects in a program and rows in a database table. Atomic object properties correspond to columns in the table, non-atomic data types and relations between objects are represented as foreign keys referring to other tables. An object persistence mechanism is responsible for maintaining the correspondence between objects and the database contents at run-time.
- office of war information — OWI.
- on the horns of a dilemma — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
- peripheral nervous system — the portion of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord.
- personal-opinion telegram — a type of domestic telegram sent at the lowest rate with a minimum charge for 20 words or less to elected federal or state officials on a subject of national or regional interest.
- personalized number plate — a car registration plate that has the owner's initials or name on it
- petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy — seaport in E Asian Russia, on Kamchatka Peninsula: pop. 210,000
- pharmacotherapeutic group — Drugs and agents are categorized into pharmacotherapeutic groups based on which diseases they are designed to treat.
- phase contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
- phase-contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
- poacher turned gamekeeper — someone whose occupation or behaviour is the opposite of what it previously was, such as a burglar who now advises on home security
- polycystic ovary syndrome — a hormonal disorder in which the Graafian follicles in the ovary fail to develop completely so that they are unable to ovulate, remaining as multiple cysts that distend the ovary. The results can include reduced fertility, obesity, and hirsutism
- polymerase chain reaction — a technique in which a known DNA sequence is synthesized at high temperatures by means of a polymerase, producing millions of copies for statistical analysis: used in DNA fingerprinting, in detecting minute quantities of cancer cells, etc.
- polynomial-time algorithm — (complexity) A known algorithm (or Turing Machine) that is guaranteed to terminate within a number of steps which is a polynomial function of the size of the problem. See also computational complexity, exponential time, nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP), NP-complete.
- potassium sodium tartrate — a colorless or white, water-soluble solid, KNaC 4 H 4 O 6 ⋅4H 2 O, used in silvering mirrors, in the manufacture of Seidlitz powders and baking powder, and in medicine as a laxative.
- primary domain controller — (networking) (PDC) Each Windows NT domain has a Primary Domain Controller and zero or more Backup Domain Controllers. The PDC holds the SAM database and authenticates access requests from workstations and servers in the domain.
- primary management domain — (messaging) (PRMD) The component of an X.400 electronic mail address that gives the organisation name, usually abbreviated to p= in written addresses. See also ADMD.
- profit and loss statement — A profit and loss statement is a statement that is compiled at the end of a financial year showing that year's revenue and expense items and indicating gross and net profit or loss.
- programmed data processor — (computer) (PDP) Early (1960's?) Digital Equipment Corporation family of minicomputers. The best known ranges were the PDP-10 and PDP-11. PAL was the assembly language.
- property damage insurance — insurance against losses arising from damage to the property of others, as in a motor-vehicle accident.
- qualified majority voting — a voting system, used by the EU Council of Ministers, enabling certain resolutions to be passed without unanimity
- ram down someone's throat — the passage from the mouth to the stomach or to the lungs, including the pharynx, esophagus, larynx, and trachea.
- rate monotonic scheduling — (algorithm) A means of scheduling the time allocated to periodic hard-deadline real-time users of a resource. The users are assigned priorities such that a shorter fixed period between deadlines is associated with a higher priority. Rate monotonic scheduling provides a low-overhead, reasonably resource-efficient means of guaranteeing that all users will meet their deadlines provided that certain analytical equations are satisfied during the system design. It avoids the design complexity of time-line scheduling and the overhead of dynamic approaches such as earliest-deadline scheduling.
- read someone the riot act — If someone in authority reads you the riot act, they tell you that you will be punished unless you start behaving properly.
- really simple syndication — Rich Site Summary
- regimental sergeant major — the senior Warrant Officer I in a British or Commonwealth regiment or battalion, responsible under the adjutant for all aspects of duty and discipline of the warrant officers, NCOs, and men
- rehabilitation department — a government department set up after World War II to assist ex-servicemen
- representative government — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- rotational quantum number — the quantum number that distinguishes the angular momentum states associated with the rotational motion of a molecule.
- ruby-throated hummingbird — a small hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, the only hummingbird of eastern North America, having metallic-green upper plumage and a bright red throat in the male.
- ruffle someone's feathers — one of the horny structures forming the principal covering of birds, consisting typically of a hard, tubular portion attached to the body and tapering into a thinner, stemlike portion bearing a series of slender, barbed processes that interlock to form a flat structure on each side.
- run-time type information — (compiler) (RTTI) Facilities included in C++ compilers to allow the type of an object to be determined at run time. This facility, found in good C++ compilers and some other high level languages, adds type information to memory resident objects (i.e. type name or unique type-id). This allows the run-time system to determine if an object is of a specific type, for example, to ensure that a cast of an object is valid.
- saint joseph of arimathea — a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, who obtained the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion and laid it in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57–60). Feast day: Mar 17 or July 31
- saint pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
- sequential parlog machine — (SPM) The virtual machine (and its machine code) for the Parlog logic programming language.
- single document interface — (programming) (SDI) A limitation applying to an application program that only shows a single windows giving a view of one document at a time. The opposite is Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
- single wingback formation — an offensive formation in which the wingback lines up outside of and about one yard behind an end, the quarterback lines up lateral to the wingback but about midway between the same end and the center, the fullback is three or four yards behind the middle of the line, and the tailback lines up one yard behind the fullback on the other side of the line from the wingback and quarterback.
- somerset levels and moors — a sparsely populated wetland and coastal plain area extending across parts of the north and centre of the historic county of Somerset, from Ilchester and Langport in the south to Clevedon in the north and Glastonbury in the east. Area: 650 sq km (251 sq miles)