22-letter words containing a, r, i, e, l
- mohammed al-khawarizmi — Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- molecular distillation — a vacuum distillation in which the molecules of the distillate reach the condenser before colliding with one another.
- motorcycle combination — a motorcycle with a sidecar attached
- mpeg-2 aac low profile — (compression, standard, algorithm, file format) A successor of MP3 allowing transparent coding at data rates of 75-80% of that of MP3. It is very different from MP3, only used MDCT, no subband coding.
- mpeg-2.5 audio layer 3 — (compression, standard, algorithm, file format) A non-standard extention of MPEG-2 audio layer 3 by FhG for lowest sampling rates (8-12 kHz) targeting bit rates from 16-32 kbps (possibly 8-160 kbps).
- multiplicative inverse — reciprocal (def 9).
- national semiconductor — (company) A semiconductor manufacturer, responsible for the SC/MP, National Semiconductor 16000 and National Semiconductor 32000 series of microprocessors.
- native elm bark beetle — elm bark beetle (def 2).
- netherlands new guinea — a former name of Irian Jaya.
- nickel-cadmium battery — a storage battery, with an alkaline electrolyte, having nickel oxide as the positive element and cadmium as the negative.
- nkosi sikelel' iafrica — the unofficial anthem of the Black people of South Africa, officially recognized as a national anthem (along with parts of 'Die Stem' and an English verse) in 1991
- nkosi sikelel' iafrika — the unofficial anthem of the Black people of South Africa, officially recognized as a national anthem (along with parts of 'Die Stem' and an English verse) in 1991
- nominal semidestructor — (abuse) Slang for "National Semiconductor", found among other places in the 4.3BSD networking sources. During the late 1970s to mid-1980s this company marketed a series of microprocessors including the National Semiconductor 16000 and National Semiconductor 32000. At one point early in the great microprocessor race, the specs on these chips made them look like serious competition for the rising Intel 80x86 and Motorola 680x0 series. Unfortunately, the actual parts were notoriously flaky and never implemented the full instruction set promised in their literature, apparently because the company couldn't get any of the mask steppings to work as designed. They eventually sank without trace, joining the Zilog Z8000 and a few even more obscure also-rans in the graveyard of forgotten microprocessors.
- non-euclidean geometry — geometry based upon one or more postulates that differ from those of Euclid, especially from the postulate that only one line may be drawn through a given point parallel to a given line.
- non-maskable interrupt — (NMI) An IRQ 7 on the PDP-11 or 680x0 or the NMI line on an 80x86. In contrast with a priority interrupt (which might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is *never* ignored.
- non-restrictive clause — a relative clause that describes or supplements but is not essential in establishing the identity of the antecedent and is usually set off by commas in English. In This year, which has been dry, is bad for crops the clause which has been dry is a nonrestrictive clause.
- nonrepresentationalism — not resembling or portraying any object in physical nature: a nonrepresentational painting.
- nonspecular reflection — the diffuse reflection of sound or light waves
- nonterminating decimal — a decimal numeral that does not end in an infinite sequence of zeros (contrasted with terminating decimal).
- normal order reduction — Under this evaluation strategy an expression is evaluated by reducing the leftmost outermost redex first. This method will terminate for any expression for which termination is possible, whereas applicative order reduction may not. This method is equivalent to passing arguments unevaluated because arguments are initially to the right of functions applied to them. See also computational adequacy theorem.
- north atlantic current — an ocean current flowing NE toward the British Isles, formed by the convergence of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current SE of Newfoundland.
- north rhine-westphalia — a state in W Germany; formerly a part of Rhine province. 13,154 sq. mi. (34,070 sq. km). Capital: Düsseldorf.
- object-oriented pascal — Object Pascal
- occupational therapist — professional who assists with rehabilitation
- operational data store — (database) (ODS) A group of integrated databases designed to support the monitoring of operations. Unlike function oriented databases, an ODS contains subject-oriented, dynamic, current enterprise-wide information that is continually updated to show the current state of operations.
- organizational culture — the customs, rituals, and values shared by the members of an organization that have to be accepted by new members
- over-industrialization — the large-scale introduction of manufacturing, advanced technical enterprises, and other productive economic activity into an area, society, country, etc.
- pale horse, pale rider — a trilogy of short novels (1939) by Katherine Anne Porter.
- parallel server option — Oracle Parallel Server
- parliamentary election — an election to select the members of a national parliament
- particular affirmative — a proposition of the form “Some S is P.” Symbol: I.
- passive matrix display — (hardware) A type of liquid crystal display which relies on persistence to maintain the state of each display element (pixel) between refresh scans. The resolution of such displays is limited by the ratio between the time to set a pixel and the time it takes to fade. Contrast active matrix display.
- personal rapid transit — a short system of small, self-propelled, automated, rubber-tired vehicles that usually run on elevated concrete tracks and allow a passenger a limited selection of routes, as in an amusement park or at an airport. Abbreviation: PRT.
- personal relationships — relationships between people, especially those between friends, lovers and family members
- phase alternating line — (television) (PAL) The video signal format used in the UK [where else?]. PAL uses Amplitude Modulation for the video information, and Frequency Modulation for the audio information. The phase of the colour subcarrier is reversed on alternate lines which (together with the use of a delay line) allows the receiver to cancel any phase errors introduced in the path between the studio and the end-user's receiver. Such phase errors are quite common and would cause the displayed colours to shift in hue. The US equivalent, NTSC, does not have this feature and thus requires a user control to correct for transmission phase errors, hence the mis-expansion "Never Twice the Same Colour".
- pizza delivery service — a service whereby a pizza restaurant delivers pizzas to customers who order by telephone
- planetary transmission — A planetary transmission is a special form of geared drive in which the input and output shafts are on the same axis.
- play one's cards right — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
- point of sale terminal — the store, dealer, or other retail outlet where an item is sold: from manufacturer to point-of-sale.
- point-of-sale terminal — the store, dealer, or other retail outlet where an item is sold: from manufacturer to point-of-sale.
- polymyalgia rheumatica — a chronic inflammatory disease, common among older persons, characterized by recurrent episodes of muscle pain and stiffness, sometimes leading to cardiovascular complications or blindness.
- portable standard lisp — (language) (PSL) A dialect of Lisp from Utah University. PSL is available as a kit for 68000 and also runs on VAX. It compiles Lisp to C-code virtual machine language.
- preestablished harmony — (in the philosophy of Leibnitz) synchronous operation of all monads, since their simultaneous creation, in accordance with the preexisting plan of God.
- price variation clause — a clause in a contract allowing the seller to vary the selling price under certain conditions
- primate of all england — a title of the archbishop of Canterbury.
- prince edward islander — a native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island
- prince of wales island — the largest island in the Alexander Archipelago, in SE Alaska. 1500 sq. mi. (3990 sq. km).
- principal ideal domain — a commutative integral domain with multiplicative identity in which every ideal is principal.
- progressive participle — present participle.
- pronunciation spelling — a spelling intended to match a certain pronunciation more closely than the traditional spelling does, as gonna for going to , kinda for kind of (meaning “rather”), git for get , or lite for light.