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14-letter words containing a, r, s, o, n

  • scratch monkey — (humour)   As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a scratch monkey", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky operation as a replacement for some precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed. This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when a DEC engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. It is reported that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the field circus manager responsible and asked him sweetly, "Can you swim?" Not all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless droids at the local "humane" society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. A corespondent adds: The details you give are somewhat consistent with the version I recall from the Digital "War Stories" notesfile, but the name "Mabel" and the swimming bit were not mentioned, IIRC. Also, there's a very detailed account that claims that three monkies died in the incident, not just one. I believe Eric Postpischil wrote the original story at DEC, so his coming back with a different version leads me to wonder whether there ever was a real Scratch Monkey incident.
  • scrutinization — to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
  • scsi initiator — (hardware)   A device that begins a SCSI transaction by issuing a command to another device (the SCSI target), giving it a task to perform. Typically a SCSI host adapter is the initiator but targets may also become initiators.
  • second chamber — the parliament of the Netherlands, consisting of an upper chamber (First Chamber) and a lower chamber (Second Chamber)
  • second reading — the stage in the consideration of a legislative bill that provides an opportunity for debate and amendment.
  • secondary beam — a beam of particles of one kind selected from the group of particles produced when a beam of particles from an accelerator (primary beam) strikes a target.
  • secondary cell — storage cell.
  • secondary gain — any advantage, as increased attention, disability benefits, or release from unpleasant responsibilities, obtained as a result of having an illness (distinguished from primary gain).
  • secondary road — a road less important than a main road or highway.
  • secondary wall — the innermost part of a plant cell wall, deposited after the wall has ceased to increase in surface area.
  • secondary wave — a transverse earthquake wave that travels through the interior of the earth and is usually the second conspicuous wave to reach a seismograph.
  • secularization — to make secular; separate from religious or spiritual connection or influences; make worldly or unspiritual; imbue with secularism.
  • securitization — the use of such securities as eurobonds to enable investors to lend directly to borrowers with a minimum of risk but without using banks as intermediaries
  • segregationist — one who favors, encourages, or practices segregation, especially racial segregation.
  • self-adornment — something that adds attractiveness; ornament; accessory: the adornments and furnishings of a room.
  • self-assertion — insistence on or an expression of one's own importance, wishes, needs, opinions, or the like.
  • self-formation — the act or process of forming or the state of being formed: the formation of ice.
  • self-important — having or showing an exaggerated opinion of one's own importance; pompously conceited or haughty.
  • self-operating — automatic.
  • self-parodying — given to or involving self-parody
  • semi-nocturnal — active at night (opposed to diurnal): nocturnal animals.
  • semilunar bone — lunate (def 2).
  • semimembranous — consisting of, of the nature of, or resembling membrane.
  • semiminor axis — Geometry. one half the minor axis of an ellipse.
  • semipolar bond — type of chemical bond
  • semistarvation — the state of being nearly starved.
  • senior partner — high-ranking firm partner
  • serbo-croatian — a Slavic language spoken in Serbia and Croatia, usually written with Cyrillic letters in Serbia but with Roman letters in Croatia.
  • sergeant major — U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. a noncommissioned officer serving as chief administrative assistant in a unit headquarters.
  • sericitization — the process of transforming into sericite
  • serodiscordant — pertaining to a relationship with one HIV-positive partner and one HIV-negative partner.
  • seronegativity — the quality or state of being seronegative
  • serra junipero — Miguel José [mee-gel haw-se] /miˈgɛl hɔˈsɛ/ (Show IPA), 1713–84, Spanish Roman Catholic missionary to the Indians in California and Mexico.
  • servomechanism — an electronic control system in which a hydraulic, pneumatic, or other type of controlling mechanism is actuated and controlled by a low-energy signal.
  • set on its ear — to cause excitement, upheaval, etc. in
  • seville orange — a globose, reddish-yellow, bitter or sweet, edible citrus fruit.
  • shaving mirror — small adjustable mirror
  • shoe repairing — the trade of mending shoes
  • shooting brake — station wagon.
  • shooting guard — the player responsible for attempting long-range shots
  • shooting party — a social gathering when people shoot game together
  • shooting range — place for practising with guns
  • shortleaf pine — a pine, Pinus echinata, of the southern U.S., having short, flexible leaves.
  • shower curtain — waterproof sheet around a shower
  • sidereal month — Also called calendar month. any of the twelve parts, as January or February, into which the calendar year is divided.
  • sierra leonean — an independent republic in W Africa: member of the Commonwealth of Nations; formerly a British colony and protectorate. 27,925 sq. mi. (72,326 sq. km). Capital: Freetown.
  • signature loan — a loan requiring no collateral.
  • simone martini — Simone [see-maw-ne] /siˈmɔ nɛ/ (Show IPA), 1283–1344, Italian painter.
  • singular point — a point at which a given function of a complex variable has no derivative but of which every neighborhood contains points at which the function has derivatives.
  • sinistrorsally — in a sinistrorsal manner
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