19-letter words containing a, s, r
- magnetic hysteresis — hysteresis in a ferromagnetic material; the lag in the response of magnetic induction to changes of magnetic intensity.
- mail transfer agent — Message Transfer Agent
- major seventh chord — a chord much used in modern music, esp jazz and pop, consisting of a major triad with an added major seventh above the root
- make a pig's ear of — to ruin disastrously
- make oneself scarce — insufficient to satisfy the need or demand; not abundant: Meat and butter were scarce during the war.
- malleable cast iron — white cast iron that has been malleablized.
- manchester autocode — (language, history) The predecessor of Mercury Autocode.
- manchester encoding — (communications, protocol) A method of transmitting bits which enables the receiver to easily synchronise with the sender. A simple way of signalling bits might be to transmit a high voltage for some period for a 1-bit and a low voltage for a 0 bit: Bits Sent: 1 1 0 0 Signal: High ___ Low |___ Time: -> . . . . . However, when several identical bits are sent in succession, this provides no information to the receiver about when each bit starts and stops. Manchester encoding splits each bit period into two, and ensures that there is always a transition between the signal levels in the middle of each bit. This allows the receiver to synchronise with the sender. In normal Manchester encoding, a 1-bit is transmitted with a high voltage in the first period, and a low voltage in the second, and vice verse for the 0 bit: Bits Sent: 1 1 0 0 Signal: High Low || |_| || Time: -> . ' . ' . ' . ' . In Differential Manchester encoding, a 1-bit is indicated by making the first half of the signal equal to the last half of the previous bit's signal and a 0-bit is indicated by making the first half of the signal opposite to the last half of the previous bit's signal. That is, a zero bit is indicated by a transition at the beginning of the bit. Like normal Manchester encoding, there is always a transition in the middle of the transmission of the bit. Differential Manchester Encoding Bits Sent: 1 1 0 0 Signal: High __ Low |_| || || Time: -> . ' . ' . ' . ' . With each bit period half as long, twice as much bandwidth is required when using either of the Manchester encoding schemes.
- manual transmission — an automotive transmission in which the driver shifts gears manually.
- maraschino cherries — cherries in a syrup flavored with maraschino or, now usually, imitation maraschino
- market segmentation — the division of a market into identifiable groups, esp to improve the effectiveness of a marketing strategy
- marriage settlement — a formal agreement made before marriage disposing of the property of the couple to be married
- mary wollstonecraft — Mary (Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) 1759–97, English author and feminist (mother of Mary Shelley).
- massive retaliation — a strategy of military counterattack that involves the use of nuclear weapons.
- master of foxhounds — the person responsible for the conduct of a fox hunt and to whom all members of the hunt and its staff are responsible. Abbreviation: M.F.H.
- master of the horse — (in England) the third official of the royal household
- master of the rolls — (in England and Wales) the judge who presides over the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) and who was formerly Keeper of the Records at the Public Record Office
- matthias i corvinus — ?1440–90, king of Hungary (1458–90): built up the most powerful kingdom in Central Europe. A patron of Renaissance art, he founded the Corvina library, one of the finest in Europe
- maturation division — a stage in meiosis during which the chromosomal number of the reproductive cell is reduced to one chromosome from each original chromosome pair.
- means of production — resources: equipment, workers
- measure for measure — a comedy (1604) by Shakespeare.
- megabits per second — (unit) (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps.
- melodic minor scale — minor scale (def 2).
- memory like a sieve — a very poor memory
- mermaid's wineglass — a colony of green algae, Acetabularia crenulata, of warm seas, having a cup-shaped cap on a slender stalk.
- metaphosphoric acid — an acid, HPO 3 , derived from phosphorous pentoxide, and containing the smallest amount of water of the phosphoric acids.
- metatarsophalangeal — (anatomy) Relating to the metatarsus and phalange.
- meter-candle-second — a unit of light-exposure equivalent to one lux for one second.
- miniature schnauzer — one of a German breed of sturdily built terriers resembling a smaller version of the standard schnauzer, having a wiry, pepper-and-salt, black, or black-and-silver coat, a rectangular head, bushy whiskers, and a docked tail, and originally developed as a farm dog but now raised primarily as a pet.
- miracle of st. mark — a painting (1548) by Tintoretto.
- mischaracterization — The act of characterizing something in an inaccurate or misleading way.
- missionary position — a position for sexual intercourse in which the couple lies face to face with the male on top.
- missouri meerschaum — corncob (def 2).
- mohammed zahir shah — 1914–2007, king of Afghanistan 1933–73.
- molecular astronomy — the branch of astronomy dealing with the study of molecules in space.
- molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
- montezuma's revenge — traveler's diarrhea, especially as experienced by some visitors to Mexico.
- moses-in-the-cradle — a plant, Rhoeo spathacea, native to the West Indies and Central America, having leaves with purple undersides and white flowers enclosed in a boat-shaped envelope formed by two bracts.
- most favored nation — a nation to which privileges of trade are extended under a government policy of giving the same privileges to all nations that are given to any one of them, sometimes depending on whether certain conditions, as of reciprocity, are met
- most-favored-nation — of or relating to the status, treatment, terms, etc., that are embodied in or conferred by a most-favored-nation clause.
- mother-of-thousands — strawberry geranium.
- motivation research — the application of the knowledge and techniques of the social sciences, especially psychology and sociology, to understanding consumer attitudes and behavior: used as a guide in advertising and marketing.
- motor generator set — A motor generator set is an alternating current motor that is attached to a generator.
- motorway restaurant — a restaurant on a motorway
- mount desert island — an island off the coast of E central Maine: summer resort; forms part of Acadia National Park. 14 miles (23 km) long; 8 miles (13 km) wide.
- mouse-ear chickweed — any of various similar and related plants of the genus Cerastium
- mucopolysaccharides — Plural form of mucopolysaccharide.
- multiple-entry visa — a visa that permits the holder to enter a country several times
- munchausen syndrome — a factitious disorder in which otherwise healthy individuals seek to hospitalize themselves with feigned or self-induced pathology in order to receive surgical or other medical treatment.
- mushroom ventilator — a ventilator having at the top of a vertical shaft a broad rounded cap that can be screwed down to close it.