27-letter words containing a, s, t, o, u

synchronous optical network — (networking) (SONET) A broadband networking standard based on point-to-point optical fibre networks. SONET will provide a high-bandwidth "pipe" to support ATM-based services. The SONET standard will establish a digital hierarchical network with a consistent worldwide transport scheme. SONET has been designed to take advantage of fibre, in contrast to the plain old telephone system which was designed for copper wires. SONET carries circuit-switched data in frames at speeds in multiples of 51.84 megabits per second (Mbps) up to 48 * 51.84 Mbps = 2.488 gigabits per second. Since SONET uses multiple channels to transmit data, each SONET frame can be considered to be a two-dimensional table of bytes that is 9 rows high and 90 columns deep. For every OC-n level, SONET can transmit n number of frames at a given time. Groups of frames are called superframes. SONET is the American version of SDH.
take someone out of himself — to make someone forget his anxieties, problems, etc
take something upon oneself — to assume the right to do or responsibility for (something)
the forest of fontainebleau — a forest in N France, where the town of Fontainebleau is located
the odds are in sb's favour — If you say that the odds are in someone's favour, you mean that they are likely to succeed in what they are doing.
thyroid stimulating hormone — thyrotropin. Abbreviation: TSH.
thyroid-stimulating hormone — thyrotropin. Abbreviation: TSH.
to all intents and purposes — something that is intended; purpose; design; intention: The original intent of the committee was to raise funds.
to be bursting at the seams — to be very full
to be suspended on full pay — if someone is suspended on full pay they are temporarily barred from work (due to misconduct, etc) while receiving full salary
to build up a head of steam — to develop power
to fall over yourself to do — If you say that people are falling over themselves to do something, you mean that they are very enthusiastic about doing it, and often that you disapprove of this.
to practise what you preach — If you say that someone practises what they preach, you mean that they behave in the way that they encourage other people to behave in.
to rear/raise its ugly head — If you say that something unpleasant or embarrassing rears its ugly head or raises its ugly head, you mean that it occurs, often after not occurring for some time.
to rule sb with a high hand — to behave imperiously towards someone
to run rings around someone — If you say that someone runs rings round you or runs rings around you, you mean that they are a lot better or a lot more successful than you at a particular activity.
to stop dead in your tracks — If someone or something stops you in your tracks, or if you stop dead in your tracks, you suddenly stop moving because you are very surprised, impressed, or frightened.
to take someone by surprise — If something takes you by surprise, it happens when you are not expecting it or when you are not prepared for it.
to take you out of yourself — If something takes you out of yourself, it makes you feel better and so you forget all your worries and unhappiness.
to the best of your ability — as well as you can
to turn your back on sb/sth — If you turn your back on someone or something, you ignore them, leave them, or reject them.
united nations organization — the United Nations. Abbreviation: UNO, U.N.O.
united service organization — a private, non-profit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the US military, with programmes in 140 centres worldwide
universal computer protocol — (communications, protocol) An earlier form of External Machine Interface (EMI).
universal naming convention — (networking) (UNC) The type of file system path used in Microsoft Windows networking to completely specify a directory on a file server. The basic format is: \\servername\sharename where "servername" is the hostname or IP address of a network file server, and "sharename" is the name of a shared directory on the server. This is related to the conventional MS-DOS "C:\windows" style of directory name. E.g. \\server1\dave might be set up to point to C:\users\homedirs\dave on a server called "server1". It is possible to execute a program using this convention without having to specifically link a drive, by running: \\server\share\directory\program.exe The undocumented DOS command, TRUENAME can be used to find out the UNC name of a file or directory on a network drive. Even Microsoft don't know whether UNC stands for "Universal Naming Convention" or "Uniform Naming Convention", both appear on their website, sometimes withing the same document, but with a preference for "Universal".
university grants committee — an advisory committee of the British government, which advised on the distribution of grant funding amongst British universities. It was in existence from 1919 until 1989. Its functions have now largely been taken over by the higher education funding councils (HEFCE (England), SHEFC (Scotland), HEFCW (Wales), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland)
weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, biological and chemical arms
what sb is (going) on about — If you ask someone what they are on about or what they are going on about, you are puzzled because you cannot understand what they are talking about.
what you see is all you get — (jargon) (WYSIAYG) /wiz'ee-ayg/ Describes a user interface under which "What You See Is *All* You Get"; an unhappy variant of WYSIWYG. Visual, "point-and-drool interfaces" are easy to learn but often lack depth; they often frustrate advanced users who would be better served by a command-style interface. When this happens, the frustrated user has a WYSIAYG problem. This term is most often used of editors, word processors, and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG "desktop publishing" programs, for example, are a clear win for creating small documents with lots of fonts and graphics in them, especially things like newsletters and presentation slides. When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the other hand, scale changes the nature of the task; one quickly runs into WYSIAYG limitations, and the increased power and flexibility of a command-driven formatter like TeX or Unix's troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity. Compare YAFIYGI.
while-you-wait heel repairs — repairs to damaged heels of footwear, carried out while the customer waits
you can't have it both ways — If someone says that you can't have it both ways, they are telling you that you have to choose between two things and cannot do or have them both.

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