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20-letter words containing a, w

  • diskless workstation — (computer, networking)   A personal computer or workstation which has neither a hard disk nor floppy disk drive and which performs all file access via a local area network connection to a file server. The lowest level bootstrap code is stored in non-volatile storage. This uses a simple protocol such as BOOTP to request and download more sophisticated boot code and eventually, the operating system. The archtypal product was the 3Station developed by Bob Metcalfe at 3Com. Another example was the Sun 3/50. Diskless workstations are ideal when many users are running the same application. They are small, quiet, more reliable than products with disks, and help prevent both the theft of data and the introduction of viruses since the software and data available on them is controlled by the network administrator or system administrator. They do however rely on a server which becomes a disadvantage if it is heavily loaded or down. See also breath-of-life packet.
  • draw close/draw near — If an event or period of time is drawing closer or is drawing nearer, it is approaching.
  • draw the short straw — to be the person (as in drawing lots) to whom an unwelcome task or fate falls
  • due process (of law) — the course of legal proceedings established by the legal system of a nation or state to protect individual rights
  • early warning system — Military. a network of radar installations designed to detect enemy aircraft or missiles in time for the effective deployment of defense systems.
  • early-warning system — Military. a network of radar installations designed to detect enemy aircraft or missiles in time for the effective deployment of defense systems.
  • edward the confessor — Saint, 1002?–66, English king 1042–66: founder of Westminster Abbey.
  • electromagnetic wave — a wave of energy propagated in an electromagnetic field
  • for all one is worth — good or important enough to justify (what is specified): advice worth taking; a place worth visiting.
  • frederick william ii — 1744–97, king of Prussia 1786–97.
  • frederick william iv — 1795–1861, king of Prussia 1840–61 (brother of William I of Prussia).
  • full to the gunwales — completely full; full to overflowing
  • gentleman-in-waiting — a man who comes from a family of high social standing and who is attached to a royal household or to the household of a person of high rank
  • get away from it all — If you get away from it all, you have a holiday in a place that is very different from where you normally live and work.
  • get away with murder — Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder) and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder)
  • give a wide berth to — to keep clear of; avoid
  • go from bad to worse — worsen
  • greatest lower bound — a lower bound that is greater than or equal to all the lower bounds of a given set: 1 is the greatest lower bound of the set consisting of 1, 2, 3. Abbreviation: glb.
  • greenwich hour angle — hour angle measured from the meridian of Greenwich, England.
  • grey-crowned babbler — an insect-eating Australian bird, Pomatostomus temporalis of the family Timaliidae
  • hail-fellow-well-met — friendly but insincere
  • hardware handshaking — (communications)   A technique for regulating the flow of data across an interface by means of signals carried on separate wires. A common example is the RTS (Request to Send) and CTS (Clear to Send) signals on an EIA-232 serial line. The alternative, software handshaking, uses two special characters inserted into the data stream to carry the same information.
  • have come a long way — If you say that someone or something has come a long way, you mean that they have developed, progressed, or become very successful.
  • hawaii-standard-time — Alaska-Hawaii time.
  • hazard warning lamps — Hazard warning lamps are flashing lamps on each corner of a vehicle that are used to show the position of the vehicle if there has been a breakdown or an accident.
  • helmeted guinea fowl — the common guinea fowl in its wild state.
  • heston and isleworth — a former borough, now part of Hounslow, in SE England, near London.
  • holy water sprinkler — morning star (def 2).
  • how about something? — what is your wish, opinion, or information concerning something (or someone)?
  • how are you keeping? — how are you?
  • human growth hormone — somatotropin. Abbreviation: hGH.
  • hurricane-force wind — a wind, not necessarily a hurricane, having a speed of more than 72 miles per hour (32 m/sec): the strongest of the winds.
  • imported currantworm — the larva of any of several insects, as a sawfly, Nematus ribesii (imported currantworm) which infests and feeds on the leaves and fruit of currants.
  • in contact (with sb) — If you are in contact with someone, you regularly meet them or communicate with them.
  • indicated horsepower — the horsepower of a reciprocating engine as shown by an indicator record. Abbreviation: ihp, IHP.
  • junior featherweight — a boxer weighing up to 122 pounds (54.9 kg), between bantamweight and featherweight.
  • king's-pawn openings — a class of chess openings in which the pawn in front of the king is advanced two squares on the first move.
  • knock-down, drag-out — characterized by great violence, harshness, animosity, etc.
  • know all the answers — be opinionated
  • knowledge management — data technology
  • law of contradiction — the law that a proposition cannot be both true and false or that a thing cannot both have and not have a given property.
  • law of large numbers — the theorem in probability theory that the number of successes increases as the number of experiments increases and approximates the probability times the number of experiments for a large number of experiments.
  • law of superposition — Geology. a basic law of geochronology, stating that in any undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on bottom, each layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it.
  • law-and-order issues — issues concerning law and social conventions
  • lead with one's chin — to act so imprudently as to invite disaster
  • like death warmed up — very ill
  • little kanawha river — a river in NW West Virginia, flowing N and NW to the Ohio River. 160 miles (257 km) long.
  • llanfairpwllgwyngyll — a village in NW Wales, in SE Anglesey: reputed to be the longest place name in Great Britain when unabbreviated; means: St Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool of Llandysilio of the red cave
  • llywelyn ap gruffudd — died 1282, prince of Wales (1258–82): the only Welsh ruler to be recognized as such by the English
  • llywelyn ap iorwerth — called Llywelyn the Great. died 1240, prince of Gwynedd, N Wales (1194–1238), who extended his rule over most of Wales
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