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19-letter words containing b, e, s, a, n, c

  • dobsonian telescope — a relatively inexpensive Newtonian telescope, suitable for visual but not photographic use, in which the tube assembly slips freely in the lower base.
  • dutchman's-breeches — a plant, Dicentra cucullaria, of the fumitory family, having long clusters of pale-yellow, two-spurred flowers.
  • effervescent tablet — Effervescent tablets break down quickly when they are dropped into water or another liquid.
  • electro-shock baton — a baton used as a weapon to pass an electric current through part of the body
  • essence of bergamot — a fragrant essential oil from the fruit rind of this plant, used in perfumery and some teas (including Earl Grey)
  • exhibitionistically — In an exhibitionistic manner.
  • foundation subjects — the subjects studied as part of the National Curriculum, including the compulsory core subjects
  • functional database — (database, language)   A database which uses a functional language as its query language. Databases would seem to be an inappropriate application for functional languages since, a purely functional language would have to return a new copy of the entire database every time (part of) it was updated. To be practically scalable, the update mechanism must clearly be destructive rather than functional; however it is quite feasible for the query language to be purely functional so long as the database is considered as an argument. One approach to the update problem would use a monad to encapsulate database access and ensure it was single threaded. Alternative approaches have been suggested by Trinder, who suggests non-destructive updating with shared data structures, and Sutton who uses a variant of a Phil Wadler's linear type system. There are two main classes of functional database languages. The first is based upon Backus' FP language, of which FQL is probably the best known example. Adaplan is a more recent language which falls into this category. More recently, people have been working on languages which are syntactically very similar to modern functional programming languages, but which also provide all of the features of a database language, e.g. bulk data structures which can be incrementally updated, type systems which can be incrementally updated, and all data persisting in a database. Examples are PFL [Poulovassilis&Small, VLDB-91], and Machiavelli [Ohori et al, ACM SIGMOD Conference, 1998].
  • gigabits per second — (unit)   (Gbps) A unit of information transfer rate equal to one billion bits per second. Note that, while a gigabit is defined as a power of two (2^30 bits), a gigabit per second is defined as a power of ten (10^9 bits per second, which is slightly less) than 2^30).
  • giraldus cambrensis — literary name of Gerald de Barri. ?1146–?1223, Welsh chronicler and churchman, noted for his accounts of his travels in Ireland and Wales
  • handlebar moustache — a man's moustache having long, curved ends that resemble the handlebars of a bicycle.
  • high-bush cranberry — cranberry bush
  • honorable discharge — a discharge from military service of a person who has fulfilled obligations efficiently, honorably, and faithfully.
  • hydrostatic balance — a balance for finding the weight of an object submerged in water in order to determine the upthrust on it and thus determine its relative density
  • hyperbolic cosecant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of hyperbolic sine
  • in the catbird seat — If you say that someone is in the catbird seat, you think that their situation is very good.
  • incommensurableness — (rare) Incommensurability.
  • interchangeableness — Quality of being interchangeable.
  • internal-combustion — of or relating to an internal-combustion engine.
  • intervertebral disc — any of the cartilaginous discs between individual vertebrae, acting as shock absorbers
  • japanese black pine — a pine, Pinus thunbergiana, of Japan, grown as a seaside ornamental in the U.S.
  • job creation scheme — a governmental scheme to increase the number of jobs in an area, organization, etc
  • kansas-nebraska act — the act of Congress in 1854 annulling the Missouri Compromise, providing for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and permitting these territories self-determination on the question of slavery.
  • king's remembrancer — (in Great Britain) a judiciary official who collects debts owed to the king.
  • knock someone bandy — to amaze or astound
  • lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
  • liability insurance — insurance covering the insured against losses arising from injury or damage to another person or property.
  • library of congress — one of the major library collections in the world, located in Washington, D.C., and functioning in some ways as the national library of the U.S. although not officially designated as such: established by Congress in 1800 for service to its members, but now also serving government agencies, other libraries, and the public.
  • magnesium carbonate — a white powder, MgCO 3 , insoluble in water and alcohol, soluble in acids, used in dentifrices and cosmetics, in medicine as an antacid, and as a refractory material.
  • malleable cast iron — white cast iron that has been malleablized.
  • 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.
  • obsolescence clause — a clause in an insurance policy that takes account of the obsolescence of the item insured in order to lower the amount to be paid out in the event of a claim
  • pancreatic fibrosis — cystic fibrosis.
  • paschen-back effect — a splitting of spectral lines observed when the source of a radiation is subjected to a strong magnetic field, caused when the vectors associated with the spin and orbital angular momentum exhibit individual rather than common precession.
  • piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
  • potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
  • public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
  • put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
  • rebus sic stantibus — (of the duration of the binding force treaty) for as long as the relevant facts and circumstances remain basically the same.
  • redress the balance — to make a fair adjustment; see that justice is done
  • reversible reaction — a reaction that, depending on ambient conditions, can proceed in either of two directions: the production of the reaction products from the reactants, or the production of the original reactants from the formed reaction products. Compare equilibrium (def 4).
  • rhodesian ridgeback — a large short-haired breed of dog characterized by a ridge of hair growing along the back in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat. It was originally a hunting dog from South Africa
  • sale and lease back — leaseback.
  • semibituminous coal — a coal intermediate between bituminous and anthracite coal in hardness, yielding the maximum heat of any ordinary steam coal.
  • semidetached binary — a pair of stars that are so close together that mass transfer occurs from one to the other
  • siberian crab apple — a hardy, round-headed tree, Malus baccata, of northern Asia, having white flowers and yellow or red fruit.
  • siberian forest cat — a breed of powerfully-built long-haired cat, typically tabby with a white ruff and white paws
  • son-of-a-bitch stew — (in the Old West) a stew often prepared by chuck-wagon cooks for working cowboys, containing tripe and often also the heart, liver, brains, kidney, etc., of a slaughtered steer.
  • southern crab apple — a tree, Malus angustifolia, of the eastern U.S., having oblong leaves, fragrant, pink or rose-colored flowers, and small, round, yellow-green fruit.
  • stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
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