26-letter words containing c, o, h, a, n, e
- micro channel architecture — (architecture) (MCA) IBM's proprietary 32-bit bus, used in high-end PS/2 personal computers. Micro Channel is designed for multiprocessing. It eliminates potential conflicts that arise when installing new peripheral devices. MCA is *not* compatible with either EISA or XT bus architecture so older cards cannot be used with it. As with the ROM BIOS in the first IBM PCs, figuring out the Micro Channel's secrets has been an arduous task of reverse engineering ever since the PS/2 line was announced. Consequently, the MCA has never become as wide spread as the competing EISA standard.
- mongolian hordes technique — (programming, jargon) (Or "Chinese Army technique") Assigning a large number of inexperienced programmers to a job which would better performed by a few skilled ones. The term was first used by Dr. Fred Brooks in his book "The Mythical Man-Month", Chapter 3. According to Dr. Brooks, he had in mind the vision of the Mongol Hordes sweeping across Asia and Europe when he created the term.
- monobasic sodium phosphate — Chemistry. sodium phosphate (def 1).
- monochrome display adapter — (hardware, graphics) (MDA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PC. MDA can display only monochrome 80*25 text (IBM PC video mode 7). It is now obsolete.
- multifactorial inheritance — polygenic inheritance.
- national merit scholarship — one of some 6000 college scholarships awarded annually since 1956, by the nonprofit, grant-supported National Merit Scholarship Corporation, to high-school students (National Merit Scholars) on the basis of scholastic record, personal character, and score on a test administered nationally.
- nickel-in-the-slot machine — a machine that operates if you put a nickel in its slot
- not a cat in hell's chance — no chance at all
- not touch with a bargepole — to refuse to have anything to do with
- off the latch/on the latch — If a door is on the latch or off the latch, the latch has been set so that it will not lock when you shut the door.
- open document architecture — (standard) (ODA) ISO standard (8613) for describing documents. It allows text, graphics, and facsimile documents to be transferred between different systems.
- orthogonal instruction set — (architecture) An instruction set where all (or most) instructions have the same format and all registers and addressing modes can be used interchangeably - the choices of op code, register, and addressing mode are mutually independent (loosely speaking, the choices are "orthogonal"). This contrasts with some early Intel microprocessors where only certain registers could be used by certain instructions. Examples include the PDP-11, 680x0, ARM, VAX.
- overdraft checking account — a bank account with a credit line permitting checks to be written for an amount above the account balance, subject to a finance charge on the overdraft.
- parent teacher association — an organization of teachers and the parents of their students, as within a public school, to promote mutual understanding and to increase the effectiveness of the educational program. Abbreviation: PTA, P.T.A.
- parent-teacher association — an organization of teachers and the parents of their students, as within a public school, to promote mutual understanding and to increase the effectiveness of the educational program. Abbreviation: PTA, P.T.A.
- people's republic of china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
- phenylpyruvic oligophrenia — phenylketonuria.
- physical transport network — (communications) (PTN) The actual hardware through which data transfer devices are connected.
- physics analysis workbench — (tool) (PAW) A general purpose portable tool for analysis and presentation of physics data.
- pokémon exception handling — (programming, humour) A humourous term for a try-catch exception handling construct with no constraint on which exceptions will be caught, for when you just "Gotta Catch 'Em All." (a slogan used in the Pokémon media empire). Pokémon is a trademark of the Pokémon Company of Japan.
- prince henry the navigator — Prince, 1394–1460, prince of Portugal.
- privately held corporation — A privately held corporation is a company whose shares cannot be bought by the general public.
- recombinant dna technology — any of various techniques for separating and recombining segments of DNA or genes, often employing a restriction enzyme to cut a gene from a donor organism and inserting it into a plasmid or viral DNA for transplantation into a host organism, where the gene causes the production of a desired substance either for harvesting or for the benefit of the host organism itself.
- recreation room (or hall) — a room, as in a home (or a public hall), equipped for amusement and relaxation or for social activities
- reformed church in america — a Protestant denomination having a Calvinist theology and originally called the Dutch Reformed Church.
- remembrance of things past — a novel (1913–27) by Marcel Proust.
- reticuloendothelial system — the aggregate of the phagocytic cells, including certain cells of the bone marrow, lymphatic system, liver, and spleen, that have reticular and endothelial characteristics and function in the immune system's defense against foreign bodies. Abbreviation: RES.
- richardson ground squirrel — a ground squirrel, Citellus richardsoni, of sagebrush and grassland areas of the northwestern U.S. and adjacent regions in Canada.
- sans peur et sans reproche — without fear and without reproach: said originally of the French knight, the Seigneur de Bayard.
- search engine optimization — the process of adjusting the content, structure, etc, of a website so that it will be displayed prominently by a search engine
- show a clean pair of heels — to run off
- ssh file transfer protocol — (networking) (SFTP) A version of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) using an encrypted network connection provided by Secure Shell (SSH), usually SSH 2. The SFTP protocol allows for a range of operations on remote files, making it more like a remote file system protocol. SFTP clients can resume interrupted transfers, get directory listings and remove remote files. SFTP has largely replaced Secure Copy (SCP).
- statistical-thermodynamics — the science that deals with average properties of the molecules, atoms, or elementary particles in random motion in a system of many such particles and relates these properties to the thermodynamic and other macroscopic properties of the system.
- straight-line depreciation — Straight-line depreciation is a method of depreciation in which an equal amount of depreciation is taken each year.
- tabulating machine company — (company) The company founded in 1896 by Herman Hollerith to exploit his invention of the punched card. It became part of IBM in 1924.
- technological unemployment — unemployment caused by technological changes or new methods of production in an industry or business.
- the consumers' association — a British organization which assesses and reports on new products and defends consumers' rights
- the royal and ancient club — a golf club, headquarters of the sport's ruling body, based in St Andrews, Scotland
- thematic apperception test — a projective technique in which stories told by a subject about each of a series of pictures are assumed to reveal dominant needs or motivations. Abbreviation: TAT.
- throw a monkey wrench into — to disrupt the orderly functioning or realization of
- to batten down the hatches — If someone battens down the hatches, they prepare themselves so that they will be able to survive a coming difficulty or crisis.
- to call something your own — If you have something you can call your own, it belongs only to you, rather than being controlled by or shared with someone else.
- to catch hold of something — Hold is used in expressions such as grab hold of, catch hold of, and get hold of, to indicate that you close your hand tightly around something, for example to stop something moving or falling.
- to come to a grinding halt — If you say that something comes to a grinding halt, you are emphasizing that it stops very suddenly, especially before it was meant to.
- to laugh in someone's face — If someone laughs in your face, they are openly disrespectful towards you.
- to preach to the converted — If you say that someone is preaching to the converted, you mean that they are wasting their time because they are trying to persuade people to think or believe in things that they already think or believe in.
- to see the back of someone — If you say that you will be glad to see the back of someone, you mean that you want them to leave.
- to take sb to the cleaners — If someone takes you to the cleaners, they unfairly take most of your money, for example in a business deal or in gambling.
- triple combination therapy — treatment with three different drugs
- two sides of the same coin — opposite but connected ideas