20-letter words containing d, e, b, o, u
- fondue bourguignonne — a dish consisting of pieces of steak impaled on forks, cooked in oil at the table and dipped in sauces
- godefroy de bouillon — c1060–1100, French crusader.
- 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.
- grievous bodily harm — law: serious injury
- hudson's bay blanket — a woollen blanket with wide stripes
- in double-quick time — In double-quick time means the same as double-quick.
- in the public domain — able to be discussed and examined freely by the general public
- indian cucumber root — a North American plant, Medeola virginiana, of the lily family, having whorled leaves, nodding, greenish-yellow flowers, and an edible root.
- information builders — Distributors of LEVEL5 OBJECT. Telephone +1 800 969 INFO.
- justifiable homicide — murder committed under extenuating circumstances
- keyboard video mouse — (hardware) (KVM) Used to describe a "KVM switch" that allows one keyboard, one video display and one mouse to be switched between two or more computers.
- kluver-bucy syndrome — a syndrome caused by bilateral injury to the temporal lobes and characterized by memory defect, hypersexuality, excessive oral behavior, and diminished fear reactions.
- labour-saving device — a machine, gadget, etc, that reduces (human) effort, hard work or labour
- land-office business — a lively, booming, expanding, or very profitable business.
- longitude by account — the longitude of the position of a vessel as estimated by dead reckoning.
- microwave background — a background of microwave electromagnetic radiation with a black-body spectrum discovered in 1965, understood to be the thermal remnant of the big bang with which the universe began
- molybdenum disulfide — a black crystalline powder, MoS 2 , insoluble in water, used as a lubricant and as a hydrogenation catalyst.
- neighbourhood warden — a person employed by a local authority to patrol residential areas and deal with antisocial behaviour
- nostalgie de la boue — a desire for or attraction to crudity, vulgarity, depravity, etc.
- obfuscated c contest — (programming) The International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) is an annual contest run since 1984 over Usenet by Landon Curt Noll and friends. The overall winner is whoever produces the most unreadable, creative, and bizarre (but working) C program. Various other prizes are awarded at the judges' whim. C's terse syntax and macro-preprocessor facilities give contestants a lot of maneuvering room. The winning programs often manage to be simultaneously funny, breathtaking works of art and horrible examples of how *not* to code in C. This relatively short and sweet hello, world program demonstrates obfuscated C: /* HELLO WORLD program * by Jack Applin and Robert Heckendorn, 1985 */ main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!\n)"; (!!c)[*c]&&(v--||--c&&execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c)); **c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,!!**c);} Here's another good one: /* Program to compute an approximation of pi * by Brian Westley, 1988 */ #define _ -F<00||--F-OO--; int F=00,OO=00; main(){F_OO();printf("%1.3f\n",4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO() { _-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_ } Note that this program works by computing its own area. For more digits, write a bigger program.
- outside (of) the box — in a fresh, inventive, unconventional way
- pedro juan caballero — a city in E central Paraguay.
- pentobarbital sodium — a barbiturate drug used in medicine as a sedative and hypnotic. Formula: C11H17N2O3Na
- physical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- prohibited substance — a substance, such as a drug, etc, that is banned or forbidden by law or other authority
- public record office — an institution in which official records are stored and kept available for inspection by the public
- red badge of courage — a novel (1895) by Stephen Crane.
- reductio ad absurdum — a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead.
- republic of maldives — a republic occupying an archipelago of 1087 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka: came under British protection in 1887; became independent in 1965 and a republic in 1968; member of the Commonwealth (1982–2016). The economy and infrastructure were severely damaged in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Official language: Divehi. Official religion: (Sunni) Muslim. Currency: rufiyaa. Capital: Malé. Pop: 393 988 (2013 est). Area: 298 sq km (115 sq miles)
- roller-blind shutter — curtain shutter.
- rough-legged buzzard — a buzzard, Buteo lagopus, of Europe, Asia, and North America, having feathers covering its legs
- ruby-crowned kinglet — an olive-gray, American kinglet, Regulus calendula, the male of which has an erectile, ruby crest.
- scream bloody 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)
- skull and crossbones — a representation of a front view of a human skull above two crossed bones, originally used on pirates' flags and now used as a warning sign, as in designating substances as poisons.
- sodium metabisulfite — Sodium metabisulfite is a crystalline compound used as an antioxidant.
- standard book number — International Standard Book Number. Abbreviation: SBN.
- subpoena duces tecum — a writ directing a person to appear in court and to bring some document described in the writ.
- subscription edition — an edition of one or more volumes for which a number of prospective purchasers place orders, usually in advance of publication.
- to be brought to bed — to give birth (to)
- to be on dinner duty — to be responsible for preparing an evening meal
- to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
- to give sb their due — You can say 'to give him his due', or 'giving him his due' when you are admitting that there are some good things about someone, even though there are things that you do not like about them.
- tropical disturbance — a very weak, or incipient, tropical cyclone.
- twiddle one's thumbs — to turn about or play with lightly or idly, especially with the fingers; twirl.
- under/below strength — If an army or team is under strength or below strength, it does not have all the members that it needs or usually has.
- wardrobe malfunction — an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing
- wilson cloud chamber — cloud chamber.
- would you believe it — If you say would you believe it, you are emphasizing your surprise about something.
- yellow-billed cuckoo — a North American cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, that has a yellow bill and, unlike many cuckoos, constructs its own nest and rears its own young.