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17-letter words containing d, e, s, i, r

  • dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
  • dissolve in tears — weep
  • distance learning — education in which students receive instruction over the Internet, from a video, etc., instead of going to school.
  • distillers' grain — a by-product of the distillation process for making whisky, used as an animal foodstuff
  • distributed force — A distributed force is a force that acts on a large part of a surface, not just on one place.
  • distributed logic — a computer system in which remote terminals and electronic devices, distributed throughout the system, supplement the main computer by doing some of the computing or decision making
  • distribution line — A distribution line is a line or system for distributing power from a transmission system to a consumer that operates at less than 69,000 volts.
  • district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
  • doberman pinscher — one of a German breed of medium-sized, short-haired dogs having a black, brown, or blue coat with rusty brown markings.
  • domestic commerce — an interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale between different countries (foreign commerce) or between different parts of the same country (domestic commerce) trade; business.
  • dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
  • dress-down friday — In some companies employees are allowed to wear clothes that are less smart than usual on a Friday. This day is known as a dress-down Friday.
  • drink like a fish — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
  • drive-by shooting — an incident in which a person, building, or vehicle is shot at by someone in a moving vehicle
  • droit du seigneur — the supposed right claimable by a feudal lord to have sexual relations with the bride of a vassal on her first night of marriage.
  • ductus arteriosis — a fetal blood vessel that connects the left pulmonary artery directly to the descending aorta, normally closing after birth.
  • dull as dishwater — water in which dishes are, or have been, washed.
  • dynamic insurance — Dynamic insurance is a type of insurance coverage where the policyholder can choose to increase benefits and premiums by a fixed percentage each year to offset the effects of inflation.
  • dynamics analyzer — (language)   (DYANA) An early language specialised for vibrational and other dynamic physical systems.
  • early closing day — a day on which most shops in a town or area close after lunch
  • east grand rapids — a town in W central Michigan, near Grand Rapids.
  • eastern tradition — any of the philosophies and teachings that derive from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual traditions of the East
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • electrodeposition — The deposition of a metal on a cathode during electrolysis; used as a method of purification.
  • emissions trading — the buying and selling of allowances for pollutant emissions
  • esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
  • ethinyloestradiol — Alternative form of ethinylestradiol.
  • extraordinariness — The property of being extraordinary.
  • facts and figures — details; precise information
  • faint-heartedness — lack of courage
  • fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
  • falkland islander — a person from the Falkland Islands
  • false bread-fruit — ceriman.
  • feathered friends — Birds are sometimes referred to as our feathered friends.
  • fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
  • field penny-cress — the common penny-cress, Thlaspi arvense.
  • field sales force — a team of people selling a product or service in the field as opposed to over the telephone, etc
  • financial adviser — A financial adviser is someone whose job it is to advise people about financial products and services.
  • firehose syndrome — (networking, jargon)   An absence, failure or inadequacy of flow control mechanisms causing the sender to overwhelm the receiver. The implication is that, like trying to drink from a firehose, the consequenses are worse than just loss of data, e.g. the receiver may crash. See ping-flood.
  • first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
  • first-aid classes — classes which teach people how to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • first-degree burn — a burned place or area: a burn where fire had ripped through the forest.
  • first-order logic — (language, logic)   The language describing the truth of mathematical formulas. Formulas describe properties of terms and have a truth value. The following are atomic formulas: True False p(t1,..tn) where t1,..,tn are terms and p is a predicate. If F1, F2 and F3 are formulas and v is a variable then the following are compound formulas: The "order" of a logic specifies what entities "For all" and "Exists" may quantify over. First-order logic can only quantify over sets of atomic propositions. (E.g. For all p . p => p). Second-order logic can quantify over functions on propositions, and higher-order logic can quantify over any type of entity. The sets over which quantifiers operate are usually implicit but can be deduced from well-formedness constraints. In first-order logic quantifiers always range over ALL the elements of the domain of discourse. By contrast, second-order logic allows one to quantify over subsets.
  • five-spice powder — a mixture of spices used especially in Chinese cooking, usually including cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, pepper, and star anise.
  • floppy disk drive — disk drive
  • fore-and-aft sail — any of various sails, as jib-headed sails, gaff sails, lugsails, lateen sails, spritsails, staysails, and jibs, that do not set on yards and whose normal position, when not trimmed, is in a fore-and-aft direction amidships.
  • forensic evidence — evidence obtained by the use of science, for example DNA evidence, etc
  • forensic medicine — the application of medical knowledge to questions of civil and criminal law, especially in court proceedings.
  • foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
  • fractal dimension — (mathematics)   A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
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