25-letter words containing d, h
- entity-relationship model — (database, specification) An approach to data modelling proposed by P. Chen in 1976. The model says that you divide your database in two logical parts, entities (e.g. "customer", "product") and relations ("buys", "pays for"). One of the first activities in specifying an application is defining the entities involved and their relationships, e.g. using an entity-relationship diagram to represent a model.
- expanding universe theory — the theory, developed from the observed red shifts of celestial bodies, that the space between galaxies is expanding, so that they appear to recede from us at velocities that increase with their distance
- further education college — (in Britain) an establishment that offers formal education beyond school and which is not a university or polytechnic
- gabriel daniel fahrenheit — Gabriel Daniel [German gah-bree-el dah-nee-el] /German ˈgɑ briˌɛl ˈdɑ niˌɛl/ (Show IPA), 1686–1736, German physicist: devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers.
- german wirehaired pointer — one of a German breed of large sporting dogs having a harsh, wiry, flat-lying coat usually liver and white in color, a muzzle with a beard and whiskers, and a docked tail, used as a retrieving pointer.
- get up on one's hind legs — to become assertive, belligerent, etc.
- give someone the dingbats — to make someone nervous
- go through fire and water — to undergo great difficulties or dangers
- good for you/him/her/them — People say 'Good for you' to express approval of your actions.
- graft-versus-host disease — a reaction in which the cells of transplanted tissue immunologically attack the cells of the host organism, occurring especially in bone-marrow transplants.
- graham's law of diffusion — the principle that at a given temperature and pressure the rate of diffusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its density.
- graphic design department — a group of people in a company who work in graphic design
- graphic display interface — (hardware) (GDI) graphics adaptor.
- group-sweeping scheduling — (storage, algorithm) (GSS) A disk scheduling strategy in which requests are served in cycles, in a round-robin manner. To reduce disk arm movements ("seeking"), the set of streams is divided into groups that are served in fixed order. Streams within a group are served according to "SCAN". If all clients are assigned to one group, GSS reduces to SCAN, and if all clients are assigned to separate groups, GSS effectively becomes round-robin scheduling. The service order within one group is not fixed, and a stream may in fact be first in one cycle while last in the next. This variation has to be masked by extra buffering but whereas SCAN requires buffer space for all streams, GSS can reuse the buffer for each group and effect a trade-off between seek optimisation and buffer requirements.
- hand sth to sb on a plate — If you say that someone has things handed to them on a plate, you disapprove of them because they get good things easily.
- hardening of the arteries — medical condition: arteriosclerosis
- harris semiconductor ltd. — (company) Address: Riverside Way, Camberley, Surrey, CU15 3YQ, UK. Telephone: +44 (1276) 686 886. Fax: +44 (1276) 682 323.
- have an ear to the ground — to give careful attention to the trends of public opinion
- have it on good authority — If you say you have it on good authority that something is true, you mean that you believe it is true because you trust the person who told you about it.
- have sth at one's command — If you have a particular skill or particular resources at your command, you have them and can use them fully.
- here today, gone tomorrow — short-lived; transitory
- high voltage differential — (hardware) (HVD) Differential SCSI scheme that has been in use for years. The terminators run on 5 Volts DC. See also LVD.
- high-density polyethylene — polyethylene consisting mainly of linear, or unbranched, chains with high crystallinity and melting point, and density of 0.96 or more, produced at low pressure and used chiefly for containers and articles made by injection molding. Abbreviation: HDPE.
- hoist by one's own petard — an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, form a breach in a wall, etc.
- hydrogen sulfide scrubber — A hydrogen sulfide scrubber is a device for the chemical removal of hydrogen sulfide.
- i didn't change anything! — An aggrieved cry often heard as bugs manifest during a regression test. The canonical reply to this assertion is "Then it works just the same as it did before, doesn't it?" See also one-line fix. This is also heard from applications programmers trying to blame an obvious applications problem on an unrelated systems software change, for example a divide-by-0 fault after terminals were added to a network. Usually, their statement is found to be false. Upon close questioning, they will admit some major restructuring of the program that shouldn't have broken anything, in their opinion, but which actually hosed the code completely.
- i don't know (about that) — You can use I don't know to indicate that you do not completely agree with something or do not really think that it is true.
- in decline/on the decline — If something is in decline or on the decline, it is gradually decreasing in importance, quality, or power.
- in the palm of one's hand — If you have someone or something in the palm of your hand, you have control over them.
- indirect characterization — the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed through the character's speech, actions, appearance, etc.
- industrial rehabilitation — the treatment of people who have acquired a disability or disease during the course of their work, with the aim of allowing them to return to work or to a new job
- it is a good/bad thing to — You say it is a good thing to do something to introduce a piece of advice or a comment on a situation or activity.
- keep an ear to the ground — If you keep or have your ear to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying.
- know something inside out — to know something thoroughly or perfectly
- land of the little sticks — the part of the north of Canada that lies south of the tree line but contains only stunted evergreens or dwarf deciduous trees.
- lead down the garden path — a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
- local education authority — a body that is responsible for education in a particular area
- magnetic character reader — a device that automatically scans and interprets characters printed with magnetic ink. It operates by the process of magnetic character recognition
- magnetohydromagnetic wave — Physics. Alfvén wave.
- medical officer of health — a person appointed by a local or national authority to be in charge of its health policy
- melanesian pidgin english — Neo-Melanesian.
- methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet.
- miguel hidalgo y costilla — Miguel [mee-gel] /miˈgɛl/ (Show IPA), 1753–1811, Mexican priest, patriot, and revolutionist.
- mohorovicic discontinuity — the discontinuity between the crust and the mantle of the earth, occurring at depths that average about 22 miles (35 km) beneath the continents and about 6 miles (10 km) beneath the ocean floor.
- much/little to commend it — If you say that something has much to commend it, you approve of it. If you say that something has little to commend it, you disapprove of it.
- murders in the rue morgue — a short story (1841) by Edgar Allan Poe.
- net positive suction head — The net positive suction head is a measure of a pump's performance.
- never do things by halves — If you say that someone never does things by halves, you mean that they always do things very thoroughly.
- no disrespect (to sb/sth) — You can say 'no disrespect to someone or something' when you are just about to criticize them, in order to indicate that you are not hostile towards them or admire them for other things.
- non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic