17-letter words containing d, i, m, e, n
- dog in the manger — a person who selfishly keeps something that he or she does not really need or want so that others may not use or enjoy it.
- domestic violence — physical abuse in the home
- dominant tenement — land in favor of which an easement or other servitude exists over another's land.
- down in the dumps — If you are down in the dumps, you are feeling very depressed and miserable.
- down-in-the-mouth — glum
- downwardly mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
- downwardly-mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
- dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
- drink-drive limit — the maximum blood alcohol level permitted for someone driving a vehicle
- dynamic execution — (processor) A combination of techniques - multiple branch prediction, data flow analysis and speculative execution. Intel implemented Dynamic Execution in the P6 after analysing the execution of billions of lines of code.
- 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.
- dynamically typed — dynamic typing
- dynamics analyzer — (language) (DYANA) An early language specialised for vibrational and other dynamic physical systems.
- eat flaming death — (humour, abuse) A construction popularised among hackers by the infamous CPU Wars comic; supposedly derive from a famously turgid line in a WWII-era anti-Nazi propaganda comic that ran "Eat flaming death, non-Aryan mongrels!" or something of the sort (however, it is also reported that the Firesign Theater's 1975 album "In The Next World, You're On Your Own" included the phrase "Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs"; this may have been an influence). Used in humorously overblown expressions of hostility. "Eat flaming death, EBCDIC users!"
- economic blockade — an embargo on trade with a country, esp one which prohibits receipt of exports from that country, with the intention of disrupting the country's economy
- emergency landing — an occasion when a place is forced to land: for example, because of a mechanical fault, bad weather, terrorism, etc.
- emissions trading — the buying and selling of allowances for pollutant emissions
- employee discount — When the employees of a store or other retail business are entitled to an employee discount, they do not have to pay the full price for goods they buy in the store.
- enzyme deficiency — failure of the body to produce a specific enzy
- examination board — an organization that sets and corrects exams
- fifth commandment — “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee”: fifth of the Ten Commandments.
- fine-toothed comb — a comb with fine, closely set teeth
- 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.
- forensic medicine — the application of medical knowledge to questions of civil and criminal law, especially in court proceedings.
- 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].
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- full-motion video — (video) (FMV) Any kind of video that is theoretically capable of changing the entire content on the screen fast enough that the transitions are not obvious to the human eye, i.e. about 24 times a second or more. In practise most video encoding relies on the fact that in most video there is relatively little change from one frame to the next. This allows for compression of the video data. The term is used, chiefly in computer games, in contrast to techniques such as the use of sprites that move against a more-or-less fixed background.
- garden mignonette — a Mediterranean plant, Resida odorata, which has spikes of small greenish-white flowers with prominent anthers
- general admission — an admission charge for unreserved seats at a theatrical performance, sports event, etc.
- giovanni demedici — Catherine de', Catherine de Médicis.
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grid merchandiser — A grid merchandiser is a lightweight, free-standing, flexible fixture made up of moveable grids of wire and used by retailers can display large volumes of merchandise in a small space.
- gridiron pendulum — a clock pendulum having, as part of its shaft, an arrangement of brass and steel rods having different coefficients of expansion, such that the pendulum has the same length at any temperature.
- guanine deaminase — an enzyme, found in liver, brain, spleen, pancreas, and kidney, that converts guanine into xanthine and ammonia.
- guardian ad litem — a person appointed by a court as guardian of an infant or other person to act on his or her behalf in a particular action or proceeding.
- hammer and sickle — the emblem of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1923 and consisting of an insignia of a hammer with its handle across the blade of a sickle and a star above.
- hoare powerdomain — powerdomain
- holistic medicine — incorporating the concept of holism, or the idea that the whole is more than merely the sum of its parts, in theory or practice: holistic psychology.
- homeland security — national defence
- homogentisic acid — an intermediate compound in the metabolism of tyrosine and of phenylalanine, found in excess in the blood and urine of persons affected with alkaptonuria.
- household ammonia — diluted ammonia, often having a small quantity of detergent, used in the home for cleaning.
- hydroxytryptamine — (organic compound) Any hydroxy derivative of tryptamine, but especially 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin).
- hypodermic needle — a hollow needle used to inject solutions subcutaneously.
- hypophrygian mode — a plagal church mode represented on the white keys of a keyboard instrument by an ascending scale from B to B, with the final on E.
- imitation doublet — a doublet formed entirely of glass.
- immediate annuity — an annuity bought with a single premium, with payments to the annuitant to begin at the end of one payment period, as a month or a year.
- immediate version — child version
- immunocompromised — having an impaired or compromised immune response; immunodeficient.
- in (great) demand — If someone or something is in demand or in great demand, they are very popular and a lot of people want them.