17-letter words containing d, i, m, e
- 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
- electrocardiogram — A record or display of a person’s heartbeat produced by electrocardiography.
- embroidery thread — a thread used for embroidery
- 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.
- employer-provided — Employer-provided insurance is arranged or funded by the organization for which the policyholder works.
- enzyme deficiency — failure of the body to produce a specific enzy
- epidemiologically — With regard to epidemiology.
- examination board — an organization that sets and corrects exams
- eyelet embroidery — a piece of embroidery decorated with such work
- 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].
- frederick william — 1795–1861, king of Prussia 1840–61 (brother of William I of Prussia).
- free-body diagram — A free-body diagram is a diagram of a structure in which all supports are replaced by forces.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- from side to side — movement: back and forth
- 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.
- good-time charlie — an affable, sociable, pleasure-loving man.
- 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.
- haemorrhoidectomy — surgical removal of haemorrhoids
- hairy-tailed mole — a blackish North American mole, Parascalops breweri, having a short, hairy tail.
- 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.
- hammered dulcimer — dulcimer (sense 1)
- hermaphrodite rig — jackass rig.
- historical method — the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.
- 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.
- hotel limo driver — A hotel limo driver is the person whose job it is to drive the hotel limo.
- household ammonia — diluted ammonia, often having a small quantity of detergent, used in the home for cleaning.
- humpbacked bridge — A humpbacked bridge or humpback bridge is a short and very curved bridge with a shape similar to a semi-circle.
- 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.
- ideogrammatically — In terms of, or by means of, ideograms.
- 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.