28-letter words containing d, r
- second-order lambda-calculus — (language) (SOL) A typed lambda-calculus.
- secondary sex characteristic — any of a number of manifestations, as development of breasts or beard, muscularity, distribution of fat tissue, and change of pitch in voice, specific to each sex and incipient at puberty but not essential to reproduction.
- service advertising protocol — (networking) (SAP) A Novell NetWare protocol. SAP follows the spirit of the Xerox Clearinghouse protocol, it permits file, print, and gateway servers to advertise their services and addresses.
- sexually transmitted disease — any disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact, as gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and chlamydia. Abbreviation: STD.
- shared-appreciation mortgage — a type of mortgage that carries a smaller down payment or lower interest rate than usual in return for the lender's sharing in the appreciation of the property at some future date, as at the time of its sale. Abbreviation: SAM.
- sign one's own death warrant — A death warrant is an official document which orders that someone is to be executed as a punishment for a crime.
- silicon-controlled rectifier — a semiconductor rectifier whose forward current between two electrodes, the anode and cathode, is initiated by means of a signal applied to a third electrode, the gate. The current subsequently becomes independent of the signal. It is a type of thyristor
- simulation oriented language — (language) (SOL) An ALGOL extension for discrete simulation by Donald Knuth and McNeley.
- single in-line memory module — (storage) (SIMM) A small circuit board or substrate, typically about 10cm x 2cm, with RAM integrated circuits or die on one or both sides and a single row of pins along one long edge. Several SIMMs are mounted with their substrates at right-angles to the main circuit board (the motherboard). This configuration allows greater packing density than direct mounting of, e.g. DIL (dual in-line) RAM packages on the motherboard. In 1993 one SIMM typically held one or four megabytes, by early 1997 one could hold 8, 16, or 32 MB.
- single sideband transmission — a method of transmitting radio waves in which either the upper or the lower sideband is transmitted, the carrier being either wholly or partially suppressed. This reduces the required bandwidth and improves the signal-to-noise ratio
- smooth endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
- software productivity centre — (body) (SPC) A non-profit organisation based in Vancouver, BC, Canada with the mandate to assist software developers to improve their software engineering process.
- standard normal distribution — a normal distribution with mean zero and variance 1, with probability density function [exp(–1⁄2x2)]/√2π
- standard operating procedure — a set of fixed instructions or steps for carrying out usually routine operations. Abbreviation: SOP.
- strictly decreasing function — a function having the property that for any two points in the domain such that one is larger than the other, the image of the larger point is less than the image of the smaller point.
- sudden infant death syndrome — death from the sudden cessation of breathing (apnea) of a seemingly healthy infant, almost always during sleep, sometimes traceable to a chronic oxygen deficiency. Abbreviation: SIDS.
- super video graphics adapter — Super Video Graphics Array
- super video graphics adaptor — Super Video Graphics Array
- systems administrators guild — (body, job) (SAGE) A special technical group of the USENIX Association.
- television interface adaptor — (hardware, graphics) (TIA) The graphics chip in the Atari 2600, also used as a sound chip for some arcade game.
- text reckoning and compiling — (language) (TRAC) An interactive macro generator language for string manipulation by Calvin N. Mooers and Peter Deutsch of Sun Microsystems. TAC derived ideas from Macro SAP. There are versions for PDP-1, PDP-8, PDP-10 and PDP-11. See also MINT, SAM76. E-mail: Preston Briggs <[email protected]>.
- the everglades national park — the Florida park established to preserve the flora and fauna of the Everglade swamps
- the last word/the final word — If someone has the last word or the final word in a discussion, argument, or disagreement, they are the one who wins it or who makes the final decision.
- the long and the short of it — the essential points or facts
- the medical research council — a government body that uses public funds to finance research in medicine
- the world owes them a living — If you say that someone thinks that the world owes them a living, you are criticizing them because they think it is their right to have a comfortable life without having to make any effort at all.
- the wrong side of the tracks — the unfashionable or poor district or stratum of a community
- through rose-colored glasses — with optimism, esp. undue optimism
- throw dust in someone's eyes — earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
- to give somebody a thick ear — to hit sb on the ear or head
- to have your cake and eat it — If you think that someone wants the benefits of doing two things when it is only reasonable to expect the benefits of doing one, you can say that they want to have their cake and eat it.
- to leave a lot to be desired — If you say that something leaves a lot to be desired, you mean that it is not as good as it should be.
- to set/put sb's mind at rest — To put someone's mind at rest or set their mind at rest means to stop them worrying about something.
- to stand comparison with sth — If someone or something stands or bears comparison with another person or thing, they are as good, or almost as good.
- to throw caution to the wind — If you throw caution to the wind, you behave in a way that is not considered sensible or careful.
- turn (or put) one's hand to — to undertake; work at
- united states postal service — an independent federal agency created in 1971 to replace the Post Office Department as the division of the federal government responsible for postal services. Abbreviation: USPS.
- variable-density wind tunnel — a closed-circuit wind tunnel entirely contained in a casing in which the pressure and therefore the density of the working fluid can be maintained at a preselected value
- vendor independent messaging — (networking) (VIM) An electronic mail API promoted by an industry group headed by Lotus Development. VIM is a competitor to Microsoft's MAPI.
- virgin islands national park — a national park on St. John Island, Virgin Islands: prehistoric Indian relics. 24 sq. mi. (62 sq. km).
- walden, or life in the woods — a book of philosophical observations (1854) by Thoreau.
- war of american independence — American Revolution.
- will never do/would never do — If you say that something will never do or would never do, you are saying, often humorously, that you think it is not appropriate or not suitable in some way.
- windows management interface — (Microsoft, system management) (WMI) Microsoft's implementation of Web-Based Enterprise Management, a DMTF initiative to establish standards for accessing and sharing system management information over an enterprise network.
- with/have sth to your credit — If you already have one or more achievements to your credit, you have achieved them.
- work projects administration — WPA.
- xerox data systems model 530 — (computer) (XDS 530) A computer from the Scientific Data Systems range, announced sometime after 1968 when Xerox bought out SDS. The XDS 530 was probably under development at SDS before the buy-out but only announced afterwards.
- xerox data systems model 940 — (computer) (SDS 940, XDS 940) A time-sharing system, announced in February 1966, developed by Scientific Data Systems with help from The University of California at Berkeley and Tymshare. SDS 940 was backward compatible with SDS's previous systems (except the 12-bit SDS 92). It had monitor and user modes, dynamic program relocation, automatic memory fragmentation, and system protection. After 1968 Xerox bought out SDS and renamed the SDS machines "Xerox Data Systems" (XDS). Xerox then produced the XDS 530.
- zeroth law of thermodynamics — the principle that any two systems in thermal equilibrium with a third system are in thermal equilibrium with each other. Compare law of thermodynamics (def 2).