17-letter words containing d, s, u
- castor and pollux — the twin sons of Leda: Pollux was fathered by Zeus, Castor by the mortal Tyndareus. After Castor's death, Pollux spent half his days with his half-brother in Hades and half with the gods in Olympus
- caudal anesthesia — anesthesia below the pelvis, induced by injecting an anesthetic into the sacral portion of the spinal canal.
- causality paradox — the hypothetical cause-and-effect of time travel and making changes in the past that would affect current actions.
- chadless keypunch — (hardware) A card punch which cut little U-shapes in punched cards, rather than punching out a circle or rectangle. The U's made a hole when folded back. One of the Jargon File's correspondents believed that the term "chad" derived from the Chadless keypunch. Obviously, if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be "chad". The assertion that the keypunch was named after its inventor is not supported by any record in US or UK patents or surname references.
- charles de gaulle — Charles André Joseph Marie [chahrlz ahn-drey joh-zuh f muh-ree;; French sharl ahn-drey zhoh-zef ma-ree] /tʃɑrlz ˈɑn dreɪ ˈdʒoʊ zəf məˈri;; French ʃarl ɑ̃ˈdreɪ ʒoʊˈzɛf maˈri/ (Show IPA), 1890–1970, French general and statesman: president 1959–69.
- chicken drumstick — a chicken leg, considered as food
- chiltern hundreds — (in Britain) short for Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds; a nominal office that an MP applies for in order to resign his seat
- christmas pudding — Christmas pudding is a special pudding that is eaten at Christmas.
- coastguard vessel — a ship used by the coastguard
- coldstream guards — a guard regiment of the English royal household: formed in Coldstream, Scotland, 1659–60, and instrumental in restoring the English monarchy under Charles II.
- compound interest — Compound interest is interest that is calculated both on an original sum of money and on interest which has previously been added to the sum. Compare simple interest.
- compound sentence — a sentence containing at least two coordinate clauses
- consolidated fund — a fund into which tax revenue is paid in order to meet standing charges, esp interest payments on the national debt
- consumer advocate — consumerist (def 1).
- consumer spending — the percentage of an economy that is accounted for by what consumers spend
- consumer watchdog — an organization or government agency that campaigns for consumers
- consumer-advocate — Also called consumer advocate. a person who is dedicated to protecting and promoting the welfare and rights of consumers.
- contradistinguish — to differentiate by means of contrasting or opposing qualities
- coordinate clause — one of two or more clauses in a sentence having the same status and introduced by coordinating conjunctions
- count one's beads — to pray with a rosary
- courtship display — behaviour that is aimed at attracting a mate
- culture diffusion — the spreading out of culture, culture traits, or a cultural pattern from a central point.
- cushing's disease — a rare condition caused by excess corticosteroid hormones in the body, characterized chiefly by obesity of the trunk and face, high blood pressure, fatigue, and loss of calcium from the bones
- cut a person dead — to ignore a person completely
- d&o insurance — D&O insurance is a personal liability insurance that provides cover to the directors and senior executives of a company.
- dagestan republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the Caspian Sea: annexed from Persia in 1813; rich mineral resources. Capital: Makhachkala. Pop: 2 584 200 (2002). Area: 50 278 sq km (19 416 sq miles)
- damp-proof course — A damp-proof course is the same as a damp course.
- dangerous driving — the act of driving a motor vehicle in a manner that falls far below that expected of a competent and careful driver and hence puts the life of the driver and the lives of other road users at risk
- data service unit — (communications) (DSU or "data service unit") A device used in digital transmission for connecting a CSU (Channel Service Unit) to Data Terminal Equipment (a terminal or computer), in the same way that a modem is used for connection to an analogue medium. A DSU provides a standard interface to a user's terminal which is compatible with modems and handles such functions as signal translation, regeneration, reformatting, and timing. The transmitting portion of the DSU processeses the customers' signal into bipolar pulses suitable for transmission over the digital facility. The receiving portion of the DSU is used both to extract timing information and to regenerate mark and space information from the received bipolar signal.
- debt rescheduling — the process of changing the time frame or deadline for the repayment of debt, usually to ease the burden on the debtor
- deconstructionism — The belief in, or application of, deconstruction.
- deconstructionist — a philosophical and critical movement, starting in the 1960s and especially applied to the study of literature, that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality and emphasizes that a text has no stable reference or identification because words essentially only refer to other words and therefore a reader must approach a text by eliminating any metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions through an active role of defining meaning, sometimes by a reliance on new word construction, etymology, puns, and other word play.
- deductible clause — a clause in an insurance policy stipulating that the insured will be liable for a specified initial amount of each loss, injury, etc., and that the insurance company will be liable for any additional costs up to the insured amount.
- defending counsel — a barrister who defends a client in a trial
- deindustrializing — Present participle of deindustrialize.
- delay instruction — delayed control-transfer
- democritus junior — Harold Hitz [hits] /hɪts/ (Show IPA), 1888–1964, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1945–58.
- deoxyribonuclease — DNase.
- desaix de veygoux — Louis Charles Antoine [lwee sharl ahn-twan] /lwi ʃærl ɑ̃ˈtwan/ (Show IPA), 1768–1800, French general.
- desktop publisher — desktop publishing
- desoxyribonucleic — Alternative spelling of deoxyribonucleic.
- deucalion's flood — a flood sent by Zeus that wiped out the entire population of the earth, except for Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha
- diabetes mellitus — a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism characterized by excessive thirst and excretion of abnormally large quantities of urine containing an excess of sugar, caused by a deficiency of insulin
- diaphragm shutter — a camera shutter having a group of overlapping blades that open and close at the center when exposing film.
- diffused junction — a semiconductor junction formed by diffusing acceptor or donor impurity atoms into semiconductor material to form regions of p-type or n-type conductivity
- digestive biscuit — a round semisweet biscuit made from wholemeal flour
- digital audiodisk — a compact disk containing an audio program.
- digital signature — an encrypted digital code appended to an electronic document to verify that it was created by a known source and has not been altered.
- dimethylsulfoxide — DMSO.
- dining room suite — a set of furniture used in a dining room