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22-letter words containing d, y, e

  • on a wing and a prayer — with only the slightest hope of succeeding
  • one-eyed trouser snake — a vulgar term for the male member; penis
  • ousterhout's dichotomy — (language)   John Ousterhout's division of high-level languages into "system programming languages" and "scripting languages". This distinction underlies the design of his language Tcl. System programming languages (or "applications languages") are strongly typed, allow arbitrarily complex data structures, and programs in them are compiled, and are meant to operate largely independently of other programs. Prototypical system programming languages are C and Modula-2. By contrast, scripting languages (or "glue languages") are weakly typed or untyped, have little or no provision for complex data structures, and programs in them ("scripts") are interpreted. Scripts need to interact either with other programs (often as glue) or with a set of functions provided by the interpreter, as with the file system functions provided in a UNIX shell and with Tcl's GUI functions. Prototypical scripting languages are AppleScript, C Shell, MS-DOS batch files and Tcl. Many believe that this is a highly arbitrary dichotomy, and refer to it as "Ousterhout's fallacy" or "Ousterhout's false dichotomy". While strong-versus-weak typing, data structure complexity, and independent versus stand-alone might be said to be unrelated features, the usual critique of Ousterhout's dichotomy is of its distinction of compilation versus interpretation, since neither semantics nor syntax depend significantly on whether code is compiled into machine-language, interpreted, tokenized, or byte-compiled at the start of each run, or any mixture of these. Many languages fall between being interpreted or compiled (e.g. Lisp, Forth, UCSD Pascal, Perl, and Java). This makes compilation versus interpretation a dubious parameter in a taxonomy of programming languages.
  • out-of-body experience — a vivid feeling of being detached from one's body, usually involving observing it and its environment from nearby
  • passive matrix display — (hardware)   A type of liquid crystal display which relies on persistence to maintain the state of each display element (pixel) between refresh scans. The resolution of such displays is limited by the ratio between the time to set a pixel and the time it takes to fade. Contrast active matrix display.
  • pay dearly/cost dearly — If you pay dearly for doing something or if it costs you dearly, you suffer a lot as a result.
  • picture of dorian gray — a novel (1891) by Oscar Wilde.
  • pizza delivery service — a service whereby a pizza restaurant delivers pizzas to customers who order by telephone
  • play into the hands of — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
  • play one's cards right — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
  • potassium ferricyanide — a bright-red, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 , used chiefly in the manufacture of pigments, as Prussian blue, and of paper, especially blueprint paper.
  • potassium ferrocyanide — a lemon-yellow, crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 4 Fe(CN) 6 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in casehardening alloys having an iron base and in dyeing wool and silk.
  • preestablished harmony — (in the philosophy of Leibnitz) synchronous operation of all monads, since their simultaneous creation, in accordance with the preexisting plan of God.
  • productivity agreement — an agreement whereby the employees of an organization agree to changes which are intended to improve productivity in return for an increase in pay or other benefits
  • public limited company — A public limited company is the same as a public company. The abbreviation plc is used after such companies' names.
  • pyridostigmine bromide — a cholinesterase inhibitor, C 9 H 1 3 BrN 2 O 2 , used in its bromide form in the treatment of myasthenia gravis.
  • rapid deployment force — a U.S. military organization consisting of one Marine division and four Army divisions, established in 1979 to respond quickly to any distant threat to national interests.
  • refinery modernization — Refinery modernization is the process of making a refinery more modern by using new technology or processes.
  • revolutionary calendar — the calendar of the French First Republic, adopted in 1793 and abandoned in 1805, consisting of 12 months, each of 30 days, and 5 intercalary days added at the end of the year (6 every fourth year). The months, beginning at the autumnal equinox, are Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse, Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor.
  • rheumatoid spondylitis — ankylosing spondylitis.
  • rural delivery service — mail delivery operated primarily to deliver and collect mail in rural communities with no other convenient postal facilities.
  • saturday night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
  • saturday-night special — a cheap, small-caliber handgun that is easily obtainable and concealable.
  • secondary articulation — coarticulation (def 2).
  • secondary spermatocyte — See under spermatocyte.
  • secondary-articulation — concomitance of articulation, as in fro, ostensibly a succession of three discrete sounds but physically a single articulation (f-) blending into a coarticulation (-fr-), which blends into an articulation (-r-), which blends into a coarticulation (-ro-), which blends into an articulation (-o).
  • secretary to the board — the secretary to the board of directors; company secretary
  • see the light (of day) — to come into existence
  • seventh-day adventists — See example at Seventh-Day.
  • sick building syndrome — an illness caused by exposure to pollutants or germs inside an airtight building.
  • southern redbelly dace — any of the small, brightly colored North American freshwater cyprinids, especially Phoxinus oreas (northern redbelly dace) and P. erythrogaster (southern redbelly dace)
  • special delivery stamp — a stamp of special design, having a value indicating an extra fee in addition to the regular postage, and affixed to an item of mail to ensure its special delivery.
  • student volunteer army — a students' voluntary organization that aims to undertake useful work in communities, founded in 2010 to help clear up after a damaging earthquake in Christchurch
  • system management mode — (hardware)   (SMM) A reduced power consumption state provided by some Intel microprocessors. When a CPU enters SMM it saves its current state in a special area of static RAM called SMRAM (System Management RAM) and then runs a program, also stored in SMRAM, the SMM handler. SMM is implemented in all Intel "SL" suffixed CPUs. In June 1993, Intel announced it was discontinuing its SL range and instead making all its current processors SL enhanced. See also Auto Idle.
  • texas independence day — March 2, observed in Texas as the anniversary of the declaration in 1836 of the independence of Texas from Mexico and also as the birthday of Sam Houston.
  • the end of your tether — If you say that you are at the end of your tether, you mean that you are so worried, tired, and unhappy because of your problems that you feel you cannot cope.
  • the green-eyed monster — jealousy or envy
  • the pennsylvania dutch — a group of German-speaking people in E Pennsylvania, descended from 18th-century settlers from SW Germany and Switzerland
  • thiamine-hydrochloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble compound of the vitamin-B complex, containing a thiazole and a pyrimidine group, C 12 H 17 ClN 4 OS, essential for normal functioning of the nervous system, a deficiency of which results chiefly in beriberi and other nerve disorders: occurring in many natural sources, as green peas, liver, and especially the seed coats of cereal grains, the commercial product of which is chiefly synthesized in the form of its chloride (thiamine chloride or thiamine hydrochloride) for therapeutic administration, or in nitrate form (thiamine mononitrate) for enriching flour mixes.
  • to be knocked sideways — If you are knocked sideways by something, it makes you feel very surprised, confused, or upset.
  • to cast your net wider — If you cast your net wider, you look for or consider a greater variety of things.
  • to fall by the wayside — If a person or plan falls by the wayside, they fail or stop before they complete what they set out to do.
  • to get/be carried away — If you get carried away or are carried away, you are so eager or excited about something that you do something hasty or foolish.
  • to laugh your head off — Phrases such as laugh your head off and scream your head off can be used to emphasize that someone is laughing or screaming a lot or very loudly.
  • to lead someone astray — If you are led astray by someone or something, you behave badly or foolishly because of them.
  • to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
  • to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.
  • to twiddle your thumbs — If you say that someone is twiddling their thumbs, you mean that they do not have anything to do and are waiting for something to happen.
  • toey as a roman sandal — very anxious
  • torpedo-boat destroyer — a vessel somewhat larger than the ordinary torpedo boat, designed for destroying torpedo boats or as a more powerful form of torpedo boat.
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