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17-letter words containing e, a, s, t, c

  • disaster recovery — (business)   (DR) Planning and implementation of procedures and facilities for use when essential systems are not available for a period long enough to have a significant impact on the business, e.g. when the head office is blown up. Disasters include natural: fire, flood, lightning, hurricane; hardware: power failure, component failure, head crash; software failure: bugs, resources; vandalism: arson, bombing, cracking, theft; data corruption or loss: human error, media failure; communications: computer network equipment, network storm, telephones; security: passwords compromised, computer virus; legal: change in legislation; personnel: unavailability of essential staff, industrial action. Companies need to plan for disaster: before: risk analysis, preventive measures, training; during: how should staff and systems respond; after: recovery measures, post mortem analysis. Hardware can usually be replaced and is usually insured. Software and data needs to be backed up off site. Alternative communication systems should be arranged in case of network failure or inaccessible premises, e.g. emergency telephone number, home working, alternative data center.
  • discreditableness — Quality of being discreditable.
  • discrete variable — a variable that may assume only a countable, and usually finite, number of values.
  • disidentification — The act of disidentifying, or rejecting a personal or group identity.
  • displacement hull — a hull that displaces a significant volume of water when under way.
  • disrespectability — Lack of respectability.
  • disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
  • dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
  • distance learning — education in which students receive instruction over the Internet, from a video, etc., instead of going to school.
  • distance teaching — teaching via correspondence or the internet, where students are not physically present in a classroom
  • district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
  • dollars-and-cents — considered strictly in terms of money: from a dollars-and-cents viewpoint.
  • ductus arteriosis — a fetal blood vessel that connects the left pulmonary artery directly to the descending aorta, normally closing after birth.
  • dutch east indies — a former name of the Republic of Indonesia.
  • dutch elm disease — a disease of elms characterized by wilting, yellowing, and falling of the leaves and caused by a fungus, Ceratostomella ulmi, transmitted by bark beetles.
  • east pacific rise — a long north-south elevation of the sea floor in the E Pacific Ocean extending southward from SW Mexico to the Antarctic Ocean.
  • eastern red cedar — red cedar (def 1).
  • eastern-red-cedar — Also called eastern red cedar, savin. an American, coniferous tree, Juniperus virginiana, yielding a fragrant, reddish wood used for making lead pencils, etc.
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • egyptian brackets — (programming, humour)   A humourous term for K&R indent style, referring to the "one hand up in front, one down behind" pose which popular culture inexplicably associates with Egypt.
  • elastic stockings — something made of elastic which you wear on your legs to aid circulation
  • electric constant — the permittivity of free space, which has the value 8.854 187 × 10–12 farad per metre
  • electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
  • electrostatically — In an electrostatic manner, by electrostatic means.
  • elementary school — primary school
  • elliptical spring — An elliptical spring is a spring that is made from two springs in the shape of elongated ovals laid cut in half and back-to-back.
  • emergency rations — food and drink that is designated for use in an emergency: for example, in a famine, after a plane crash, when hill-walkers or mountaineers are stranded, etc.
  • encephalomyelitis — Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, typically due to acute viral infection.
  • epistemologically — In a manner that pertains to epistemology.
  • escaping tendency — a property of a gas, related to its partial pressure, that expresses its tendency to escape or expand, given by d(log ef) = dμ/ RT, where μ is the chemical potential, R the gas constant, and T the thermodynamic temperature
  • esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
  • executive mansion — the White House (in Washington, D.C.), official home of the President of the U.S.
  • facsimile catalog — a catalog that includes small reproductions of the items listed, as paintings, slides, designs, or the like.
  • factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
  • facts and figures — details; precise information
  • fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
  • fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
  • female chauvinist — a female who patronizes, disparages, or otherwise denigrates males in the belief that they are inferior to females and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.
  • female-chauvinist — a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic, especially one devoted to military glory.
  • financial futures — futures in a stock-exchange index, currency exchange rate, or interest rate enabling banks, building societies, brokers, and speculators to hedge their involvement in these markets
  • first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
  • first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
  • first-aid classes — classes which teach people how to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • flat as a pancake — without any curves or bumps
  • flickertail state — North Dakota (used as a nickname).
  • foreign secretary — foreign minister.
  • foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
  • 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].
  • fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
  • freight insurance — insurance paid on goods in transport
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