24-letter words containing e, d, r, y
- iterated function system — (graphics) (IFS) A class of fractals that yield natural-looking forms like ferns or snowflakes. Iterated Function Systems use a very easy transformation that is done recursively.
- kennelly-heaviside layer — E layer.
- lady washington geranium — show geranium.
- lithium aluminum hydride — a white powder, LiAlH 4 , used chiefly as a chemical reducing agent, especially in pharmaceutical and perfume manufacturing.
- mandy rice-davis applies — (chat) (MRDA) An acronym used to imply that someone is lying to protect their own interests. During the trial of Stephen Ward (who was charged with living off the immoral earnings of Christine Keeler and Rice-Davies), the prosecuting counsel pointed out that Lord Astor denied any involvement with her and Rice-Davies replied, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?"
- nalbuphine hydrochloride — an opiate drug used as a painkiller
- not ready for prime time — Usable, but only just so; not very robust; for internal use only. Said of a program or device. Often connotes that the thing will be made more solid Real Soon Now. This term comes from the ensemble name of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live", the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players". It has extra flavour for hackers because of the special (though now semi-obsolescent) meaning of prime time. Compare beta.
- object-oriented analysis — (programming) (OOA) The first phase of object-oriented design.
- oligodeoxyribonucleotide — (biochemistry) Any oligonucleotide composed of deoxyribose monomemers.
- polychlorinated biphenyl — PCB.
- preparatory to doing sth — If one action is done preparatory to another, it is done before the other action, usually as preparation for it.
- present company excepted — If you are making a general, unfavourable comment about a particular type of person, and you are with people of that type, you can say 'present company excepted' as a way of making your comment sound more polite.
- pyrotraumatic dermatitis — hot spot.
- quinacrine hydrochloride — Atabrine
- rapid eye movement sleep — REM sleep.
- representative democracy — a person or thing that represents another or others.
- ricardian theory of rent — economic rent.
- secondary school teacher — a person who teaches at a secondary school
- shadow foreign secretary — the member of the main opposition party in Parliament who would hold the office of Foreign Secretary if their party were in power
- staggered pin grid array — (hardware) (SPGA) A style of integrated circuit socket or pin-out with a staggered grid of pins around the edge of the socket, positioned as several squares, one inside the other. SPGA is commonly used on motherboards for processors, e.g. Socket 5, Socket 7 and Socket 8. See also PGA.
- succinylcholine chloride — a crystalline compound, C 1 4 H 3 0 Cl 2 N 2 O 4 , used as a skeletal muscle relaxant in surgical procedures.
- superheterodyne receiver — a radio receiver that combines two radio-frequency signals by heterodyne action, to produce a signal above the audible frequency limit. This signal is amplified and demodulated to give the desired audio-frequency signal
- the long-term unemployed — people who have no job and have not worked for a long time
- the world is your oyster — If you say that the world is someone's oyster, you mean that they can do anything or go anywhere that they want to.
- thorn in your side/flesh — If you describe someone or something as a thorn in your side or a thorn in your flesh, you mean that they are a continuous problem to you or annoy you.
- to get your just deserts — If you say that someone has got their just deserts, you mean that they deserved the unpleasant things that have happened to them, because they did something bad.
- to have seen better days — If you say that something has seen better days, you mean that it is old and in poor condition.
- to keep your eyes peeled — If you tell someone to keep their eyes peeled for something, you are telling them to watch very carefully for it.
- to make boundary changes — to change the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies, because of population shifts
- tricarboxylic acid cycle — Krebs cycle.
- tricyclic antidepressant — pertaining to or embodying three cycles.
- under the sway of sb/sth — If you are under the sway of someone or something, they have great influence over you.
- under-secretary of state — any of various high officials subordinate only to the minister in charge of a department
- unfederated malay states — a former group of native states in the Malay Peninsula that became British protectorates between 1885 and 1909. All except Brunei joined the Malayan Union (later Federation of Malaya) in 1946. Brunei joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 but later became an independent nation
- very large crude carrier — VLCC.
- voluntary aid detachment — (in World War I) an organization of British women volunteers who assisted in military hospitals and ambulance duties
- wired equivalent privacy — (networking, standard) (WEP) IEEE 802.11:1999. A cryptographic privacy algorithm, based on the RC4 encryption engine, used to provide confidentiality for 802.11 wireless networks. WEP is intended to provide roughly the same level of confidentiality for wireless data as a wired LAN (Ethernet), which is NOT protected by encryption. WEP is often wrongly expanded as "Wireless Encryption Protocol". WEP is a protocol that provides encryption used on wireless networks but that's not what it stands for.
- yellow-bellied sapsucker — a woodpecker, Sphyrapicus varius, of eastern North America, having a red patch on the forehead and black and white plumage with a pale-yellow abdomen, and feeding on sap from trees.
- you aren't gonna need it — (programming) (YAGNI) A motto of extreme programming expressing the principle that functionality should not be implemented until it is needed. The traditional waterfall model makes it difficult to add features after the specification has been signed off, tempting the specifier to add features that may never be used but which take time to program, debug, test and document.