17-letter words containing e, d
- dietrich von bern — Theodoric of Verona: the name of the eastern Gothic emperor Theodoric as it appears in German legends.
- dieu et mon droit — God and my right: motto of the Royal Arms of Great Britain
- difference engine — (computer, history) Charles Babbage's design for the first automatic mechanical calculator. The Difference Engine was a special purpose device intended for the production of mathematical tables. Babbage started work on the Difference Engine in 1823 with funding from the British Government. Only one-seventh of the complete engine, about 2000 parts, was built in 1832 by Babbage's engineer, Joseph Clement. This was demonstrated successfully by Babbage and still works perfectly. The engine was never completed and most of the 12,000 parts manufactured were later melted for scrap. It was left to Georg and Edvard Schuetz to construct the first working devices to the same design which were successful in limited applications. The Difference Engine No. 2 was finally completed in 1991 at the Science Museum, London, UK and is on display there. The engine used gears to compute cumulative sums in a series of registers: r[i] := r[i] + r[i+1]. However, the addition had the side effect of zeroing r[i+1]. Babbage overcame this by simultaneously copying r[i+1] to a temporary register during the addition and then copying it back to r[i+1] at the end of each cycle (each turn of a handle).
- differentiability — The ability to be differentiated.
- differential gear — differential (def 7).
- differential line — (hardware) A kind of electrical connection using two wires, one of which carries the normal signal (V) and the other carries an inverted version the signal (-V). A differential amplifier at the receiver subtracts the inverted signal from the normal signal to yield a signal proportional to V. This subtraction is intended to cancel out any noise induced in the wires, on the assmption that the same level of noise will have been induced in both wires. Twisted pair wiring is often used to try to ensure that this is the case. The two wires might be connected at the receiver to separate analogue to digital converters and the subtraction performed digitally. The RS-422 serial line standard specifies differential drivers and receivers, whereas the earlier RS-232 standard does not. Opposite: single ended.
- differential rate — a special lower rate, as one charged by one of two or more competing businesses.
- differential tone — a musical sound sometimes heard when two loud notes are sounded together, lower in pitch than either
- 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 audiotape — a cassette containing magnetic tape used for high-fidelity digital recording or playback of audio. Abbreviation: DAT.
- digital recording — a method of sound recording in which an input audio waveform is sampled at regular intervals, usually between 40,000 and 50,000 times per second, and each sample is assigned a numerical value, usually expressed in binary notation.
- 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.
- dihydroergotamine — an ergot alkaloid, C 33 H 37 N 5 O 5 , used in the treatment of various types of migraine headache.
- dihydromorphinone — a narcotic compound, C 17 H 19 O 3 N, prepared from morphine and used chiefly as an analgesic.
- dimethylformamide — a colourless liquid widely used as a solvent and sometimes as a catalyst. Formula: (CH3)2NCHO
- dimethylhydrazine — a flammable, highly toxic, and colorless liquid, C 2 H 8 N 2 , used as a component in jet and rocket fuels.
- dimethylsulfoxide — DMSO.
- dining room suite — a set of furniture used in a dining room
- diocletian window — a window in the form of a round-headed archway with a narrower compartment on either side, the side compartments usually being capped with entablatures on which the arch of the central compartment rests.
- dionysius exiguus — died a.d. 556? Scythian monk, chronologist, and scholar: devised the current system of reckoning the Christian era.
- diphenylacetylene — tolan.
- diphenylhydantoin — a white, slightly water-soluble powder, C 15 H 11 N 2 O 2 , used in the form of its sodium salt to prevent or arrest convulsions in epilepsy.
- dipped headlights — road vehicle headlights which have been switched from the main to the lower beam
- dipterocarpaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Dipterocarpaceae, a family of trees chiefly native to tropical SE Asia, having two-winged fruits. Many species yield useful timber and resins
- direct connection — A re-seller of Internet connections to the PIPEX backbone.
- directionlessness — Absence of direction.
- director of music — a person in charge of musical training and performance at an institution such as a college, especially the head bandmaster of a military band
- directory service — (database, networking) A structured repository of information on people and resources within an organisation, facilitating management and communication. On a LAN or WAN the directory service identifies all aspects of the network including users, software, hardware, and the various rights and policies assigned to each. As a result applications can access information without knowing where a particular resource is physically located, and users interact oblivious to the network topology and protocols. To allow heterogeneous networks to share directory information the ITU proposed a common structure called X.500. However, its complexity and lack of seamless Internet support led to the development of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) which has continued to evolve under the aegis of the IETF. Despite its name LDAP is too closely linked to X.500 to be "lightweight".
- disability clause — a clause in a life-insurance policy providing for waiver of premium and sometimes payment of monthly income if the policyholder becomes totally and permanently disabled.
- disadvantagedness — The quality of being disadvantaged.
- disadvantageously — In a disadvantageous manner.
- disaster planning — disaster recovery
- 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 preorder — (mathematics) A preorder is said to be discrete if any two of its elements are incomparable.
- discrete variable — a variable that may assume only a countable, and usually finite, number of values.
- dishonourableness — Alternative spelling of dishonorableness.
- disidentification — The act of disidentifying, or rejecting a personal or group identity.
- disinterestedness — unbiased by personal interest or advantage; not influenced by selfish motives: a disinterested decision by the referee.
- disintermediation — the act of removing funds from savings banks and placing them into short-term investments on which the interest-rate yields are higher.
- disorderly person — a person guilty of disorderly conduct.
- dispassionateness — The state or quality of being dispassionate.
- dispensationalism — the interpreting of history as a series of divine dispensations.
- dispersive medium — a substance in which waves of different frequencies travel at different speeds
- displacement hull — a hull that displaces a significant volume of water when under way.
- disposable income — the part of a person's income remaining after deducting personal income taxes.
- disproportionates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of disproportionate.
- disrespectability — Lack of respectability.
- disrespectfulness — The state or quality of being disrespectful; disrespect; disregard.