17-letter words containing e, n, m
- formative element — a morpheme that serves as an affix, not as a base, or root, in word formation.
- foucault pendulum — a pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the earth by exhibiting an apparent change in its plane of oscillation.
- fourier transform — a mapping of a function, as a signal, that is defined in one domain, as space or time, into another domain, as wavelength or frequency, where the function is represented in terms of sines and cosines.
- 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].
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- freedmen's bureau — an agency of the War Department set up in 1865 to assist freed slaves in obtaining relief, land, jobs, fair treatment, and education.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- front-end payment — a payment required or incurred in advance of a project in order to get it under way
- full-motion video — (video) (FMV) Any kind of video that is theoretically capable of changing the entire content on the screen fast enough that the transitions are not obvious to the human eye, i.e. about 24 times a second or more. In practise most video encoding relies on the fact that in most video there is relatively little change from one frame to the next. This allows for compression of the video data. The term is used, chiefly in computer games, in contrast to techniques such as the use of sprites that move against a more-or-less fixed background.
- function complete — (programming) State of a software component or system such that each function described by the software's functional specification can be reached by at least one functional path, and attempts to operate as specified.
- functional isomer — any of several structural isomers that have the same molecular formula but with the atoms connected in different ways and therefore falling into different functional groups.
- game as ned kelly — extremely brave; indomitable
- garden apartments — a complex of low apartment buildings surrounded by lawn or landscaped areas
- garden mignonette — a Mediterranean plant, Resida odorata, which has spikes of small greenish-white flowers with prominent anthers
- garlic mayonnaise — mayonnaise flavoured with garlic
- gastroenterostomy — the making of a new passage between the stomach and the duodenum (gastroduodenostomy) or, especially, the jejunum (gastrojejunostomy)
- gastrojejunostomy — See under gastroenterostomy.
- general admission — an admission charge for unreserved seats at a theatrical performance, sports event, etc.
- general sarmiento — a city in E Argentina, a suburb of Buenos Aires.
- general semantics — a philosophical approach to language, developed by Alfred Korzybski, exploring the relationship between the form of language and its use and attempting to improve the capacity to express ideas.
- genetic algorithm — (GA) An evolutionary algorithm which generates each individual from some encoded form known as a "chromosome" or "genome". Chromosomes are combined or mutated to breed new individuals. "Crossover", the kind of recombination of chromosomes found in sexual reproduction in nature, is often also used in GAs. Here, an offspring's chromosome is created by joining segments choosen alternately from each of two parents' chromosomes which are of fixed length. GAs are useful for multidimensional optimisation problems in which the chromosome can encode the values for the different variables being optimised.
- gentleman-at-arms — (in England) one of a guard of 40 gentlemen who attend the sovereign on state occasions.
- geomagnetic storm — magnetic storm.
- geothermal energy — Geothermal energy is energy from temperature differences inside the earth's crust.
- germanicus caesar — 15 b.c.–a.d. 19, Roman general.
- get (someone) off — to cause to experience euphoria, intoxication, an orgasm, etc.
- get someone going — to cause a person to be excited, angry, etc.
- gethsemane cheese — a semisoft, mild, yellow cheese from whole milk, made by Trappist monks.
- giovanni demedici — Catherine de', Catherine de Médicis.
- give someone hell — the place or state of punishment of the wicked after death; the abode of evil and condemned spirits; Gehenna or Tartarus.
- glove compartment — a compartment in the dashboard of an automobile for storing small items.
- go on the rampage — If people go on the rampage, they rush about in a wild or violent way, causing damage or destruction.
- gomez de la serna — Ramón [rah-mawn] /rɑˈmɔn/ (Show IPA), ("Ramón") 1888–1963, Spanish novelist, dramatist, biographer, and critic.
- government action — intervention by a government, esp to influence financial markets
- government broker — the government-appointed stockbroker whose job is to sell government securities on the stock exchange, as instructed by the Bank of England
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grandmother clock — a pendulum clock similar to a grandfather's clock but shorter.
- great namaqualand — an arid coastal region in the S part of Namibia, extending into the Cape of Good Hope province of the Republic of South Africa, divided by the Orange River into two regions, one in Namibia (Great Namaqualand) the other in South Africa (Little Namaqualand) inhabited by the Nama.
- great-grandmother — a grandmother of one's father or mother.
- green book cd-rom — A standard CD-ROM format developed by Philips for CD-i. It is ISO 9660 compliant and uses mode 2 form 2 addressing. It can only be played on drives which are XA (Extended Architecture) compatible. Many Green Book discs contain CD-i applications which can only be played on a CD-i player but many others contain films or music videos. Video CDs in Green Book format are normally labelled "Digital Video on CD" Green Book was obsoleted by White book CD-ROM in March 1994.
- grid merchandiser — A grid merchandiser is a lightweight, free-standing, flexible fixture made up of moveable grids of wire and used by retailers can display large volumes of merchandise in a small space.
- gridiron pendulum — a clock pendulum having, as part of its shaft, an arrangement of brass and steel rods having different coefficients of expansion, such that the pendulum has the same length at any temperature.
- guanine deaminase — an enzyme, found in liver, brain, spleen, pancreas, and kidney, that converts guanine into xanthine and ammonia.
- guardian ad litem — a person appointed by a court as guardian of an infant or other person to act on his or her behalf in a particular action or proceeding.
- guggenheim museum — an international chain of art museums, some of which are architecturally important buildings in their own right, most notably one in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1956–59), and one in Bilbao, designed by Frank O Gehry (1997)
- guglielmo marconi — Guglielmo [goo-lyel-maw] /guˈlyɛl mɔ/ (Show IPA), Marchese, 1874–1937, Italian electrical engineer and inventor, especially in the field of wireless telegraphy: Nobel Prize in physics 1909.
- gulf war syndrome — a group of symptoms occurring in some Gulf War veterans, most commonly including headache and memory loss, muscle pain, skin disorders, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments, possibly caused by exposure to chemical weapons, vaccines, infectious diseases, or other factors.
- haemagglutinating — That agglutinates red blood cells.
- haemagglutination — Alternative form of hemagglutination.
- haematocrystallin — Alternative form of hematocrystallin.