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22-letter words containing f, e, n

  • curvature of the spine — a condition in which the spine is abnormally curved
  • cycle of reincarnation — A term coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970 to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor (blitter) design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as "the Wheel of Life", "the Wheel of Samsara" and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.
  • damn with faint praise — If someone damns something with faint praise, they say something about it which sounds quite nice but is not enthusiastic, and shows that they do not have a high opinion of it.
  • days of wine and roses — a period of happiness and prosperity.
  • decimal classification — a system of classifying books in libraries by the use of numbers with decimals
  • department of commerce — the department of the U.S. federal government that promotes and administers domestic and foreign commerce. Abbreviation: DOC.
  • direct public offering — A direct public offering is stock offered directly for sale to investors by a company without the use of underwriters or brokers.
  • director of admissions — a member of a university staff who is in overall charge of admissions to the university and its courses
  • dog's dinner/breakfast — You describe something as a dog's breakfast or dog's dinner in order to express your disapproval of it, for example because it is very untidy, badly organized, or badly done.
  • east african community — an association established in 1967 by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to promote closer economic and social ties between member states: dissolved in 1977, but reformed in 1999, and joined in 2007 by Burundi and Rwanda
  • existential quantifier — quantifier
  • extended affix grammar — (language, grammar)   (EAG) A formalism for describing both the context free syntax and the context sensitive syntax of languages. EAGs belong to the family of two-level grammars. They are very closely related to two-level van Wijngaarden grammars. EAG can be used as a specification formalism, specifying in relations rather than functions, or as a relational programming language like PROLOG.
  • facsimile transmission — an international system of transmitting a written, printed, or pictorial document over the telephone system by scanning it photoelectrically and reproducing the image after transmission
  • fall prey to something — To fall prey to something bad means to be taken over or affected by it.
  • far-infrared radiation — the longer wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared region of the spectrum, beyond the red end of the visible spectrum, from 50 to 1000 micrometers. Abbreviation: FIR.
  • fast fourier transform — (algorithm)   (FFT) An algorithm for computing the Fourier transform of a set of discrete data values. Given a finite set of data points, for example a periodic sampling taken from a real-world signal, the FFT expresses the data in terms of its component frequencies. It also solves the essentially identical inverse problem of reconstructing a signal from the frequency data. The FFT is a mainstay of numerical analysis. Gilbert Strang described it as "the most important algorithm of our generation". The FFT also provides the asymptotically fastest known algorithm for multiplying two polynomials. Versions of the algorithm (in C and Fortran) can be found on-line from the GAMS server here.
  • federal crop insurance — insurance against the failure of certain crops provided to farmers and producers by the Federal Government
  • ferdinand von zeppelin — Count Ferdinand von [fer-di-nahnt fuh n] /ˈfɛr dɪˌnɑnt fən/ (Show IPA), 1838–1917, German general and aeronaut: designer and manufacturer of the zeppelin.
  • fetal alcohol syndrome — a pattern of birth defects caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy: considered as one of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Abbreviation: FAS.
  • field emission display — (hardware)   (FED) A type of flat panel display in which field emitting cathodes bombard a phosphor coating causing it to emit light. A field emission display is similar to a cathode ray tube but only a few millimeters thick. They use a large array of fine metal tips or carbon nanotubes (which are the most efficient electron emitters known), to emit electrons through a process known as field emission. Many of these are behind each phosphor dot so FEDs do not display dead pixels like LCDs even if 20% of the emitters fail. Sony is researching FED because it is the flat-panel technology that comes closest to matching the picture of a CRT.
  • file transfer protocol — (FTP) A client-server protocol which allows a user on one computer to transfer files to and from another computer over a TCP/IP network. Also the client program the user executes to transfer files. It is defined in STD 9, RFC 959. See also anonymous FTP, FSP, TFTP.
  • financial underwriting — Financial underwriting is the process of assessing whether the proposed sum insured and product are reasonable when considering the possible financial loss to the client.
  • finite state automaton — Finite State Machine
  • first cab off the rank — the first person, etc, to do or take advantage of something
  • fitzgerald contraction — the hypothesis that a moving body exhibits a contraction in the direction of motion when its velocity is close to the speed of light.
  • fixed investment trust — unit trust (def 1).
  • fixed point combinator — (mathematics)   (Y) The name used in combinatory logic for the fixed point function, also written as "fix".
  • flat-screen television — A flat-screen television is a television with a flat, narrow screen.
  • floating exchange rate — a system in which the value of a currency fluctuates against other currencies in accordance with market forces
  • flocculent precipitate — a woolly-looking precipitate, as aluminum hydroxide formed by the addition of ammonia to an aluminum-salt solution.
  • flushed with something — very excited because of some success or triumph
  • foot-and-mouth disease — an acute, contagious, febrile disease of cattle, hogs, sheep, and other hoofed animals, caused by any of various rhinoviruses and characterized by vesicular eruptions in the mouth and about the hoofs, teats, and udder.
  • for no apparent reason — If you say that something happens for no apparent reason, you cannot understand why it happens.
  • forced place insurance — Forced place insurance is insurance taken out by a bank or creditor on an uninsured debtor's behalf on a property that is being used as collateral.
  • fort benjamin harrison — a military reservation and U.S. Army training center in central Indiana, NE of Indianapolis.
  • four-hundred-day clock — a clock that needs to be wound once a year, having the works exposed under a glass dome and utilizing a torsion pendulum.
  • free and common socage — Medieval History. land held by a tenant who rendered certain honorable and nonservile duties to his lord.
  • frequency distribution — the correspondence of a set of frequencies with the set of categories, intervals, or values into which a population is classified.
  • frequency shift keying — (communications)   (FSK) The use of frequency modulation to transmit digital data, i.e. two different carrier frequencies are used to represent zero and one. FSK was originally used to transmit teleprinter messages by radio (RTTY) but can be used for most other types of radio and land-line digital telegraphy. More than two frequencies can be used to increase transmission rates.
  • fresh out of something — If you are fresh out of something, you have recently used the last of it and have none left.
  • friar minor conventual — a friar belonging to a branch of the Franciscan order that separated from the Observants in the 15th century, and that observes a modification of the rule of St. Francis. Also called Conventual. Compare Friar Minor, capuchin (def 4).
  • frictional electricity — static electricity generated by friction
  • fringed with something — having a specified thing around the edge
  • front of house manager — A front of house manager is responsible for the reception and reservations at a hotel.
  • full english breakfast — morning meal of eggs, bacon, etc.
  • galvanomagnetic effect — any of several phenomena that occur when an electric current is passed through a conductor or semiconductor situated in a magnetic field, as the Hall effect.
  • genetic fingerprinting — DNA fingerprinting.
  • get (or have) wind of — to get (or have) information or a hint concerning; hear (or know) of
  • get off someone's back — to stop criticizing or pestering someone
  • get off someone's case — an instance of the occurrence, existence, etc., of something: Sailing in such a storm was a case of poor judgment.
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