23-letter words containing f, o, m, i, t
- in the employ of sb/sth — If you are in the employ of someone or something, you work for them.
- in the fullness of time — eventually
- infinite monkey theorem — (humour) "If you put an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters, eventually one will bash out the script for Hamlet." (One may also hypothesise a small number of monkeys and a very long period of time.) This theorem asserts nothing about the intelligence of the one random monkey that eventually comes up with the script (and note that the mob will also type out all the possible *incorrect* versions of Hamlet). It may be referred to semi-seriously when justifying a brute force method; the implication is that, with enough resources thrown at it, any technical challenge becomes a one-banana problem. This theorem was first popularised by the astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington. It became part of the idiom through the classic short story "Inflexible Logic" by Russell Maloney, and many younger hackers know it through a reference in Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". See also: RFC 2795.
- informatics corporation — (company) Renamed to Sterling Software Corp.
- interchange file format — (file format) (IFF, full name "EA IFF 1985") A generic file format published by Electronic Arts as an open standard. IFF is chunk-based and hierarchical so files can include other files. It is easily extensible and an all round Good Idea. An IFF file starts with one of the following "group IDs": 'FORM', 'LIST' or 'CAT '. This is followed by an unsigned 32-bit number of bytes in the remainder of the file. Then comes an ID that indicates which type of IFF file this is. The main image type is ILBM, audio is either AIFF or 8SVX, animations are ANIM etc. An IFF file will probably have a filename extension related to this file type stored in the file. The rest of the file is divided into chunks each of which also has a four-byte header and byte count.
- interference microscope — a microscope that utilizes light interference phenomena to create two superimposed images of an object, making possible the observation of transparent objects without using the staining technique.
- law enforcement officer — an official employee who prevents and detects crime and who maintains and upholds the police, such as a police officer, sheriff, customs officer etc
- life on the mississippi — an autobiographical narrative (1883) by Mark Twain.
- liquefied petroleum gas — a mixture of various petroleum gases, esp propane and butane, stored as a liquid under pressure and used as an engine fuel
- main distribution frame — (networking) (MDF) The network closet containing the main hub.
- masters of the universe — extremely powerful and wealthy members of the financial professions
- meaningful relationship — a romantic relationship based upon mutual respect and supportiveness and marked by a sense of commitment and fulfillment.
- message digest function — one-way hash function
- mop (up) the floor with — to defeat decisively
- newton's laws of motion — three laws of mechanics describing the motion of a body. The first law states that a body remains at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. The second law states that a body's rate of change of momentum is proportional to the force causing it. The third law states that when a force acts on a body due to another body, then an equal and opposite force acts simultaneously on that body
- of many years' standing — You can use the expression of many years' standing to say that something has had a particular function or someone has had a particular role for many years. For example, if a place is your home of ten years' standing, it has been your home for ten years.
- order of military merit — an order awarded to members of the Canadian Forces for conspicuous merit; established in 1972
- osteogenesis imperfecta — a rare hereditary disease in which abnormal connective tissue development leads to fragile bones subject to fracture.
- price out of the market — to charge so highly for as to prevent the sale, hire, etc, of
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- quantum flavourdynamics — a gauge theory of the electromagnetic and weak interactions
- rate-of-climb indicator — a flight instrument that indicates the rate of climb or descent of an aircraft.
- route of administration — A route of administration is the means by which a drug or agent enters the body, such as by mouth or by injection.
- stream of consciousness — unpunctuated prose
- stream-of-consciousness — of, relating to, or characterized by a manner of writing in which a character's thoughts or perceptions are presented as occurring in random form, without regard for logical sequences, syntactic structure, distinctions between various levels of reality, or the like: a stream-of-consciousness novel; a stream-of-consciousness technique.
- the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
- the information highway — the internet
- the kingdom of lorraine — an early medieval kingdom on the Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine rivers: later a duchy
- the taming of the shrew — a comedy (1594?) by Shakespeare.
- to pass the time of day — If you pass the time of day with someone, you have a short friendly conversation with them.
- university of minnesota — (body, education) The home of Gopher. Address: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.