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 for headings. Most systems will ignore the case of tags and attributes but lower case should be used for compatibility with XHTML. The web Consortium (W3C) is the international standards body for HTML. See also weblint.  
 in (or out of) character — consistent with (or inconsistent with) the role or general character 
 
 in (or out of) mothballs — put into (or taken from) a condition of being stored or in reserve 
 
 in the foreseeable future — If you say that something will happen in the foreseeable future you mean that you think it will happen fairly soon. 
 
 indirect characterization — the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed through the character's speech, actions, appearance, etc. 
 
 industrial rehabilitation — the treatment of people who have acquired a disability or disease during the course of their work, with the aim of allowing them to return to work or to a new job 
 
 infantry fighting vehicle — a heavily armored combat vehicle, as a tank, used to carry infantry into battle and provide support. Abbreviation: IFV. 
 
 international match point — a unit of scoring in contract bridge tournaments held in Europe. Abbreviation: IMP. 
 
 interstate highway system — a network of U.S. highways connecting the 48 contiguous states and most of the cities with populations above 50,000, begun in the 1950s and estimated to carry about a fifth of the nation's traffic. 
 
 japanese flowering cherry — any of various ornamental hybrid cherry trees developed in Japan, having white or pink blossoms and inedible fruit. 
 
 keep an ear to the ground — If you keep or have your ear to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying. 
 
 khakass autonomous region — an autonomous region in the Russian Federation, in S Siberia. 19,161 sq. mi. (49,627 sq. km). Capital: Abakan. 
 
 lead down the garden path — a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated. 
 
 lie at (or on) the lurch — to lie in wait 
 
 local education authority — a body that is responsible for education in a particular area 
 
 magnetic character reader — a device that automatically scans and interprets characters printed with magnetic ink. It operates by the process of magnetic character recognition 
 
 magnetohydromagnetic wave — Physics. Alfvén wave. 
 
 maintenance of membership — an arrangement or agreement between an employer and a labor union by which employees who are members of the union at the time the agreement is made, or who subsequently join, must either remain members until the agreement expires, or be discharged. 
 
 make bricks without straw — a block of clay hardened by drying in the sun or burning in a kiln, and used for building, paving, etc.: traditionally, in the U.S., a rectangle 2.25 × 3.75 × 8 inches (5.7 × 9.5 × 20.3 cm), red, brown, or yellow in color. 
 
 make short work of sb/sth — If you make short work of someone or something, you deal with them or defeat them very quickly. 
 
 massacre of the innocents — the slaughter of all the young male children of Bethlehem at Herod's command in an attempt to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18) 
 
 medical officer of health — a person appointed by a local or national authority to be in charge of its health policy 
 
 metal-free phthalocyanine — phthalocyanine (def 1). 
 
 methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet. 
 
 neurocirculatory asthenia — cardiac neurosis. 
 
 never do things by halves — If you say that someone never does things by halves, you mean that they always do things very thoroughly. 
 
 non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic 
 
 northern corn-leaf blight — northern leaf blight. 
 
 not for the faint-hearted — If you say that something is not for the faint-hearted, you mean that it is an extreme or very unusual example of its kind, and is not suitable for people who like only safe and familiar things. 
 
 nuffield teaching project — (in Britain) a complete school programme in mathematics, science, languages, etc, with suggested complementary theory and practical work 
 
 off-balance sheet reserve — a sum of money or an asset that should appear on a company's balance but does not; hidden reserve 
 
 on the horns of a dilemma — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes. 
 
 on the understanding that — with the condition that; providing 
 
 organizational psychology — the study of the structure of an organization and of the ways in which the people in it interact, usually undertaken in order to improve the organization 
 
 oxidative phosphorylation — the aerobic synthesis, coupled to electron transport, of ATP from phosphate and ADP. 
 
 palo alto research center — XEROX PARC 
 
 palo alto research centre — XEROX PARC 
 
 peripheral nervous system — the portion of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord. 
 
 petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy — seaport in E Asian Russia, on Kamchatka Peninsula: pop. 210,000 
 
 pharmacotherapeutic group — Drugs and agents are categorized into pharmacotherapeutic groups based on which diseases they are designed to treat. 
 
 phase contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index. 
 
 phase-contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index. 
 
 poacher turned gamekeeper — someone whose occupation or behaviour is the opposite of what it previously was, such as a burglar who now advises on home security 
 
 polymerase chain reaction — a technique in which a known DNA sequence is synthesized at high temperatures by means of a polymerase, producing millions of copies for statistical analysis: used in DNA fingerprinting, in detecting minute quantities of cancer cells, etc. 
 
 polynomial-time algorithm — (complexity)   A known algorithm (or Turing Machine) that is guaranteed to terminate within a number of steps which is a polynomial function of the size of the problem. See also computational complexity, exponential time, nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP), NP-complete. 
 
 portable network graphics — (file format)   /ping/ (PNG) An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-colour, greyscale and truecolour images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits. PNG is designed for on-line viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma correction and chromaticity data for improved colour matching on heterogeneous platforms. 
 
 preferred ordinary shares — shares issued by a company that rank between preference shares and ordinary shares in the payment of dividends 
 
 psychiatric social worker — (in Britain) a qualified person who works with mentally-ill people and their families, based in a psychiatric hospital, child guidance clinic, or social services department area team, and who may also be an approved social worker