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19-letter words containing i, d, e

  • differential backup — (operating system)   A kind of backup that copies all files that have changed since the last full backup. Each differential backup will include all files in previous differential backups since the full backup so to restore a version of a file, you only need to search the full backup and the relevant differential backup. Some systems support differential backup by associating an "Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag whenever the file is modified to indicate that it should be included in the next backup. A differential backup does not change this flag, whereas an incremental backup resets it.
  • differential driver — (hardware)   An electronic device (commonly an integrated circuit), containing two amplifiers, used to drive a differential line.
  • diffraction pattern — the phenomenon exhibited by wave fronts that, passing the edge of an opaque body, are modulated, thereby causing a redistribution of energy within the front: it is detectable in light waves by the presence of a pattern of closely spaced dark and light bands (diffraction pattern) at the edge of a shadow.
  • dig one's own grave — If you say that someone is digging their own grave, you are warning them that they are doing something foolish or dangerous that will cause their own failure.
  • digital certificate — (communications, security)   An attachment to an electronic mail message used for security purposes, e.g. to verify that a user sending a message is who he or she claims to be, and to provide the receiver with the means to encode a reply. An individual wishing to send an encrypted message applies for a digital certificate from a certificate authority (CA). The CA issues an encrypted digital certificate containing the applicant's public key and a variety of other identification information. The CA makes its own public key readily available on the Internet. The recipient of an encrypted message uses the CA's public key to decode the digital certificate attached to the message, verifies it as issued by the CA and then obtains the sender's public key and identification information held within the certificate.
  • digital electronics — (electronics)   The implementation of two-valued logic using electronic logic gates such as and gates, or gates and flip-flops. In such circuits the logical values true and false are represented by two different voltages, e.g. 0V for false and +5V for true. Similarly, numbers are normally represented in binary using two different voltages to represented zero and one. Digital electronics contrasts with analogue electronics which represents continuously varying quantities like sound pressure using continuously varying voltages. Digital electronics is the foundation of modern computers and digital communications. Massively complex digital logic circuits with millions of gates can now be built onto a single integrated circuit such as a microprocessor and these circuits can perform millions of operations per second.
  • digital linear tape — (storage)   (DLT) A kind of magnetic tape drive originally developed by DEC and now marketed by Quantum. DLT drives implement the Digital Lempel Ziv 1 (DLZ1) compression algorithm in a combination of hardware and firmware. They use a popular chip by Stac (now hi/fn) to do the string searching. Counting, sorting and Huffman coding are done in firmware (with hardware support for the Huffman algorithm?). In April 1997 DLT drives can transfer 5 megabytes per second and can store 35 gigabytes on a single cartridge. Compression might roughly double these figures.
  • dihydrostreptomycin — an antibiotic, C 21 H 41 N 7 O 12 , derived by organic synthesis from and believed to be less toxic than streptomycin: used in the form of its sulfate chiefly in the treatment of tuberculosis.
  • dihydrotestosterone — (steroid) An androgenic metabolite of testosterone; used to treat certain breast cancers.
  • dimethylnitrosamine — a yellow, water-soluble carcinogenic liquid, C 2 H 6 N 2 O, found in tobacco smoke and certain foods: known to be a potent carcinogen. Abbreviation: DMN, DMNA.
  • dimetric projection — a type of axonometric projection in which the object is shown with two of its three principal axes tilted equally from the plane of viewing
  • diminishing returns — any rate of profit, production, benefits, etc., that beyond a certain point fails to increase proportionately with added investment, effort, or skill.
  • direct grant school — (in Britain, formerly) a school financed by endowment, fees, and a state grant conditional upon admittance of a percentage of nonpaying pupils nominated by the local education authority
  • direct mapped cache — (architecture)   A cache where the cache location for a given address is determined from the middle address bits. If the cache line size is 2^n then the bottom n address bits correspond to an offset within a cache entry. If the cache can hold 2^m entries then the next m address bits give the cache location. The remaining top address bits are stored as a "tag" along with the entry. In this scheme, there is no choice of which block to flush on a cache miss since there is only one place for any block to go. This simple scheme has the disadvantage that if the program alternately accesses different addresses which map to the same cache location then it will suffer a cache miss on every access to these locations. This kind of cache conflict is quite likely on a multi-processor. See also fully associative cache, set associative cache.
  • direct-vision prism — Amici prism.
  • direction indicator — aerial used in wireless communication
  • directional coupler — (communications)   (tap) A passive device used in cable systems to divide and combine radio frequency signals. A directional coupler has at least three ports: line in, line out, and the tap. The signal passes between line in and line out ports with loss referred to as the insertion loss. A small portion of the signal power applied to the line in port passes to the tap port. A signal applied to the tap port is passed to the line in port less the tap attenuation value. The tap signals are isolated from the line out port to prevent reflections. A signal applied to the line out port passes to the line in port and is isolated from the tap port. Some devices provide more than one tap output line (multi-taps).
  • director of studies — a member of staff at an educational institution who has responsibility for overseeing the curriculum
  • directory enquiries — Directory enquiries is a service which you can telephone to find out someone's telephone number.
  • diriment impediment — a fact or circumstance that renders a marriage void from the beginning.
  • disablement benefit — (in Britain) a noncontributory benefit payable to a person disabled through injury or disease caused by their work
  • disadvantageousness — The state or quality of being disadvantageous.
  • disambiguation page — a page on a website that lists various websites or web pages that have or could have the same title. The user is able to select from the list that page, site etc that he or she actually wants
  • disaster capitalism — the practice (by a government, regime, etc) of taking advantage of a major disaster to adopt liberal economic policies that the population would be less likely to accept under normal circumstances
  • disciples of christ — a Christian denomination, founded in the U.S. by Alexander Campbell in the early part of the 19th century, that rejects all creeds, holds the Bible as a sufficient rule of faith and practice, administers baptism by immersion, celebrates the Lord's Supper every Sunday, and has a congregational polity.
  • discovery procedure — any rigorous method by the application of which a grammar might be constructed from a corpus of utterances in a language; an algorithm leading from data to a formulation.
  • discretionary trust — a trust in which the beneficiaries' shares are not fixed in the trust deed but are left to the discretion of other persons, often the trustees
  • discriminated union — (theory)   The discriminated union of two sets A and B is A + B = {(inA, a) | a in A} U {(inB, b)| b in B} where inA and inB are arbitrary tags which specify which summand an element originates from. A type (especially an algebraic data type) might be described as a discriminated union if it is a sum type whose objects consist of a tag to say which part of the union they belong to and a value of the corresponding type.
  • discussion document — a document that puts forward some ideas or opinions that might form the basis of a discussion of a particular topic
  • disenfranchisements — Plural form of disenfranchisement.
  • disjunctive pronoun — an inflection of pronouns in some languages that is used alone or after a preposition, such as moi in French
  • dispatch department — the department of an organization responsible for the dispatch of orders
  • dispersion relation — the relationship between the angular frequency (ω;) of a wave and the magnitude of its wave vector (k). Thus the wave's speed is ω/k
  • displaced homemaker — a woman recently divorced, separated, or widowed after many years as a homemaker.
  • displacement engine — any engine employing the rectilinear motion of one or more pistons in cylinders.
  • display advertising — display ads taken collectively.
  • disseminated cancer — a cancerous tumour that has spread from the site of original growth to a secondary site
  • distance university — a degree-granting institution operating wholly or mainly by correspondence courses for students not resident on or within commuting distance of the campus.
  • distinctive feature — a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.
  • distinguishableness — The state or quality of being distinguishable.
  • distributed systems — distributed system
  • distribution system — The distribution system is the part of an electric system after the transmission system that is dedicated to delivering electric energy to an end user.
  • diversified farming — the practice of producing a variety of crops or animals, or both, on one farm, as distinguished from specializing in a single commodity.
  • diversional therapy — the structured use of leisure time in recreation and play as a form of or supplement to conventional therapy
  • do the decent thing — If you say that someone should do the decent thing, you mean that they should do something which they do not really want to do, but which you think they ought to do.
  • dobsonian telescope — a relatively inexpensive Newtonian telescope, suitable for visual but not photographic use, in which the tube assembly slips freely in the lower base.
  • doctrine of descent — the theory that animals and plants arose by descent from previously existing organisms; theory of evolution
  • domain architecture — (systems analysis)   A generic, organisational structure or design for software systems in a domain. The domain architecture contains the designs that are intended to satisfy requirements specified in the domain model. A domain architecture can be adapted to create designs for software systems within a domain and also provides a framework for configuring assets within individual software systems.
  • dominance hierarchy — a system or set of relationships in animal groups that is based on a hierarchical ranking, usually established and maintained by behavior in aggressive encounters: one or a few members hold the highest rank and the others are submissive to those ranking higher and dominant to those ranking lower.
  • dominant wavelength — the wavelength of monochromatic light that would give the same visual sensation if combined in a suitable proportion with an achromatic light
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