16-letter words containing k, a
- button snakeroot — blazing star (sense 1)
- cache on a stick — (architecture) (COAST) Intel Corporation attempt to's standardise the modular L2 cache subsystem in Pentium-based computers. A COAST module should be about 4.35" wide by 1.14" high. According to earlier specifications from Motorola, a module between 4.33" and 4.36" wide, and between 1.12" and 1.16" high is within the COAST standard. Some module vendors, including some major motherboard suppliers, greatly violate the height specification. Another COAST specification violated by many suppliers concerns clock distribution in synchronous modules. The specification requires that the clock tree to each synchronous chip be balanced, i.e. equal length from edge of the connector to individual chips. An unbalanced clock tree increases reflections and noise. For a 256 kilobyte cache module the standard requires the same clock be used for both chips but some vendors use separate clocks to reduce loading on the clock driver and hence increase the clock speed. However, this creates unbalanced loading in other motherboard configurations, such as motherboards with soldered caches in the system.
- calculate a risk — If you calculate a risk, you decide how likely an event is, whether the insurer should underwrite the risk, and at what cost.
- canadian hemlock — eastern hemlock.
- canandaigua lake — a lake in W central New York: one of the Finger Lakes.
- cantankerousness — disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: a cantankerous, argumentative man.
- capacity booking — a time when someone has booked the whole of a venue or the maximum amount of something available
- carnal knowledge — Chiefly Law. sexual intercourse.
- carpatho-ukraine — a region in W Ukraine: ceded by Czechoslovakia in 1945.
- carrot and stick — If an organization has a carrot and stick approach or policy, they offer people things in order to persuade them to do something and punish them if they refuse to do it.
- cassia-bark tree — a lauraceous tree, Cinnamomum cassia, of eastern Asia.
- category mistake — a sentence that says of something in one category what can only intelligibly be said of something in another, as when speaking of the mind located in space
- chain-link fence — a type of fence made of a mesh woven from steel wire
- champagne bucket — A champagne bucket is a container that holds ice cubes or cold water and ice. You can use it to put bottles of champagne in and keep the champagne cool.
- character sketch — a brief description or portrayal of a person's character, qualities, etc
- checking account — A checking account is a personal bank account which you can take money out of at any time using your cheque book or cash card.
- chernobyl packet — (networking) /cher-noh'b*l pak'*t/ A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown, named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ethernet address and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet.
- chiang ching-kuo — 1910–88, Chinese statesman; the son of Chiang Kai-shek. He was prime minister of Taiwan (1971–78); president (1978–88)
- chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse) A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
- childcare worker — someone who takes care of children in return for money
- clackmannanshire — a council area and historical county of central Scotland; became part of the Central region in 1975 but reinstated as an independent unitary authority in 1996; mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Alloa. Pop: 47 680 (2003 est). Area: 142 sq km (55 sq miles)
- clarke's gazelle — dibatag.
- class background — a person's background with reference to social class
- clbuttic mistake — the humorous effect created by anti-obscenity filters that automatically replace offensive words in online articles with more acceptable variants
- cloak-and-dagger — A cloak-and-dagger activity is one which involves mystery and secrecy.
- cloak-and-suiter — a manufacturer or seller of clothing.
- cloakroom ticket — a ticket given to someone who checks a coat or other personal item into a cloakroom and which is used to redeem that item at a later period
- cock of the walk — a person who asserts himself or herself in a strutting pompous way
- cocktail cabinet — a cupboard in which glasses and bottles are kept
- cocktail sausage — a small sausage served with drinks
- combination lock — A combination lock is a lock which can only be opened by turning a dial or a number of dials according to a particular series of letters or numbers.
- combination skin — facial skin that is dry in some areas and greasy in others
- commercial break — A commercial break is the interval during a commercial television programme, or between programmes, during which advertisements are shown.
- commonplace book — a notebook in which quotations, poems, remarks, etc, that catch the owner's attention are entered
- concatenated key — compound key
- contract killing — a murder carried out in fulfilment of a contract
- control freakery — an obsessive need to be in control of what is happening
- cooperative bank — a cooperative savings institution, chartered and regulated by a state or the federal government, that receives deposits in exchange for shares of ownership and invests its funds chiefly in loans secured by first mortgages on homes.
- cornhusker state — Nebraska (used as a nickname).
- counterattacking — Present participle of counterattack.
- cracked fraction — A cracked fraction is a petroleum fraction (= a portion separated according to a physical property) that has been broken down from a fraction with larger molecules.
- cracked up to be — alleged or believed to be
- cracker capacity — The cracker capacity is the amount of a particular product which a refinery can produce.
- dakin's solution — a dilute solution containing sodium hypochlorite and boric acid, used as an antiseptic in the treatment of wounds
- dakota territory — a territory in the N central U.S., from 1861 to 1868 comprising present-day North Dakota and South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.
- dark of the moon — the period during which the moon is not visible.
- dark-side hacker — (jargon, legal) A criminal or malicious hacker; a cracker. From George Lucas's Darth Vader, "seduced by the dark side of the Force". The implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Opposite: samurai.
- day of reckoning — If someone talks about the day of reckoning, they mean a day or time in the future when people will be forced to deal with an unpleasant situation which they have avoided until now.
- dead man walking — a condemned man walking from his prison cell to a place of execution
- desktop database — Macintosh file system