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14-letter words containing k, n, e, c

  • rock mechanics — the study of the mechanical behaviour of rocks, esp their strength, elasticity, permeability, porosity, density, and reaction to stress
  • rocket science — rocketry.
  • schottky noise — shot effect.
  • schumann-heink — Ernestine, 1861–1936, U.S. contralto, born in Bohemia.
  • scratch monkey — (humour)   As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a scratch monkey", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky operation as a replacement for some precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed. This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when a DEC engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. It is reported that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the field circus manager responsible and asked him sweetly, "Can you swim?" Not all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless droids at the local "humane" society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. A corespondent adds: The details you give are somewhat consistent with the version I recall from the Digital "War Stories" notesfile, but the name "Mabel" and the swimming bit were not mentioned, IIRC. Also, there's a very detailed account that claims that three monkies died in the incident, not just one. I believe Eric Postpischil wrote the original story at DEC, so his coming back with a different version leads me to wonder whether there ever was a real Scratch Monkey incident.
  • screen blanker — screen saver
  • self-mockingly — in a self-mocking manner
  • self-reckoning — count; computation; calculation.
  • serum sickness — a generalized allergic reaction to a foreign serum or drug, characterized by fever, skin rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and painful joints.
  • shipping clerk — a clerk who attends to the packing, unpacking, receiving, sending out, and recording of shipments.
  • sick and tired — afflicted with ill health or disease; ailing.
  • single-sticker — a sailboat, esp. a sloop, having only one mast
  • smoking jacket — a loose-fitting jacket for men, often of a heavy fabric and trimmed with braid, worn indoors, especially as a lounging jacket.
  • snake mackerel — an elongate, deep-sea fish, Gempylus serpens, inhabiting tropical and temperate seas, having jutting jaws and strong teeth.
  • social drinker — a person who drinks alcoholic beverages usually in the company of others and is in control of his or her drinking.
  • social network — a network of friends, colleagues, and other personal contacts: Strong social networks can encourage healthy behaviors.
  • sock suspender — garter (def 1).
  • sockeye salmon — an important food fish, Oncorhynchus nerka, inhabiting the North Pacific.
  • space sickness — a complex of symptoms including nausea, lethargy, headache, and sweating, occurring among astronauts under conditions of weightlessness.
  • speaking clock — a telephone service that gives a precise verbal statement of the correct time
  • speaking voice — a person's normal voice in which they speak
  • spring chicken — a young chicken, especially a broiler or fryer.
  • steam cracking — Steam cracking is the main method of breaking down large molecules of hydrocarbons, in which a gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon is diluted with steam and then heated.
  • sticking place — Also called sticking point. the place or point at which something stops and holds firm.
  • sticky fingers — an inclination or tendency to steal or pilfer
  • stinking cedar — an evergreen tree, Torreya taxifolia, of the yew family, native to Florida, having rank-smelling foliage and dark-green, egg-shaped fruit.
  • stock dividend — a form of dividend collected by a stockholder in extra shares of the corporation's stock rather than in cash.
  • stock exchange — a building or place where stocks and other securities are bought and sold.
  • stock in trade — the requisites for carrying on a business, especially goods kept on hand for sale in a store.
  • stock transfer — Stock transfer is the act of moving goods from one part of the distribution chain to another.
  • stock turnover — the rate at which stock is sold and replenished
  • stock watering — the creation of more new shares in a company than is justified by its assets
  • stock-in-trade — items used in performing a job
  • stockade fence — a fence of closely fitted vertical boards with pointed tops.
  • stocking frame — a type of knitting machine
  • streuselkuchen — coffeecake topped with streusel.
  • striking price — in an option contract, the specified price at which a stock, commodity, etc. may be bought or sold; the price at which an investor can exercise profitably a put or call
  • sucking diesel — doing very well; successful
  • summer kitchen — an extra kitchen, usually detached from a house, for use in warm weather.
  • take exception — to make objections (to); demur (at)
  • take no notice — If you take no notice of someone or something, you do not consider them to be important enough to affect what you think or what you do.
  • take the count — to be unable to continue after a count of ten
  • ten-acre block — a block of subdivided farming land, usually within commuting distance of a city, that provides a semirural way of life
  • ticket counter — the place where you buy a ticket for public transport, the theatre, cinema, etc
  • ticket machine — automated ticket dispenser
  • to change tack — If you change tack or try a different tack, you try a different method for dealing with a situation.
  • to close ranks — If you say that the members of a group close ranks, you mean that they are supporting each other only because their group is being criticized.
  • to think twice — If you think twice about doing something, you consider it again and decide not to do it, or decide to do it differently.
  • train sickness — nausea and dizziness, sometimes accompanied by vomiting, resulting from the motion of the train in which one is traveling.
  • trick question — sth asked to mislead or incriminate sb
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