26-letter words containing l, a, c, t, o, s
- in a cold sweat/in a sweat — If someone is in a cold sweat or in a sweat, they feel frightened or embarrassed.
- individualized instruction — a teaching method tailored to the skills, abilities, and interests of the individual student
- internal combustion engine — An internal combustion engine is an engine that creates its energy by burning fuel inside itself. Most cars have internal combustion engines.
- internal-combustion engine — an engine of one or more working cylinders in which the process of combustion takes place within the cylinders.
- international screw thread — a metric system for screw threads relating the pitch to the diameter
- kings canyon national park — a national park in E California: deep granite gorges; giant sequoias; mountains. 708 sq. mi. (1835 sq. km).
- leave to one's own devices — to allow to do as one wishes
- mecklenburg-west pomerania — a state of NE Germany, along the Baltic coast: consists of the former state of Mecklenburg and those parts of W Pomerania not incorporated into Poland after World War II: part of East Germany until 1990. Pop: 1 732 000 (2003 est)
- microcrystalline cellulose — Microcrystalline cellulose is a polymer used as a binder in tablets because it is stable, compressible, and disintegrates quickly.
- mongolian hordes technique — (programming, jargon) (Or "Chinese Army technique") Assigning a large number of inexperienced programmers to a job which would better performed by a few skilled ones. The term was first used by Dr. Fred Brooks in his book "The Mythical Man-Month", Chapter 3. According to Dr. Brooks, he had in mind the vision of the Mongol Hordes sweeping across Asia and Europe when he created the term.
- monochrome display adapter — (hardware, graphics) (MDA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PC. MDA can display only monochrome 80*25 text (IBM PC video mode 7). It is now obsolete.
- most-favored-nation clause — a clause in a commercial treaty or contract by which each signatory agrees to give the other the same treatment that is or will be accorded any other nation.
- multi-color graphics array — (hardware, graphics) (MCGA) One of IBM's less popular hardware video display standards for use in the IBM PS/2. MCGA can display 80*25 text in monochrome, 40*25 text in 256 colours or 320*200 pixel graphics in 256 colors. It is now obsolete.
- mushroom slab construction — beamless reinforced-concrete floor and roof construction employing columns with widely flaring heads having horizontal rings of reinforcement to support the floor or roof slab.
- mutual assured destruction — a U.S. doctrine of reciprocal deterrence resting on the U.S. and Soviet Union each being able to inflict unacceptable damage on the other in retaliation for a nuclear attack.
- national extension college — a non-profit organization that allows people of all ages to continue their education through distance and online learning, etc
- national merit scholarship — one of some 6000 college scholarships awarded annually since 1956, by the nonprofit, grant-supported National Merit Scholarship Corporation, to high-school students (National Merit Scholars) on the basis of scholastic record, personal character, and score on a test administered nationally.
- national rifle association — a lobbying organization which advocates the right to own and use firearms
- nature conservancy council — (in Britain) a body set up by act of parliament in 1973 to establish and manage nature reserves, identify SSSIs, and provide information and advice about nature conservation. In 1991–92 it was replaced by English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Countryside Council for Wales
- new york state barge canal — a New York State waterway system. 575 miles (925 km) long.
- nickel-in-the-slot machine — a machine that operates if you put a nickel in its slot
- not a cat in hell's chance — no chance at all
- nuclear magnetic resonance — the selective absorption of electromagnetic radiation by an atomic nucleus in the presence of a strong, static, magnetic field: used in research and in medicine to monitor tissue metabolism and to distinguish between normal and abnormal cells. Abbreviation: NMR.
- object constraint language — (language) (OCL) A formal specification language extension to UML. The Object Constraint Language is a precise text language that provides constraint and object query expressions on an object-oriented model that cannot otherwise be expressed by diagrammatic notation. OCL supplements UML by providing expressions that have neither the ambiguities of natural language nor the inherent difficulty of using complex mathematics. OCL is a descendent of Syntropy, a second-generation object-oriented analysis and design method. The OCL 1.4 definition specified a constraint language. In OCL 2.0, the definition has been extended to include general object query language definitions.
- obscene publications squad — a division of the police force which deals with illegal books, pictures, or films which are judged obscene because they deal with sex or violence in a way that is considered offensive to the general public
- official production system — (language) (OPS) The first production system (i.e. rule based) programming language, developed at CMU in 1970 and used for building expert systems. OPS was originally written in Franz Lisp and later ported to other LISP dialects.
- orthogonal instruction set — (architecture) An instruction set where all (or most) instructions have the same format and all registers and addressing modes can be used interchangeably - the choices of op code, register, and addressing mode are mutually independent (loosely speaking, the choices are "orthogonal"). This contrasts with some early Intel microprocessors where only certain registers could be used by certain instructions. Examples include the PDP-11, 680x0, ARM, VAX.
- paraconsistent probability — (logic) A notion introduced by Florentin Smarandache: The probability (T, I, F) that an event occurs is calculated from different sources which may be contradictory or may overlap information; here T, I, F are real subsets representing the truth, indeterminacy, and falsity percentages respectively, and n_sup = sup(T)+sup(I)+sup(F) > 100. See neutrosophic probability
- philosophical anthropology — anthropology (def 4).
- philosophical-anthropology — the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind.
- physical transport network — (communications) (PTN) The actual hardware through which data transfer devices are connected.
- pour encourager les autres — in order to encourage the others: often used ironically
- professional office system — (messaging) (PROFS) An office messaging system from IBM, used worldwide, mainly on IBM mainframes.
- provence-alpes-côte d'azur — metropolitan region of SE France: 12,124 sq mi (31,401 sq km); pop. 4,258,000; chief city, Marseille
- public-service corporation — a private or quasi-private corporation chartered to provide an essential commodity or service to the public.
- quasi-stellar radio source — a quasar having detectable radio emission. Abbreviation: QSS.
- replacement cost insurance — Replacement cost insurance is insurance in which the cost of replacing property is calculated without a reduction for depreciation.
- reticuloendothelial system — the aggregate of the phagocytic cells, including certain cells of the bone marrow, lymphatic system, liver, and spleen, that have reticular and endothelial characteristics and function in the immune system's defense against foreign bodies. Abbreviation: RES.
- santiago de los caballeros — a city in the N central Dominican Republic.
- scares the life out of you — If you want to emphasize that something scares you a lot, you can say that it scares the hell out of you or scares the life out of you.
- scintillation spectrometer — a scintillation counter adapted for measuring the energy distribution of particles emitted in radioactive processes.
- simple algebraic extension — a simple extension in which the specified element is a root of an algebraic equation in the given field.
- solemn league and covenant — an agreement (1643) between the parliaments of Scotland and England permitting the promotion of Presbyterianism in Scotland, England, and Ireland.
- ssh file transfer protocol — (networking) (SFTP) A version of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) using an encrypted network connection provided by Secure Shell (SSH), usually SSH 2. The SFTP protocol allows for a range of operations on remote files, making it more like a remote file system protocol. SFTP clients can resume interrupted transfers, get directory listings and remove remote files. SFTP has largely replaced Secure Copy (SCP).
- statistical-thermodynamics — the science that deals with average properties of the molecules, atoms, or elementary particles in random motion in a system of many such particles and relates these properties to the thermodynamic and other macroscopic properties of the system.
- straight-line depreciation — Straight-line depreciation is a method of depreciation in which an equal amount of depreciation is taken each year.
- string processing language — (language) (SPRING)
- strong nuclear interaction — an interaction between elementary particles responsible for the forces between nucleons in the nucleus. It operates at distances less than about 10–15 metres, and is about a hundred times more powerful than the electromagnetic interaction
- terminal access controller — (hardware, networking) (TAC) A device which connects terminals to the Internet, usually using dial-up modem connections and the TACACS protocol.
- to call something your own — If you have something you can call your own, it belongs only to you, rather than being controlled by or shared with someone else.