24-letter words containing l, a, s, e, r
- definite relative clause — a relative clause with a definite relative pronoun as subordinating word, as that they said in We heard the things that they said.
- delayed control-transfer — (architecture) A technique used on the SPARC processor to reduce the effect of pipeline breaks by executing the instruction after a branch instruction (the "delay instruction" in the "delay slot"). If there is no useful instruction which can be placed in the delay slot then the "annul bit" on the control transfer instruction can be set, preventing execution of the delay instruction (unless the control transfer is conditional and is taken). Annulled branches are indicated in SPARC assembler language by appending ",A" to the operation code. For example, LOOP: ... CMP %L0,10 BLE,A LOOP ADD %L2, %L3, #L4 If the delay instruction is also a control transfer instruction then it gets more complicated. Both control transfer instructions are executed (but not the following instruction) and, assuming they are both taken, control is transferred briefly to the destination of the first and then immediately to the destination of the second.
- descriptive bibliography — the aspect of bibliography concerned with the close physical study and description of books and other works.
- destructive distillation — the decomposition of a complex substance, such as wood or coal, by heating it in the absence of air and collecting the volatile products
- differential association — a theory that criminal and deviant behavior is learned through close and frequent association with criminal or deviant behavior patterns, norms, and values.
- digital switched network — (communications) (DSN) The completely digital version of the PSTN.
- diphenylaminechlorarsine — adamsite.
- disestablishmentarianism — a person who favors the separation of church and state, especially the withdrawal of special rights, status, and support granted an established church by a state; an advocate of disestablishing a state church.
- display screen equipment — Visual Display Unit
- domestic relations court — in some states, a court with jurisdiction over matters involving relations within the family or household, as between husband and wife or parent and child
- domestic-relations court — court of domestic relations.
- double overhead camshaft — a pair of overhead camshafts, one to operate the intake valves and the other to operate the exhaust valves. Abbreviation: DOHC.
- double-crested cormorant — a North American cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, having tufts of black and white feathers on the sides of the head.
- ecole normale superieure — (body) (ENS) A higher education and research institution in Paris, France.
- electromagnetic spectrum — the complete range of electromagnetic radiation from the longest radio waves (wavelength 105 metres) to the shortest gamma radiation (wavelength 10–13 metre)
- electronic point of sale — a computerized system for recording sales in retail shops, using a laser scanner at the cash till to read bar codes on the packages of the items sold
- emotional roller coaster — a situation or experience that alternates between making you feel excited, exhilarated, or happy and making you feel sad, disappointed, or desperate
- endotracheal anaesthesia — a method of administering gaseous anaesthetics to animals through a tube inserted into the trachea
- english springer spaniel — breed of dog
- environmental assessment — a formal assessment of the impact a project will have on the environment
- erythroblastosis fetalis — an anaemic blood disease of a fetus or newborn child, characterized by erythroblasts in the circulating blood: caused by a blood incompatibility between mother and fetus
- exponential distribution — a continuous single-parameter distribution used esp when making statements about the length of life of certain materials or waiting times between randomly occurring events. Its density function is p(x) = λe–λx for positive λ and nonnegative x, and it is a special case of the gamma distribution
- failure-directed testing — (programming) (Or "heuristics testing") Software testing based on the knowledge of the types of errors made in the past that are likely for the system under test.
- federal power commission — FPC.
- federal reserve district — the district served by a certain Federal Reserve Bank.
- federal trade commission — FTC.
- ferdinand lewis alcindor — (Ferdinand) Lew(is, Jr.) original name of Abdul-Jabbar.
- floating-point specratio — SPECfp92
- flue gas desulfurization — Flue gas desulfurization is the removal of pollutants containing sulfur from flue gas.
- footloose and fancy-free — If you describe someone as footloose and fancy-free, you mean that they are not married or in a similar relationship, and you therefore consider them to have very few responsibilities or commitments.
- general purpose language — (GPL) An ALGOL 60 variant with user-definable types and operators.
- geographical determinism — the theory that human activity is determined by geographical conditions
- glasgow haskell compiler — (language) (GHC) A Haskell 1.2 compiler written in Haskell by the AQUA project at Glasgow University, headed by Simon Peyton Jones <[email protected]> throughout the 1990's [started?]. GHC can generate either C or native code for SPARC, DEC Alpha and other platforms. It can take advantage of features of gcc such as global register variables and has an extensive set of optimisations. GHC features an extensible I/O system based on a "monad", in-line C code, fully fledged unboxed data types, incrementally-updatable arrays, mutable reference types, generational garbage collector, concurrent threads. Time and space profiling is also supported. It requires GNU gcc 2.1+ and Perl. GHC runs on Sun-4, DEC Alpha, Sun-3, NeXT, DECstation, HP-PA and SGI. E-mail: <[email protected]>.
- glycogen storage disease — any of several inherited disorders of glycogen metabolism that result in excess accumulation of glycogen in various organs of the body.
- graphical user interface — a software interface designed to standardize and simplify the use of computer programs, as by using a mouse to manipulate text and images on a display screen featuring icons, windows, and menus.
- great crested flycatcher — a North American flycatcher, Myiarchus crinitus, noted for its use of the castoff skins of snakes in building its nest.
- grin like a cheshire cat — a constantly grinning cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- head and shoulders above — vastly superior to
- heart is a lonely hunter — a novel (1940) by Carson McCullers.
- hexaethyl tetraphosphate — a yellow, very poisonous liquid, (C 2 H 5 O) 6 P 4 O 7 , soluble in water, used as an insecticide.
- hierarchical file system — (file system) A file system in which the files are organised into a hierarchy. The nodes of the hierarchy are called directories while the leaves are the files themselves. See also root directory. Compare flat file system.
- hyaline membrane disease — respiratory distress syndrome.
- immunofluorescence assay — a diagnostic blood test using the technique of immunofluorescence. Abbreviation: IFA.
- in words of one syllable — simply; bluntly
- incomplete metamorphosis — insect development, as in the grasshopper and cricket, in which the change is gradual and characterized by the absence of a pupal stage. Compare complete metamorphosis.
- industrial correspondent — a journalist who specializes in reporting the industrial news
- instructional technology — (education) Design, development, use, management and evaluation of process and resources for learning. Instructional technology aims to promote the application of validated, practical procedures in the design and delivery of instruction. It is often defined either in terms of media and other technology used (e.g. audiovisual media and equipment and computers), or in terms of a systematic process which encompasses instructional design, development, delivery and evaluation.
- intermediate-level waste — radioactive waste material, such as reactor and processing-plant components, that is solidified before being mixed with concrete and stored in steel drums in deep mines or beneath the seabed in concrete chambers
- internal auditory meatus — the canal extending through the petrous portion of the temporal bone, through which the glossopharyngeal nerve, the facial nerve, and the auditory nerve and artery pass.
- internal revenue service — the division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that collects internal revenue, including income taxes and excise taxes, and that enforces revenue laws.