25-letter words containing l, a, s
- saint pierre and miquelon — two small groups of islands off the S coast of Newfoundland: an overseas territory of France; important base for fishing. 3 sq. mi. (240 sq. km). Capital: St. Pierre.
- san nicolas de los garzas — a city in Nuevo Léon state, N Mexico, a suburb of Monterrey.
- saybolt universal seconds — a US measurement of viscosity similar in type to the British Redwood seconds
- selective synchronization — a sound-recording process that facilitates overdubs by feeding the recorded track to the performer straight from the recording head
- sequential parlog machine — (SPM) The virtual machine (and its machine code) for the Parlog logic programming language.
- similarity transformation — Also called homothetic transformation. a mapping of a set by which each element in the set is mapped into a positive constant multiple of itself, the same constant being used for all elements.
- single document interface — (programming) (SDI) A limitation applying to an application program that only shows a single windows giving a view of one document at a time. The opposite is Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
- single inline pin package — (hardware) (SIPP) An integrated circuit package with a single line of pins. Compare Dual Inline Package, Single In-line Memory Module.
- single wingback formation — an offensive formation in which the wingback lines up outside of and about one yard behind an end, the quarterback lines up lateral to the wingback but about midway between the same end and the center, the fullback is three or four yards behind the middle of the line, and the tailback lines up one yard behind the fullback on the other side of the line from the wingback and quarterback.
- single-lens reflex camera — a camera in which the image appears on a ground-glass viewer (focusing screen) after being reflected by a mirror or after passing through a prism or semitransparent glass; in one type (single-lens reflex camera) light passes through the same lens to both the ground glass and the film, while in another type (twin-lens reflex camera) light passes through one lens (viewing lens) to the ground glass and through a second lens (taking lens) to the film, the lenses being mechanically coupled for focusing.
- slip/fall through the net — You use slip through the net or fall through the net to describe a situation where people are not properly cared for by the system that is intended to help them.
- somerset levels and moors — a sparsely populated wetland and coastal plain area extending across parts of the north and centre of the historic county of Somerset, from Ilchester and Langport in the south to Clevedon in the north and Glastonbury in the east. Area: 650 sq km (251 sq miles)
- soroptimist international — an organization of clubs for professional and executive businesswomen
- sparc international, inc. — (body) An organisation established to promote the Scalable Processor ARChitecture (SPARC). Their main service is conformance testing. They also produce the "SPARC flash" newsletter and publish lists of SPARC compliant machines tested by SPARC International to be binary compatible with other compliant machines. SPARC(R) is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
- spark annotation language — (language) (SAL) ICL, Ltd. Used in the verification of SPARK programs against Z specifications.
- special educational needs — learning disability
- spectral band replication — (audio, compression) (SBR) Guessing the nontransmitted higher frequency range of a compressed audio file by some helper bits (transmiited with the stream) and the transmitted base band. SBR allows a restoration (not reconstruction) of the upper frequency range without lots of bits. It was developed by Coding Technology, and is useful for medium and high quality coding at low and medium data rates. It is used by Digital Radio Mondiale and MP3 Pro.
- stand in a person's light — to stand so as to obscure a person's vision
- standard ml of new jersey — (SML/NJ) An implementation of SML by Andrew Appel at Princeton <[email protected]> and Dave MacQueen at AT&T. Version 0.93. Versions for Unix, Mac. ftp://cs.yale.edu/pub/ml, ftp://research.att.com/dist/ml. Mailing list: [email protected]
- statistically independent — (of events or values) having the probability of their joint occurrence equal to the product of their individual probabilities.
- strong accumulation point — a point such that every neighborhood of the point contains infinitely many points of a given set.
- structured query language — SQL
- subscriber trunk dialling — a service by which telephone subscribers can obtain trunk calls by dialling direct without the aid of an operator
- sulphate-resisting cement — a type of Portland cement that resists normal concentrations of sulphates: used in concrete for flues and underwater work
- take the queen's shilling — to enlist in the army
- take up the cudgels (for) — to come to the defense (of)
- tetragonal trisoctahedron — Geometry. a trisoctahedron the faces of which are quadrilaterals; trapezohedron.
- thank one's (lucky) stars — to be thankful for what appears to be good luck
- the ball is in sb's court — If you say that the ball is in someone's court, you mean that it is his or her responsibility to take the next action or decision in a situation.
- the ball is in your court — you are obliged to make the next move
- the calm before the storm — You can use the calm before the storm to refer to a quiet period in which there is little or no activity, before a period in which there is a lot of trouble or intense activity.
- the empire state building — a very high skyscraper in New York City
- the industrial revolution — the transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries of first Britain and then other W European countries and the US into industrial nations
- the leaning tower of pisa — the bell tower of Pisa Cathedral
- the mother of parliaments — the British Parliament: the model and creator of many other Parliaments
- the scholastic profession — the profession of teaching
- there are no flies on him — he is no fool
- thermoluminescence dating — a method of dating archaeological specimens, chiefly pottery, by measuring the radiation given off by ceramic materials as they are heated.
- through the looking-glass — a story for children (1871) by Lewis Carroll: the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- to call something to mind — If something brings another thing to mind or calls another thing to mind, it makes you think of that other thing, usually because it is similar in some way.
- to cut a long story short — In British English, you use to cut a long story short to indicate that you are going to state the final result of an event and not give any more details. In American English, you say to make a long story short.
- to drink someone's health — When you drink to someone's health or drink their health, you have a drink as a sign of wishing them health and happiness.
- to hold someone to ransom — If a kidnapper is holding someone to ransom or holding them ransom in British English, or is holding a person for ransom in American English, they keep that person prisoner until they are given what they want.
- to lay claim to something — If you lay claim to something you do not have, you say that it belongs to you.
- to lay siege to something — If police, soldiers, or journalists lay siege to a place, they surround it in order to force the people there to come out or give up control of the place.
- to live beyond your means — If someone is living beyond their means, they are spending more money than they can afford. If someone is living within their means, they are not spending more money than they can afford.
- to pull out all the stops — If you pull out all the stops, you do everything you can to make something happen or succeed.
- to read between the lines — If you read between the lines, you understand what someone really means, or what is really happening in a situation, even though it is not said openly.
- to sail close to the wind — If you sail close to the wind, you take a risk by doing or saying something that may get you into trouble.
- to sound the death knelll — If you say that something sounds the death knell for a particular person or thing, you mean it will cause that person or thing to fail, end, or cease to exist.