21-letter words containing l, i, m, e
- sir william alexander — Sir William (Alexander) 1867–1957, Scottish lexicographer and philologist.
- slatwall merchandiser — A slatwall merchandiser is a three-dimensional display unit with grooves cut into its surface into which metal hanging rails can be fixed at various heights.
- sodium metabisulphite — an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na2S2O5 that is used as a preservative, antioxidant and disinfectant
- special court-martial — a court-martial established to try violations of military law less serious than those tried by a general court-martial but more serious than those tried by a summary court-martial.
- spin angular momentum — to make (yarn) by drawing out, twisting, and winding fibers: Pioneer women spun yarn on spinning wheels.
- splice the main brace — to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.
- statistical mechanics — 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.
- stem-and-leaf diagram — a histogram in which the data points falling within each class interval are listed in order
- stock list department — (in an American stock exchange) the department dealing with monitoring compliance with its listing requirements and rules
- subjective complement — subject complement.
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- submerged arc welding — a type of heavy electric-arc welding using mechanically fed bare wire with the arc submerged in powdered flux to keep out oxygen
- supplementary benefit — (formerly) an extra amount of money that is paid to someone by the government, in addition to their normal income. Replaced by income support in 1988
- supply-side economics — a school of economic thought that emphasizes the importance to a strong economy of policies that remove impediments to supply
- systeme international — Système International d'Unités
- teleological argument — the argument purporting to prove the existence of God from empirical facts, the premise being that the universe shows evidence of order and hence design
- tetrabromofluorescein — eosin (def 1).
- the built environment — the buildings and all other things constructed by human beings
- the middle of nowhere — remote place
- the moral high ground — If you say that someone has taken the moral high ground, you mean that they consider that their policies and actions are morally superior to the policies and actions of their rivals.
- thermal decomposition — Thermal decomposition is the process in which a chemical species breaks down when its temperature is increased.
- thermal power station — a power station in which heat is converted into electricity
- thermoelectric couple — thermocouple.
- thermoelectric effect — the production of an electromotive force in a thermocouple.
- to lay something bare — If you lay something bare, you uncover it completely so that it can then be seen.
- to live hand to mouth — If someone lives hand to mouth or lives from hand to mouth, they have hardly enough food or money to live on.
- to risk life and limb — If someone risks life and limb, they do something very dangerous that may cause them to die or be seriously injured.
- transactinide element — any element having an atomic number higher than 103, the last of the actinide series. These superheavy, radioactive elements are extremely short-lived, and can only be created in the laboratory.
- transformational rule — Linguistics. a rule of transformational grammar that relates two phrase markers in the course of a derivation from the deep to the surface syntactic representation of a sentence, as by reordering, inserting, or deleting elements; a rule that converts deep structures into surface structures.
- trichloronitromethane — chloropicrin.
- triethyl orthoformate — a colorless liquid, C 7 H 16 O 3 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- tubercular meningitis — an infection of the membranes of the central nervous system caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis; features can include fever, headache, and coma
- twenty-two metre line — one of two lines on a rugby pitch which are twenty-two metres from the goal-line
- ultraviolet astronomy — the branch of astronomy that deals with celestial objects emitting electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet range.
- universal affirmative — a proposition of the form “All S is P.” Symbol: A, a.
- universal disk format — (storage, standard) (UDF) A CD-ROM file system standard that is required for DVD ROMs. UDF is the OSTA's replacement for the ISO 9660 file system used on CD-ROMs, but will be mostly used on DVD. DVD multimedia disks use UDF to contain MPEG audio and video streams. To read DVDs you need a DVD drive, the kernel driver for the drive, MPEG video support, and a UDF driver. DVDs containing both UDF filesystems and ISO 9660 filesystems can be read without UDF support. UDF can also be used by CD-R and CD-RW recorders in packet writing mode.
- until the end of time — If you say that something will happen or be true until the end of time or to the end of time, you are emphasizing that it will always happen or always be true.
- ventriloquist's dummy — a puppet which is operated by a ventriloquist and made to appear to talk
- verbatim et literatim — word for word and letter for letter; in exactly the same words.
- virtual memory system — (operating system) (VMS) DEC's proprietary operating system originally produced for its VAX minicomputer. VMS V1 was released in August 1978. VMS was renamed "OpenVMS" around version 5.5. The first version of VMS on DEC Alpha was known as OpenVMS for AXP V1.0, and the correct way to refer to the operating system now is OpenVMS for VAX or OpenVMS for Alpha. The renaming also signified the fact that the X/Open consortium had certified OpenVMS as having a high support for POSIX standards. VMS is one of the most secure operating systems on the market (making it popular in financial institutions). It currently (October 1997) has the best clustering capability (both number and distance) and is very scalable with binaries portable from small desktop workstations up to huge mainframes. Many Unix fans generously concede that VMS would probably be the hacker's favourite commercial OS if Unix didn't exist; though true, this makes VMS fans furious.
- vladivostok agreement — a preliminary arms control accord concluded by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Gerald Ford in Vladivostok, U.S.S.R., in December 1974.
- volumetric efficiency — the ratio of fluid delivered by a piston or ram pump per stroke to the displacement volume of the piston or ram
- volunteers of america — a religious reform and relief organization, similar to the Salvation Army, founded in New York City in 1896 by Ballington Booth, son of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. Abbreviation: VOA.
- warm silence software — A small company run by(?) Robin Watts, producing software for the Acorn Archimedes.
- weinberg-salam theory — electroweak theory.
- well-ordering theorem — the theorem of set theory that every set can be made a well-ordered set.
- william of malmesbury — William of, William of Malmesbury.
- william the conqueror — ("the Conqueror") 1027–87, duke of Normandy 1035–87; king of England 1066–87 (son of Robert I, duke of Normandy).
- wilson's storm petrel — a small petrel, Oceanites oceanicus, that breeds in the Southern Hemisphere but ranges into the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- with sb's compliments — If you say that you are giving someone something with your compliments, you are saying in a polite and fairly formal way that you are giving it to them, especially as a gift or a favour.