14-letter words containing m, a, r, s, h, n
- rock mechanics — the study of the mechanical behaviour of rocks, esp their strength, elasticity, permeability, porosity, density, and reaction to stress
- scrap merchant — dealer in discarded materials
- 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.
- second chamber — the parliament of the Netherlands, consisting of an upper chamber (First Chamber) and a lower chamber (Second Chamber)
- segmental arch — a shallow arch not including a complete semicircle
- servomechanism — an electronic control system in which a hydraulic, pneumatic, or other type of controlling mechanism is actuated and controlled by a low-energy signal.
- shaving mirror — small adjustable mirror
- sidereal month — Also called calendar month. any of the twelve parts, as January or February, into which the calendar year is divided.
- smash-and-grab — A smash-and-grab is a robbery in which a person breaks a shop window, takes the things that are on display there, and runs away with them.
- south american — a continent in the S part of the Western Hemisphere. About 6,900,000 sq. mi. (17,871,000 sq. km).
- spanish armada — Armada (def 1).
- sparring match — a practice boxing match
- spearfisherman — a person who engages in spearfishing.
- speed merchant — a person who habitually drives too fast in a motor vehicle
- sportfisherman — a motorboat fitted out for sportfishing.
- staghorn sumac — a sumac, Rhus typhina, of eastern North America, having leaves that turn scarlet, orange, and purple in the autumn.
- surinam cherry — a tropical American tree, Eugenia uniflora, of the myrtle family, having ovate leaves and fragrant, white flowers.
- syrian hamster — golden hamster.
- tam-o'-shanter — a cap of Scottish origin, usually made of wool, having a round, flat top that projects all around the head and has a pompon at its center.
- the samaritans — a voluntary organization which offers counselling to people in despair, esp by telephone
- the surinamese — the people of Surinam collectively
- thermal spring — a spring whose temperature is higher than the mean temperature of ground water in the area.
- thermoanalysis — thermal analysis.
- thermodynamics — the science concerned with the relations between heat and mechanical energy or work, and the conversion of one into the other: modern thermodynamics deals with the properties of systems for the description of which temperature is a necessary coordinate.
- thermostatting — a device, including a relay actuated by thermal conduction or convection, that functions to establish and maintain a desired temperature automatically or signals a change in temperature for manual adjustment.
- thomas younger — Thomas Coleman ("Cole") 1844–1916, U.S. outlaw, associated with Jesse James.
- thromboplastin — Biochemistry. a lipoprotein in the blood that converts prothrombin to thrombin.
- trichomoniasis — a sexually transmitted disease typically asymptomatic in men and resulting in vaginitis with a copious, frothy discharge and itching in women, caused by a trichomonad Trichomonas vaginalis.
- tymshare, inc. — (company) The US company that created the TYMNET network.
- underemphasize — to give less than sufficient emphasis to; minimize.
- with open arms — the upper limb of the human body, especially the part extending from the shoulder to the wrist.