28-letter words containing m, e, t, a
- osborne computer corporation — (company) The unsucessful computer manufacturer founded by Adam Osborne that produced one of the first laptop computers, the Osborne 1.
- ousterhout's false dichotomy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- paged memory management unit — Memory Management Unit
- palestinian autonomous areas — the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Israel: these areas were granted autonomous status under the control of the Palestinian National Authority following the 1993 peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
- permanent virtual connection — Permanent Virtual Circuit
- phenylmethylcarbinyl acetate — methylphenylcarbinyl acetate.
- plug compatible manufacturer — (company) (PCM) A manufacturer of equipment that some other manufacturer's system can identify and work with. The PCM's device replaces the original manufacturer's. Most PCMs competed with IBM. PCM devices normally offer a cost-performance benefit over the original device. For example, several PCM versions of the Direct-Access Storage Device IBM 3350 offered twice the storage and improved data access (dual port). Plug compatible devices include replacement CPUs, such as the Hitachi 7/90 series (which could be substituted for IBM 3090 series processors), I/O subsystems, and dumb terminals like the IBM 3270.
- positron emission tomography — the process of producing a PET scan.
- potassium antimonyl tartrate — a white, water-soluble, sweet and metallic-tasting, poisonous powder or granules, C 4 H 4 KO 7 Sb, used as a mordant for dyeing textiles and leather, and in medicine as an expectorant, for inducing vomiting, and for infections by schistosomes.
- principle of complementarity — complementarity principle.
- quaternary ammonium compound — any of a class of salts derived from ammonium in which the nitrogen atom is attached to four organic groups, as in benzalkonium chloride; the salts are cationic surface-active compounds used as antiseptics and disinfectants.
- quick mail queueing protocol — (communications) (QMQP) A protocol that provides a central e-mail queue for a cluster of hosts. QMOP is supposed to provide fast transfers of messages with many recipients as it can batch them up as a single transaction. It listens on port 628.
- quick mail transfer protocol — (communications) (QMTP) An SMTP replacement that works better over high latency links as it doesn't require as much interaction as SMTP. QMTP listens on port 209 and is used by qmail.
- read the riot act to someone — to warn or reprimand someone severely
- real time streaming protocol — (multimedia, networking, protocol) (RTSP) An application layer protocol for controlling delivery of a stream of real-time multimedia content. RTSP allows users to start playing from a certain position. It does not actually deliver the data, but works alongside existing delivery channels such as UDP, TCP, or IP multicast. RTSP was developed by RealNetworks, Netscape Communications, and Columbia University, and is described in RFC 2326, April 1998. RTSP is an IETF proposed standard.
- real-estate investment trust — an unincorporated trust created for the purpose of investing in real property or to extend credit to those engaged in construction. Abbreviation: REIT.
- real-time transport protocol — (protocol) (RTP) An Internet protocol for transmitting real-time data such as audio and video. RTP itself does not guarantee real-time delivery of data, but it does provide mechanisms for the sending and receiving applications to support streaming data. Typically, RTP runs on top of the UDP protocol, although the specification is general enough to support other transport protocols. RTP has received wide industry support. Netscape intends to base its LiveMedia technology on RTP, and Microsoft claims that its NetMeeting product supports RTP.
- rise/come back from the dead — If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.
- robert william andrew feller — Robert William Andrew ("Bob"; "Bullet Bob") 1918–2010, U.S. baseball player.
- rocky mountain spotted fever — an infectious disease characterized by high fever, pains in joints, bones, and muscles, and a cutaneous eruption, caused by rickettsii and transmitted by ticks: first reported in the Rocky Mountain area, but now more widely distributed.
- scanning electron microscope — a device in which the specimen is examined point by point directly in a moving electron beam, and electrons reflected by the specimen are used to form a magnified, three-dimensional image on a television screen. Abbreviation: SEM.
- second axiom of countability — the property satisfied by a topological space in which the neighborhood system of each point has a base consisting of a countable number of neighborhoods (first axiom of countability) or the property satisfied by a topological space that has a base for its topology consisting of a countable number of subsets of the space (second axiom of countability)
- second law of thermodynamics — any of three principles variously stated in equivalent forms, being the principle that the change of energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the heat transferred minus the work done (first law of thermodynamics) the principle that no cyclic process is possible in which heat is absorbed from a reservoir at a single temperature and converted completely into mechanical work (second law of thermodynamics) and the principle that it is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of operations (third law of thermodynamics)
- semiconservative replication — replication.
- sexually transmitted disease — any disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact, as gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and chlamydia. Abbreviation: STD.
- shared-appreciation mortgage — a type of mortgage that carries a smaller down payment or lower interest rate than usual in return for the lender's sharing in the appreciation of the property at some future date, as at the time of its sale. Abbreviation: SAM.
- simulation oriented language — (language) (SOL) An ALGOL extension for discrete simulation by Donald Knuth and McNeley.
- single sideband transmission — a method of transmitting radio waves in which either the upper or the lower sideband is transmitted, the carrier being either wholly or partially suppressed. This reduces the required bandwidth and improves the signal-to-noise ratio
- smooth endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
- special power of appointment — authority to appoint persons from a particular class to take an estate or interest in property
- spectral luminous efficiency — a measure of the efficiency of radiation of a given wavelength in producing a visual sensation. It is equal to the ratio of the radiant flux at a standard wavelength to that at the given wavelength when the standard wavelength is chosen so that the maximum value of this ratio is unity
- sudden infant death syndrome — death from the sudden cessation of breathing (apnea) of a seemingly healthy infant, almost always during sleep, sometimes traceable to a chronic oxygen deficiency. Abbreviation: SIDS.
- supplemental security income — income provided by the U.S. government to needy aged, blind, and disabled persons. Abbreviation: SSI.
- systemic lupus erythematosus — an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the connective tissues, occurring mainly among middle-aged women, chiefly characterized by skin eruptions, joint pain, recurrent pleurisy, and kidney disease. Abbreviation: SLE.
- systems administrators guild — (body, job) (SAGE) A special technical group of the USENIX Association.
- systems network architecture — (networking) (SNA) IBM's proprietary high level networking protocol standard, used by IBM and IBM compatible mainframes. Also referred to as "Blue Glue", SNA is a bletcherous protocol once widely favoured at commercial shops. The official IBM definition is "that which binds blue boxes together." It may be relevant that Blue Glue is also a 3M product commonly used to hold down carpets in dinosaur pens.
- take your eyes off something — When you take your eyes off the thing you have been watching or looking at, you stop looking at it.
- text reckoning and compiling — (language) (TRAC) An interactive macro generator language for string manipulation by Calvin N. Mooers and Peter Deutsch of Sun Microsystems. TAC derived ideas from Macro SAP. There are versions for PDP-1, PDP-8, PDP-10 and PDP-11. See also MINT, SAM76. E-mail: Preston Briggs <[email protected]>.
- the medical research council — a government body that uses public funds to finance research in medicine
- the world owes them a living — If you say that someone thinks that the world owes them a living, you are criticizing them because they think it is their right to have a comfortable life without having to make any effort at all.
- theophylline ethylenediamine — aminophylline.
- tissue plasminogen activator — an anticlotting enzyme, naturally occurring in small amounts in the blood.
- to be in someone's bad books — If you are in someone's bad books, they are annoyed with you. If you are in their good books, they are pleased with you.
- to beat someone's brains out — To beat someone's brains out or bash their brains in means to hit their head very hard, so that they are badly injured or killed.
- to come to a screeching halt — (of a motor vehicle) to stop suddenly, causing the brakes or tyres to produce a high-pitched sound
- to give somebody a thick ear — to hit sb on the ear or head
- to know something for a fact — If you say that you know something for a fact, you are emphasizing that you are completely certain that it is true.
- to make a clean breast of it — If you make a clean breast of something, you tell someone the truth about yourself or about something wrong that you have done.
- to make someone's blood boil — If you say that something makes your blood boil, you are emphasizing that it makes you very angry.
- to play into someone's hands — If you play into someone's hands, you do something which they want you to do and which places you in their power.