15-letter words containing m, e, t, h
- box chronometer — a ship's chronometer, supported on gimbals in a wooden box
- box the compass — to name the compass points in order
- break the mould — If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- british america — British North America.
- british telecom — the popular name for British Telecommunications Group plc, the dominant fixed line telecommunications and broadband internet provider in the United Kingdom
- brother-in-arms — a fellow soldier or comrade in a shared struggle
- butcher's-broom — a liliaceous evergreen shrub, Ruscus aculeatus, that has stiff prickle-tipped flattened green stems, which resemble and function as true leaves. The plant was formerly used for making brooms
- caffe macchiato — a hot beverage consisting of espresso and a small amount of foamed milk.
- calabash nutmeg — a tropical African shrub, Monodora myristica, whose oily aromatic seeds can be used as nutmegs: family Annonaceae
- camphorated oil — a liniment consisting of camphor and peanut oil, used as a counterirritant
- carmarthenshire — a county of S Wales, formerly part of Dyfed (1974–96): on Carmarthen Bay, with the Cambrian Mountains in the N: generally agricultural (esp dairying). Administrative centre: Carmarthen. Pop: 176 000 (2003 est). Area: 2398 sq km (926 sq miles)
- catchment board — a public body concerned with the conservation and organization of water supply from a catchment area
- cephalohematoma — A hemorrhage of blood between the skull and periosteum of a newborn baby secondary to rupture of blood vessels crossing the periosteum.
- chamber concert — a concert of chamber music
- chamois leather — soft cleaning cloth
- champagne flute — a tall, thin champagne glass
- chemical toilet — a toilet in which waste is treated with chemicals
- chemoattractant — a chemical substance that provokes chemotaxis, esp one that causes a bacterium to move in the direction in which its concentration is increasing
- chemoautotrophs — Plural form of chemoautotroph.
- chemoautotrophy — the process of deriving energy through oxidizing inorganic chemical compounds, as opposed to photosynthesis
- chemolithotroph — Chemoautotroph.
- chemoprevention — the prevention of disease, esp cancer, by means of chemical agents
- chemopsychiatry — the study and application of chemical substances in psychiatry
- chemosterilants — Plural form of chemosterilant.
- chemotaxonomist — a specialist in the field of chemotaxonomy
- child endowment — a social security payment for dependent children
- chimney-pot hat — a high silk hat; top hat.
- chinese mustard — brown mustard.
- cholecystectomy — surgical removal of the gall bladder
- cholecystostomy — a medical cut or opening into the gall bladder to enable a drainage tube to be put in place
- choledochostomy — formation of a temporary opening through the abdominal wall into the common bile duct, usually to remove stones.
- cholesterolemia — the presence of an abnormal amount of cholesterol in the blood.
- chromatic scale — a twelve-note scale including all the semitones of the octave
- chromatographer — A person skilled in chromatography or who operates a chromatograph.
- chromic acetate — a grayish-green, water-soluble powder, Cr(C 2 H 3 O 2) 3 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly as a mordant in dyeing and printing textiles.
- chromium-plated — having been plated with chromium
- cinematographed — a motion-picture projector.
- cinematographer — A cinematographer is a person who decides what filming techniques should be used during the shooting of a film.
- cinematographic — a motion-picture projector.
- climb the walls — any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
- collenchymatous — Relating to collenchyma.
- come to nothing — plan, idea: fail
- community chest — a fund raised by voluntary contribution for local welfare activities
- complete theory — (logic) An abstract logical theory in which all true statements have formal proofs within the theory.
- comptrollership — controller (def 1).
- computer ethics — (philosophy) Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).
- computer-phobia — a person who distrusts or is intimidated by computers.
- countercharming — Present participle of countercharm.
- countermarching — Present participle of countermarch.
- creme de menthe — a liqueur flavoured with peppermint, usually bright green in colour