23-letter words containing m, e, t, i
- multimedia compact disc — (storage) (MMCD) A CD-ROM standard for storing 4.7 GB of data including video. MMCD is being developed by a large numer of computer manufacturers and is expected to be shipped in late 1996 or early 1997. Initially it will be aimed at the consumer market, then perhaps in CD-ROM format for computers, and maybe later on erasble CD.
- multiple-risk insurance — insurance that covers several risks
- multiplicative identity — an identity that when used to multiply a given element in a specified set leaves that element unchanged, as the number 1 for the real-number system.
- murder in the cathedral — a verse drama (1935) by T. S. Eliot.
- negative bending moment — a bending moment that produces convex bending at the supports of a continuously supported beam
- newton's laws of motion — three laws of mechanics describing the motion of a body. The first law states that a body remains at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. The second law states that a body's rate of change of momentum is proportional to the force causing it. The third law states that when a force acts on a body due to another body, then an equal and opposite force acts simultaneously on that body
- nondisclosure agreement — a legal contract in which one or more parties agree to keep information, as a trade secret, confidential and protected for a specific amount of time. Abbreviation: NDA.
- nonessential amino acid — an amino acid that can be synthesized in the body
- nonverbal communication — gesture and facial expression
- not put it past someone — to consider someone capable of (the action specified)
- of many years' standing — You can use the expression of many years' standing to say that something has had a particular function or someone has had a particular role for many years. For example, if a place is your home of ten years' standing, it has been your home for ten years.
- oil-immersion objective — immersion objective.
- on someone's coat-tails — thanks to the popularity or success of someone else
- on-line computer system — (OLC) A predecessor of the Culler-Fried System from UCSB ca. 1966.
- order of military merit — an order awarded to members of the Canadian Forces for conspicuous merit; established in 1972
- orthomorphic projection — conformal projection.
- osteogenesis imperfecta — a rare hereditary disease in which abnormal connective tissue development leads to fragile bones subject to fracture.
- overnight accommodation — accommodation provided by an establishment (such as a hotel) where guests can sleep or spend the night
- parametric polymorphism — Polymorphism was first identified by Christopher Strachey in 1967 and developed by Hindley and Milner. For example we could specify that the argument of the "head" function was a list without specifying a type for the elements of the list. In Haskell we would write: head :: [a] -> a meaning head has type function from "list of a" to "a" where "a" is a type variable). This is known as parametric polymorphism. Polymorphic typing allows strong type checking as well as generic functions. ML in 1976 was the first language with polymorphic typing. See also generic type variable.
- parliamentary candidate — sb standing for election to government
- parliamentary democracy — a system of government in which people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws, for example Canada and the UK
- parliamentary privilege — legal immunity allowing lawmakers to speak freely without being subject to the usual laws of slander
- parliamentary secretary — government minister's assistant
- participatory democracy — individual participation by citizens in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, especially directly rather than through elected representatives.
- pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
- photoelectric magnitude — the magnitude of a star determined using a photometer plus a filter to select light or other radiation of the desired wavelength
- plain old documentation — (text) (pod, occasionally "POD") A simple markup language used to embed documentation, literate programming-style, in Perl programs. Pod readers and converters are part of the standard Perl distribution and the documentation provided with Perl is all in pod format.
- planetesimal hypothesis — one of the small celestial bodies that, according to one theory (planetesimal hypothesis) were fused together to form the planets of the solar system.
- play by electronic mail — (games) A kind of game where the players use electronic mail to communicate. This may be done via a human moderator or an automatic mailing list exploder on some central machine or it may be fully distributed with each player just addressing his mail to all other players. This is a natural extension of "play by mail" games conducted via snail mail.
- polybrominated biphenyl — PBB.
- positive bending moment — a bending moment that produces concave bending at the middle of a simple supported beam
- positive discrimination — special opportunities
- postcode discrimination — discrimination on the basis of the area where someone lives, with relation to employment, credit rating, etc
- potassium acid tartrate — cream of tartar.
- potassium monophosphate — any of the three orthophosphates of potassium ((potassium monophosphate) (K 2 HPO 4), (potassium diphosphate) (KH 2 PO 4), and (tripotassium phosphate) (K 3 PO 4) )
- praxis critical systems — (company) The company that supplies SPARK.
- presidential government — a system of government in which the powers of the president are constitutionally separate from those of the legislature.
- price out of the market — to charge so highly for as to prevent the sale, hire, etc, of
- private limited company — a company whose shares can be bought by the public
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- progressive cavity pump — A progressive cavity pump is a pump with an electric motor that rotates rods to make fluid in cavities move upward.
- provocative maintenance — [Common ironic mutation of "preventive maintenance"] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such "maintenance" often *induces* problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an *un*usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey.
- psychomotor retardation — a generalized slowing of psychological and physical activity, frequently occurring as a symptom of severe depression.
- publicly-quoted company — a company whose shares are traded on a stock exchange
- puerto rican royal palm — a feather palm, Roystonea borinquena, of Puerto Rico and St. Croix, having leaves about 10 feet (3 meters) long and egg-shaped, yellowish-brown fruit.
- put the bite on someone — to ask someone for money
- quantum electrodynamics — the quantum field theory that deals with the electromagnetic field and its interaction with electrons and positrons. Abbreviation: QED.
- rate-of-climb indicator — a flight instrument that indicates the rate of climb or descent of an aircraft.
- real simple syndication — (spelling) Illiterate form of Really Simple Syndication.
- regressive assimilation — assimilation in which a following sound has an effect on a preceding one, as in pronouncing have in have to as [haf] /hæf/ (Show IPA) influenced by the voiceless (t) in to.