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20-letter words containing m, o, n, f

  • normal zeeman effect — the dividing of a spectral line or lines as a result of placing a radiation source in a magnetic field. The division consists of three equally spaced lines (normal Zeeman effect) in systems for which the spin quantum number is zero, or of three or more unequally spaced lines (anomalous Zeeman effect) in systems for which the spin quantum number is not zero.
  • old man of the woods — an edible, mild-tasting mushroom, Strobilomyces floccopus, occurring in coniferous woodlands of eastern North America.
  • patent foramen ovale — a congenital heart defect resulting from failure of the foramen ovale to close shortly after birth.
  • permonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
  • piezomagnetic effect — the production of a magnetic field by applying a mechanical stress to certain crystals
  • polymorphic function — a function in a computer program that can deal with a number of different types of data
  • portfolio employment — the practice of working for several employers simultaneously rather than working full-time for a single employer
  • power of appointment — the authority granted by a donor to a donee to select the person or persons who are to enjoy property rights or income upon the death of the donor or of the donee or after the termination of existing rights or interests.
  • pride of the morning — light mist or precipitation observed at sea in the morning and regarded as indicating a fine day.
  • quantum field theory — any theory in which fields are treated by the methods of quantum mechanics; each field can then be regarded as consisting of particles of a particular kind, which may be created and annihilated.
  • radio interferometer — any of several different types of instrumentation designed to observe interference patterns of electromagnetic radiation at radio wavelengths: used in the discovery and measurement of radio sources in the atmosphere.
  • request for comments — (standard)   (RFC) One of a series, begun in 1969, of numbered Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities. Few RFCs are standards but all Internet standards are recorded in RFCs. Perhaps the single most influential RFC has been RFC 822, the Internet electronic mail format standard. The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an institution such as ANSI. For this reason, they remain known as RFCs even once adopted as standards. The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, after-the-fact standard writing done by individuals or small working groups has important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process typical of ANSI or ISO. Emblematic of some of these advantages is the existence of a flourishing tradition of "joke" RFCs; usually at least one a year is published, usually on April 1st. Well-known joke RFCs have included 527 ("ARPAWOCKY", R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June 1973), 748 ("Telnet Randomly-Lose Option", Mark R. Crispin; 1 April 1978), and 1149 ("A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers", D. Waitzman, BBN STC; 1 April 1990). The first was a Lewis Carroll pastiche; the second a parody of the TCP/IP documentation style, and the third a deadpan skewering of standards-document legalese, describing protocols for transmitting Internet data packets by carrier pigeon. The RFCs are most remarkable for how well they work - they manage to have neither the ambiguities that are usually rife in informal specifications, nor the committee-perpetrated misfeatures that often haunt formal standards, and they define a network that has grown to truly worldwide proportions. See also For Your Information, STD.
  • restriction fragment — a length of DNA cut from the strand by a restriction enzyme.
  • return from the dead — (jargon)   To regain access to the net after a long absence. Compare person of no account.
  • run off at the mouth — Anatomy, Zoology. the opening through which an animal or human takes in food. the cavity containing the structures used in mastication. the structures enclosing or being within this cavity, considered as a whole.
  • scientific socialism — Marxist socialism
  • second law of motion — any of three laws of classical mechanics, either the law that a body remains at rest or in motion with a constant velocity unless an external force acts on the body (first law of motion) the law that the sum of the forces acting on a body is equal to the product of the mass of the body and the acceleration produced by the forces, with motion in the direction of the resultant of the forces (second law of motion) or the law that for every force acting on a body, the body exerts a force having equal magnitude and the opposite direction along the same line of action as the original force (third law of motion or law of action and reaction)
  • senior aircraftwoman — a rank in the Royal Air Force comparable to that of a private in the army, though not the lowest rank in the Royal Air Force
  • shear transformation — a map of a coordinate space in which one coordinate is held fixed and the other coordinate or coordinates are shifted.
  • snows of kilimanjaro — a short story (1936) by Ernest Hemingway.
  • solitary confinement — the confinement of a prisoner in a cell or other place in which he or she is completely isolated from others.
  • specific performance — (especially in the sale of land) literal compliance with one's contractual promises pursuant to a judicial mandate.
  • staff sergeant major — a noncommissioned officer equivalent in rank to a command sergeant major but having no command responsibility.
  • stefan-boltzmann law — the law stating that the total energy radiated from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
  • the day of judgement — a Christian term for the ending of the world
  • the gnomes of zurich — Swiss bankers and financiers
  • the name of the game — If you say that something is the name of the game, you mean that it is the most important aspect of a situation.
  • the price of someone — what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
  • thomas of erceldoune — Thomas of, Thomas of Erceldoune.
  • to burst into flames — If something bursts into flames or bursts into flame, it suddenly starts burning strongly.
  • tomb of the unknowns — See under Unknown Soldier.
  • too much information — I don't want to hear any more
  • toxemia of pregnancy — an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension, fluid retention, edema, and the presence of protein in the urine.
  • transformation point — a temperature at which the transformation of one microconstituent to another begins or ends during heating or cooling.
  • transformation range — the temperature range within which austenite forms when a ferrous metal is heated, or within which it disappears when the metal is cooled.
  • unemployment benefit — an allowance of money paid, usually weekly, to an unemployed worker by a state or federal agency or by the worker's labor union or former employer during all or part of the period of unemployment.
  • unemployment figures — statistics relating to the number of people who are out of work
  • uniform crime report — an annual report issued by the FBI that presents data on selected categories of crimes reported to the police. Abbreviation: UCR.
  • university of durham — (body, education)   A busy research and teaching community in the historic cathedral city of Durham, UK (population 61000). Its work covers key branches of science and technology and traditional areas of scholarship. Durham graduates are in great demand among employers and the University helps to attract investment into the region. It provides training, short courses, and expertise for industry. Through its cultural events, conferences, tourist business and as a major employer, the University contributes in a wide social and economic sense to the community. Founded in 1832, the University developed in Durham and Newcastle until 1963 when the independent University of Newcastle upon Tyne came into being. Durham is a collegiate body, with 14 Colleges or Societies which are a social and domestic focus for students. In 1992, the Universities of Durham and Teesside launched University College, Stockton-on-Tees, which has 190 students in the first year.
  • uranium hexafluoride — a colorless, water-insoluble, crystalline, volatile solid, UF 6 , used in its gaseous state in separating uranium 235 from uranium.
  • wardrobe malfunction — an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing
  • woman of easy virtue — a sexually available woman, esp a prostitute
  • woman of the streets — a prostitute; streetwalker.
  • zone of accumulation — B horizon.
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