16-letter words containing m, u, s, i, t, a
- dinosaurs mating — (humour) The activity said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buy-out occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. Also described as "elephants mating": lots of noise and action at a high level, with an eventual outcome in the somewhat distant future. In its glory days of the 1960s, it was "IBM and the Seven Dwarves": Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. Early on, RCA sold out to Univac and GE also sold out, and it was "IBM and the BUNCH" (an acronym for Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull. Univac in turn merged with Sperry to form Sperry/Univac, which was later merged (although the employees of Sperry called it a hostile takeover) with Burroughs to form Unisys in 1986 (this was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was coined). In 1991 AT&T absorbed NCR, only to spit it out again in 1996. Unisys bought Convergent Technologies in 1988 and later others. More such earth-shaking unions of doomed giants seem inevitable.
- discombobulating — Present participle of discombobulate.
- discombobulation — to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.
- distance modulus — a measure of the distance, r, of a celestial object too far away to show measurable parallax. It is given by m–M = 5 log(r/10), where m is its apparent magnitude (corrected for interstellar absorption) and M is its absolute magnitude
- east gwillimbury — a town in S Ontario, in S Canada.
- easter communion — the act of receiving communion in church on Easter Day - considered special because of the primacy of Easter among Christian festivals and because many people regard taking Easter communion as a basic token of membership of their church
- elburz mountains — a mountain range in N Iran, parallel to the SW and S shores of the Caspian Sea. Highest peak: Mount Demavend, 5671 m (18 606 ft)
- exemption clause — a clause in a contract that exempts one party from liability for something
- exhaust manifold — An exhaust manifold is a heat-resistant tube that connects an engine to an exhaust pipe.
- flight simulator — a device used in pilot and crew training that provides a cockpit environment and sensations of flight under actual conditions.
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- fundamentalistic — Fundamentalist.
- gaudeamus igitur — let us therefore rejoice
- hamstring injury — an instance of physical damage to a person's hamstring
- haussmannization — Georges Eugène [zhawrzh œ-zhen] /ʒɔrʒ œˈʒɛn/ (Show IPA), Baron, 1809–91, French administrator who improved the landscaping, street designs, and utilities systems of Paris.
- hemotherapeutics — hemotherapy.
- hypermasculinity — pertaining to or characteristic of a man or men: masculine attire.
- hyperpituitarism — overactivity of the pituitary gland.
- hyperstimulation — to rouse to action or effort, as by encouragement or pressure; spur on; incite: to stimulate his interest in mathematics.
- image consultant — imagemaker.
- immunodepressant — preventing or diminishing the immune response
- impact extrusion — an extrusion process in which a slug of cold metal in a shallow die cavity is formed by the action of a rapidly moving punch that forces the metal through the die or back around the punch.
- impact structure — a large geologic formation, as a crater, created by a comet's or meteor's collision with a planet.
- import surcharge — a tax imposed on all imported goods, adding to any established tariffs
- incidental music — music intended primarily to point up or accompany parts of the action of a play or to serve as transitional material between scenes.
- indemnity clause — a clause in a contract that commits one or both parties to indemnify any loss that arises out of the contract
- infantile autism — a disorder appearing in children before the age of two and a half, characterized by lack of interest in others, impaired communication skills, and bizarre behavior, as ritualistic acts and excessive attachment to objects.
- inmos transputer — transputer
- institutionalism — the system of institutions or organized societies devoted to public, charitable, or similar purposes.
- instrument panel — Also called instrument board. a panel on which are mounted an array of dials, lights, and gauges that monitor the performance of a machine or device, as an airplane.
- instrumentalists — Plural form of instrumentalist.
- interculturalism — The philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society.
- interim accounts — accounts published in the course of the financial year
- karelian isthmus — a narrow strip of land between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, in the NW Russian Federation.
- kolyma mountains — a mountain range in NE Siberia, Russia, near the Sea of Okhotsk, rising to over 6000 feet (1830 meters).
- kunlun mountains — mountain system in W China, between Tibet & Xinjiang: highest peak, c. 25,300 ft (7,711 m)
- latissimus dorsi — a broad, flat muscle on each side of the midback, the action of which draws the arm backward and downward and rotates the front of the arm toward the body.
- lesbian cymatium — cyma reversa.
- lithium stearate — a white, crystalline, slightly water-soluble powder, LiC 18 H 35 O 2 , used chiefly in cosmetics, in plastics, and as a lubricant in powder metallurgy.
- lumberjack shirt — a thick checked shirt, as worn by lumberjacks
- luminosity class — a classification of stars of a given spectral type according to their luminosity, breaking them down into dwarfs, giants, and supergiants.
- lymphatic tissue — tissue, such as the lymph nodes, tonsils, spleen, and thymus, that produces lymphocytes
- macro-linguistic — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- macroinstruction — macro (def 5).
- macrolinguistics — a field of study concerned with language in its broadest sense and including cultural and behavioral features associated with language.
- magnetoacoustics — (used with a singular verb) the branch of physics studying the effects of magnetism on acoustics or their interaction.
- malpractice suit — a lawsuit brought against a professional accused of illegal or unethical practices or neglect of duty
- manipulativeness — Quality of being manipulative.
- marriage customs — the acts that are traditionally done in connection with a marriage
- married quarters — the housing provided on a military base for married servicemen or servicewomen