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23-letter words containing m, y, i

  • hypobetalipoproteinemia — (pathology) A low level of betalipoprotein (low-density lipoprotein) in the bloodstream.
  • hypothetical imperative — (esp in the moral philosophy of Kant) any conditional rule of action, concerned with means and ends rather than with duty for its own sake
  • in the employ of sb/sth — If you are in the employ of someone or something, you work for them.
  • indeterminacy principle — uncertainty principle.
  • infinite monkey theorem — (humour)   "If you put an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters, eventually one will bash out the script for Hamlet." (One may also hypothesise a small number of monkeys and a very long period of time.) This theorem asserts nothing about the intelligence of the one random monkey that eventually comes up with the script (and note that the mob will also type out all the possible *incorrect* versions of Hamlet). It may be referred to semi-seriously when justifying a brute force method; the implication is that, with enough resources thrown at it, any technical challenge becomes a one-banana problem. This theorem was first popularised by the astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington. It became part of the idiom through the classic short story "Inflexible Logic" by Russell Maloney, and many younger hackers know it through a reference in Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". See also: RFC 2795.
  • installable file system — (operating system)   (IFS or "File System Driver", "FSD") An API that allows you to extend OS/2 to access files stored on disk in formats other than FAT and HPFS, and access files that are stored on a network file server. For example an IFS could provide programs running under OS/2 (including DOS and Windows programs) with access to files stored under Unix using the Berkeley fast file system. The other variety of IFS (a "remote file system" or "redirector") allows file sharing over a LAN, e.g. using Unix's Network File System protocol. In this case, the IFS passes a program's file access requests to a remote file server, possibly also translating between different file attributes used by OS/2 and the remote system. Documentation on the IFS API has been available only by special request from IBM. An IFS is structured as an ordinary 16-bit DLL with entry points for opening, closing, reading, and writing files, the swapper, file locking, and Universal Naming Convention. The main part of an IFS that runs in ring 0 is called by the OS/2 kernel in the context of the caller's process and thread. The other part that runs in ring 3 is a utility library with entry points for FORMAT, RECOVER, SYS, and CHKDSK.
  • intermediate technology — technology which combines sophisticated ideas with cheap and readily available materials, esp for use in developing countries
  • internet monthly report — (IMR) Publication designed to communicate to the Internet Research Group the accomplishments, milestones reached, or problems discovered by the participating organisations.
  • like anything/crazy/mad — You can use the expressions like anything, like crazy, or like mad to emphasize that someone is doing something or something is happening in a very energetic or noticeable way.
  • look someone in the eye — to look at someone openly and without shame or embarrassment
  • lossy audio compression — (audio, compression)   Any audio compression algorithm which does not retain every bit of data but only reproduces a signal that sounds more or less like the original. Examples are MP1, MP2, MP3, AAC.
  • lymphoblastic leukaemia — a severe blood disorder in which abnormal leukocytes are identified as immature forms of lymphocytes
  • magnetic susceptibility — the coefficient or set of coefficients of the magnetic intensity in any expression giving the components of magnetization as linear combinations of the components of magnetic intensity.
  • magnetohydrodynamically — In a magnetohydrodynamic way.
  • make sb's life a misery — If someone makes your life a misery, they behave in an unpleasant way towards you over a period of time and make you very unhappy.
  • maturity-onset diabetes — diabetes (def 4).
  • mediterranean fruit fly — a small, black and white, irregularly banded two-winged fly, Ceratitis capitata, of many warm regions, that damages citrus and other succulent fruit crops by implanting eggs that hatch into maggots within the fruit.
  • message handling system — (messaging, standard)   (MHS) The standard defined by ITU-T as X.400 and by ISO as Message-Oriented Text Interchange Standard (MOTIS). MHS is the X.400 family of services and protocols that provides the functions for global electronic mail transfer among local mail systems and MTAs. It is used by CompuServe, among others.
  • methylisobutenyl ketone — mesityl oxide.
  • methylthionine chloride — methylene blue.
  • micro assembly language — (language)   (MAL) A microprogramming language with high-level syntax, used in the reference below. See also Mic-1, Mac-1.
  • micropachycephalosaurus — A very small pachycephalosaurid, ornithischian dinosaur of the genus Micropachycephalosaurus.
  • minimum security prison — A minimum security prison is a prison where there are fewer restrictions on prisoners than in a normal prison.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • peroxymonosulfuric acid — persulfuric acid (def 1).
  • pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
  • physical memory address — physical address
  • 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.
  • praxis critical systems — (company)   The company that supplies SPARK.
  • private limited company — a company whose shares can be bought by the public
  • progressive cavity pump — A progressive cavity pump is a pump with an electric motor that rotates rods to make fluid in cavities move upward.
  • psychomotor retardation — a generalized slowing of psychological and physical activity, frequently occurring as a symptom of severe depression.
  • public enemy number one — (not in official use) a criminal at the top of the FBI's list of the ten most wanted criminals.
  • 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.
  • quantum electrodynamics — the quantum field theory that deals with the electromagnetic field and its interaction with electrons and positrons. Abbreviation: QED.
  • quantum flavourdynamics — a gauge theory of the electromagnetic and weak interactions
  • real simple syndication — (spelling)   Illiterate form of Really Simple Syndication.
  • revision control system — (software, tool)   (RCS) A version control system that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, graphics, papers, and form letters.
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