17-letter words containing n, a, r, g, i
- anytime algorithm — (algorithm) An algorithm that returns a sequence of approximations to the correct answer such that each approximation is no worse than the previous one, i.e. the algorithm can be stopped at _any time_. x = (x + b / x) / 2 Each new x is closer to the square root than the previous one. Applications might include a real-time control system or a chess program that is allowed a fixed thinking time.
- argumentativeness — fond of or given to argument and dispute; disputatious; contentious: The law students were an unusually argumentative group.
- arlington heights — village in NE Ill.: suburb of Chicago: pop. 76,000
- armchair shopping — buying goods using a computer, telephone, or television in the home or via the postal system
- arranged marriage — In an arranged marriage, the parents choose the person who their son or daughter will marry.
- arresting officer — the police officer making an arrest
- arsenic poisoning — poisoning by arsenic
- ascertained goods — specific goods
- assistant manager — a person who assists a manager in their work
- at their own game — If you beat someone at their own game, you use the same methods that they have used, but more successfully, so that you gain an advantage over them.
- attainment target — a general defined level of ability that a pupil is expected to achieve in every subject at each key stage in the National Curriculum
- augmented reality — an artificial environment created through the combination of real-world and computer-generated data
- australia antigen — an antigen present in the blood of some persons with one form of hepatitis
- automatic writing — writing performed without apparent intent or conscious control, especially to achieve spontaneity or uncensored expression.
- average deviation — a measure of dispersion, computed by taking the arithmetic mean of the absolute values of the deviations of the functional values from some central value, usually the mean or median.
- backward chaining — (algorithm) An algorithm for proving a goal by recursively breaking it down into sub-goals and trying to prove these until facts are reached. Facts are goals with no sub-goals which are therefore always true. Backward training is the program execution mechanism used by most logic programming language like Prolog. Opposite: forward chaining.
- baggage screening — the procedure whereby baggage is electronically screened at an airport before it is allowed on the plane
- banking principle — the principle that bank notes are a form of credit and should be issued freely in order to maintain an elastic currency.
- bartholin's gland — either of two small glands near the vaginal opening: during sexual excitement they secrete a mucous lubricating substance
- base lending rate — a minimum interest rate on which financial institutions base the rates they use for lending
- baseboard heating — a heating system by pipes, through which steam or hot water circulates, near the base of the walls of rooms
- bathroom fittings — plumbing fixtures or accessories suitable for use in a bathroom
- be running scared — If you say that a person or group is running scared, you mean that they are frightened of what someone might do to them or what might happen.
- bell-hanger's bit — a bit for drilling small holes through studs or the like.
- bighorn mountains — range of the Rocky Mountains in N Wyo. and S Mont.: highest peak, 13,165 ft (4,013 m)
- biological parent — a parent who has conceived (biological mother) or sired (biological father) rather than adopted a child and whose genes are therefore transmitted to the child.
- board and lodging — If you are provided with board and lodging, you are provided with food and a place to sleep, especially as part of the conditions of a job.
- board-and-shingle — a small dwelling with wooden walls and a shingle roof
- bradford spinning — a wool-spinning method in which the fibers are oiled prior to combing and subsequently spun into worsted yarn.
- brain haemorrhage — bleeding into the brain
- brigadier general — In the United States, a brigadier general is a senior officer in the armed forces who is often in charge of a brigade and has a rank above colonel and below major general.
- brightening agent — a compound applied to a textile to increase its brightness by the conversion of ultraviolet radiation to visible (blue) light, used in detergents
- brighton and hove — a city and unitary authority in S England, in East Sussex. Pop: 251 500 (2003 est). Area: 72 sq km (28 sq miles)
- bring up the rear — to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
- broad-winged hawk — an American hawk, Buteo platypterus, dark brown above and white barred with rufous below.
- broderie anglaise — open embroidery on white cotton, fine linen, etc
- brzesc nad bugiem — Polish name of Brest Litovsk.
- building labourer — an unskilled worker on construction sites
- california nutmeg — a tall, pungently aromatic California evergreen tree, Torreya californica, of the yew family, having a fissured, gray-brown bark and small, purple-streaked, green fruit.
- cantilever bridge — a bridge having spans that are constructed as cantilevers and often a suspended span or spans, each end of which rests on one end of a cantilever span
- carbon offsetting — a program in which a company, country, etc., reduces or offsets its carbon emissions through the funding of activities and projects that improve the environment: Carbon offsetting does not always have a quantifiable impact on the planet.
- carbonic-acid gas — carbon dioxide
- carboxyhemoglobin — a compound formed in the blood when carbon monoxide occupies the positions on the hemoglobin molecule normally taken by oxygen, resulting in cellular oxygen starvation
- cardinal grosbeak — any of various mostly tropical American buntings, such as the cardinal and pyrrhuloxia, the males of which have brightly coloured plumage
- cardiogenic shock — a type of shock caused by decreased cardiac output despite adequate blood volume, owing to a disease of the heart itself, as myocardial infarction, or any other factor that interferes with the filling or emptying of the heart.
- carrying capacity — the maximum number of individuals that an area of land can support, usually determined by their food requirements
- casting the runes — (jargon) What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program because it never works for anyone else; especially used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. Compare incantation, runes, examining the entrails; also see the AI koan about Tom Knight.
- categoric contact — behavior toward an individual on the basis of the type or group of people that person represents rather than on the basis of personal makeup.
- cathedral ceiling — a high ceiling formed by or suggesting an open-timbered roof.
- center of gravity — The center of gravity of an object is a point in it. If this point is above the base of the object, it stays stable, rather than falling over.