20-letter words containing n, e, c, s
- whyte classification — a system for classifying steam locomotives according to the total number of wheels on the front trucks, drivers, and rear trucks, in that order. For example, a Pacific locomotive is designated as 4-6-2.
- wilson cloud chamber — cloud chamber.
- winter of discontent — the winter of 1978–1979, during which numerous strikes, esp by local authority workers, took place against a background of a government pay freeze
- winter olympic games — an international contest of winter sports, esp skiing, held every four years
- wipe the slate clean — begin afresh
- your marching orders — If you give someone their marching orders, you tell them that you no longer want or need them, for example as your employee or as your lover.
- zero insertion force — (hardware) (ZIF) A kind of socket for integrated circuits. A ZIF socket can be opened and closed by means of a lever or screw. When open, there the chip may be placed in the socket without any pressure at all, the socket is then closed, causing its contacts to grip the pins of the chip. Such sockets are used where chips must be inserted and removed frequently, such as in test equipment. They are more expensive and usually take up more space than conventional IC sockets.