14-letter words containing n, o, s, c, r
- sclerotization — the state of being sclerotized.
- sconcheon arch — an archway that includes the sconcheons of a door or window.
- scoresby sound — a heavily indented arm of the Norwegian Sea in E Greenland.
- scorpion grass — either of two small Old World plants, Myosotis sylvatica or M. scorpioides, of the borage family, having a light-blue flower commonly regarded as an emblem of constancy and friendship.
- scotch furnace — ore hearth.
- scratch monkey — (humour) As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a scratch monkey", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky operation as a replacement for some precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed. This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when a DEC engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. It is reported that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the field circus manager responsible and asked him sweetly, "Can you swim?" Not all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless droids at the local "humane" society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. A corespondent adds: The details you give are somewhat consistent with the version I recall from the Digital "War Stories" notesfile, but the name "Mabel" and the swimming bit were not mentioned, IIRC. Also, there's a very detailed account that claims that three monkies died in the incident, not just one. I believe Eric Postpischil wrote the original story at DEC, so his coming back with a different version leads me to wonder whether there ever was a real Scratch Monkey incident.
- screen goddess — a film actress who is adored or idealized, esp by men
- screen popping — (communications) The use of CTI to make customer data appear on a call centre terminal at the same time as the customer call is transferred.
- screen process — a method of printing using a fine mesh of silk, nylon, etc, treated with an impermeable coating except in the areas through which ink is subsequently forced onto the paper behind
- screening room — a room where films are screened for a private audience
- screw conveyor — a device for moving loose materials, consisting of a shaft with a broad, helically wound blade rotating in a tube or trough.
- scrutinization — to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
- scsi initiator — (hardware) A device that begins a SCSI transaction by issuing a command to another device (the SCSI target), giving it a task to perform. Typically a SCSI host adapter is the initiator but targets may also become initiators.
- scsi reconnect — (hardware) The ability of a SCSI initiator to initiate new transactions before earlier ones have completed. A target or initiator can disconnect from the bus when it experiences a delay in completing a task so that another device can use the bus. It can reconnect later and complete the task.
- second chamber — the parliament of the Netherlands, consisting of an upper chamber (First Chamber) and a lower chamber (Second Chamber)
- second reading — the stage in the consideration of a legislative bill that provides an opportunity for debate and amendment.
- second service — the communion service: so called because it follows Morning Prayer.
- secondary beam — a beam of particles of one kind selected from the group of particles produced when a beam of particles from an accelerator (primary beam) strikes a target.
- secondary cell — storage cell.
- secondary gain — any advantage, as increased attention, disability benefits, or release from unpleasant responsibilities, obtained as a result of having an illness (distinguished from primary gain).
- secondary road — a road less important than a main road or highway.
- secondary wall — the innermost part of a plant cell wall, deposited after the wall has ceased to increase in surface area.
- secondary wave — a transverse earthquake wave that travels through the interior of the earth and is usually the second conspicuous wave to reach a seismograph.
- secularization — to make secular; separate from religious or spiritual connection or influences; make worldly or unspiritual; imbue with secularism.
- securitization — the use of such securities as eurobonds to enable investors to lend directly to borrowers with a minimum of risk but without using banks as intermediaries
- selection rule — any of several rules designating allowed transitions between quantum states in terms of the quantum numbers associated with the states.
- self-direction — the act or an instance of directing.
- self-enforcing — of or having the capability of enforcement within oneself or itself; self-regulating.
- self-reckoning — count; computation; calculation.
- self-recording — recording automatically, as an instrument.
- semi-nocturnal — active at night (opposed to diurnal): nocturnal animals.
- senior citizen — an elderly or aged person, especially one who is retired.
- senior service — the Royal Navy
- sensory cortex — the region of the cerebral cortex concerned with receiving and interpreting sensory information from various parts of the body.
- serbo-croatian — a Slavic language spoken in Serbia and Croatia, usually written with Cyrillic letters in Serbia but with Roman letters in Croatia.
- sericitization — the process of transforming into sericite
- seroconversion — the process of producing antibodies in response to a specific antigen
- serodiscordant — pertaining to a relationship with one HIV-positive partner and one HIV-negative partner.
- servomechanism — an electronic control system in which a hydraulic, pneumatic, or other type of controlling mechanism is actuated and controlled by a low-energy signal.
- short covering — purchases that close out short sales on stocks or commodities.
- shower curtain — waterproof sheet around a shower
- size reduction — Size reduction is a process in which the particle size of a solid is made smaller.
- ski instructor — sb who teaches skiing
- sleeping porch — a porch enclosed with glass or screening or a room with open sides or a row of windows used for sleeping in the open air.
- sliding vector — a vector having specified magnitude and lying on a given line.
- smart sanction — a sanction intended to affect only a particular area of a country's activities or economy
- social control — Sociology. the enforcement of conformity by society upon its members, either by law or by social pressure.
- social drinker — a person who drinks alcoholic beverages usually in the company of others and is in control of his or her drinking.
- social network — a network of friends, colleagues, and other personal contacts: Strong social networks can encourage healthy behaviors.
- social sharing — the activity of sharing photos, videos, links, etc., on a social-media website, within an interactive application, or through other online channels.