0%

17-letter words containing o, a, r, s

  • disproportionally — not in proportion; disproportionate.
  • disproportionates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of disproportionate.
  • disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
  • dissipation trail — a clear rift left behind an aircraft flying through a thin cloud layer.
  • dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
  • dissolve in tears — weep
  • district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
  • division of labor — a production process in which a worker or group of workers is assigned a specialized task in order to increase efficiency.
  • doberman pinscher — one of a German breed of medium-sized, short-haired dogs having a black, brown, or blue coat with rusty brown markings.
  • dollars-and-cents — considered strictly in terms of money: from a dollars-and-cents viewpoint.
  • doorstep salesman — a door-to-door salesman
  • douglas engelbart — (person)   Douglas C. Engelbart, the inventor of the mouse. On 1968-12-09, Douglas C. Engelbart and the group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California, USA, presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the on live system, NLS, they had been working on since 1962. The presentation was a session in the of the Fall Joint Computer Conference held at the Convention Center in San Francisco, and it was attended by about 1000 computer professionals. This was the public debut of the computer mouse, hypertext, object addressing, dynamic file linking and shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface. The original 90-minute video: Hyperlinks, Mouse, Web-board.
  • douglas macarthur — Douglas, 1880–1964, U.S. general: supreme commander of allied forces in SW Pacific during World War II and of UN forces in Korea 1950–51.
  • dow jones average — The Dow Jones Average is a daily measurement of stock-exchange prices, based on the average price of a selected number of securities.
  • dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
  • dress-down friday — In some companies employees are allowed to wear clothes that are less smart than usual on a Friday. This day is known as a dress-down Friday.
  • ductus arteriosis — a fetal blood vessel that connects the left pulmonary artery directly to the descending aorta, normally closing after birth.
  • due course of law — the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.
  • early closing day — a day on which most shops in a town or area close after lunch
  • eastern orthodoxy — the faith, practice, membership, and government of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
  • eastern townships — an area of central Canada, in S Quebec: consists of 11 townships south of the St Lawrence
  • eastern tradition — any of the philosophies and teachings that derive from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual traditions of the East
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • edgar watson howe — E(dgar) W(atson) 1853–1937, U.S. novelist and editor.
  • electric constant — the permittivity of free space, which has the value 8.854 187 × 10–12 farad per metre
  • electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
  • electrostatically — In an electrostatic manner, by electrostatic means.
  • elementary school — primary school
  • emergency rations — food and drink that is designated for use in an emergency: for example, in a famine, after a plane crash, when hill-walkers or mountaineers are stranded, etc.
  • emissions trading — the buying and selling of allowances for pollutant emissions
  • ends of the earth — remote regions
  • enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
  • environmentalists — Plural form of environmentalist.
  • ethinyloestradiol — Alternative form of ethinylestradiol.
  • european standard — a specification to be used as a consistent rule or guideline in the manufacture or selling of a certain product or service traded within Europe
  • exclusionary rule — a legal rule that evidence obtained illegally, as from a search without a warrant, may not be introduced at trial
  • extraordinariness — The property of being extraordinary.
  • extrasolar planet — any other celestial body revolving around a star, illuminated by light from that star
  • factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
  • fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
  • fall on deaf ears — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
  • fall over oneself — to do everything within one's power
  • field sales force — a team of people selling a product or service in the field as opposed to over the telephone, etc
  • first call on sth — If you have first call on something, you will be asked before anyone else whether you want to buy or use it.
  • first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
  • first normal form — database normalisation
  • first performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
  • fish out of water — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
  • fitness programme — a plan to help someone improve their health and physical condition
  • flash photography — photography using a momentary flash of artificial light as a source of illumination.
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?