17-letter words containing o, c, a, s
- disidentification — The act of disidentifying, or rejecting a personal or group identity.
- disposable income — the part of a person's income remaining after deducting personal income taxes.
- disqualifications — Plural form of disqualification.
- disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
- 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.
- district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
- egg on one's face — embarrassment due to an obvious blunder
- elastic stockings — something made of elastic which you wear on your legs to aid circulation
- 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.
- encephalomyelitis — Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, typically due to acute viral infection.
- epistemologically — In a manner that pertains to epistemology.
- exclusionary rule — a legal rule that evidence obtained illegally, as from a search without a warrant, may not be introduced at trial
- executive mansion — the White House (in Washington, D.C.), official home of the President of the U.S.
- facsimile catalog — a catalog that includes small reproductions of the items listed, as paintings, slides, designs, or the like.
- 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.
- fashion-conscious — interested in, and wanting to wear, fashionable clothes
- fee-paying school — a school which charges fees to parents of pupils
- 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 performance — the first time that a play or concert is performed
- foolscap envelope — an envelope of dimensions suitable to hold an unfolded sheet of foolscap paper
- foreign secretary — foreign minister.
- forward contracts — Forward contracts are agreements to buy something in the future for a price that has been agreed today.
- foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- frames per second — (unit) (fps) The unit of measurement of the frame rate of a moving image.
- francis of assisi — Saint (Giovanni Francesco Bernardone) 1182?–1226, Italian friar: founder of the Franciscan order.
- francisco pizarro — Francisco [fran-sis-koh;; Spanish frahn-thees-kaw,, -sees-] /frænˈsɪs koʊ;; Spanish frɑnˈθis kɔ,, -ˈsis-/ (Show IPA), c1470–1541, Spanish conqueror of Peru.
- fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- fulgencio batista — Fulgencio [fool-hen-syaw] /fulˈhɛn syɔ/ (Show IPA), (Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar) 1901–73, Cuban military leader: dictator of Cuba 1934–40; president 1940–44, 1952–59.
- functional isomer — any of several structural isomers that have the same molecular formula but with the atoms connected in different ways and therefore falling into different functional groups.
- garlic mayonnaise — mayonnaise flavoured with garlic
- gas chromatograph — a chromatograph used for the separation of volatile substances.
- geological survey — U.S. Government. a division of the Department of the Interior, created in 1879, that studies the nation's water and mineral resources, makes topographic surveys, and classifies and leases public lands.
- geomagnetic storm — magnetic storm.