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

  • 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.
  • document examiner — (hypertext, tool)   A high-performance hypertext system by Symbolics that provides on-line access to their user documentation.
  • dog in the manger — a person who selfishly keeps something that he or she does not really need or want so that others may not use or enjoy it.
  • double pair royal — a set of four cards of the same denomination, worth 12 points.
  • double quatrefoil — a charge having the form of a foil with eight leaves, used especially as the cadency mark of a ninth son.
  • double refraction — the separation of a ray of light into two unequally refracted, plane-polarized rays of orthogonal polarizations, occurring in crystals in which the velocity of light rays is not the same in all directions.
  • double track line — a railway line with double track
  • downward mobility — movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility) as by changing jobs or marrying.
  • downwardly mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
  • downwardly-mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
  • drained of colour — colourless
  • 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.
  • drilling platform — a structure, either fixed to the sea bed or mobile, which supports the machinery and equipment (the drilling rig), together with the stores, required for digging an offshore oil well
  • drinking fountain — a water fountain that ejects a jet of water for drinking without a cup.
  • drive to the wall — to force into an awkward situation
  • drive-by download — an incidence of an unwanted program being automatically downloaded to a computer, often without the user's knowledge
  • ductus arteriosis — a fetal blood vessel that connects the left pulmonary artery directly to the descending aorta, normally closing after birth.
  • early closing day — a day on which most shops in a town or area close after lunch
  • 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
  • echocardiographer — A person who performs echocardiography.
  • echocardiographic — Of or pertaining to echocardiography.
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • ectopic pregnancy — the development of a fertilized ovum outside the uterus, as in a Fallopian tube.
  • ehelp corporation — (company)   A vendor of Microsoft Windows application development tools such as RoboHELP and RoboDemo. EHelp were formerly (around 1997) Blue Sky Software. Address: 7777 Fay Avenue, Suite 201, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. Telephone: +1-800-793-0364, +1 (619) 459 6365. Fax: +1 (619) 459 6366.
  • electric constant — the permittivity of free space, which has the value 8.854 187 × 10–12 farad per metre
  • electricity board — a company which supplies electricity
  • electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
  • electrocardiogram — A record or display of a person’s heartbeat produced by electrocardiography.
  • electrochemically — In an electrochemical manner.
  • electrofiltration — Electrofiltration is a separation process in which an electric field is applied across a filter to improve separation.
  • electromechanical — Of, relating to, or denoting a mechanical device that is electrically operated.
  • electromyographic — Using electromyography.
  • electron affinity — a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to form a negative ion, expressed as the energy released when an electron is attached
  • electronegativity — The tendency, or a measure of the ability, of an atom or molecule to attract electrons and thus form bonds.
  • electroretinogram — A record of the electrical activity of the retina, used in medical diagnosis and research.
  • electrostatically — In an electrostatic manner, by electrostatic means.
  • embroidery thread — a thread used for embroidery
  • 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
  • emotional cripple — someone who is unable to feel or show true emotion and so cannot form relationships with other people
  • empirical formula — a chemical formula indicating the proportion of each element present in a molecule
  • entry examination — the examination people wishing to enter an organization, university, etc, have to take
  • environmentalists — Plural form of environmentalist.
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