23-letter words containing r, h, e, a
- descriptive metaphysics — the philosophical study of the structure of how we think about the world
- dichlorodifluoromethane — a colourless nonflammable gas easily liquefied by pressure: used as a propellant in aerosols and fire extinguishers and as a refrigerant. Formula: CCl2F2
- differential psychology — the branch of psychology dealing with the study of characteristic differences or variations of groups or individuals, especially through the use of analytic techniques and statistical methods.
- differential weathering — the difference in degree of discoloration, disintegration, etc., of rocks of different kinds exposed to the same environment.
- direct characterization — the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed by the use of descriptive adjectives, phrases, or epithets.
- director of photography — the person who is responsible for all operations concerning camera work and lighting during the production of a film.
- dishonourable discharge — dismissal from the US armed forces by a court martial as a result of serious misconduct
- do someone's heart good — to make someone happy; please someone
- dr. jekyll and mr. hyde — (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) a novel (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson.
- draw a line in the sand — to put a stop to or a limit on
- drawing exchange format — (DXF) A file format for graphical information, similar to IGES. Commonly used by CAD systems like AutoCAD.
- drummond of hawthornden — William. 1585–1649, Scottish poet, historian, and royalist pamphleteer
- earthquake-proof design — Earthquake-proof design is design which will not be badly damaged by earthquakes or tsunamis.
- eastern orthodox church — Orthodox Church (def 1).
- electroencephalographer — A specialist in electroencephalography.
- electroencephalographic — Of or pertaining to electroencephalography or electroencephalographs.
- electrophotographically — In an electrophotographic manner; by means of electrophotography.
- electrostatic discharge — (hardware, testing) (ESD) One kind of test that hardware usually has to pass to prove it is suitable for sale and use. The hardware must still work after is has been subjected to some level of electrostatic discharge. Some organisations have their own ESD requirements which hardware must meet before it will be considered for purchase. Different countries have different legal regulations about levels of ESD. See also Radio Frequency Interference, Electromagnetic Compatibility.
- embarrassment of riches — If you say that someone has an embarrassment of riches, you mean that they have so many good things that these things are a problem.
- embden-meyerhof pathway — the metabolic reaction sequence in glycolysis by which glucose is converted to pyruvic acid with production of ATP
- encephalitis lethargica — a form of encephalitis, or sleeping sickness, epidemic in the period from 1915 to 1926
- exchange rate mechanism — European financial system
- execute channel program — (operating system) (EXCP) An IBM system for low-level file access, where the programmer is completely responsible for providing a list of device-specific "channel comands" to be executed by I/O channels, control units and/or devices. The operating system will simply check the "CCW" chains for security purposes (access invalid memory or outside of file extents) and then schedule them for execution.
- experimental psychology — the scientific study of the individual behaviour of man and other animals, esp of perception, learning, memory, motor skills, and thinking
- extended graphics array — (hardware) (XGA) An IBM display standard introduced in 1990. XGA supports a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels with a palette of 256 colours, or 640 x 480 with high colour (16 bits per pixel). XGA-2 added 1024 x 768 support for high colour and higher refresh rates, improved performance, and supports 1360 x 1024 in 16 colours. XGA is probably not the same as 8514-A. See also VESA's EVGA released at a similar time.
- extended reach drilling — Extended reach drilling is drilling a well horizontally to at least twice its vertical depth.
- extravehicular activity — the act or an instance of floating and manoeuvring in space, outside but attached by a lifeline to a spacecraft
- fall between the cracks — to fail to fit into a given agenda or program
- fall through the cracks — to break without complete separation of parts; become fissured: The plate cracked when I dropped it, but it was still usable.
- fendalton shopping cart — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
- fifth marquis lansdowne — Henry Charles Keith, 5th Marquis of Lansdowne, Lansdowne, 5th Marquis of.
- fish in troubled waters — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- for it's/their own sake — If you do something for its own sake, you do it because you want to, or because you enjoy it, and not for any other reason. You can also talk about, for example, art for art's sake or sport for sport's sake.
- foreign exchange market — the market for the international buying, selling and trading of currencies
- foreign exchange office — (communications) (FXO) An analog telephone plug on a handset that receives POTS service from the telephone exchange ("central office") via a Foreign eXchange Subscriber socket and provides on-hook/off-hook indication to the exchange.
- forward exchange market — a market for contracts that specify the exchange rate of a currency to be delivered at a later date
- four colour map theorem — (mathematics, application) (Or "four colour theorem") The theorem stating that if the plane is divided into connected regions which are to be coloured so that no two adjacent regions have the same colour (as when colouring countries on a map of the world), it is never necessary to use more than four colours. The proof, due to Appel and Haken, attained notoriety by using a computer to check tens of thousands of cases and is thus not humanly checkable, even in principle. Some thought that this brought the philosophical status of the proof into doubt. There are now rumours of a simpler proof, not requiring the use of a computer. See also chromatic number
- fraunhofer gesellschaft — (company) (FhG, FhG IIS, Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen) A german company, named after the physicist. IIS is Integrated Circuit Institute. FhG are known for their research on audio compression, especially MPEG-1 Layer-3 (MP3).
- front-end hydrogenation — Front-end hydrogenation is a catalytic process in the early stages of refining which involves the reaction of the carbon-carbon double bond in alkenes with hydrogen.
- function graph language — (language) (FGL) The machine language for the AMPS (Applicative Multi-Processing System) proposed by Robert Keller, Gary Lindstrom and Suhas Patil at the University of Utah.
- gastroesophageal reflux — a chronic condition in which acid from the stomach flows back into the lower esophagus, causing pain or tissue damage.
- german baptist brethren — Church of the Brethren.
- german southwest africa — a former name of Namibia.
- give (or get) the gate — to subject (or be subjected) to dismissal
- give something a rub-up — to smooth or polish something
- grand duchess charlotte — Grand Duchess (Charlotte Aldegonde Elise Marie Wilhelmine) 1896–1985, sovereign of Luxembourg 1919–64.
- grant-maintained school — a school funded directly by central government
- graphical kernel system — (graphics, standard) (GKS) The widely recognised standard ANSI X3.124 for graphical input/output. GKS is worked on by the ISO/IEC group JTC1/SC24. It provides applications programmers with standard methods of creating, manipulating, and displaying or printing computer graphics on different types of computer graphics output devices. It provides an abstraction to save programmers from dealing with the detailed capabilities and interfaces of specific hardware. GKS defines a basic two-dimensional graphics system with: uniform input and output primitives; a uniform interface to and from a GKS metafile for storing and transferring graphics information. It supports a wide range of graphics output devices including such as printers, plotters, vector graphics devices, storage tubes, refresh displays, raster displays, and microfilm recorders.
- great-great-grandfather — grandfather of a grandparent
- greater prairie chicken — either of two North American gallinaceous birds of western prairies, Tympanuchus cupido (greater prairie chicken) or T. pallidicinctus (lesser prairie chicken) having rufous, brown, black, and white plumage.