18-letter words containing r, i, l, n
- daisywheel printer — (printer) A kind of impact printer where the characters are arranged on the ends of the spokes of a wheel (resembling the petals on a daisy). The wheel (usually made of plastic) is rotated to select the character to print and then an electrically operated hammer mechanism bends the selected spoke forward slightly, sandwiching an ink ribbon between the character and the paper, as in a typewriter. One advantage of this arrangement over that of a typewriter is that different wheels may be inserted to produce different typefaces.
- dead as a doornail — completely dead
- decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
- declaration of war — a formal statement made by one country to another that a state of war now exists between them
- decompartmentalize — to remove excessive compartmentalization from (an organization)
- deliver oneself of — to speak with deliberation or at length
- delmarva peninsula — a peninsula of the northeast US, between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic
- demilitarized zone — an area from which military presence or function has been removed
- dendrochronologist — One who carries out dendrochronology.
- dependent variable — a variable in a mathematical equation or statement whose value depends on that taken on by the independent variable
- developing country — a nonindustrialized poor country that is seeking to develop its resources by industrialization
- development period — a length of time during which a company grows
- devil's paintbrush — a perennial European hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) with leafless flower stalks bearing a cluster of orange-red heads: now a common weed in N U.S. and Canada
- diaminofluorescein — (organic compound) A fluorescein into which two amino groups have been substituted.
- diamondback turtle — any edible North American terrapin of the genus Malaclemys, esp M. terrapin, occurring in brackish and tidal waters and having diamond-shaped markings on the shell: family Emydidae
- dictionary catalog — a library catalog having all its entries, including authors, titles, subjects, etc., in one general alphabetical sequence.
- dielectric heating — the heating of a nonconducting substance caused by dielectric loss when the material is placed in a variable electric field.
- dietary supplement — a substance taken in addition to what you eat in order to promote health
- digital signatures — digital signature
- dimethyltryptamine — a hallucinogenic drug, C 12 H 16 N 2 , with an action of short duration. Abbreviation: DMT.
- directional signal — any of four signal lights on the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right of an automotive vehicle that, when actuated by the driver, flash in pairs on the side toward which a turn is to be made.
- discourse analysis — the study of the rules or patterns characterizing units of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence.
- disorderly conduct — any of various petty misdemeanors, generally including nuisances, breaches of the peace, offensive or immoral conduct in public, etc.
- disproportionality — not in proportion; disproportionate.
- disproportionately — not proportionate; out of proportion, as in size or number.
- distribution class — form class
- division algorithm — the theorem that an integer can be written as the sum of the product of two integers, one a given positive integer, added to a positive integer smaller than the given positive integer. Compare Euclidean algorithm.
- division of labour — a system of organizing the manufacture of an article in a series of separate specialized operations, each of which is carried out by a different worker or group of workers
- dominican republic — a republic in the West Indies, occupying the E part of the island of Hispaniola. 19,129 sq. mi. (49,545 sq. km). Capital: Santo Domingo.
- dragline excavator — a power shovel that operates by being dragged by cables at the end of an arm or jib: used for quarrying, opencast mining, etc
- dramatic monologue — a poetic form in which a single character, addressing a silent auditor at a critical moment, reveals himself or herself and the dramatic situation.
- dressing table set — a set including a hairbrush, mirror and comb, often with silver backs
- drinking chocolate — sweetened cocoa powder
- drug-eluting stent — A drug-eluting stent is a tube placed into a blocked artery that slowly releases a drug to prevent another blockage in the artery.
- dry-powder inhaler — A dry-powder inhaler is a device that delivers medication to the lungs in the form of a dry powder.
- eastern algonquian — a subgroup of the Algonquian language family, comprising the languages spoken aboriginally from Nova Scotia to northeastern North Carolina.
- eclipsing variable — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- ecma international — (body) (Formerly European Computer Manufacturers Association) An industry association founded in 1961 and dedicated to the standardisation of information and communication systems. ECMA edits standards and technical reports. All ECMA publications are available free of charge. The best known ECMA standard is ECMA 262, defining the scripting language ECMAScript.
- eggshell porcelain — a type of very thin translucent porcelain originally made in China
- eighty-twenty rule — (programming) The program-design version of the law of diminishing returns. The 80/20 rule says that roughly 80% of the problem can be solved with 20% of the effort that it would take to solve the whole problem. For example, parsing e-mail addresses in "From:" lines in e-mail messages is notoriously difficult if you follow the RFC 2822 specification. However, about 60% of actual "From:" lines are in the format "From: Their Name <[email protected]>", with a far more constrained idea of what can be in "user" or "host" than in RFC 2822. Another 25% just add double-quotes around "Their Name". Matching just those two patterns would thus cover 85% of "From:" lines, with a tiny portion of the code required to fully implement RFC2822. (Adding support for "From: [email protected]" and "From: [email protected] (Their Name) " brings coverage to almost 100%, leaving only really baroque things that RFC-2822 permits, like "From: Pete(A wonderful \) chap)
- eleanor of castile — 1246–90, Spanish wife of Edward I of England. Eleanor Crosses were erected at each place at which her body rested between Nottingham, where she died, and London, where she is buried
- electric potential — the work required to transfer a unit positive electric charge from an infinite distance to a given point against an electric field
- electrocyclization — (organic chemistry) an electrocyclic reaction.
- electrodesiccation — The drying of tissue, and the prevention of bleeding, using a high-frequency electric current.
- electroluminescent — Having the quality of electroluminescence.
- electronic banking — the transfer of money between financial institutions through an exchange of electronic signals over a network
- electronic editing — editing of a sound or vision tape recording by electronic rerecording rather than by physical cutting
- electronic mailbox — a device used to store electronic mail
- electronic meeting — (messaging) The use of a network of personal computers to improve communication that takes place in a meeting. Electronic meetings are effective with as few as two participants and with over 100 participants. Participants can be face-to-face in a meeting room or distributed around the world. They may all be participating at the same time or different times.
- electronic receipt — An electronic receipt is one created in a computerized cash register, or by an online retailer. It will usually show the date and time, how payment is made, and other details of the sale.