25-letter words containing r, l
- metropolitan area network — (MAN) A data network intended to serve an area the size of a large city. Such networks are being implemented by innovative techniques, such as running optical fibre through subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS. See also Local Area Network, Wide Area Network.
- minimal brain dysfunction — (no longer in technical use) attention deficit disorder.
- mount kenya national park — a national park in Kenya, located in the regions of Mount Kenya that are above 3200 m (10 500 ft); now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park covers 1420 sq km (548 sq miles)
- multi-scene control board — preset board.
- multinational corporation — international business
- multiple mirror telescope — a reflecting telescope on Mount Hopkins, in Arizona, that features six computer-linked mirrors set on a single mount. Abbreviation: MMT.
- my favourite toy language — (jargon, language) (MFTL) Describes a talk on a programming language design that is heavy on syntax (with lots of BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics (e.g. type systems), but rarely, if ever, has any content (see content-free). More broadly applied to talks - even when the topic is not a programming language --- in which the subject matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the sacrifice of any conceptual content. "Well, it was a typical MFTL talk". 2. A language about which the developers are passionate (often to the point of prosyletic zeal) but no one else cares about. Applied to the language by those outside the originating group. "He cornered me about type resolution in his MFTL." The first great goal in the mind of the designer of an MFTL is usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away from contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it in itself. Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is "Has it been used for anything besides its own compiler?". On the other hand, a language that *cannot* be used to write its own compiler is beneath contempt. See break-even point, toolsmith.
- narrow-leaved bottle tree — any of several trees of the genus Brachychiton, native to Australia, characterized by a bottle-shaped swelling of the trunk, as B. rupestris (narrow-leaved bottle tree) or B. australis (broad-leaved bottle tree)
- national enterprise board — a public corporation established in 1975 to help the economy of the UK. In 1981 it merged with the National Research and Development Council to form the British Technology Group
- national insurance number — a number allocated to UK citizens so that they can pay national insurance
- national liberation front — the name taken by nationalist insurgent groups in various countries.
- national portrait gallery — an art gallery in London, established in 1856, displaying portraits and photographs of eminent figures in British history
- national security council — the council, composed of the president, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that determines means by which domestic, foreign, and military policy can best be integrated for safeguarding the national security. Abbreviation: NSC.
- national unity government — a government formed by a coalition of parties, esp in time of national emergency
- neurocirculatory asthenia — cardiac neurosis.
- never do things by halves — If you say that someone never does things by halves, you mean that they always do things very thoroughly.
- new england boiled dinner — boiled dinner.
- newfoundland and labrador — a province of E Canada, consisting of the island of Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador: usually known as Newfoundland until its official long form was adopted as the main name in 2001. Capital: St John's. Pop: 514 536 (2011 est). Area: 404 519 sq km (156 185 sq miles)
- non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic
- normal equivalent deviate — a value x such that the integral of a normal curve over all those values of the independent variable less than x is equal to the given probability.
- northern corn-leaf blight — northern leaf blight.
- nuffield teaching project — (in Britain) a complete school programme in mathematics, science, languages, etc, with suggested complementary theory and practical work
- object relational mapping — (programming, database) (ORM) The software development activity that defines a correspondence between objects in a program and rows in a database table. Atomic object properties correspond to columns in the table, non-atomic data types and relations between objects are represented as foreign keys referring to other tables. An object persistence mechanism is responsible for maintaining the correspondence between objects and the database contents at run-time.
- oblique circular cylinder — a cylinder generated by the revolution of a parallelogram other than a rectangle about one of its sides.
- observational equivalence — Two terms M and N are observationally equivalent iff for all contexts C[] where C[M] is a valid term, C[N] is also a valid term with the same value.
- off-balance sheet reserve — a sum of money or an asset that should appear on a company's balance but does not; hidden reserve
- on the horns of a dilemma — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
- open educational resource — Usually, open educational resources. a piece of content or a tool for teaching or learning, often developed online, that is made available free of charge for anyone to use, revise, adapt, or redistribute. Abbreviation: OER.
- operator control language — (language) (OCL) The batch language for the IBM System/36, used specifically with the RPG II compiler. See also CL.
- ordinary national diploma — a vocational qualification in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. It is the highest level of the BTEC structure and is equal to A-Levels
- organizational psychology — the study of the structure of an organization and of the ways in which the people in it interact, usually undertaken in order to improve the organization
- orpheus in the underworld — a classical operetta; the French name is Orphée aux enfers
- out of kilter, off kilter — If something or someone is out of kilter or off kilter, they are not completely right.
- own or similar occupation — A policyholder's own or similar occupation is the job that they were doing before they became disabled or a job with similar duties and training.
- oxidative phosphorylation — the aerobic synthesis, coupled to electron transport, of ATP from phosphate and ADP.
- page description language — a high-level programming language for determining the output of a page printer designed to work with it, independent of the printer's internal codes. Abbreviation: PDL.
- palo alto research center — XEROX PARC
- palo alto research centre — XEROX PARC
- party political broadcast — A party political broadcast is a short broadcast on radio or television made by a political party, especially before an election. It explains their views and often criticizes other political parties.
- pauli exclusion principle — exclusion principle.
- pci configuration utility — (tool) (PCU) A piece of software for configuring a specific PCI hardware device.
- peripheral nervous system — the portion of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord.
- permanent virtual circuit — (networking) (PVC, or in ATM terminology, "Permanent Virtual Connection") A virtual circuit that is permanently established, saving the time associated with circuit establishment and tear-down.
- personal flotation device — a life preserver, life jacket, or other device for keeping a person afloat in the water. Abbreviation: PFD.
- personal injury insurance — Personal injury insurance is coverage for treatment of injuries to car accident victims, including loss of work income, accidental death, and funeral expenses.
- personal-opinion telegram — a type of domestic telegram sent at the lowest rate with a minimum charge for 20 words or less to elected federal or state officials on a subject of national or regional interest.
- personalized number plate — a car registration plate that has the owner's initials or name on it
- petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy — seaport in E Asian Russia, on Kamchatka Peninsula: pop. 210,000
- please clean my room sign — A please clean my room sign is a sign that a guest in a hotel hangs outside their room to tell the cleaner the room is available for cleaning.
- point-and-drool interface — (abuse) (Or "point-and-grunt interface") A parody of "point-and-shoot interface", describing a windows, icons, and mouse-based (WIMP) graphical user interface. The implication, of course, is that such an interface is only suitable for idiots. See for the rest of us, WIMP, drool-proof paper.