27-letter words containing r, u, n, a, o

public broadcasting service — a network of independent, noncommercial television stations that operate with public and government funding instead of with revenues from advertising. Abbreviation: PBS.
public service broadcasting — publicly-funded broadcasting
public works administration — the U.S. federal agency (1933–44) that instituted and administered projects for the construction of public works. Abbreviation: PWA, P.W.A.
put one's best foot forward — (in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.
respiratory syncytial virus — a myxovirus causing infections of the nose and throat, esp in young children. It is thought to be involved in some cot deaths
rough endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
second-class honours degree — an honours degree of the second class, usually further divided into an upper and lower designation
senile macular degeneration — a type of macular degeneration that is one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly and in which tiny blood vessels grow into the macula of the retina, obscuring vision. Abbreviation: SMD.
someone's days are numbered — If you say that someone's or something's days are numbered, you mean that they will not survive or be successful for much longer.
stand/turn sth on it's head — If you stand an idea or argument on its head or turn it on its head, you think about it or treat it in a completely new and different way.
stanford research institute — Former name of SRI International.
sudden adult death syndrome — the unexpected death of a young adult, usually due to undetected inherited heart disease
symbol manipulation program — (SMP) Steven Wolfram's earlier symbol manipulation program, before he turned to Mathematica.
synchronous optical network — (networking) (SONET) A broadband networking standard based on point-to-point optical fibre networks. SONET will provide a high-bandwidth "pipe" to support ATM-based services. The SONET standard will establish a digital hierarchical network with a consistent worldwide transport scheme. SONET has been designed to take advantage of fibre, in contrast to the plain old telephone system which was designed for copper wires. SONET carries circuit-switched data in frames at speeds in multiples of 51.84 megabits per second (Mbps) up to 48 * 51.84 Mbps = 2.488 gigabits per second. Since SONET uses multiple channels to transmit data, each SONET frame can be considered to be a two-dimensional table of bytes that is 9 rows high and 90 columns deep. For every OC-n level, SONET can transmit n number of frames at a given time. Groups of frames are called superframes. SONET is the American version of SDH.
the forest of fontainebleau — a forest in N France, where the town of Fontainebleau is located
the hunchback of notre dame — French Notre Dame de Paris. a novel (1831) by Victor Hugo.
the odds are in sb's favour — If you say that the odds are in someone's favour, you mean that they are likely to succeed in what they are doing.
thyroid stimulating hormone — thyrotropin. Abbreviation: TSH.
thyroid-stimulating hormone — thyrotropin. Abbreviation: TSH.
to all intents and purposes — something that is intended; purpose; design; intention: The original intent of the committee was to raise funds.
to be bursting at the seams — to be very full
to fight a rearguard action — if someone is fighting a rearguard action or mounting a rearguard action, they are trying very hard to prevent something from happening, even though it is probably too late for them to succeed
to make your blood run cold — If you say that something makes your blood run cold or makes your blood freeze, you mean that it makes you feel very frightened.
to put your thinking cap on — to ponder a matter or problem
to rule sb with a high hand — to behave imperiously towards someone
to run rings around someone — If you say that someone runs rings round you or runs rings around you, you mean that they are a lot better or a lot more successful than you at a particular activity.
to stop dead in your tracks — If someone or something stops you in your tracks, or if you stop dead in your tracks, you suddenly stop moving because you are very surprised, impressed, or frightened.
to take someone by surprise — If something takes you by surprise, it happens when you are not expecting it or when you are not prepared for it.
to turn your back on sb/sth — If you turn your back on someone or something, you ignore them, leave them, or reject them.
tonguing-and-grooving plane — a plane for cutting the edges of boards into tongues and grooves.
united nations organization — the United Nations. Abbreviation: UNO, U.N.O.
united service organization — a private, non-profit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the US military, with programmes in 140 centres worldwide
universal computer protocol — (communications, protocol) An earlier form of External Machine Interface (EMI).
universal naming convention — (networking) (UNC) The type of file system path used in Microsoft Windows networking to completely specify a directory on a file server. The basic format is: \\servername\sharename where "servername" is the hostname or IP address of a network file server, and "sharename" is the name of a shared directory on the server. This is related to the conventional MS-DOS "C:\windows" style of directory name. E.g. \\server1\dave might be set up to point to C:\users\homedirs\dave on a server called "server1". It is possible to execute a program using this convention without having to specifically link a drive, by running: \\server\share\directory\program.exe The undocumented DOS command, TRUENAME can be used to find out the UNC name of a file or directory on a network drive. Even Microsoft don't know whether UNC stands for "Universal Naming Convention" or "Uniform Naming Convention", both appear on their website, sometimes withing the same document, but with a preference for "Universal".
university grants committee — an advisory committee of the British government, which advised on the distribution of grant funding amongst British universities. It was in existence from 1919 until 1989. Its functions have now largely been taken over by the higher education funding councils (HEFCE (England), SHEFC (Scotland), HEFCW (Wales), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland)
virtual machine environment — (operating system) (VME) ICL's mainframe operating system.
weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, biological and chemical arms
yeoman of the (royal) guard — a member of a ceremonial guard for the British royal family, made up traditionally of 100 men

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