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16-letter words containing s, a, g, i, n, m

  • munching squares — A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T - see HAKMEM items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later (re)discovered on the LISP Machine, have been christened "munching triangles" (try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), "munching w's", and "munching mazes". More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as "munching foos". [This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic variable.]
  • mutation testing — (testing)   A method to determine test set thoroughness by measuring the extent to which a test set can discriminate the program from slight variants of the program.
  • nitrogen mustard — any of the class of poisonous, blistering compounds, as C 5 H 1 1 Cl 2 N, analogous in composition to mustard gas but containing nitrogen instead of sulfur: used in the treatment of cancer and similar diseases; mechlorethamine.
  • operating system — (operating system)   (OS) The low-level software which handles the interface to peripheral hardware, schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running. The OS may be split into a kernel which is always present and various system programs which use facilities provided by the kernel to perform higher-level house-keeping tasks, often acting as servers in a client-server relationship. Some would include a graphical user interface and window system as part of the OS, others would not. The operating system loader, BIOS, or other firmware required at boot time or when installing the operating system would generally not be considered part of the operating system, though this distinction is unclear in the case of a rommable operating system such as RISC OS. The facilities an operating system provides and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong influence on programming style and on the technical cultures that grow up around the machines on which it runs. Example operating systems include 386BSD, AIX, AOS, Amoeba, Angel, Artemis microkernel, BeOS, Brazil, COS, CP/M, CTSS, Chorus, DACNOS, DOSEXEC 2, GCOS, GEORGE 3, GEOS, ITS, KAOS, Linux, LynxOS, MPV, MS-DOS, MVS, Mach, Macintosh operating system, Microsoft Windows, MINIX, Multics, Multipop-68, Novell NetWare, OS-9, OS/2, Pick, Plan 9, QNX, RISC OS, STING, System V, System/360, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, TRUSIX, TWENEX, TYMCOM-X, Thoth, Unix, VM/CMS, VMS, VRTX, VSTa, VxWorks, WAITS.
  • operating-system — the collection of software that directs a computer's operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbreviation: OS.
  • overcompensating — Present participle of overcompensate.
  • pension mortgage — an arrangement whereby a person takes out a mortgage and pays the capital repayment instalments into a pension fund and the interest to the mortgagee. The loan is repaid out of the tax-free lump sum proceeds of the pension plan on the borrower's retirement
  • phantasmagorical — having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination.
  • pharmacogenetics — the branch of pharmacology that examines the relation of genetic factors to variations in response to drugs.
  • pharmacogenomics — the study of human genetic variability in relation to drug action and its application to medical treatment
  • physiognomically — the face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character: a fierce physiognomy.
  • punitive damages — law: penalty payment
  • quasi-managerial — pertaining to management or a manager: managerial functions; the managerial class of society.
  • roskind grammars — (tool)   Yacc-based parsers for C and C++ by Jim Roskind. It does not use the %prec and %assoc YACC features so conflicts are never hidden. The C grammar has only one shift-reduce conflict, the C++ grammar has a few more. With byacc it can produce graphical parse trees automatically. The C grammar conforms to ANSI C and the C++ grammar supports cfront 2.0 constructs.
  • saint-ulmo-light — St. Elmo's fire.
  • schmaltz herring — herring caught just before spawning, when it has much fat
  • sea fish farming — the farming of saltwater fish
  • security manager — The security manager of a store is the person responsible for organizing all security in the store and to whom security guards report.
  • self-dramatizing — exaggerating one's own qualities, role, situation, etc., for dramatic effect or as an attention-getting device; presenting oneself dramatically.
  • self-proclaiming — to announce or declare in an official or formal manner: to proclaim war.
  • self-terminating — to bring to an end; put an end to: to terminate a contract.
  • shipping company — business that sends goods overseas
  • shotgun marriage — a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
  • simon boccanegra — an opera (1857) by Giuseppe Verdi.
  • singing telegram — a greetings service in which a person is employed to present greetings by singing to the person celebrating
  • size enlargement — Size enlargement is a process in which the particle size of a solid is increased.
  • slave-making ant — an ant of a species that raids the colonies of other ant species, carrying off larvae and pupae to be reared as slaves.
  • smelting furnace — an industrial oven used to heat ore in order to extract metal
  • smooth breathing — a symbol (') used in the writing of Greek to indicate that the initial vowel over which it is placed is unaspirated.
  • solemn high mass — a Mass sung with the assistance of a deacon and subdeacon.
  • sounding machine — any of various machines for taking and recording soundings.
  • speaking trumpet — a trumpet-shaped instrument used to carry the voice a great distance or held to the ear by a deaf person to aid his hearing
  • spelling mistake — error in writing a word
  • spraying machine — a device for spraying large volumes of liquid, such as insecticide onto crops
  • spring ephemeral — any of various woodland wildflowers that appear above ground in early spring, flower and fruit, and die in a short two-month period.
  • spring mountains — a mountain range in S Nevada extending to the California border. Highest peak, Charleston Peak. 11,919 feet (3635 meters).
  • stamp collecting — Stamp collecting is the hobby of building up a collection of stamps.
  • stocking machine — a type of knitting machine
  • stomach stapling — Stomach stapling is an operation in which part of the stomach is removed in order to help a person to eat less and lose weight.
  • stomach-churning — causing nausea.
  • storage terminal — A storage terminal is a building or area with large tanks for storing oil, gas, and other petrochemical products.
  • subliminal image — an image used in advertising, etc, that is too quick to be registered by the mind but is used to influence the viewer unconsciously
  • swedenborgianism — of or relating to Emanuel Swedenborg, his religious doctrines, or the body of followers adhering to these doctrines and constituting the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church.
  • syncategorematic — Traditional Logic. of or relating to a word that is part of a categorical proposition but is not a term, as all, some, is.
  • tiger salamander — a salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, common in North America, having a dark body marked with yellowish spots or bars.
  • transfer molding — a method of molding thermosetting plastic in which the plastic enters a closed mold from an adjoining chamber in which it has been softened.
  • undiscriminating — differentiating; analytical.
  • vaughan williamsRalph, 1872–1958, English composer.
  • visiting fireman — an influential person accorded special treatment while visiting an organization, industry, city, etc.
  • visual magnitude — Astronomy. magnitude (def 5a).
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