16-letter words containing s, a, l, d, p
- display standard — (hardware, standard) IBM and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display standards for IBM PCs. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "graphics adaptor") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an EGA board can also do CGA and MDA. With the PS/2, IBM introduced the VGA standard and built it into the main system board motherboard. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the 8514 high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided display drivers or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also MDA, CGA, EGA, PGA, Hercules, MCGA, VGA, SVGA, 8514, VESA.
- display terminal — Visual Display Unit
- disposable goods — consumer goods that are used up a short time after purchase, including perishables, newspapers, clothes, etc
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- dolichocephalism — (medicine) The quality or condition of being dolichocephalic.
- domestic prelate — an honorary distinction conferred by the Holy See upon clergy, entitling them to some of the privileges of a bishop.
- drop a bombshell — If someone drops a bombshell, they give you a sudden piece of bad or unexpected news.
- dual citizenship — Also called dual nationality. the status of a person who is a legal citizen of two or more countries.
- dual personality — a disorder in which an individual possesses two dissociated personalities.
- duplessis-mornay — Philippe [fee-leep] /fiˈlip/ (Show IPA), Mornay, Philippe de.
- earthly paradise — Bible: Garden of Eden
- false beechdrops — either of two parasitic or saprophytic plants of the genus Monotropa, especially the tawny or reddish M. hypopithys (false beechdrops) of eastern North America.
- fat-tailed sheep — one of a class of sheep with much fat along the sides of the tail bones, raised for their meat and widely distributed in southeast Europe, northern Africa, and Asia.
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- firework display — a public event at which fireworks are set alight
- full speed ahead — train: at top speed
- garbage disposal — A garbage disposal or a garbage disposal unit is a small machine in the kitchen sink that breaks down waste matter so that it does not block the sink.
- gasoline-powered — using gasoline as fuel
- gold-of-pleasure — a yellow-flowered Eurasian plant, Camelina sativa, widespread as a weed, esp in flax fields, and formerly cultivated for its oil-rich seeds: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)
- hand screw clamp — a screw that can be tightened by the fingers, without the aid of a tool.
- heads-up display — an electronic display of data from instruments or other sources projected at eye level so that a driver or pilot sees it without looking away from the road or course. Abbreviation: HUD.
- health food shop — a shop which sells health foods
- himachal pradesh — a state in N India. 21,495 sq. mi. (55,673 sq. km). Capital: Shimla.
- hold one's peace — the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world.
- hydrophyllaceous — belonging to the Hydrophyllaceae, the waterleaf family of plants.
- indianapolis 500 — a 500-mile oval-track race for rear-engine cars having particular specifications, held annually in Indianapolis, Ind.
- indispensability — absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite: an indispensable member of the staff.
- indisputableness — The property of being indisputable.
- isle of portland — a rugged limestone peninsula in SW England, in Dorset, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and by Chesil Bank: the lighthouse of Portland Bill lies at the S tip; famous for the quarrying of Portland stone, a fine building material. Pop (town): 12 000 (latest est)
- isophthalic acid — a colorless, crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid, C 8 H 6 O 2 , the meta isomer of phthalic acid: used chiefly in the manufacture of resins and plasticizers.
- ladies'-eardrops — lady's-earrings.
- lady of pleasure — a prostitute.
- laserdisc player — a device that plays laserdiscs
- laurentides park — a national park in SE Canada, in Quebec province between the St. Lawrence and Lake St. John.
- leaps and bounds — You can use in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds to emphasize that someone or something is improving or increasing quickly and greatly.
- lizard peninsula — a promontory in SW England, in SW Cornwall: the southernmost point in Great Britain
- mad-dog skullcap — a North American skullcap, Scutellaria lateriflora, having underground stems and one-sided clusters of blue to white flowers.
- menstrual period — the bleeding from the womb that occurs approximately monthly in nonpregnant women of reproductive age
- mineral deposits — amounts of minerals that occur naturally in particular areas
- padded shoulders — (on a garment) shoulders lined, stuffed, or filled out with soft material, esp in order to give them a higher or wider shape
- panel discussion — a formal discussion before an audience for which the topic, speakers, etc., have been selected in advance.
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- pass-band filter — band-pass filter
- pays de la loire — a region of W France, on the Bay of Biscay: generally low-lying, drained by the River Loire and its tributaries; agricultural
- pearls of wisdom — good advice, wise words
- pelagian islands — a group of Italian islands (Lampedusa, Linosa, and Lampione) in the Mediterranean, between Tunisia and Malta. Pop: 6066 (2004 est). Area: about 27 sq km (11 sq miles)
- pelagic division — the biogeographic realm or zone that comprises the open seas and oceans, including water of all depths.
- pentothal sodium — thiopental sodium
- personal details — details about a person such as their name and address
- persulfuric acid — Also called Caro's acid, permonosulfuric acid, peroxymonosulfuric acid, peroxysulfuric acid. a white, crystalline solid, H 2 SO 5 , used as an oxidizing agent for certain organic compounds.