25-letter words containing s, e, c, r, t, m
- marcus-valerius-martialis — (Marcus Valerius Martialis) a.d. 43?–104? Roman epigrammatist, born in Spain.
- massacre of the innocents — the slaughter of all the young male children of Bethlehem at Herod's command in an attempt to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18)
- memorandum of association — a document giving details such as the company's name, the purpose of the company, and the address of its registered office that is legally required when incorporating a company in certain countries such as the UK
- message passing interface — (communications, protocol) A de facto standard for communication among the nodes running a parallel program on a distributed memory system. MPI is a library of routines that can be called from Fortran and C programs. MPI's advantage over older message passing libraries is that it is both portable (because MPI has been implemented for almost every distributed memory architecture) and fast (because each implementation is optimised for the hardware it runs on).
- metal oxide semiconductor — a three-layer sandwich of a metal, an insulator (usually an oxide of the substrate), and a semiconductor substrate, used in integrated circuits. Abbreviation: MOS.
- methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet.
- multi-scene control board — preset board.
- multiple mirror telescope — a reflecting telescope on Mount Hopkins, in Arizona, that features six computer-linked mirrors set on a single mount. Abbreviation: MMT.
- national insurance number — a number allocated to UK citizens so that they can pay national insurance
- network computing devices — (company) (NCD) Producer of X terminals, PC-Xware and Z-Mail.
- open systems interconnect — Open Systems Interconnection
- petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy — seaport in E Asian Russia, on Kamchatka Peninsula: pop. 210,000
- phase contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
- phase-contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
- polycystic ovary syndrome — a hormonal disorder in which the Graafian follicles in the ovary fail to develop completely so that they are unable to ovulate, remaining as multiple cysts that distend the ovary. The results can include reduced fertility, obesity, and hirsutism
- polymerase chain reaction — a technique in which a known DNA sequence is synthesized at high temperatures by means of a polymerase, producing millions of copies for statistical analysis: used in DNA fingerprinting, in detecting minute quantities of cancer cells, etc.
- programmed data processor — (computer) (PDP) Early (1960's?) Digital Equipment Corporation family of minicomputers. The best known ranges were the PDP-10 and PDP-11. PAL was the assembly language.
- property damage insurance — insurance against losses arising from damage to the property of others, as in a motor-vehicle accident.
- rate monotonic scheduling — (algorithm) A means of scheduling the time allocated to periodic hard-deadline real-time users of a resource. The users are assigned priorities such that a shorter fixed period between deadlines is associated with a higher priority. Rate monotonic scheduling provides a low-overhead, reasonably resource-efficient means of guaranteeing that all users will meet their deadlines provided that certain analytical equations are satisfied during the system design. It avoids the design complexity of time-line scheduling and the overhead of dynamic approaches such as earliest-deadline scheduling.
- read someone the riot act — If someone in authority reads you the riot act, they tell you that you will be punished unless you start behaving properly.
- really simple syndication — Rich Site Summary
- sequential parlog machine — (SPM) The virtual machine (and its machine code) for the Parlog logic programming language.
- single document interface — (programming) (SDI) A limitation applying to an application program that only shows a single windows giving a view of one document at a time. The opposite is Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
- single wingback formation — an offensive formation in which the wingback lines up outside of and about one yard behind an end, the quarterback lines up lateral to the wingback but about midway between the same end and the center, the fullback is three or four yards behind the middle of the line, and the tailback lines up one yard behind the fullback on the other side of the line from the wingback and quarterback.
- state services commission — (in New Zealand) a government-appointed body in charge of the public service
- stretch one's imagination — If you say that something stretches your imagination, you mean that it is good because it makes you think about things that you had not thought about before.
- sulphate-resisting cement — a type of Portland cement that resists normal concentrations of sulphates: used in concrete for flues and underwater work
- sympathetic introspection — a study of human conduct in which the investigator imagines himself or herself engaged in that conduct.
- the calm before the storm — You can use the calm before the storm to refer to a quiet period in which there is little or no activity, before a period in which there is a lot of trouble or intense activity.
- thermoluminescence dating — a method of dating archaeological specimens, chiefly pottery, by measuring the radiation given off by ceramic materials as they are heated.
- to tear someone to pieces — If someone tears you to pieces, pulls your work to pieces, or picks your work to pieces, they criticize you or your work very severely.
- to try someone's patience — If someone tries your patience or tests your patience, they annoy you so much that it is very difficult for you to stay calm.
- too close etc for comfort — If you say that something is, for example, too close for comfort, you mean you are worried because it is closer than you would like it to be.
- transcendental meditation — a technique, based on ancient Hindu writings, by which one seeks to achieve a relaxed state through regular periods of meditation during which a mantra is repeated. Abbreviation: TM.
- transient ischemic attack — a brief vascular spasm in which a partially blocked artery impedes blood flow to the brain, resulting in symptoms such as impaired vision, dizziness, numbness, or unconsciousness. Abbreviation: TIA.
- tribasic sodium phosphate — sodium phosphate (def 3).
- undisputed world champion — a boxer who holds the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Organization, and the International Boxing Federation world championship titles simultaneously
- uniform resource citation — (web) (URC) A set of attribute/value pairs describing an object. Some of the values may be URIs of various kinds. Others may include, for example, athorship, publisher, datatype, date, copyright status and shoe size. A URC is not normally considered as a string, but a set of fields and values with some defined free formatting.
- world wide web consortium — (web, body) (W3C) The main standards body for the web. W3C works with the global community to establish international standards for client and server protocols that enable on-line commerce and communications on the Internet. It also produces reference software. W3C was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on 25 October 1994. Netscape Communications Corporation was a founding member. The Consortium is run by MIT LCS and INRIA, in collaboration with CERN where the web originated. W3C is funded by industrial members but its products are freely available to all. The director is Tim Berners-Lee who invented the web at the Center for European Particle Research (CERN).
- yakut autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NE Russian Federation in Asia. 1,198,146 sq. mi. (3,103,200 sq. km). Capital: Yakutsk.