16-letter words containing s, e, m, p
- kiss and make up — be reconciled
- kleptoparasitism — The parasitic theft of captured prey, nest material, etc. from animals of the same or another species.
- knapsack problem — the problem of determining which numbers from a given collection of numbers have been added together to yield a specific sum: used in cryptography to encipher (and sometimes decipher) messages.
- league champions — the team that has come top of the league
- learner's permit — A learner's permit is a license that allows you to drive a vehicle before you have passed your driving test.
- lever escapement — an escapement in which a pivoted lever, made to oscillate by the escape wheel, engages a balance staff and causes it to oscillate.
- light microscope — microscope (def 1).
- limited-stop bus — a bus which only stops at a small number of predetermined stops, rather than on request
- line composition — type produced on a linecaster
- lines per minute — (unit) (lpm) A unit used to measure line printer throughput.
- lump sum payment — money: one-off payment
- lymphangiectasia — (medicine) dilation of the lymphatic vessels.
- lymphangiectasis — Alt form lymphangiectasia.
- lymphatic system — an extensive network of capillary vessels that transports the interstitial fluid of the body as lymph to the venous blood circulation
- lymphatic tissue — tissue, such as the lymph nodes, tonsils, spleen, and thymus, that produces lymphocytes
- lz77 compression — The first algorithm to use the Lempel-Ziv substitutional compression schemes, proposed in 1977. LZ77 compression keeps track of the last n bytes of data seen, and when a phrase is encountered that has already been seen, it outputs a pair of values corresponding to the position of the phrase in the previously-seen buffer of data, and the length of the phrase. In effect the compressor moves a fixed-size "window" over the data (generally referred to as a "sliding window"), with the position part of the (position, length) pair referring to the position of the phrase within the window. The most commonly used algorithms are derived from the LZSS scheme described by James Storer and Thomas Szymanski in 1982. In this the compressor maintains a window of size N bytes and a "lookahead buffer", the contents of which it tries to find a match for in the window: while (lookAheadBuffer not empty) { get a pointer (position, match) to the longest match in the window for the lookahead buffer; if (length > MINIMUM_MATCH_LENGTH) { output a (position, length) pair; shift the window length characters along; } else { output the first character in the lookahead buffer; shift the window 1 character along; } } Decompression is simple and fast: whenever a (POSITION, LENGTH) pair is encountered, go to that POSITION in the window and copy LENGTH bytes to the output. Sliding-window-based schemes can be simplified by numbering the input text characters mod N, in effect creating a circular buffer. The sliding window approach automatically creates the LRU effect which must be done explicitly in LZ78 schemes. Variants of this method apply additional compression to the output of the LZSS compressor, which include a simple variable-length code (LZB), dynamic Huffman coding (LZH), and Shannon-Fano coding (ZIP 1.x), all of which result in a certain degree of improvement over the basic scheme, especially when the data are rather random and the LZSS compressor has little effect. An algorithm was developed which combines the ideas behind LZ77 and LZ78 to produce a hybrid called LZFG. LZFG uses the standard sliding window, but stores the data in a modified trie data structure and produces as output the position of the text in the trie. Since LZFG only inserts complete *phrases* into the dictionary, it should run faster than other LZ77-based compressors. All popular archivers (arj, lha, zip, zoo) are variations on LZ77.
- lz78 compression — A substitutional compression scheme which works by entering phrases into a dictionary and then, when a reoccurrence of that particular phrase is found, outputting the dictionary index instead of the phrase. Several algorithms are based on this principle, differing mainly in the manner in which they manage the dictionary. The most well-known Lempel-Ziv scheme is Terry Welch's Lempel-Ziv Welch variant of LZ78.
- mach's principle — the proposition that there is no absolute space and that the inertia and acceleration of a body are determined by all of the matter of the universe.
- macpherson strut — an automobile suspension-system component that consists of a strut combined with a spring and shock absorber and connects the wheel to the frame of the vehicle.
- magnetic compass — a compass having a magnetized needle generally in line with the magnetic poles of the earth.
- magnetic pyrites — Mineralogy. pyrrhotite.
- magnetoreceptors — Plural form of magnetoreceptor.
- malpractice suit — a lawsuit brought against a professional accused of illegal or unethical practices or neglect of duty
- man and superman — a comedy (1903) by G. B. Shaw.
- mangrove snapper — gray snapper.
- manic depression — bipolar disorder.
- manic-depressive — suffering from bipolar disorder.
- manipulativeness — Quality of being manipulative.
- maremma sheepdog — a large strongly-built sheepdog of a breed with a long, slightly wavy, white coat
- marseille prolog — (language) One of the two main dialects of Prolog, the other being Edinburgh Prolog. The difference is largely syntax. The original Marseille Interpreter (1973) was written in Fortran.
- matthew of paris — c1200–59, English chronicler.
- mechanoreceptors — Plural form of mechanoreceptor.
- megacorporations — Plural form of megacorporation.
- megasporogenesis — the formation and development of megaspores.
- menippean satire — a form of satire that is indirect and nonrealistic in approach and that consists typically of a loosely organized narrative incorporating a series of dialogues between representatives of various points of view
- menstrual cramps — pain in the lower abdomen as well as possibly in the lower back and legs associated with menstruation
- menstrual period — the bleeding from the womb that occurs approximately monthly in nonpregnant women of reproductive age
- metamorphosising — Present participle of metamorphosise.
- methamphetamines — Methamphetamine.
- microencapsulate — (transitive) To embed by means of microencapsulation.
- microenterprises — Plural form of microenterprise.
- microstethoscope — a stethoscope containing an apparatus that greatly amplifies the sounds heard.
- mineral deposits — amounts of minerals that occur naturally in particular areas
- misapprehensions — Plural form of misapprehension.
- miscomprehension — the act or process of comprehending.
- misspecification — An incorrect specification.
- mit lisp machine — Lisp Machine
- mock turtle soup — a rich, clear soup prepared to resemble green turtle soup, made with a calf's head or other meat, seasonings, and often with wine.
- monterey cypress — a tree, Cupressus macrocarpa, of southern California, being pyramid-shaped in youth, but spreading in age: occurs naturally in only two groves on the coast of Monterey County, California, but is cultivated extensively.
- montes apenninus — a mountain range in the first and second quadrants of the visible face of the moon, forming the SE border of Mare Imbrium: about 600 miles (970 km) long.