24-letter words containing s, e, n, a
- general purpose language — (GPL) An ALGOL 60 variant with user-definable types and operators.
- geographical determinism — the theory that human activity is determined by geographical conditions
- get one's arse into gear — to start to do something seriously and quickly
- give as good as one gets — If someone gives as good as they get, they fight or argue as well as the person they are fighting or arguing with.
- give hostages to fortune — to place oneself in a position in which misfortune may strike through the loss of what one values most
- give sb a song and dance — A song and dance act is a performance in which a person or group of people sing and dance.
- glycogen storage disease — any of several inherited disorders of glycogen metabolism that result in excess accumulation of glycogen in various organs of the body.
- go (a person) one better — to outdo or surpass (a person)
- gottfried von strassburg — early 13th-century German poet; author of the incomplete epic Tristan and Isolde, the version of the legend that served as the basis of Wagner's opera
- graduated pension scheme — (between 1961 and 1975) an earnings-related pension scheme which was based on the amount of an employee's National Insurance contributions
- grandfather, father, son — (operating system) (GFS) A backup rotation scheme in which a "grandfather" backup is performed on the first Monday of each month, a "father" backup is performed on every other Monday and a "son" backup is performed on every other day of the week. Grandfather tapes are kept for a year, father tapes for a month and son tapes for a week. The exact schedule (and thus the number of tapes required) may vary, as may the choice of full backup or incremental backup, but the idea is that it should be possible to restore versions of any file of different ages: e.g. yesterday's, last week's or last year's version.
- graphical user interface — a software interface designed to standardize and simplify the use of computer programs, as by using a mouse to manipulate text and images on a display screen featuring icons, windows, and menus.
- great saint bernard pass — St. Bernard, Great.
- greenhouse gas emissions — gases given off that damage ozone layer
- grin like a cheshire cat — a constantly grinning cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- hairdressing appointment — an appointment to have your hair cut, styled, coloured, etc, at a hairdresser
- have (got) sth on the go — If you have something on the go, you have started it and are busy doing it.
- have ants in one's pants — any of numerous black, red, brown, or yellow social insects of the family Formicidae, of worldwide distribution especially in warm climates, having a large head with inner jaws for chewing and outer jaws for carrying and digging, and living in highly organized colonies containing wingless female workers, a winged queen, and, during breeding seasons, winged males, some species being noted for engaging in warfare, slavemaking, or the cultivation of food sources.
- have at one's fingertips — to have available for instant use
- have one's head straight — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
- have sth up one's sleeve — If you have something up your sleeve, you have an idea or plan which you have not told anyone about. You can also say that someone has an ace, card, or trick up their sleeve.
- have the drop on someone — to have the advantage over someone
- have your eye on someone — If someone has their eye on you, they are watching you carefully to see what you do.
- head and shoulders above — vastly superior to
- heart is a lonely hunter — a novel (1940) by Carson McCullers.
- high bypass ratio engine — a type of by-pass engine in which a large fan driven by a turbine and housed in a short duct forces air rearwards around the exhaust gases in order to increase the propulsive thrust
- hoop-petticoat narcissus — petticoat narcissus.
- house of representatives — the lower legislative branch in many national and state bicameral governing bodies, as in the United States, Mexico, and Japan.
- hyaline membrane disease — respiratory distress syndrome.
- immunofluorescence assay — a diagnostic blood test using the technique of immunofluorescence. Abbreviation: IFA.
- in one's heart of hearts — Anatomy. a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs and slightly to the left and consisting of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae, a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation, a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve, and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.
- in someone's black books — out of favour with someone
- in someone's good graces — elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action: We watched her skate with effortless grace across the ice. Synonyms: attractiveness, charm, gracefulness, comeliness, ease, lissomeness, fluidity. Antonyms: stiffness, ugliness, awkwardness, clumsiness; klutziness.
- in words of one syllable — simply; bluntly
- incomplete metamorphosis — insect development, as in the grasshopper and cricket, in which the change is gradual and characterized by the absence of a pupal stage. Compare complete metamorphosis.
- industrial correspondent — a journalist who specializes in reporting the industrial news
- information superhighway — internet
- instructional technology — (education) Design, development, use, management and evaluation of process and resources for learning. Instructional technology aims to promote the application of validated, practical procedures in the design and delivery of instruction. It is often defined either in terms of media and other technology used (e.g. audiovisual media and equipment and computers), or in terms of a systematic process which encompasses instructional design, development, delivery and evaluation.
- intermediate-level waste — radioactive waste material, such as reactor and processing-plant components, that is solidified before being mixed with concrete and stored in steel drums in deep mines or beneath the seabed in concrete chambers
- internal auditory meatus — the canal extending through the petrous portion of the temporal bone, through which the glossopharyngeal nerve, the facial nerve, and the auditory nerve and artery pass.
- internal revenue service — the division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that collects internal revenue, including income taxes and excise taxes, and that enforces revenue laws.
- international morse code — a form of Morse code used in international radiotelegraphy.
- internet access provider — (networking, company) (IAP) A company or other origanisation which provides access to the Internet to businesses and/or consumers. An IAP purchases an Internet link from another company that has a direct link to the Internet and resells portions of that bandwidth to the general public. For example, an IAP may purchase a T1 link (1.544Mb/s) and resell that bandwidth in chunks consisting of ISDN (64Kb/s, 128Kb/s) and analog modems (14.4Kb/s, 28.8Kb/s). The IAP's customer base is likely to include both businesses and individuals. Individual customers usually connect to the IAP via a modem and telephone line to a (preferably local) point of presence. An IAP may also be an Internet Service Provider.
- involuntary manslaughter — the unlawful but unintentional killing of a human being
- irritable bowel syndrome — any combination of common disturbances of the bowel, as diarrhea or constipation, occurring with abdominal pain, sometimes accompanied by psychological stress. Abbreviation: IBS.
- iterated function system — (graphics) (IFS) A class of fractals that yield natural-looking forms like ferns or snowflakes. Iterated Function Systems use a very easy transformation that is done recursively.
- jewish american princess — JAP.
- jewish autonomous region — an autonomous region in the Khabarovsk territory of the Russian Federation in E Siberia. 13,900 sq. mi. (36,000 sq. km). Capital: Birobidzhan.
- kennelly-heaviside layer — E layer.
- keyed sequenced data set — (database) (KSDS) One of the access methods used by VSAM. KSDS has indexes and data split into CI (Control Interval) in CA (Control Area) and multi index levelled. Forward and backward compression is applied to key values.