24-letter words containing s, e, n, r
- californian spangled cat — a breed of short-haired cat with a spotted coat, bred in California to resemble a leopard in appearance
- canonical encoding rules — (protocol, standard) (CER) A restricted variant of BER for producing unequivocal transfer syntax for data structures described by ASN.1. Whereas BER gives choices as to how data values may be encoded, CER and DER select just one encoding from those allowed by the basic encoding rules, eliminating all of the options. They are useful when the encodings must be preserved, e.g. in security exchanges. CER and DER differ in the set of restrictions that they place on the encoder. The basic difference between CER and DER is that DER uses definitive length form and CER uses indefinite length form. Documents: ITU-T X.690, ISO 8825-1. See also PER.
- carry coals to newcastle — 1st Duke of, Pelham-Holles, Thomas.
- cast pearls before swine — to present something of great interest or value to someone incapable of appreciating it
- cellular multiprocessing — (architecture, parallel) (CMP) The partitioning of processors into separate computing environments running different operating systems. The term cellular multiprocessing appears to have been coined by Unisys, who are developing a system where computers communicate as clustered machines through a high speed bus, rather than through communication protocols such as TCP/IP. The Unisys system is based on Intel processors, initially the Pentium II Xeon and moving on to the 64-bit Merced processors later in 1999. It will be scalable from four up to 32 processors, which can be clustered or partitioned in various ways. For example a sixteen processor system could be configured as four Windows NT systems (each functioning as a four-processor symmetric multiprocessing system), or an 8-way NT and 8-way Unix system. Supported operating systems will be Windows NT, SCO's Unixware 7.0, Unisys' SVR4 Unix and possibly the OS2200 and MCP-AS mainframe operating systems (with the assistance of Unisys' own dedicated chipset).
- cerebrospinal meningitis — an acute infectious form of meningitis caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, characterized by high fever, skin rash, delirium, stupor, and sometimes coma
- cerebrovascular accident — a sudden interruption of the blood supply to the brain caused by rupture of an artery in the brain (cerebral haemorrhage) or the blocking of a blood vessel, as by a clot of blood (cerebral occlusion)
- chain and sprocket drive — A chain and sprocket drive is a type of power transmission in which a roller chain engages with two or more toothed wheels or sprockets, used in engines as a drive from crankshaft to camshaft.
- character set identifier — (character) (CSID) (IBM) A number that identifies a character set.
- chromaticity coordinates — three numbers used to specify a colour, each of which is equal to one of the three tristimulus values divided by their sum
- chronic fatigue syndrome — Chronic fatigue syndrome is an illness that is thought to be caused by a virus, and which affects people for a long period of time. Its symptoms include tiredness and aching muscles. The abbreviation CFS is often used.
- civil service commission — an official body which regulates the wages and working conditions of civil servants and promotes their work
- coal-fired power station — a power station that generates electricity by the burning of coal
- colony collapse disorder — a pathological condition affecting a large number of honeybee colonies, in which various stresses may lead to the abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the hive, leaving only the queen and newly hatched bees behind and thus causing the colony to stop functioning. Abbreviation: CCD.
- compact disc interactive — (storage) (CD-i) An embedded application of CD-ROM allowing the user limited interaction with films, games and educational applications via a special controller.
- compact fluorescent lamp — A compact fluorescent lamp is a small fluorescent lamp (= a tubular light bulb coated with phosphor which produces a bright light) that has a lamp life that is much longer than incandescent lamps.
- compensatory lengthening — the lengthening of a vowel when a following consonant is weakened or lost, as the change from Old English niht [nikht] /nɪxt/ (Show IPA) to night [nahyt] /naɪt/ (Show IPA) with loss of [kh] /x/ (Show IPA) and lengthening of [i] /ɪ/ (Show IPA) to a vowel that eventually became [ahy] /aɪ/ (Show IPA).
- computer design language — (language) An ALGOL-like language for computer design.
- condensed matter physics — the branch of physics that deals with the macroscopic physical properties of matter, especially solids; the study of the electromagnetic, structural, and thermodynamic properties of solids.
- condensed-matter physics — the branch of physics that deals with the macroscopic physical properties of matter, especially solids; the study of the electromagnetic, structural, and thermodynamic properties of solids.
- congestive heart failure — heart failure characterized by weakness, breathlessness, and abnormal congestion in the circulatory system, esp. in the lungs or lower legs
- conservation of momentum — the principle that the total linear or angular momentum in any isolated system is constant, provided that no external force is applied
- consonantal alliteration — the use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word or each stressed syllable in a line of verse, as in around the rock the ragged rascal ran
- constant linear velocity — (storage) (CLV) A way of controlling the rotation of the disks in a disk drive in which the linear velocity of the disk surface relative to the read/write heads is kept constant. In order to achieve constant linear velocity, the disk must rotate faster (at a higher angular velocity) when reading or writing tracks closer to the centre. Having a constant linear read/write speed along the track means that the electrical signal to and from the heads has a constant data rate (bits per second), thus simplifying the timing of the drive electronics somewhat. However, rotating at less than the maximum possible rate sacrifices some potential performance compared to the alternative, constant angular velocity. Also, varying the rate causes more vibration and consumes more energy.
- constantinopolitan creed — a formal statement of the chief tenets of Christian belief, adopted by the first Nicene Council.
- consultant paediatrician — a paediatrician who has attained the rank of consultant
- cooperative multitasking — (parallel, operating system) A form of multitasking where it is the responsibility of the currently running task to give up the processor to allow other tasks to run. This contrasts with pre-emptive multitasking where the task scheduler periodically suspends the running task and restarts another. Cooperative multitasking requires the programmer to place calls at suitable points in his code to allow his task to be descheduled which is not always easy if there is no obvious top-level main loop or some routines run for a long time. If a task does not allow itself to be descheduled all other tasks on the system will appear to "freeze" and will not respond to user action. The advantage of cooperative multitasking is that the programmer knows where the program will be descheduled and can make sure that this will not cause unwanted interaction with other processes. Under pre-emptive multitasking, the scheduler must ensure that sufficient state for each process is saved and restored that they will not interfere. Thus cooperative multitasking can have lower overheads than pre-emptive multitasking because of the greater control it offers over when a task may be descheduled. Cooperative multitasking is used in RISC OS, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh System 7.
- correspondence principle — the principle that the laws of quantum mechanics and of any new theory that may be developed reduce to the laws of Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetic theory when applied to systems in which Planck's constant can be regarded as negligible, wavelengths are comparatively small, dimensions are relatively large, etc.
- cross/step over the line — If you say that someone has crossed the line or has stepped over the line, you mean that they have behaved in a way that is considered unacceptable.
- crypt breakers workbench — (cbw) A freely distributable multi-window integrated workbench of tools for cryptanalysis of files encrypted with the 4.2BSD Unix crypt command. It was originally written by Robert W. Baldwin at MIT.
- data encryption standard — (DES) The NBS's popular, standard encryption algorithm. It is a product cipher that operates on 64-bit blocks of data, using a 56-bit key. It is defined in FIPS 46-1 (1988) (which supersedes FIPS 46 (1977)). DES is identical to the ANSI standard Data Encryption Algorithm (DEA) defined in ANSI X3.92-1981. DES has been implemented in VLSI. SunOS provides a des command which can make use of DES hardware if fitted. Neither the software nor the hardware are supposed to be distributed outside the USA.
- data structures language — (language) A dialect of MAD with extensions for lists and graphics, on Philco 212.
- decentralized processing — the use of word processing or data processing units in stand-alone or localized situations
- decision support systems — (application, tool) (DSS) Software tools to help with decision support.
- definite relative clause — a relative clause with a definite relative pronoun as subordinating word, as that they said in We heard the things that they said.
- delayed control-transfer — (architecture) A technique used on the SPARC processor to reduce the effect of pipeline breaks by executing the instruction after a branch instruction (the "delay instruction" in the "delay slot"). If there is no useful instruction which can be placed in the delay slot then the "annul bit" on the control transfer instruction can be set, preventing execution of the delay instruction (unless the control transfer is conditional and is taken). Annulled branches are indicated in SPARC assembler language by appending ",A" to the operation code. For example, LOOP: ... CMP %L0,10 BLE,A LOOP ADD %L2, %L3, #L4 If the delay instruction is also a control transfer instruction then it gets more complicated. Both control transfer instructions are executed (but not the following instruction) and, assuming they are both taken, control is transferred briefly to the destination of the first and then immediately to the destination of the second.
- destructive distillation — the decomposition of a complex substance, such as wood or coal, by heating it in the absence of air and collecting the volatile products
- destructive interference — the interference of two waves of equal frequency and opposite phase, resulting in their cancellation where the negative displacement of one always coincides with the positive displacement of the other.
- detective superintendent — a police officer who investigates crime and who ranks above a detective chief inspector but below a detective chief superintendent
- dictionary and thesaurus — a dictionary that includes a separate section listing terms with synonyms and antonyms. An online reference site, such as Reference.com, provides immediate electronic access to several dictionaries and a thesaurus as well as to other reference sources.
- differential association — a theory that criminal and deviant behavior is learned through close and frequent association with criminal or deviant behavior patterns, norms, and values.
- digital switched network — (communications) (DSN) The completely digital version of the PSTN.
- diminished seventh chord — a chord often used in an enharmonic modulation and very common in modern music, esp jazz and pop music, consisting of a diminished triad with an added diminished seventh above the root
- dionysius the areopagite — 1st century a.d, Athenian scholar: converted to Christianity by Saint Paul c50.
- diphenylaminechlorarsine — adamsite.
- disestablishmentarianism — a person who favors the separation of church and state, especially the withdrawal of special rights, status, and support granted an established church by a state; an advocate of disestablishing a state church.
- display screen equipment — Visual Display Unit
- disturbance of the peace — a malicious and willful intrusion on the peace and quiet of a community or neighbourhood
- domestic relations court — in some states, a court with jurisdiction over matters involving relations within the family or household, as between husband and wife or parent and child
- domestic-relations court — court of domestic relations.