22-letter words containing s, e, r, g, a
- devil's darning needle — dragonfly
- digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
- digital versatile disc — (storage) (DVD, formerly "Digital Video Disc") An optical storage medium with improved capacity and bandwidth compared with the Compact Disc. DVD, like CD, was initally marketed for entertainment and later for computer users. [When was it first available?] A DVD can hold a full-length film with up to 133 minutes of high quality video, in MPEG-2 format, and audio. The first DVD drives for computers were read-only drives ("DVD-ROM"). These can store 4.7 GBytes - over seven times the storage capacity of CD-ROM. DVD-ROM drives read existing CD-ROMs and music CDs and are compatible with installed sound and video boards. Additionally, the DVD-ROM drive can read DVD films and modern computers can decode them in software in real-time. The DVD video standard was announced in November 1995. Matshusita did much of the early development but Philips made the first DVD player, which appeared in Japan in November 1996. In May 2004, Sony released the first dual-layer drive, which increased the disc capacity to 8.5 GB. Double-sided, dual-layer discs will eventually increase the capacity to 17 GB. Write-once DVD-R ("recordable") drives record a 3.9GB DVD-R disc that can be read on a DVD-ROM drive. Pioneer released the first DVD-R drive on 1997-09-29. By March 1997, Hitachi had released a rewritable DVD-RAM drive (by false analogy with random-access memory). DVD-RAM drives read and write to a 2.6 GB DVD-RAM disc, read and write-once to a 3.9GB DVD-R disc, and read a 4.7 GB or 8.5 GB DVD-ROM. Later, DVD-RAM discs could be read on DVD-R and DVD-ROM drives.
- directory system agent — (DSA) The software that provides the X.500 Directory Service for a portion of the directory information base. Generally, each DSA is responsible for the directory information for a single organisation or organisational unit.
- dishonorable discharge — the discharge of a person from military service for an offense more serious than one for which a bad-conduct discharge is given.
- distributed generation — A distributed generation system involves a person or company generating some of their power requirements in different ways, such as locally, or using renewable energy, in order to avoid taking it all from the grid.
- dog's dinner/breakfast — You describe something as a dog's breakfast or dog's dinner in order to express your disapproval of it, for example because it is very untidy, badly organized, or badly done.
- dread high bit disease — (character) A condition endemic to PRIME (also known as "PR1ME") minicomputers that results in all the characters having their high bit (0x80, see meta bit) ON rather than OFF. This complicates transporting files to other systems and talking to true 8-bit devices. Folklore had it that PRIME adopted the convention in order to save 25 cents per serial line per machine; PRIME old-timers, on the other hand, claim they inherited the disease from Honeywell via customer NASA's compatibility requirements and struggled heroically to cure it. Whoever was responsible, this probably qualifies as one of the most cretinous design tradeoffs ever made. A few other machines have exhibited similar brain damage.
- east greenland current — a cold ocean current of low salinity flowing south along the east coast of Greenland.
- electroencephalographs — Plural form of electroencephalograph.
- electrophysiologically — In an electrophysiological way.
- emergency road service — a form of motoring insurance that sends assistance to drivers when their vehicles break down on a journey; it is provided either by the national or regional automobile association or by a private insurance company
- enchanter's nightshade — any of several onagraceous plants of the genus Circaea, esp C. lutetiana, having small white flowers and bristly fruits
- engineering consultant — a consultant specializing in engineering
- english cocker spaniel — any of a breed of small spaniel, similar to and the progenitor of the cocker spaniel
- equal rights amendment — a proposed amendment to the US Constitution enshrining equality between the sexes
- examining the entrails — The process of grovelling through a core dump or hex image in an attempt to discover the bug that brought a program or system down. The reference is to divination from the entrails of a sacrified animal. Compare runes, incantation, black art, desk check.
- fall prey to something — To fall prey to something bad means to be taken over or affected by it.
- free and common socage — Medieval History. land held by a tenant who rendered certain honorable and nonservile duties to his lord.
- front of house manager — A front of house manager is responsible for the reception and reservations at a hotel.
- full english breakfast — morning meal of eggs, bacon, etc.
- galvanic skin response — a change in the electrical conductivity of the skin caused by an emotional reaction to a stimulus.
- garmisch-partenkirchen — a city in S Germany, in the Bavarian Alps.
- gastrointestinal tract — organs of digestion
- general public license — (legal) (GPL, note US spelling) The licence applied to most software from the Free Software Foundation and the GNU project and other authors who choose to use it. The licences for most software are designed to prevent users from sharing or changing it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee the freedom to share and change free software - to make sure the software is free for all its users. The GPL is designed to make sure that anyone can distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if they wish); that they receive source code or can get it if they want; that they can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that they know they can do these things. The GPL forbids anyone to deny others these rights or to ask them to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for those who distribute copies of the software or modify it. See also General Public Virus.
- geographic determinism — a doctrine that regards geographical conditions as the determining or molding agency of group life.
- get a word in edgeways — to succeed in interrupting a conversation in which someone else is talking incessantly
- get a word in edgewise — with the edge forward; in the direction of the edge.
- get one's act together — anything done, being done, or to be done; deed; performance: a heroic act.
- give a person what for — to punish or reprimand a person severely
- give something a whirl — to attempt or give a trial to something
- gloria in excelsis deo — the hymn beginning, in Latin, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, “Glory in the highest to God,” and in the English version, “Glory be to God on high.”.
- glossopharyngeal nerve — either of the ninth pair of cranial nerves, consisting of motor fibers that innervate the muscles of the pharynx, the soft palate, and the parotid glands, and of sensory fibers that conduct impulses to the brain from the pharynx, the middle ear, and the posterior third of the tongue.
- glucose tolerance test — a diagnostic procedure in which a measured amount of glucose is ingested and blood samples are taken periodically as a means of detecting diabetes mellitus.
- go for all the marbles — to take a great risk in the hope of a great gain
- go their separate ways — When two or more people who have been together for some time go their separate ways, they go to different places or end their relationship.
- go through one's paces — to show one's abilities, skills, etc.
- go to meet one's maker — to die
- gold-exchange standard — a monetary system in one country in which currency is maintained at a par with that of another country that is on the gold standard.
- graeco-roman wrestling — a style of wrestling in which the legs may not be used to obtain a fall and no hold may be applied below the waist
- graph rewriting system — An extension of a term rewriting system which uses graph reduction on terms represented by directed graphs to avoid duplication of work by sharing expressions.
- gravitational collapse — the final stage of stellar evolution in which a star collapses to a final state, as a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, when the star's nuclear reactions no longer generate enough pressure to balance the attractive force of gravity.
- gravitational redshift — (in general relativity) the shift toward longer wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a source in a gravitational field, especially at the surface of a massive star.
- great australian bight — a wide bay in S Australia.
- great glen of scotland — Glen More
- great salt lake desert — an arid region in NW Utah, extending W from the Great Salt Lake to the Nevada border. 110 miles (177 km) long; about 4000 sq. mi. (10,360 sq. km).
- green around the gills — the respiratory organ of aquatic animals, as fish, that breathe oxygen dissolved in water.
- guanosine triphosphate — GTP.
- guest services manager — A guest services manager at a hotel is responsible for the services and facilities that the hotel provides for its guests.
- gulf of saint lawrence — a deep arm of the Atlantic off the E coast of Canada between Newfoundland and the mainland coasts of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia