28-letter words containing s, e, t, l, m, n
- second law of thermodynamics — any of three principles variously stated in equivalent forms, being the principle that the change of energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the heat transferred minus the work done (first law of thermodynamics) the principle that no cyclic process is possible in which heat is absorbed from a reservoir at a single temperature and converted completely into mechanical work (second law of thermodynamics) and the principle that it is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of operations (third law of thermodynamics)
- semiconservative replication — replication.
- sexually transmitted disease — any disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact, as gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and chlamydia. Abbreviation: STD.
- simulation oriented language — (language) (SOL) An ALGOL extension for discrete simulation by Donald Knuth and McNeley.
- single sideband transmission — a method of transmitting radio waves in which either the upper or the lower sideband is transmitted, the carrier being either wholly or partially suppressed. This reduces the required bandwidth and improves the signal-to-noise ratio
- smooth endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
- special power of appointment — authority to appoint persons from a particular class to take an estate or interest in property
- spectral luminous efficiency — a measure of the efficiency of radiation of a given wavelength in producing a visual sensation. It is equal to the ratio of the radiant flux at a standard wavelength to that at the given wavelength when the standard wavelength is chosen so that the maximum value of this ratio is unity
- supplemental security income — income provided by the U.S. government to needy aged, blind, and disabled persons. Abbreviation: SSI.
- systems administrators guild — (body, job) (SAGE) A special technical group of the USENIX Association.
- the medical research council — a government body that uses public funds to finance research in medicine
- the world owes them a living — If you say that someone thinks that the world owes them a living, you are criticizing them because they think it is their right to have a comfortable life without having to make any effort at all.
- tissue plasminogen activator — an anticlotting enzyme, naturally occurring in small amounts in the blood.
- to be no let-up in something — if there is no let-up in something, usually something unpleasant, there is no reduction in the intensity of it
- to come to a screeching halt — (of a motor vehicle) to stop suddenly, causing the brakes or tyres to produce a high-pitched sound
- to make a clean breast of it — If you make a clean breast of something, you tell someone the truth about yourself or about something wrong that you have done.
- to make someone's blood boil — If you say that something makes your blood boil, you are emphasizing that it makes you very angry.
- to play into someone's hands — If you play into someone's hands, you do something which they want you to do and which places you in their power.
- to ruffle someone's feathers — To ruffle someone's feathers means to cause them to become very angry, nervous, or upset.
- to take something lying down — If someone takes an insult or attack lying down, they accept it without protesting.
- tree transformation language — (functional programming) (TXL) A hybrid functional language and rule-based language developed by J.R. Cordy <[email protected]> et al of Queen's University, Canada in 1988. TXL is suitable for performing source to source analysis and transformation and for rapid prototyping of new languages and language processors. It uses structural transformation based on term rewriting. TXL has been particularly successful in software engineering tasks such as design recovery, refactoring, and reengineering. Most recently it has been applied to artificial intelligence tasks such as recognition of hand-written mathematics, and to transformation of structured documents in XML. TXL takes as input an arbitrary context-free grammar in extended BNF-like notation, and a set of show-by-example transformation rules to be applied to inputs parsed using the grammar. TXL supports the notion of agile parsing, the ability to tailor the grammar to each particular task using "grammar overrides".
- very small aperture terminal — (communications) (VSAT) A kind of ground station used to contact a communications satellite such as INMARSAT.
- wake up and smell the coffee — to face up to reality, especially in an unpleasant situation
- zeroth law of thermodynamics — the principle that any two systems in thermal equilibrium with a third system are in thermal equilibrium with each other. Compare law of thermodynamics (def 2).