15-letter words containing s, h, u, n
- hunt the wumpus — (games, history) (Or "Wumpus") /wuhm'p*s/ A famous fantasy computer game, created by Gregory Yob in about 1973. Hunt the Wumpus appeared in Creative Computing, Vol 1, No 5, Sep - Oct 1975, where Yob says he had come up with the game two years previously, after seeing the grid-based games Hurkle, Snark and Mugwump at People's Computing Company (PCC). He later delivered Wumpus to PCC who published it in their newsletter. ESR says he saw a version including termites running on the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1972-3. Magnus Olsson, in his 1992-07-07 USENET article <[email protected]>, posted the BASIC source code of what he believed was pretty much the version that was published in 1973 in David Ahl's "101 Basic Computer Games", by Digital Equipment Corporation. The wumpus lived somewhere in a cave with the topology of an dodecahedron's edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other topologies, including an icosahedron and M"obius strip). The player started somewhere at random in the cave with five "crooked arrows"; these could be shot through up to three connected rooms, and would kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions introduced the wounded wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for players, the movement necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not merely by the wumpus (which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by bottomless pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop you at a random location (later versions added "anaerobic termites" that ate arrows, bat migrations and earthquakes that randomly changed pit locations). This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even older Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like setting and its terse, amusing messages, it prefigured ADVENT and Zork and was directly ancestral to both (Zork acknowledged this heritage by including a super-bat colony). There have been many ports including one distributed with SunOS, a freeware one for the Macintosh and a C emulation by ESR.
- huntingdonshire — a former county in E England, now part of Cambridgeshire.
- hyperinsulinism — excessive insulin in the blood, resulting in hypoglycemia.
- hypoinsulinemia — (medicine) An abnormally low level of insulin in the blood.
- hypoinsulinemic — Having hypoinsulinemia.
- immunochemistry — the study of the chemistry of immunologic substances and reactions.
- immunohistology — the microscopic study of tissues with the aid of antibodies that bind to tissue components and reveal their presence.
- in short supply — If something is in short supply, there is very little of it available and it is difficult to find or obtain.
- in the doghouse — a small shelter for a dog.
- in the doldrums — miserable, depressed
- in the universe — If you say that something is, for example, the best or biggest thing of its kind in the universe, you are emphasizing that you think it is bigger or better than anything else of its kind.
- indistinguished — (archaic) indistinct.
- ingush republic — a constituent republic of S Russia: part of the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Republic from 1936 until 1992. Capital: Magas (formerly at Nazran). Pop: 468 900 (2002). Area: 3600 sq km (1390 sq miles)
- inhomogeneously — lack of homogeneity.
- insight-fulness — characterized by or displaying insight; perceptive.
- irish wolfhound — one of an Irish breed of large, tall dogs having a rough, wiry coat ranging in color from white to brindle to black.
- ivan sutherland — Ivan E. Sutherland is widely known for his pioneering contributions. His 1963 MIT PhD thesis, Sketchpad, opened the field of computer graphics. His 1966 work, with Sproull, on a head-mounted display anticipated today's virtual reality by 25 years. He co-founded Evans and Sutherland, which manufactures the most advanced computer image generators now in use. As head of Computer Science Department of Caltech he helped make integrated circuit design an acceptable field of academic study. Dr. Sutherland is on the boards of several small companies and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, the ACM and IEEE. He received the ACM's Turing Award in 1988. He is now Vice President and Fellow of Sun Microsystems Laboratories in Mountain View, CA, USA.
- jerusalem thorn — See under Christ's-thorn.
- john of austria — ("Don John") 1547?–78, Spanish naval commander and general: victor at the battle of Lepanto.
- john ousterhout — (person) /oh'st*r-howt/ John K. Ousterhout, the designer of Tcl and Tk, and founder of Scriptics. See also: Ousterhout's dichotomy. E-mail: [email protected]
- joint-household — a type of extended family composed of parents, their children, and the children's spouses and offspring in one household.
- judeo-christian — of or relating to the religious writings, beliefs, values, or traditions held in common by Judaism and Christianity.
- keep open house — to be always ready to provide hospitality
- keyes technique — a system of treating periodontal diseases by eliminating specific disease-related microorganisms, primarily through nonsurgical therapy that is regulated and adjusted in accordance with microscopic or cultural findings in subgingival plaque specimens.
- kitchen utensil — a utensil intended for use in a kitchen, such as a chopping board, saucepan, or knife
- knebworth house — a Tudor mansion in Knebworth in Hertfordshire: home of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton; decorated (1843) in the Gothic style
- landeshauptmann — the head of government in an Austrian state
- langston hughes — Charles Evans, 1862–1948, U.S. jurist and statesman: chief justice of the U.S. 1930–41.
- language school — A language school is a private school where a foreign language is taught.
- licensing hours — hours during which alcoholic drinks may be sold legally
- light in august — a novel (1932) by William Faulkner.
- lissencephalous — having the cephalic disorder of a lack of developed brain folds
- louisiana heron — tricolored heron.
- luncheon basket — a basket that you put food in and take somewhere for a picnic
- magnesium light — the strongly actinic white light produced when magnesium is burned: used in photography, signaling, pyrotechnics, etc.
- make the rounds — having a flat, circular surface, as a disk.
- male chauvinism — the beliefs, attitudes, or behavior of male chauvinists (men who patronize, disparage, or otherwise denigrate females in the belief that they are inferior to males and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit).
- male chauvinist — a male who patronizes, disparages, or otherwise denigrates females in the belief that they are inferior to males and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.
- manasseh cutler — Manasseh, 1742–1823, U.S. Congregational clergyman and scientist: promoted settlement of Ohio; congressman 1801–05.
- masculine rhyme — a rhyme of but a single stressed syllable, as in disdain, complain.
- maundy thursday — the Thursday of Holy Week, commemorating Jesus' Last Supper and His washing of the disciples' feet upon that day.
- measuring chain — a flexible length of metal links used in calculating distances
- micropublishing — the publishing of material in microfilm
- mischievousness — maliciously or playfully annoying.
- monochlamydeous — (of a flower) having a perianth of one whorl of members; not having a separate calyx and corolla
- montes riphaeus — a mountain range in the third quadrant of the visible face of the moon.
- most honourable — a courtesy title applied to marquesses and members of the Privy Council and the Order of the Bath
- mount suribachi — a volcanic hill in the Volcano Islands, on Iwo Jima: site of a US victory (1945) over the Japanese in World War II
- mourners' bench — a front row of seats at a revival meeting, for those who are to profess penitence
- multnomah falls — a waterfall on Multnomah Creek in NW Oregon, E of Portland. 611 feet (186 meters) high.