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24-letter words containing s, i, r, u

  • 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.
  • ductal carcinoma in situ — a form of breast cancer originating in the breast itself rather than spreading from another site
  • ecole normale superieure — (body)   (ENS) A higher education and research institution in Paris, France.
  • effective number of bits — (hardware)   (ENOB) An indication of the quality of an analog to digital converter. The measurement is related to the test frequency and the signal-to-noise ratio.
  • effective sound pressure — the square root of the mean of the squares of the sound pressures of a sound wave, measured at a given point over a certain time interval.
  • electromagnetic spectrum — the complete range of electromagnetic radiation from the longest radio waves (wavelength 105 metres) to the shortest gamma radiation (wavelength 10–13 metre)
  • european investment bank — a financial institution of the European Union which is based in Luxembourg and which provides loans, especially to the less economically developed countries of the EU
  • exponential distribution — a continuous single-parameter distribution used esp when making statements about the length of life of certain materials or waiting times between randomly occurring events. Its density function is p(x) = λe–λx for positive λ and nonnegative x, and it is a special case of the gamma distribution
  • failure-directed testing — (programming)   (Or "heuristics testing") Software testing based on the knowledge of the types of errors made in the past that are likely for the system under test.
  • flue gas desulfurization — Flue gas desulfurization is the removal of pollutants containing sulfur from flue gas.
  • free software foundation — (body)   (FSF) An organisation devoted to the creation and dissemination of free software, i.e. software that is free from licensing fees or restrictions on use. The Foundation's main work is supporting the GNU project, started by Richard Stallman (RMS), partly to proselytise for his position that information is community property and all software source should be shared. The GNU project has developed the GNU Emacs editor and a C compiler, gcc, replacements for many Unix utilities and many other tools. A complete Unix-like operating system (HURD) is in the works (April 1994). Software is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which also provides a good summary of the Foundation's goals and principles. The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from distributing its software, although it is a charity rather than a company. Although the software is freely available (e.g. by FTP - see below) users are encouraged to support the work of the FSF by paying for their distribution service or by making donations. One of the slogans of the FSF is "Help stamp out software hoarding!" This remains controversial because authors want to own, assign and sell the results of their labour. However, many hackers who disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large amounts of high-quality software for free redistribution under the Free Software Foundation's imprimatur. See copyleft, General Public Virus, GNU archive site. Unofficial WWW pages: PDX, DeLorie. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Address: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Telephone: +1 (617) 876 3296.
  • get under someone's skin — to anger or irritate someone
  • give hostages to fortune — to place oneself in a position in which misfortune may strike through the loss of what one values most
  • give someone enough rope — a strong, thick line or cord, commonly one composed of twisted or braided strands of hemp, flax, or the like, or of wire or other material.
  • give something houseroom — to have or keep something in one's house
  • 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
  • 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.
  • greenhouse gas emissions — gases given off that damage ozone layer
  • gregorio lopez y fuentes — Gregorio [gre-gaw-ryaw] /grɛˈgɔ ryɔ/ (Show IPA), 1895–1966, Mexican writer.
  • heart is a lonely hunter — a novel (1940) by Carson McCullers.
  • high court of justiciary — the senior criminal court in Scotland, to which all cases of murder and rape and all cases involving heavy penalties are referred
  • high-fructose corn syrup — corn syrup to which enzymes have been added to change some of the glucose to fructose, making the product sweeter than regular corn syrup. Abbreviation: HFCS.
  • 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.
  • ichthyophthirius-disease — ich.
  • immunofluorescence assay — a diagnostic blood test using the technique of immunofluorescence. Abbreviation: IFA.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • investment opportunities — opportunities to make financial investments
  • involuntary manslaughter — the unlawful but unintentional killing of a human being
  • 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 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.
  • knight in shining armour — If you refer to someone as a knight in shining armour, you mean that they are kind and brave, and likely to rescue you from a difficult situation.
  • komi autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NW Russian Federation in Europe. 145,221 sq. mi. (376,122 sq. km). Capital: Syktyvkar.
  • lab for computer science — MIT. http://lcs.mit.edu/.
  • lady washington geranium — show geranium.
  • laugh in a person's face — to show open contempt or defiance towards a person
  • leave much to be desired — be inadequate
  • legal expenses insurance — Legal expenses insurance is insurance coverage against expenses incurred when you need to seek legal advice or pay for a lawsuit.
  • licensed practical nurse — a person who has graduated from an accredited school of nursing and has become licensed to provide basic nursing care under the supervision of a physician or registered nurse. Abbreviation: LPN.
  • like a fish out of water — out of place, out of one's element
  • long-term care insurance — Long-term care insurance is insurance for people who may require long-term health or nursing care, and pays for things such as nursing homes and adult day care.
  • lunar (excursion) module — the component of the Apollo spacecraft used to carry astronauts to the moon's surface and return them to the command and service modules in lunar orbit
  • macintosh user interface — (operating system)   The graphical user interface used by Apple Computer's Macintosh family of personal computers, based on graphical representations of familiar office objects (sheets of paper, files, wastepaper bin, etc.) positioned on a two-dimensional "desktop" workspace. Programs and data files are represented on screen by small pictures (icons). An object is selected by moving a mouse over the real desktop which correspondingly moves the pointer on screen. When the pointer is over an icon on screen, the icon is selected by pressing the button on the mouse. A hierarchical file system is provided that lets a user "drag" a document (a file) icon into and out of a folder (directory) icon. Folders can also contain other folders and so on. To delete a document, its icon is dragged into a trash can icon. For people that are not computer enthusiasts, managing files on the Macintosh is easier than using the MS-DOS or Unix command-line interpreter. The Macintosh always displays a row of menu titles at the top of the screen. When a mouse button is pressed over a title, a pull-down menu appears below it. With the mouse button held down, the option within the menu is selected by pointing to it and then releasing the button. Unlike the IBM PC, which, prior to Microsoft Windows had no standard graphical user interface, Macintosh developers almost always conform to the Macintosh interface. As a result, users are comfortable with the interface of a new program from the start even if it takes a while to learn all the rest of it. They know there will be a row of menu options at the top of the screen, and basic tasks are always performed in the same way. Apple also keeps technical jargon down to a minimum. Although the Macintosh user interface provides consistency; it does not make up for an application program that is not designed well. Not only must the application's menus be clear and understandable, but the locations on screen that a user points to must be considered. Since the mouse is the major selecting method on a Macintosh, mouse movement should be kept to a minimum. In addition, for experienced typists, the mouse is a cumbersome substitute for well-designed keyboard commands, especially for intensive text editing.
  • mari autonomous republic — autonomous republic in the Russian Federation in Europe. 8994 sq. mi. (23,294 sq. km). Capital: Ioshkar-Ola.
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