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17-letter words containing s, t, a, i, d

  • disrespectability — Lack of respectability.
  • disruptive action — action performed by protestors, workers, etc that causes the disruption of a service
  • dissipation trail — a clear rift left behind an aircraft flying through a thin cloud layer.
  • dissociated press — [Play on "Associated Press"; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. Emacs has a handy command for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of the Jargon File: wart: A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, "window sysIWYG" and "informash" show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called "travesty generators" have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo.
  • dissolve in tears — weep
  • distance learning — education in which students receive instruction over the Internet, from a video, etc., instead of going to school.
  • distance teaching — teaching via correspondence or the internet, where students are not physically present in a classroom
  • distillers' grain — a by-product of the distillation process for making whisky, used as an animal foodstuff
  • district attorney — an officer who acts as attorney for the people or government within a specified district.
  • double insulation — Double insulation is insulation that consists of both basic insulation and supplementary insulation.
  • dramatis personae — (used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
  • ductus arteriosis — a fetal blood vessel that connects the left pulmonary artery directly to the descending aorta, normally closing after birth.
  • dull as dishwater — water in which dishes are, or have been, washed.
  • dutch east indies — a former name of the Republic of Indonesia.
  • dutch elm disease — a disease of elms characterized by wilting, yellowing, and falling of the leaves and caused by a fungus, Ceratostomella ulmi, transmitted by bark beetles.
  • east grand rapids — a town in W central Michigan, near Grand Rapids.
  • east indian lotus — a southern Asian lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, of the water lily family, having fragrant pink or rose flowers.
  • eastern tradition — any of the philosophies and teachings that derive from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual traditions of the East
  • ectoparasiticides — Plural form of ectoparasiticide.
  • emissions trading — the buying and selling of allowances for pollutant emissions
  • escaping tendency — a property of a gas, related to its partial pressure, that expresses its tendency to escape or expand, given by d(log ef) = dμ/ RT, where μ is the chemical potential, R the gas constant, and T the thermodynamic temperature
  • esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
  • ethinyloestradiol — Alternative form of ethinylestradiol.
  • extraordinariness — The property of being extraordinary.
  • facts and figures — details; precise information
  • faint-heartedness — lack of courage
  • fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
  • false bread-fruit — ceriman.
  • fan-assisted oven — an electric oven in which a fan circulates the air and which uses both top and bottom heat
  • feasibility study — (systems analysis)   Part of the systems develpment life cycle which aims to determine whether it is sensible to develop some system. The most popular model of feasibility study is "TELOS", standing for Technical, Economic, Legal, Operational, Schedule. Technical Feasibility: does the technology exist to implement the proposed system? Is it a practical proposition? Economic Feasibility: is the system cost-effective? Do benefits outweigh costs? Legal Feasibility: is there any conflict between the proposed system and legal requirements, e.g. the Data Protection Act? Operational Feasibility: are the current work practices and procedures adequate to support the new system? Schedule Feasibility: can the system be developed in time? After the feasibility study, the requirements analysis should be carried out.
  • feathered friends — Birds are sometimes referred to as our feathered friends.
  • first commandment — “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”: first of the Ten Commandments.
  • first-aid classes — classes which teach people how to give immediate medical help in an emergency
  • fore-and-aft sail — any of various sails, as jib-headed sails, gaff sails, lugsails, lateen sails, spritsails, staysails, and jibs, that do not set on yards and whose normal position, when not trimmed, is in a fore-and-aft direction amidships.
  • foundation course — A foundation course is a course that you do at some colleges and universities in order to prepare yourself for a longer or more advanced course.
  • fractal dimension — (mathematics)   A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
  • frankenstein food — any foodstuff that has been genetically modified
  • giscard d'estaing — Valéry [va-ley-ree] /va leɪˈri/ (Show IPA), born 1926, French political leader: president 1974–81.
  • go by the wayside — to be put aside on account of something more urgent
  • goldbeater's skin — the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used by goldbeaters to lay between the leaves of the metal while they beat it into gold leaf.
  • graduated pension — the money that an employee receives after retirement if they have paid into the graduated pension scheme
  • grandstand finish — a close or exciting ending to a sports match or competition
  • haitian solenodon — a rare shrewlike nocturnal mammal of the Caribbean, Solenodon paradoxus, having a long hairless tail and an elongated snout: family Solenodontidae, order Insectivora (insectivores)
  • handicap register — a list of the disabled people in its area that a local authority had a duty to compile under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
  • hardware register — (hardware, system administration)   (Or "hardware log") A list of all hardware, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer.
  • heritage industry — an industry that manages the historical sites, buildings, and museums in a particular place, with the aim of encouraging tourism
  • historical method — the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.
  • hit the headlines — be prominently featured in the news
  • homeland security — national defence
  • homogentisic acid — an intermediate compound in the metabolism of tyrosine and of phenylalanine, found in excess in the blood and urine of persons affected with alkaptonuria.
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