19-letter words containing s, u, b, c
- developable surface — a surface that can be flattened onto a plane without stretching or compressing any part of it, as a circular cone.
- dry-bulk cargo ship — a ship that carries an unpackaged dry cargo such as coal or grain; bulk carrier
- dutchman's-breeches — a plant, Dicentra cucullaria, of the fumitory family, having long clusters of pale-yellow, two-spurred flowers.
- financial ombudsman — any of five British ombudsmen: the Banking Ombudsman, set up in 1986 to investigate complaints from bank customers; the Building Society Ombudsman, set up in 1987 to investigate complaints from building society customers; the Insurance Ombudsman, set up in 1981 to investigate complaints by policyholders (since 1988 this ombudsman has also operated a Unit Trust Ombudsman scheme); the Investment Ombudsman set up in 1989 to investigate complaints by investors (the Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman is responsible for investigating complaints by personal investors); and the Pensions Ombudsman, set up in 1993 to investigate complaints regarding pension schemes
- foundation subjects — the subjects studied as part of the National Curriculum, including the compulsory core subjects
- functional database — (database, language) A database which uses a functional language as its query language. Databases would seem to be an inappropriate application for functional languages since, a purely functional language would have to return a new copy of the entire database every time (part of) it was updated. To be practically scalable, the update mechanism must clearly be destructive rather than functional; however it is quite feasible for the query language to be purely functional so long as the database is considered as an argument. One approach to the update problem would use a monad to encapsulate database access and ensure it was single threaded. Alternative approaches have been suggested by Trinder, who suggests non-destructive updating with shared data structures, and Sutton who uses a variant of a Phil Wadler's linear type system. There are two main classes of functional database languages. The first is based upon Backus' FP language, of which FQL is probably the best known example. Adaplan is a more recent language which falls into this category. More recently, people have been working on languages which are syntactically very similar to modern functional programming languages, but which also provide all of the features of a database language, e.g. bulk data structures which can be incrementally updated, type systems which can be incrementally updated, and all data persisting in a database. Examples are PFL [Poulovassilis&Small, VLDB-91], and Machiavelli [Ohori et al, ACM SIGMOD Conference, 1998].
- giraldus cambrensis — literary name of Gerald de Barri. ?1146–?1223, Welsh chronicler and churchman, noted for his accounts of his travels in Ireland and Wales
- handlebar moustache — a man's moustache having long, curved ends that resemble the handlebars of a bicycle.
- high-bush cranberry — cranberry bush
- incommensurableness — (rare) Incommensurability.
- internal-combustion — of or relating to an internal-combustion engine.
- knights of columbus — an international fraternal and benevolent organization of Roman Catholic men, founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882.
- liability insurance — insurance covering the insured against losses arising from injury or damage to another person or property.
- magnesium carbonate — a white powder, MgCO 3 , insoluble in water and alcohol, soluble in acids, used in dentifrices and cosmetics, in medicine as an antacid, and as a refractory material.
- membership function — fuzzy subset
- molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
- objectfuscated code — (humour, programming) Object-oriented code which has been abstracted to so many levels that no-one can understand it anymore. A play on obfuscated code.
- obsolescence clause — a clause in an insurance policy that takes account of the obsolescence of the item insured in order to lower the amount to be paid out in the event of a claim
- olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
- optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
- rebus sic stantibus — (of the duration of the binding force treaty) for as long as the relevant facts and circumstances remain basically the same.
- redbrick university — any new or little-known university, especially one built since World War II to educate students in industrial regions, emphasizing technical subjects rather than the classics, and often partially supported by government funds.
- republic of letters — the collective body of literary people.
- semibituminous coal — a coal intermediate between bituminous and anthracite coal in hardness, yielding the maximum heat of any ordinary steam coal.
- sentence substitute — a word or phrase, esp one traditionally classified as an adverb, that is used in place of a finite sentence, such as yes, no, certainly, and never
- southern crab apple — a tree, Malus angustifolia, of the eastern U.S., having oblong leaves, fragrant, pink or rose-colored flowers, and small, round, yellow-green fruit.
- specialized subject — a school or university subject that concentrates on a particular field of knowledge
- stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
- subjective idealism — a doctrine that the world has no existence independent of sensations or ideas.
- subminiature camera — a very small, palm-sized still camera for taking photographs on 16-millimeter or similar film.
- subnuclear particle — any of the elementary particles, including those that do not exist in stable matter but appear as a result of high-energy collisions of other particles or nuclei.
- subsistence economy — an economy which produces only enough output for its own consumption and does not attempt to accumulate wealth
- subsistence farming — farming whose products are intended to provide for the basic needs of the farmer, with little surplus for marketing.
- substitution cipher — a cipher that replaces letters of the plain text with another set of letters or symbols.
- subtractive process — a process of color photography in which the colors are formed by combination of cyan, yellow, and magenta lights.
- telescopic umbrella — an umbrella having parts that telescope
- the buck stops here — the ultimate responsibility lies here
- the compassion club — (in Canada) a nonprofit organization that provides uncontaminated cannabis for medical purposes and natural therapies in a safe environment
- to be up shit creek — to be in an extremely bad situation
- to make a fast buck — When someone makes a fast buck or makes a quick buck, they earn a lot of money quickly and easily, often by doing something which is considered to be dishonest.
- to rack your brains — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- to take the biscuit — If someone has done something very stupid, rude, or selfish, you can say that they take the biscuit or that what they have done takes the biscuit, to emphasize your surprise at their behaviour.
- touch all the bases — to deal with all related details
- transference number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- tubular steel chair — a chair with a frame made of tubular steel
- u.s. robotics, inc. — (company) A US modem manufacturer. Finger: usr.com. E-mail: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> (USA and Canada), <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> (Europe), <[email protected]> (other).