17-letter words containing t, h, e, l
- lost in the noise — Synonym lost in the underflow. This term is from signal processing, where signals of very small amplitude cannot be separated from low-intensity noise in the system. Though popular among hackers, it is not confined to hackerdom; physicists, engineers, astronomers, and statisticians all use it.
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- lower paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- lymphadenopathies — Plural form of lymphadenopathy.
- lymphocytopoiesis — Lymphopoiesis.
- maintained school — a school financially supported by the state
- make light of sth — If you make light of something, you treat it as though it is not serious or important, when in fact it is.
- make the dust fly — earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
- manchester school — a school of economists in England in the first half of the 19th century, devoted to free trade and the repeal of the Corn Law, led by Richard Cobden and John Bright.
- margaret hamilton — (person) (born 1936-08-17) A computer scientist, systems engineer and business owner, credited with coining the term software engineering. Margaret Hamilton published over 130 papers, proceedings and reports about the 60 projects and six major programs in which she has been involved. In 1965 she became Director of Software Programming at MIT's Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. At NASA, Hamilton pioneered the Apollo on-board guidance software that navigated to and landed on the Moon and formed the basis for software used in later missions. At the time, programming was a hands-on, engineering descipline; computer science and software engineering barely existed. Hamilton produced innovations in system design and software development, enterprise and process modelling, development paradigms, formal systems modelling languages, system-oriented objects for systems modelling and development, automated life-cycle environments, software reliability, software reuse, domain analysis, correctness by built-in language properties, open architecture techniques for robust systems, full life-cycle automation, quality assurance, seamless integration, error detection and recovery, man-machine interface systems, operating systems, end-to-end testing and life-cycle management. She developed concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and Human-in-the-loop decision capability, which became the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design. The Apollo 11 moon landing would have aborted when spurious data threatened to overload the computer, but thanks to the innovative asynchronous, priority based scheduling, it eliminated the unnecessary processing and completed the landing successfully. In 1986, she founded Hamilton Technologies, Inc., developed around the Universal Systems Language and her systems and software design paradigm of Development Before the Fact (DBTF).
- may/might as well — If you say that you might as well do something, or that you may as well do it, you mean that you will do it although you do not have a strong desire to do it and may even feel slightly unwilling to do it.
- mechanical tissue — a plant tissue made up of hard, thick-walled cells that add strength to an organ
- mechanoelectrical — Describing the production of electricity by mechanical motion; especially in a transducer.
- medium close shot — a shot taken fairly close to the subject, but not as close as a close-up
- memetic algorithm — (algorithm) A genetic algorithm or evolutionary algorithm which includes a non-genetic local search to improve genotypes. The term comes from the Richard Dawkin's term "meme". One big difference between memes and genes is that memes are processed and possibly improved by the people that hold them - something that cannot happen to genes. It is this advantage that the memetic algorithm has over simple genetic or evolutionary algorithms. These algorithms are useful in solving complex problems, such as the "Travelling Salesman Problem," which involves finding the shortest path through a large number of nodes, or in creating artificial life to test evolutionary theories. Memetic algorithms are one kind of metaheuristic. (07 July 1997)
- mental arithmetic — sums done in your head
- metabolic pathway — biochemistry: sequence of reactions within a cell or organism
- methemoglobinemia — (medicine) A form of toxic anemia characterized by the presence of methemoglobin in the blood.
- methyl isocyanate — Chemistry. a highly toxic, flammable, colorless liquid, CH 3 NCO, used as an intermediate in the manufacture of pesticides: in 1984, the accidental release of a cloud of this gas in Bhopal, India, killed more than 1700 people and injured over 200,000.
- methyl salicylate — a colorless, water-soluble liquid, C 8 H 8 O 3 , produced synthetically or by maceration and subsequent distillation from birch or gaultheria: used chiefly in perfumery and flavoring, and in medicine as a counterirritant in external preparations.
- methylacetic acid — propionic acid.
- methylidyne group — the trivalent group ≡CH.
- methylnaphthalene — a compound, C 1 1 H 1 0 , whose alpha isomer, a colorless liquid, is used in determining cetane numbers.
- methyltheobromine — caffeine.
- methyltransferase — any of a class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of methyl groups from one molecule to another.
- mill on the floss — a novel (1860) by George Eliot.
- minion of the law — a policeman.
- miss lonelyhearts — a novel (1933) by Nathanael West.
- modern pentathlon — an athletic contest consisting of five different events: horse riding with jumps, fencing with electric épée, freestyle swimming, pistol shooting, and cross-country running
- modulo arithmetic — modular arithmetic
- monarch butterfly — a large, deep-orange butterfly, Danaus plexippus, having black and white markings, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of milkweed.
- mont-saint-michel — a rocky islet near the coast of NW France, in an inlet of the Gulf of St. Malo: famous abbey and fortress.
- more than usually — You use more than usually to show that something shows even more of a particular quality than it normally does.
- mother spleenwort — a fern, Asplenium bulbiferum, of tropical Africa and Australasia, the fronds often bearing bulbils that sprout into new plants while still attached, grown as an ornamental.
- mystical theology — the branch of theology dealing with mysticism and mystical experiences.
- nanotechnological — Of, pertaining to, or by means of nanotechnology.
- nathaniel currier — Nathaniel, 1813–88, U.S. lithographer. Compare Ives (def 4).
- national heritage — country's cultural legacy
- national seashore — an area of seacoast set aside and maintained by the U.S. government for purposes of recreation or wildlife study.
- neath port talbot — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of West Glamorgan in 1996. Administrative centre: Port Talbot. Pop: 135 300 (2003 est). Area: 439 sq km (169 sq miles)
- negative theology — a theological approach or tradition in which the nature of God is thought to be unknowable and is only understood through negative statements. See also apophasis (def 2).
- neo-malthusianism — a view or doctrine advocating population control, especially by contraception.
- neo-scholasticism — a contemporary application of Scholasticism to modern problems and life.
- nephelometrically — By means of nephelometry.
- neuropathological — (medicine) Of, pertaining to, or arising from neuropathology, the pathology of nerve tissue.
- neurophysiologist — the branch of physiology dealing with the functions of the nervous system.
- neuropsychologist — A neurologist or psychologist whose speciality is neuropsychology.
- nightshade family — the plant family Solanaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, trees, shrubs, and vines having alternate, simple or pinnate leaves, conspicuous flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including belladonna, eggplant, nightshade, peppers of the genus Capsicum, petunia, potato, tobacco, and tomato.
- non-thermoplastic — soft and pliable when heated, as some plastics, without any change of the inherent properties.
- nonaccomplishment — Something that does not achieve the intended goal.