22-letter words containing t, i, n, b
- metasyntactic variable — (grammar) Strictly, a variable used in metasyntax, but often used for any name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use "foo" or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a scratch file that may be deleted at any time. To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here are a few common signatures: bazola, ztesch: Stanford (from mid-'70s on). zxc, spqr, wombat: Cambridge University (England). shme: Berkeley, GeoWorks, Ingres. Pronounced /shme/ with a short /e/. blarg, wibble: New Zealand Of all these, only "foo" and "bar" are universal (and baz nearly so). The compounds foobar and "foobaz" also enjoy very wide currency. Some jargon terms are also used as metasyntactic names; barf and mumble, for example. See also Commonwealth Hackish for discussion of numerous metasyntactic variables found in Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
- methyl isobutyl ketone — a colorless, slightly water-soluble, flammable liquid, C 6 H 1 2 O, having a pleasant odor: used as a solvent for nitrocellulose, gums, resins, fats, waxes, and oils.
- miniature bull terrier — one of an English breed of small muscular dogs resembling a smaller version of a standard bull terrier, with a short, flat, harsh coat of glossy white or white with brindle patches.
- motorcycle combination — a motorcycle with a sidecar attached
- much ado about nothing — a comedy (1598?) by Shakespeare.
- native elm bark beetle — elm bark beetle (def 2).
- nickel-cadmium battery — a storage battery, with an alkaline electrolyte, having nickel oxide as the positive element and cadmium as the negative.
- non-maskable interrupt — (NMI) An IRQ 7 on the PDP-11 or 680x0 or the NMI line on an 80x86. In contrast with a priority interrupt (which might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is *never* ignored.
- object-oriented design — (programming) (OOD) A design method in which a system is modelled as a collection of cooperating objects and individual objects are treated as instances of a class within a class hierarchy. Four stages can be identified: identify the classes and objects, identify their semantics, identify their relationships and specify class and object interfaces and implementation. Object-oriented design is one of the stages of object-oriented programming.
- object-oriented pascal — Object Pascal
- object-oriented turing — (language) An extension of Turing and a replacement for Turing Plus by R.C. Holt <[email protected]>, U Toronto, 1991. Object-Oriented Turing supports imperative programming, object-oriented programming and concurrent programming. It has modules, classes, single inheritance, processes, exception handling and optional machine-dependent programming. There is an integrated environment under the X Window System and a demo version. Versions exist for Sun-4, MIPS, RS-6000 and others. E-mail: <[email protected]>.
- obligational authority — the necessary authority that precedes budget spending by a government agency or department, granted by Congress through appropriations.
- obstruction of justice — a criminal offence that involves attempting to obstruct the process of law
- obtaining by deception — the offence of dishonestly obtaining the property of another by some deception or misrepresentation of facts
- on a shoestring budget — with very little money to spend
- once bitten, twice shy — You say 'once bitten, twice shy' when you want to indicate that someone will not do something a second time because they had a bad experience the first time they did it.
- out-of-body experience — a vivid feeling of being detached from one's body, usually involving observing it and its environment from nearby
- partial-birth abortion — (term used chiefly by opponents of abortion) D & C.
- peanut-butter sandwich — a sandwich with a filling of peanut-butter
- portable standard lisp — (language) (PSL) A dialect of Lisp from Utah University. PSL is available as a kit for 68000 and also runs on VAX. It compiles Lisp to C-code virtual machine language.
- preestablished harmony — (in the philosophy of Leibnitz) synchronous operation of all monads, since their simultaneous creation, in accordance with the preexisting plan of God.
- probationary assistant — a teacher in the first probationary years
- public domain software — public domain
- public housing project — a group of homes for poorer families which is funded and controlled by the local government
- public limited company — A public limited company is the same as a public company. The abbreviation plc is used after such companies' names.
- pull/bring sb up short — If something pulls you up short or brings you up short, it makes you suddenly stop what you are doing.
- pulmonary tuberculosis — tuberculosis of the lungs.
- punctuated equilibrium — theory of, Biology. a hypothesis holding that the evolution of species proceeds in a characteristic pattern of relative stability for long periods of time interspersed with much shorter periods during which many species become extinct and new species emerge. Also called punctuationalism. Compare gradualism (def 3).
- pyridostigmine bromide — a cholinesterase inhibitor, C 9 H 1 3 BrN 2 O 2 , used in its bromide form in the treatment of myasthenia gravis.
- rabbit-eared bandicoot — any of several bandicoots of the genus Macrotis, especially M. lagotis, of the Australian region, having leathery, rabbitlike ears and a long, pointed snout: an endangered species.
- read between the lines — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- reliable communication — (communications) Communication where messages are guaranteed to reach their destination complete and uncorrupted and in the order they were sent. This reliability can be built on top of an unreliable protocol by adding sequencing information and some kind of checksum or cyclic redundancy check to each message or packet. If the communication fails, the sender will be notified. Transmission Control Protocol is a reliable protocol used on Ethernet.
- replacement cost basis — Replacement cost basis is a method of valuing insured property in which the cost of replacing property is calculated without a reduction for depreciation.
- research establishment — an establishment or institution where research or investigation into a subject, topic, etc, can be conducted
- retroactive inhibition — the tendency for the retention of learned material or skills to be impaired by subsequent learning, esp by learning of a similar kind
- rocky mountain bighorn — bighorn.
- round-table discussion — a discussion held at a meeting of parties or people on equal terms
- rubber-chicken circuit — a monotonous round of dinners, often featuring chicken, that a lecturer or political candidate is obliged to attend.
- sainte anne de beaupre — a village in S Quebec, Canada, on the St. Lawrence River: shrine and basilica.
- sainte-anne-de-beaupré — village in S Quebec, Canada, on the St. Lawrence: site of a Rom. Catholic shrine (established 1658): pop. 3,000
- satellite broadcasting — the transmission of television or radio programmes from an artificial satellite at a power suitable for direct reception in the home
- sb can whistle for sth — If you say that someone can whistle for a particular thing, you mean that you are not willing or able to give it to them.
- scalable sampling rate — (compression, standard, algorithm) (SSR) See, e.g., MPEG-4 AAC SSR.
- scissors-and-paste job — if you describe a piece of work as a scissors and paste job, you mean that it has been mechanically compiled, as if by simply cutting and pasting different parts to make a new whole
- search the fucking web — (web, jargon) (Always abbreviated STFW) A response implying that an inquirer could have easily found an answer to his question using Google or some other web search engine. It is now often quicker and more productive to search the World-Wide Web than to RTFM.
- sell sb down the river — If someone sells you down the river, they betray you for some personal profit or advantage.
- shaken but not stirred — If you say that someone has been shaken but not stirred by an experience, you mean that they have been slightly disturbed or emotionally affected by it, but not deeply enough to change their behaviour or way of thinking.
- simultaneous broadcast — a programme, etc, broadcast simultaneously on radio and television
- sir william blackstone — Sir William, 1723–80, English jurist and writer on law.
- sixteen bit organisers — (communications) (SIBO) Psion's family of PDAs running EPOC, including the MC200, MC400, Series 3 (1991-1998), Series 3a, Series 3c, Series 3mx, Siena, Workabout and Workabout mx.