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24-letter words containing u, r, a, e

  • compact fluorescent lamp — A compact fluorescent lamp is a small fluorescent lamp (= a tubular light bulb coated with phosphor which produces a bright light) that has a lamp life that is much longer than incandescent lamps.
  • compiler target language — (CTL) The intermediate language used by the ALICE parallel machine.
  • completely regular space — a topological space in which, for every point and a closed set not containing the point, there is a continuous function that has value 0 at the given point and value 1 at each point in the closed set.
  • compressed petroleum gas — a gas liquefied by compression, consisting of flammable hydrocarbons, as propane and butane, obtained as a by-product from the refining of petroleum or from natural gas: used chiefly as a domestic fuel in rural areas, as an industrial and motor fuel, and in organic synthesis, especially of synthetic rubber.
  • computer design language — (language)   An ALGOL-like language for computer design.
  • computer-assisted makeup — pagination (def 4a).
  • conductometric titration — titration in which the end point is determined by measuring the resistance of the solution to an electric current that is passed through it.
  • configuration management — (job, system management)   A discipline applying technical and administrative controls to identifying, documentating and reporting on configuration items, their physical and functional characteristics and changes to characteristics of those configuration items.
  • congestive heart failure — heart failure characterized by weakness, breathlessness, and abnormal congestion in the circulatory system, esp. in the lungs or lower legs
  • conservation of momentum — the principle that the total linear or angular momentum in any isolated system is constant, provided that no external force is applied
  • consultant paediatrician — a paediatrician who has attained the rank of consultant
  • cooperative credit union — a cooperative group that makes loans to its members at low rates of interest.
  • cooperative multitasking — (parallel, operating system)   A form of multitasking where it is the responsibility of the currently running task to give up the processor to allow other tasks to run. This contrasts with pre-emptive multitasking where the task scheduler periodically suspends the running task and restarts another. Cooperative multitasking requires the programmer to place calls at suitable points in his code to allow his task to be descheduled which is not always easy if there is no obvious top-level main loop or some routines run for a long time. If a task does not allow itself to be descheduled all other tasks on the system will appear to "freeze" and will not respond to user action. The advantage of cooperative multitasking is that the programmer knows where the program will be descheduled and can make sure that this will not cause unwanted interaction with other processes. Under pre-emptive multitasking, the scheduler must ensure that sufficient state for each process is saved and restored that they will not interfere. Thus cooperative multitasking can have lower overheads than pre-emptive multitasking because of the greater control it offers over when a task may be descheduled. Cooperative multitasking is used in RISC OS, Microsoft Windows and Macintosh System 7.
  • curiosity killed the cat — You say 'Curiosity killed the cat' in order to tell someone that they should not try to find out about something which does not concern them.
  • cut a swathe through sth — If a person or thing cuts a swathe through something, they pass through it causing great destruction or change.
  • cut each other's throats — to ruin each other, as by underselling in business
  • data structures language — (language)   A dialect of MAD with extensions for lists and graphics, on Philco 212.
  • dead white european male — a man whose importance and talents may have been exaggerated because he belonged to a historically dominant gender and ethnic group
  • definite relative clause — a relative clause with a definite relative pronoun as subordinating word, as that they said in We heard the things that they said.
  • dejeuner a la fourchette — a luncheon or light meal, especially one at which eggs, meat, etc., are served.
  • destructive distillation — the decomposition of a complex substance, such as wood or coal, by heating it in the absence of air and collecting the volatile products
  • dictionary and thesaurus — a dictionary that includes a separate section listing terms with synonyms and antonyms. An online reference site, such as Reference.com, provides immediate electronic access to several dictionaries and a thesaurus as well as to other reference sources.
  • dionysius the areopagite — 1st century a.d, Athenian scholar: converted to Christianity by Saint Paul c50.
  • display screen equipment — Visual Display Unit
  • disturbance of the peace — a malicious and willful intrusion on the peace and quiet of a community or neighbourhood
  • 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.
  • double overhead camshaft — a pair of overhead camshafts, one to operate the intake valves and the other to operate the exhaust valves. Abbreviation: DOHC.
  • double-crested cormorant — a North American cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, having tufts of black and white feathers on the sides of the head.
  • dynamic adaptive routing — Automatic rerouting of traffic based on analysis of current network conditions. This does not include routing decisions based on predefined information.
  • ecole normale superieure — (body)   (ENS) A higher education and research institution in Paris, France.
  • effort adjustment factor — (programming)   (EAF) A term used in COCOMO to calculate a cost driver attribute's effect on a project. It is the product of the effort multipliers corresponding to each of the cost drivers for the project.
  • 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)
  • electronic configuration — the arrangement of electrons in the orbitals of an atom or molecule
  • entry sequenced data set — (database)   (ESDS) An IBM straight sequential flat file (like QSAM) but externally managed via IDCAMS. ESDS is used in VSAM.
  • equivalence partitioning — equivalence class partitioning
  • 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
  • european monetary system — the system used in the European Union for stabilizing exchange rates between the currencies of member states and financing the balance-of-payments support mechanism. The original Exchange Rate Mechanism was formed in 1979 but superseded in 1999 when the euro was adopted as official currency of 11 EU member states. A new exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) based on the euro is used to regulate the currencies of participating states that have not adopted the euro
  • evolutionary computation — Computer-based problem solving systems that use computational models of evolutionary processes as the key elements in design and implementation. A number of evolutionary computational models have been proposed, including evolutionary algorithms, genetic algorithms, the evolution strategy, evolutionary programming, and artificial life.
  • evolutionary programming — (EP) A stochastic optimisation strategy originally conceived by Lawrence J. Fogel in 1960. An initially random population of individuals (trial solutions) is created. Mutations are then applied to each individual to create new individuals. Mutations vary in the severity of their effect on the behaviour of the individual. The new individuals are then compared in a "tournament" to select which should survive to form the new population. EP is similar to a genetic algorithm, but models only the behavioural linkage between parents and their offspring, rather than seeking to emulate specific genetic operators from nature such as the encoding of behaviour in a genome and recombination by genetic crossover. EP is also similar to an evolution strategy (ES) although the two approaches developed independently. In EP, selection is by comparison with a randomly chosen set of other individuals whereas ES typically uses deterministic selection in which the worst individuals are purged from the population.
  • 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.
  • floating point underflow — underflow
  • flue gas desulfurization — Flue gas desulfurization is the removal of pollutants containing sulfur from flue gas.
  • fray at/around the edges — If you say that something is fraying at the edges or is fraying around the edges, you mean that it has an uncertain or unsteady quality, for example because it is gradually being spoiled or destroyed.
  • 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.
  • french equatorial africa — a former federation of French territories in central Africa, including Chad, Gabon, Middle Congo (now People's Republic of the Congo), and Ubangi-Shari (now Central African Republic): each became independent in 1960.
  • frequent shopper program — A frequent shopper program is one that rewards customers for purchases made on multiple visits, and builds up points entitling them to reduced prices and free items.
  • frequent-flyer programme — a plan or system under which frequent flyers earn rewards for being regular customers
  • general protection fault — General Protection Failure
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