27-letter words containing v, s, i
- public service broadcasting — publicly-funded broadcasting
- publius-licinius-valerianus — (Publius Licinius Valerianus) died a.d. c260, Roman emperor 253–60.
- respiratory syncytial virus — a myxovirus causing infections of the nose and throat, esp in young children. It is thought to be involved in some cot deaths
- satellite navigation system — a computer-operated system of navigation that uses signals from orbiting satellites and mapping data to pinpoint the user's position and plot a subsequent course
- seasonal affective disorder — recurrent winter depression characterized by oversleeping, overeating, and irritability, and relieved by the arrival of spring or by light therapy. Abbreviation: SAD.
- sell your soul to the devil — If you say that someone has sold their soul to the devil, you mean that you disapprove of them because they have done something that you think is not right in order to get what they want.
- soviet of the nationalities — (in the former Soviet Union) part of the bicameral legislature of the Supreme Soviet, together with the Soviet of the Union
- storage management services — (storage) (SMS) Software that enables network administrators to route backup data from various devices on a network to another device such as a server or a magnetic tape backup unit. This is done either to make use of a high-capacity storage system such as a tape juke-box or for disaster protection.
- take advantage of something — If you take advantage of something, you make good use of it while you can.
- take someone's name in vain — to use a name, esp of God, disrespectfully or irreverently
- the devil take the hindmost — You can say the devil take the hindmost to describe or comment on a situation you disapprove of because people do only what is best for themselves without thinking about other people.
- the odds are in sb's favour — If you say that the odds are in someone's favour, you mean that they are likely to succeed in what they are doing.
- to give someone a free hand — If someone gives you a free hand, they give you the freedom to use your own judgment and to do exactly as you wish.
- to give something houseroom — If you say that you wouldn't give something houseroom, you are emphasizing that you do not want it or do not like it at all.
- to invade someone's privacy — If someone or something invades your privacy, they interfere in your life without your permission.
- united service organization — a private, non-profit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the US military, with programmes in 140 centres worldwide
- united states naval academy — an institution founded in 1845 at Annapolis, Maryland, for the training of U.S. naval officers.
- universal computer protocol — (communications, protocol) An earlier form of External Machine Interface (EMI).
- universal military training — a program for maintaining a nation's pool of trained military personnel, requiring all qualified citizens to serve for a period of active and reserve duty. Abbreviation: UMT.
- universal naming convention — (networking) (UNC) The type of file system path used in Microsoft Windows networking to completely specify a directory on a file server. The basic format is: \\servername\sharename where "servername" is the hostname or IP address of a network file server, and "sharename" is the name of a shared directory on the server. This is related to the conventional MS-DOS "C:\windows" style of directory name. E.g. \\server1\dave might be set up to point to C:\users\homedirs\dave on a server called "server1". It is possible to execute a program using this convention without having to specifically link a drive, by running: \\server\share\directory\program.exe The undocumented DOS command, TRUENAME can be used to find out the UNC name of a file or directory on a network drive. Even Microsoft don't know whether UNC stands for "Universal Naming Convention" or "Uniform Naming Convention", both appear on their website, sometimes withing the same document, but with a preference for "Universal".
- university grants committee — an advisory committee of the British government, which advised on the distribution of grant funding amongst British universities. It was in existence from 1919 until 1989. Its functions have now largely been taken over by the higher education funding councils (HEFCE (England), SHEFC (Scotland), HEFCW (Wales), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland)
- vice-presidential candidate — a candidate for the position of a person who ranks immediately below the chief executive or head of state of a republic, esp of the US
- you can't have it both ways — If someone says that you can't have it both ways, they are telling you that you have to choose between two things and cannot do or have them both.