19-letter words containing y, e, a
- bit-paired keyboard — (hardware) (Obsolete, or "bit-shift keyboard") A non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33 was a mechanical device (see EOU), so the only way to generate the character codes from keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The design of the ASR-33 assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was pressed. In order to avoid making the thing more of a Rube Goldberg kluge than it already was, the design had to group characters that shared the same basic bit pattern on one key. Looking at the ASCII chart, we find: high low bits bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 010 ! " # $ % & ' ( ) 011 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 This is why the characters !"#$%&'() appear where they do on a Teletype (thankfully, they didn't use shift-0 for space). This was *not* the weirdest variant of the QWERTY layout widely seen, by the way; that prize should probably go to one of several (differing) arrangements on IBM's even clunkier 026 and 029 card punches. When electronic terminals became popular, in the early 1970s, there was no agreement in the industry over how the keyboards should be laid out. Some vendors opted to emulate the Teletype keyboard, while others used the flexibility of electronic circuitry to make their product look like an office typewriter. These alternatives became known as "bit-paired" and "typewriter-paired" keyboards. To a hacker, the bit-paired keyboard seemed far more logical - and because most hackers in those days had never learned to touch-type, there was little pressure from the pioneering users to adapt keyboards to the typewriter standard. The doom of the bit-paired keyboard was the large-scale introduction of the computer terminal into the normal office environment, where out-and-out technophobes were expected to use the equipment. The "typewriter-paired" standard became universal, "bit-paired" hardware was quickly junked or relegated to dusty corners, and both terms passed into disuse.
- blackbelly rosefish — a reddish scorpionfish, Helicolenus dactylopterus, inhabiting the deep waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.
- bottomhole assembly — The bottomhole assembly is the lower part of a drill string, which has the drill bit and mud motor.
- bug tracking system — (programming) (BTS) A system for receiving and filing bugs reported against a software project, and tracking those bugs until they are fixed. Most major software projects have their own BTS, the source code of which is often available for use by other projects. Well known BTSs include GNATS, Bugzilla, and Debbugs.
- buy a pig in a poke — to buy, get, or agree to something without sight or knowledge of it in advance
- by leaps and bounds — with unexpectedly rapid progess
- by one's bootstraps — by one's own efforts; unaided
- cable-stayed bridge — a type of suspension bridge in which the supporting cables are connected directly to the bridge deck without the use of suspenders
- calcium oxychloride — a white powder that decomposes on contact with water and has the characteristic odor of gaseous chlorine: regarded, when dry, as a mixed calcium hypochlorite-chloride, used as a commercial bleach for wood pulp, textiles, oils, and soaps, and in laundering as a decolorizer and disinfectant.
- cannot very well do — If you say that you cannot very well do something, you mean that it would not be right or possible to do it.
- canterbury pilgrims — the pilgrims whose stories are told in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- capacity attendance — a situation when a venue for an event is as full as it can be
- cape york peninsula — large peninsula in NE Australia, part of Queensland, between the Gulf of Carpentaria & the Coral Sea
- catalytic converter — A catalytic converter is a device which is fitted to a car's exhaust to reduce the pollution coming from it.
- catalytic reforming — Catalytic reforming is a process that converts petroleum refinery naphthas to high-octane blending components.
- catch someone's eye — If something catches your eye, you suddenly notice it.
- category management — the management of a range of related products in a way designed to increase sales of all of the products
- cauchy's inequality — Schwarz inequality (def 1).
- celestial hierarchy — hierarchy (def 6).
- cerebellar syndrome — a disease of the cerebellum characterized by unsteady movements and mispronunciation of words
- champagne lifestyle — a lifestyle involving the enjoyment of luxuries and expensive pleasures
- champigny-sur-marne — a suburb of Paris, on the River Marne. Pop: 75 556 (2006)
- chassis dynamometer — A chassis dynamometer is a piece of test equipment fitted with rollers for the wheels of a vehicle, that is capable of providing drive input and measuring output such as power and torque at the wheels.
- chemical dependency — addiction to drugs or alcohol.
- chinese sacred lily — a Chinese amaryllidaceous plant, Narcissus tazetta orientalis, widely grown as a house plant for its fragrant yellow and white flowers
- cholecystolithiasis — The presence of a gallstone specifically in the gall bladder.
- christian democracy — the beliefs, principles, practices, or programme of a Christian Democratic party
- cinematographically — a motion-picture projector.
- cobaltous hydroxide — a rose-red, amorphous, water-insoluble powder, Co 2 O 3 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in the preparation of cobalt salts and in the manufacture of paint and varnish driers.
- college-preparatory — preparing a student for academic work at the college level.
- combination therapy — a therapy that combines two or more drugs, or two or more treatments
- commercially-minded — knowledgeable about business; interested in making money
- common iliac artery — iliac artery (def 1).
- common-iliac-artery — Also called common iliac artery. either of two large arteries that conduct blood to the pelvis and the legs.
- community education — the provision of a wide range of educational and special interest courses and activities by a local authority
- community policeman — a police officer assigned to a particular area
- community programme — (in Britain) a former government scheme to provide temporary work for people unemployed for over a year
- community relations — the particular state of affairs in an area where potentially conflicting ethnic, religious, cultural, political, or linguistic groups live together
- compact disc player — a machine for playing compact discs
- compact disk player — a device for playing compact disks.
- complementary angle — either of two angles whose sum is 90°
- complementary color — Art. one of a pair of primary or secondary colors opposed to the other member of the pair on a schematic chart or scale (color wheel) as green opposed to red, orange opposed to blue, or violet opposed to yellow. Compare analogous color. the relationship of these pairs of colors perceived as completing or enhancing each other.
- complexity analysis — In sructured program design, a quality-control operation that counts the number of "compares" in the logic implementing a function; a value of less than 10 is considered acceptable.
- complimentary close — the part of a letter that by convention immediately precedes the signature, as “Very truly yours,” “Cordially,” or “Sincerely yours.”.
- compulsory purchase — purchase of a house or other property by a local authority or government department for public use or to make way for development, regardless of whether or not the owner wishes to sell
- computed tomography — computerized axial tomography. Abbreviation: CT.
- computer dictionary — Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
- conceptualistically — In a conceptualistic sense.
- continuity equation — the mathematical statement in fluid mechanics that, for a fluid passing through a tube in a steady flow, the mass flowing through any section of the tube in a unit of time is constant.
- contradistinctively — In contradistinction.