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18-letter words containing y, o, h, i

  • hypothesis testing — the theory, methods, and practice of testing a hypothesis concerning the parameters of a population distribution (the null hypothesis) against another (the alternative hypothesis) which will be accepted only if its probability exceeds a predetermined significance level, generally on the basis of statistics derived from random sampling from the given population
  • hysterical reasons — (Or "hysterical raisins") A variant on the stock phrase "for historical reasons", indicating specifically that something must be done in some stupid way for backward compatibility, and moreover that the feature it must be compatible with was the result of a bad design in the first place. "All IBM PC video adaptors have to support MDA text mode for hysterical reasons." Compare bug-for-bug compatible.
  • i'll give you that — You say I'll give you that to indicate that you admit that someone has a particular characteristic or ability.
  • idylls of the king — a series of poems by Tennyson, based on Arthurian legend.
  • immunopharmacology — the branch of pharmacology concerned with the immune system
  • in company with sb — If you feel, believe, or know something in company with someone else, you both feel, believe, or know it.
  • in the vicinity of — near to, in the area around
  • information theory — the mathematical theory concerned with the content, transmission, storage, and retrieval of information, usually in the form of messages or data, and especially by means of computers.
  • internet telephony — IP Telephony
  • john birch society — an ultraconservative organization, founded in December 1958 by Robert Welch, Jr., chiefly to combat alleged Communist activities in the U.S.
  • junior heavyweight — a boxer weighing up to 190 pounds (85.5 kg), between light heavyweight and heavyweight.
  • keep your hair on! — keep calm
  • keep your shirt on — refrain from losing your temper (often used as an exhortation to another)
  • knights of pythias — a fraternal order founded in Washington, D.C., in 1864.
  • launching ceremony — a ceremony that celebrates the launch of a ship for the first time into the water
  • lay it on the line — 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.
  • laying on of hands — Theology. a rite in which the cleric's hands are placed on the head of a person being confirmed, ordained, or the like.
  • lily of the valley — a plant, Convallaria majalis, having an elongated cluster of small, drooping, bell-shaped, fragrant white flowers.
  • lincoln's birthday — February 12, a legal holiday in some states of the U.S., in honor of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
  • lipopolysaccharide — any of a class of polysaccharides to which lipids are attached.
  • lyophilized powder — Lyophilized powder is a freeze-dried powder.
  • magic switch story — Some years ago, I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no-one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labelled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words "magic" and "more magic". The switch was in the "more magic" position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the "more magic" position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the "more magic" position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and diked it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was magic. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on "more magic".
  • marine archaeology — the branch of archaeology that deals with the recovery of ancient objects found beneath the sea, as shipwrecks or remains from submerged islands, and with the techniques of underwater exploration, excavation, and retrieval.
  • maternity hospital — birthing facility
  • melt in your mouth — to require little or no chewing
  • methylene chloride — a colorless, volatile liquid, CH 2 Cl 2 , used chiefly as a solvent, as a refrigerant, and as a local anesthetic in dentistry.
  • methylprednisolone — A synthetic glucocorticoid drug, with chemical formula C22H30O5.
  • monochlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of three isomers of a chlorinated derivative of biphenyl containing one chlorine atom.
  • moog (synthesizer) — an early musical synthesizer
  • mucopolysaccharide — (formerly) glycosaminoglycan.
  • natural philosophy — natural science.
  • nebular hypothesis — the theory that the solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter: prominent in the 19th century following its precise formulation by Laplace.
  • neo-pythagoreanism — a philosophical system, established in Alexandria and Rome in the second century b.c., consisting mainly of revived Pythagorean doctrines with elements of Platonism and Stoicism.
  • neurophysiological — the branch of physiology dealing with the functions of the nervous system.
  • neuropsychodynamic — Of or pertaining to neuropsychodynamics.
  • neuropsychological — Of or pertaining to neuropsychology, the relation or combination of brain and mind.
  • nonachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of three isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing nine chlorine atoms.
  • northern territory — an administrative division of N central Australia, on the Timor and Arafura Seas: the Arunta Desert lies in the east, the Macdonnell Ranges in the south, and Arnhem Land in the north (containing Australia's largest Aboriginal reservation); the Ashmore and Cartier Islands constitute a separate Australian External Territory. Capital: Darwin. Pop: 233 300 (2012 est). Area: 1 347 525 sq km (520 280 sq miles)
  • not a pretty sight — If you say that someone or something is not a pretty sight, you mean that it is not pleasant to look at.
  • octachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of twelve isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing eight chlorine atoms.
  • officer of the day — an officer who has charge of the guard and prisoners on an assigned day at a military installation. Abbreviation: OD, O.D., O.O.D.
  • offset lithography — offset (def 6).
  • old curiosity shop — a novel (1840–41) by Dickens.
  • ophthalmologically — In an ophthalmological manner.
  • orthopedic surgery — corrective operation on bones or joints
  • oscillographically — By means of oscillography.
  • ovariohysterectomy — Surgical removal of the ovaries and uterus.
  • parathyroid glands — any of several small oval glands usually lying near or embedded in the thyroid gland.
  • pathologic anatomy — the branch of pathology dealing with the morphologic changes in tissues.
  • peter tschaikowsky — Peter Ilyich [il-yich] /ˈɪl yɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich.
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