20-letter words containing a, l, i, s, t

epitaxial transistor — a transistor made by depositing a thin pure layer of semiconductor material (epitaxial layer) onto a crystalline support by epitaxy. The layer acts as one of the electrode regions, usually the collector
equilibrium constant — The equilibrium constant is the ratio between the amount of reactants and the amount of product for a particular chemical reaction, used to calculate chemical behavior.
equivalent air speed — the speed at sea level that would produce the same Pitot-static tube reading as that measured at altitude
essential amino acid — an amino acid that cannot be synthesized in the body and is thus an essential component of the diet
essential complexity — (programming) A measure of the "structuredness" of a program.
essential fatty acid — any fatty acid required by the body in manufacturing prostaglandins, found in such foods as oily fish and nuts
estrela mountain dog — a sturdy well-built dog of a Portuguese breed with a long thick coat and a thick tuft of hair round the neck, often used as a guard dog
exercise, left as an — Used to complete a proof in technical books when one doesn't mind a handwave, or to avoid one entirely. The complete phrase is: "The proof [or "the rest"] is left as an exercise for the reader." This comment *has* occasionally been attached to unsolved research problems by authors possessed of either an evil sense of humour or a vast faith in the capabilities of their audiences.
existentialistically — In an existentialist manner.
explicit parallelism — A feature of a programming language for a parallel processing system which allows or forces the programmer to annotate his program to indicate which parts should be executed as independent parallel tasks. This is obviously more work for the programmer than a system with implicit parallelism (where the system decides automatically which parts to run in parallel) but may allow higher performance.
extensional equality — (Or extensionality). Functions, f and g are extensionally equal if and only if f x = g x for all x. where "=" means both expressions fail to terminate (under some given reduction strategy) or they both terminate with the same basic value. Two functions may be extensionally equal but not inter-convertible (neither is reducible to the other). E.g. \ x . x+x and \ x . 2*x. See also observational equivalence, referential transparency.
external respiration — exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across external or respiratory surfaces, as gills or lungs, in multicellular organisms
federal constitution — Constitution of the United States.
file descriptor leak — (programming) (Or "fd leak" /F D leek/) A kind of programming bug analogous to a core leak, in which a program fails to close file descriptors ("fd"s) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually runs out of them. See leak.
financial consultant — A financial consultant is the same as a financial adviser.
financial instrument — A financial instrument is a document or contract that can be traded in a market, that represents an asset to one party and a liability or equity to the other.
financial statements — Financial statements are all of the reports that show how a company is performing for a certain period.
first earl of cromer — 1st Earl of, Evelyn Baring.
five-a-side football — a version of soccer with five players in each team
fontainebleau school — a group of artists, many of them Italian and Flemish, who worked on the decorations of the palace of Fontainebleau in the 16th century.
football hooliganism — the actions or behaviour of a football hooligan
for all one is worth — good or important enough to justify (what is specified): advice worth taking; a place worth visiting.
for sb's delectation — If you do something for someone's delectation, you do it to give them enjoyment or pleasure.
fore-and-aft topsail — gaff topsail (def 1).
fridtjof nansen land — Franz Josef Land.
gaff-topsail catfish — a sea catfish, Bagre marinus, occurring in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico from Cape Cod to Panama, and having the spine of the dorsal fin greatly prolonged and flattened.
general postal union — former name of Universal Postal Union. Abbreviation: GPU.
geological timescale — any division of geological time into chronological units, whether relative (with units in the correct temporal sequence) or absolute (with numerical ages attached)
glucosamine sulphate — a compound used in some herbal remedies and dietary supplements, esp to strengthen joint cartilage
go like the clappers — to move extremely fast
graphics accelerator — (graphics, hardware) Hardware (often an extra circuit board) to perform tasks such as plotting lines and surfaces in two or three dimensions, filling, shading and hidden line removal.
gravimetric analysis — analysis by weight.
gravitational radius — Schwarzschild radius.
great-circle sailing — sailing between two points more or less according to an arc of a great circle, in practice almost always using a series of rhumb lines of different bearings to approximate the arc, whose own bearing changes constantly unless it coincides with a meridian or the equator.
guided visualization — a relaxation technique in which words, sounds, etc., are used to evoke positive mental images, feelings, and thoughts.
hard gelatin capsule — A hard gelatin capsule is a type of capsule that is usually used to contain medicine in the form of dry powder or very small pellets.
he's no oil painting — he is not good-looking
health questionnaire — A health questionnaire is a list of questions about someone's health issued by underwriters before accepting a person as a risk.
heston and isleworth — a former borough, now part of Hounslow, in SE England, near London.
heteropolysaccharide — (carbohydrate) any polysaccharide formed from two or more different kinds of monosaccharide.
hipparchus satellite — an astronometric satellite launched in 1989 by the European Space Agency that measured the position, proper motion, and brightness of 118 218 stars down to 12th magnitude and the magnitude and colour of a million stars down to 10th magnitude
historical sociology — the sociological study of the origins and development of societies and of other social phenomena that seeks underlying laws and principles.
holy water sprinkler — morning star (def 2).
horizontal scan rate — (hardware) (HSR) The measure of how many scan lines of pixels a monitor can display in one second, expressed in kHz (generally somewhere between 20 and 100 kHz). The HSR is controlled by the horizontal sync signal generated by the video controller, but is limited by the speed with which the monitor can scan the electron beam horizontally across the screen and then return it to the beginning of the next line.
horizontally opposed — A horizontally opposed engine has the cylinders set horizontally at either side of the crankshaft.
hospitality industry — the hotel and accommodation industry
houses of parliament — In Britain, the Houses of Parliament are the British parliament, which consists of two parts, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The buildings where the British parliament does its work are also called the Houses of Parliament.
hydrodesulfurization — desulfurization by catalytic agents of the sulfur-rich hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum or the like during cracking or hydrocracking.
hypercholesterolemia — the presence of an excessive amount of cholesterol in the blood.
ignatius (of) loyola — Saint(born Iñigo López de Recalde) (1491-1556); Sp. priest: founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit order): his day is July 31

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