28-letter words containing a, s, h
- have one's nose out of joint — to be irritated, annoyed, frustrated, etc.
- have something going for one — to have something working to one's advantage
- have sth/a lot going for you — If someone or something has a lot going for them, they have a lot of advantages.
- have two strikes against one — to be at a decided disadvantage
- high performance file system — (file system) (HPFS) The native file system for IBM's OS/2.
- hot standby routing protocol — (protocol) (HSRP) A CISCO standard, defined in RFC 2281, that calls for a mirrored router in passive mode to send hello packets, wait for a lead router to die and, without dropping a packet, take over from that router. Note: "standby", not "swappable" (and certainly not "swapable").
- how stupid/lucky can you get — You can say, for example, 'How lucky can you get?' or 'How stupid can you get?' to show your surprise that anyone could be as lucky or stupid as the person that you are talking about.
- human immunodeficiency virus — See under AIDS virus. Abbreviation: HIV.
- hydrolysed vegetable protein — a powder or liquid that is produced by boiling legumes or cereals in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing with sodium hydroxide. It is used as a flavouring in some foods, such as soups and bouillon cubes
- imperial software technology — (company) A software engineering company which emerged from Imperial College in about 1982. It enjoys a world-wide reputation for technical excellence as a software product and technology provider in the Open Systems market. Its flagship product is X-Designer, the award-winning graphical user interface builder. It also has considerable expertise in the Z language and Formal Methods.
- infectious laryngotracheitis — a viral disease of adult chickens, characterized by inflammation and hemorrhage of the larynx and trachea and, in many cases, resulting in asphyxiation.
- instruction set architecture — (architecture) (ISA) The parts of a processor's design that need to be understood in order to write assembly language, such as the machine language instructions and registers. Parts of the architecture that are left to the implementation, such as number of superscalar functional units, cache size and cycle speed, are not part of the ISA. The definition of SPARC, for example, carefully distinguishes between an implementation and a specification.
- internet research task force — (IRTF) The IRTF is chartered by the Internet Architecture Board to consider long-term Internet issues from a theoretical point of view. It has Research Groups, similar to Internet Engineering Task Force Working Groups, which are each tasked to discuss different research topics. Multi-cast audio/video conferencing and privacy enhanced mail are samples of IRTF output.
- it's a good job/a good thing — If you say it's a good thing that something is the case, you mean that it is fortunate.
- just what the doctor ordered — sth needed and welcomed
- keep a weather eye on sb/sth — If you keep a weather eye on someone or something, you stay alert so that you will notice if anything unpleasant happens.
- keep one's ear to the ground — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
- leader of the house of lords — a member of the Government having primary authority in initiating legislative business
- like a lamb to the slaughter — without resistance
- machine-assisted translation — translation done by a human translator who uses computer software to assist with the translation
- make one's hair stand on end — any of the numerous fine, usually cylindrical, keratinous filaments growing from the skin of humans and animals; a pilus.
- mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — a method of artificial respiration in which a person rhythmically blows air into the victim's lungs, either directly, by placing the mouth over the patient's, or through a tube.
- munchausen syndrome by proxy — Psychiatry. a form of Munchausen syndrome in which a person induces or claims to observe a disease in another, usually a close relative, in order to attract the doctor's attention to herself or himself.
- national physical laboratory — a UK establishment founded in 1900 at Teddington to carry out research in physics and monitor standards of measurement
- none the wiser/any the wiser — If you say that someone is none the wiser after an event or an explanation, or that nobody is any the wiser after it, you mean that they have failed to understand it, or are not fully aware of what happened.
- not have room to swing a cat — to have very little space
- on (or upon) someone's head — as someone's burden, responsibility, or misfortune
- ordinary-language philosophy — linguistic analysis.
- ousterhout's false dichotomy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- peaches-and-cream complexion — a pale complexion with rosy cheeks
- penny-wise and pound-foolish — careful about trifles but wasteful in large ventures
- playboy of the western world — a satiric comedy (1907) by John Millington Synge.
- positron emission tomography — the process of producing a PET scan.
- put one's cards on the table — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
- put one's hand to the plough — to begin or undertake a task
- read the riot act to someone — to warn or reprimand someone severely
- richardson's ground squirrel — a ground squirrel of the NW USA and Canada, Citellus richardsoni
- rise/come back from the dead — If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.
- scared to death scared stiff — If you are scared to death or scared stiff, you are extremely scared.
- second law of thermodynamics — any of three principles variously stated in equivalent forms, being the principle that the change of energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the heat transferred minus the work done (first law of thermodynamics) the principle that no cyclic process is possible in which heat is absorbed from a reservoir at a single temperature and converted completely into mechanical work (second law of thermodynamics) and the principle that it is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of operations (third law of thermodynamics)
- second marquis of rockingham — Charles, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham [rok-ing-uh m] /ˈrɒk ɪŋ əm/ (Show IPA), 1730–82, British statesman: prime minister 1765–66, 1782.
- secondary sex characteristic — any of a number of manifestations, as development of breasts or beard, muscularity, distribution of fat tissue, and change of pitch in voice, specific to each sex and incipient at puberty but not essential to reproduction.
- shared-appreciation mortgage — a type of mortgage that carries a smaller down payment or lower interest rate than usual in return for the lender's sharing in the appreciation of the property at some future date, as at the time of its sale. Abbreviation: SAM.
- sign one's own death warrant — A death warrant is an official document which orders that someone is to be executed as a punishment for a crime.
- smooth endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
- special theory of relativity — the state or fact of being relative.
- sudden infant death syndrome — death from the sudden cessation of breathing (apnea) of a seemingly healthy infant, almost always during sleep, sometimes traceable to a chronic oxygen deficiency. Abbreviation: SIDS.
- super video graphics adapter — Super Video Graphics Array
- super video graphics adaptor — Super Video Graphics Array
- systemic lupus erythematosus — an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the connective tissues, occurring mainly among middle-aged women, chiefly characterized by skin eruptions, joint pain, recurrent pleurisy, and kidney disease. Abbreviation: SLE.