16-letter words containing m, a, r
- application form — a form to be filled in when applying for job, grant etc
- appraisal method — a method used for the appraisal of an employee
- archaeoastronomy — the scientific study of the beliefs and practices concerning astronomy that existed in ancient and prehistoric civilizations
- archaeomagnetism — an archaeological technique for dating certain clay objects by measuring the extent to which they have been magnetized by the earth's magnetic field
- armchair banking — the management of one's bank account or accounts using a computer, telephone, or television in the home or via the postal system
- armed forces day — the third Saturday in May, observed in some areas of the U.S. as a holiday in honor of all branches of the armed forces.
- armed neutrality — military preparedness without commitment, especially as the expressed policy of a neutral nation in wartime; readiness to counter with force an invasion of rights by any belligerent power.
- armillary sphere — a model of the celestial sphere consisting of rings representing the relative positions of the celestial equator, ecliptic, etc, used by early astronomers for determining the positions of stars
- arms and the man — a comedy (1898) by G. B. Shaw.
- aromatherapeutic — Of or pertaining to aromatherapy.
- arrival platform — the platform where a train, or passenger arrives
- as distinct from — If you say that you are talking about one thing as distinct from another, you are indicating exactly which thing you mean.
- ascending rhythm — rising rhythm.
- assembly routine — assembler (def 2a).
- assigned numbers — (standard) The RFC STD 2 documenting the currently assigned values from several series of numbers used in network protocol implementations. This RFC is updated periodically and, in any case, current information can be obtained from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). If you are developing a protocol or application that will require the use of a link, socket, port, protocol, etc., you should contact the IANA to receive a number assignment.
- associate member — a person who is a member of a club, organization etc. but has only partial rights and privileges or subordinate status
- astrometeorology — the study of the theoretical effects of astronomical bodies and forces on the earth's atmosphere.
- astronomer royal — an honorary title awarded to an eminent British astronomer: until 1972, the Astronomer Royal was also director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory
- atherothrombotic — (medicine) Pertaining to or caused by atherothrombosis, the sudden disruption of an atherosclerotic plaque.
- atmospheric tide — a movement of atmospheric masses caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon and by daily solar heating.
- atomic structure — the concept of an atom as a central positively charged nucleus consisting of protons and neutrons surrounded by a number of electrons. The number of electrons is equal to the number of protons: the whole entity is thus electrically neutral
- attitude problem — a frame of mind perceived by others to be hostile or uncooperative
- audience chamber — a room where a monarch or head of state conducts formal interviews
- authoritarianism — Authoritarianism is the state of being authoritarian or the belief that people with power, especially the State, have the right to control other people's actions.
- automatic camera — a camera in which the lens aperture or the shutter speed or both are automatically adjusted to the prevailing conditions
- automatic redial — a telephone service feature whereby the last number dialed is automatically called again, either after a specified time or when activated by the user.
- automatic repeat — a key on the keyboard of a typewriter, computer, etc, which, when depressed continuously, produces the character repeatedly until the key is released
- automatrix, inc. — (company) The company which produced CAM-PC. Address: Ballston Spa, NY, USA.
- autotransformers — Plural form of autotransformer.
- away from sb/sth — If something is away from a person or place, it is at a distance from that person or place.
- axis of symmetry — Mathematics. a straight line for which every point on a given curve has corresponding to it another point such that the line connecting the two points is bisected by the given line.
- axminster carpet — a type of patterned carpet with a cut pile
- azodicarbonamide — (chemistry) An organic chemical, a yellow to orange red, odorless, crystalline powder, used in food industry as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent and improving agent and in foaming plastics.
- bachelor-at-arms — bachelor (def 4).
- background music — music of any kind that is played while some other activity is going on, so that people do not actively attend to it
- backus-naur form — (language, grammar) (BNF, originally "Backus Normal Form") A formal metasyntax used to express context-free grammars. Backus Normal Form was renamed Backus-Naur Form at the suggestion of Donald Knuth. BNF is one of the most commonly used metasyntactic notations for specifying the syntax of programming languages, command sets, and the like. It is widely used for language descriptions but seldom documented anywhere (how do you document a metasyntax?), so that it must usually be learned by osmosis (but see RFC 2234). Consider this BNF for a US postal address:
::= ::= | "." ::= [ ] | ::= [ ] ::= "," This translates into English as: "A postal-address consists of a name-part, followed by a street-address part, followed by a zip-code part. A personal-part consists of either a first name or an initial followed by a dot. A name-part consists of either: a personal-part followed by a last name followed by an optional "jr-part" (Jr., Sr., or dynastic number) and end-of-line, or a personal part followed by a name part (this rule illustrates the use of recursion in BNFs, covering the case of people who use multiple first and middle names and/or initials). A street address consists of an optional apartment specifier, followed by a street number, followed by a street name. A zip-part consists of a town-name, followed by a comma, followed by a state code, followed by a ZIP-code followed by an end-of-line." Note that many things (such as the format of a personal-part, apartment specifier, or ZIP-code) are left unspecified. These lexical details are presumed to be obvious from context or specified somewhere nearby. There are many variants and extensions of BNF, possibly containing some or all of the regexp wild cards such as "*" or "+". EBNF is a common one. In fact the example above isn't the pure form invented for the ALGOL 60 report. "[]" was introduced a few years later in IBM's PL/I definition but is now universally recognised. ABNF is another extension. - badminton racket — the type of racket used in games of badminton
- ball-peen hammer — a hammer with one end of the head rounded and the other end flat
- ballistic camera — a camera for tracking missiles launched at night.
- balloon mortgage — A balloon mortgage is a mortgage on which the repayments are relatively small until the large final payment.
- ballroom dancing — Ballroom dancing is a type of dancing in which a man and a woman dance together using fixed sequences of steps and movements.
- balsamic vinegar — Balsamic vinegar is a type of vinegar which tastes sweet and is made from grape juice.
- baltimore canyon — a submarine valley cut into the continental shelf and slope seaward of Chesapeake Bay.
- baltimore heater — a stove for heating a lower and upper room, having its fire door in the lower room.
- baltimore oriole — a North American oriole, Icterus galbula, the male of which has orange and black plumage
- baluster measure — an antique liquid measure usually made of pewter, having a concave top on a convex base.
- bargain basement — If you refer to something as a bargain basement thing, you mean that it is cheap and not very good quality.
- bargain-basement — very low-priced.
- barium carbonate — a white, poisonous, water-insoluble powder, BaCO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of rodenticides, paints, and dyes.
- barium hydroxide — a white poisonous crystalline solid, used in the manufacture of organic compounds and in the preparation of beet sugar. Formula: Ba(OH)2