for preformated text, 
, 
 .. 
 for headings. Most systems will ignore the case of tags and attributes but lower case should be used for compatibility with XHTML. The web Consortium (W3C) is the international standards body for HTML. See also weblint.  
 in (or out of) character — consistent with (or inconsistent with) the role or general character 
 
 indirect characterization — the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed through the character's speech, actions, appearance, etc. 
 
 infrared data association — (standard, body)   (IrDA) A non-profit trade association providing standards to ensure the quality and interoperability of infrared (IR) hardware. The association currently has a membership of over 160 companies from around the world, representing computer and telecommunications hardware, software, components and adapters. IrDA typically uses direct infrared i.e. point-to-point, line-of-sight, one-to-one communications. The standards include: IrDA Data (SIR, FIR, VFIR), IrDA Control, and AIR. Ports built to the above standards can be found in products such as PDAs, Palm devices, printers, desktop adapters, notebooks, and digital cameras. 
 
 internal field separators — (operating system)   ($IFS) A predefined environment variable in the Unix Bourne shell whose default value is the three-character string containing space, tab and line feed. Any string of one or more of these characters separates the command and each of its arguments in a command line. $IFS also tells the shell's built-in read command where to split an input line when reading into multiple variables. E.g. setting IFS=: would be appropriate for reading a file with ':'-separated fields, such as /etc/passwd. 
 
 kabardino-balkar republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the N side of the Caucasus Mountains. Capital: Nalchik. Pop: 900 500 (2002). Area: 12 500 sq km (4825 sq miles) 
 
 keep an ear to the ground — If you keep or have your ear to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying. 
 
 lead down the garden path — a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated. 
 
 learning resources center — a library, usually in an educational institution, that includes and encourages the use of audiovisual aids and other special materials for learning in addition to books, periodicals, and the like. 
 
 learning resources centre — a centre that provides educational equipment and material 
 
 magnetic character reader — a device that automatically scans and interprets characters printed with magnetic ink. It operates by the process of magnetic character recognition 
 
 marcus aurelius antoninus — Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 marcus-valerius-martialis — (Marcus Valerius Martialis) a.d. 43?–104? Roman epigrammatist, born in Spain. 
 
 metropolitan area network — (MAN) A data network intended to serve an area the size of a large city. Such networks are being implemented by innovative techniques, such as running optical fibre through subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS. See also Local Area Network, Wide Area Network. 
 
 mount kenya national park — a national park in Kenya, located in the regions of Mount Kenya that are above 3200 m (10 500 ft); now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park covers 1420 sq km (548 sq miles) 
 
 multi-scene control board — preset board. 
 
 narrow-leaved bottle tree — any of several trees of the genus Brachychiton, native to Australia, characterized by a bottle-shaped swelling of the trunk, as B. rupestris (narrow-leaved bottle tree) or B. australis (broad-leaved bottle tree) 
 
 national enterprise board — a public corporation established in 1975 to help the economy of the UK. In 1981 it merged with the National Research and Development Council to form the British Technology Group 
 
 not darken someone's door — not come to someone's home 
 
 not for the faint-hearted — If you say that something is not for the faint-hearted, you mean that it is an extreme or very unusual example of its kind, and is not suitable for people who like only safe and familiar things. 
 
 oblique circular cylinder — a cylinder generated by the revolution of a parallelogram other than a rectangle about one of its sides. 
 
 office of war information — OWI. 
 
 ordinary national diploma — a vocational qualification in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. It is the highest level of the BTEC structure and is equal to A-Levels 
 
 own or similar occupation — A policyholder's own or similar occupation is the job that they were doing before they became disabled or a job with similar duties and training. 
 
 palo alto research center — XEROX PARC 
 
 palo alto research centre — XEROX PARC 
 
 party political broadcast — A party political broadcast is a short broadcast on radio or television made by a political party, especially before an election. It explains their views and often criticizes other political parties. 
 
 pharmacotherapeutic group — Drugs and agents are categorized into pharmacotherapeutic groups based on which diseases they are designed to treat. 
 
 polycystic ovary syndrome — a hormonal disorder in which the Graafian follicles in the ovary fail to develop completely so that they are unable to ovulate, remaining as multiple cysts that distend the ovary. The results can include reduced fertility, obesity, and hirsutism 
 
 potassium sodium tartrate — a colorless or white, water-soluble solid, KNaC 4 H 4 O 6 ⋅4H 2 O, used in silvering mirrors, in the manufacture of Seidlitz powders and baking powder, and in medicine as a laxative. 
 
 preferred ordinary shares — shares issued by a company that rank between preference shares and ordinary shares in the payment of dividends 
 
 primary domain controller — (networking)   (PDC) Each Windows NT domain has a Primary Domain Controller and zero or more Backup Domain Controllers. The PDC holds the SAM database and authenticates access requests from workstations and servers in the domain. 
 
 primary management domain — (messaging)   (PRMD) The component of an X.400 electronic mail address that gives the organisation name, usually abbreviated to p= in written addresses. See also ADMD. 
 
 primary producing country — a country that is involved in the extraction or winning of products consisting of raw materials, as in agriculture, fishing, forestry, hunting, or mining 
 
 progressive federal party — a political party, formed in 1977 by a merger between the Progressive Party and members of the United Party, supporting qualified franchise for all South Africans irrespective of race, colour, or creed; merged with other parties in 1989 to form the Democratic Party 
 
 raise (or lower) the bar — raise (or lower) the standard of judgment 
 
 referentially transparent — referential transparency 
 
 rehabilitation department — a government department set up after World War II to assist ex-servicemen 
 
 saint joseph of arimathea — a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, who obtained the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion and laid it in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57–60). Feast day: Mar 17 or July 31 
 
 san nicolas de los garzas — a city in Nuevo Léon state, N Mexico, a suburb of Monterrey. 
 
 sequential parlog machine — (SPM) The virtual machine (and its machine code) for the Parlog logic programming language. 
 
 similarity transformation — Also called homothetic transformation. a mapping of a set by which each element in the set is mapped into a positive constant multiple of itself, the same constant being used for all elements. 
 
 software through pictures — (programming, tool)   (StP) A set of CASE tools distributed by Aonix. 
 
 sparc international, inc. — (body)   An organisation established to promote the Scalable Processor ARChitecture (SPARC). Their main service is conformance testing. They also produce the "SPARC flash" newsletter and publish lists of SPARC compliant machines tested by SPARC International to be binary compatible with other compliant machines. SPARC(R) is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. 
 
 spark annotation language — (language)   (SAL) ICL, Ltd. Used in the verification of SPARK programs against Z specifications. 
 
 standard ml of new jersey — (SML/NJ) An implementation of SML by Andrew Appel at Princeton <[email protected]> and Dave MacQueen at AT&T. Version 0.93. Versions for Unix, Mac. ftp://cs.yale.edu/pub/ml, ftp://research.att.com/dist/ml. Mailing list: [email protected] 
 
 thank one's (lucky) stars — to be thankful for what appears to be good luck 
 
 the department of defense — the United States federal department concerned with national security