18-letter words containing a, b, o, r, t

prepositional verb — a combination of verb and preposition, often with idiomatic meaning, differing from other phrasal verbs in that an object must always follow the preposition, as take after in The children take after their mother.
probability theory — the theory of analyzing and making statements concerning the probability of the occurrence of uncertain events. Compare probability (def 4).
protease inhibitor — a drug that inhibits the action of protease, especially any of a class of antiviral drugs that prevent the cleavage and replication of HIV proteins.
provably difficult — The set or property of problems for which it can be proven that no polynomial-time algorithm exists, only exponential-time algorithms.
public corporation — a corporation, owned and operated by a government, established for the administration of certain public programs.
rabbit's-foot fern — hare's-foot fern.
rabbit-foot clover — a plant, Trifolium arvense, having trifoliate leaves with narrow leaflets and fuzzy, cylindrical, grayish-pink flower heads.
rabbit-proof fence — a fence through which rabbits are unable to pass
radiocarbon dating — the determination of the age of objects of organic origin by measurement of the radioactivity of their carbon content.
ragtag and bobtail — the riffraff; rabble: The ragtag and bobtail of every nation poured into the frontier in search of gold.
range of stability — the angle to the perpendicular through which a vessel may be heeled without losing the ability to right itself.
relational algebra — (database, theory) A family of algebra with a well-founded semantics used for modelling the data stored in relational databases, and defining queries on it. The main operations of the relational algebra are the set operations (such as union, intersection, and cartesian product), selection (keeping only some lines of a table) and the projection (keeping only some columns). The relational data model describes how the data is structured.
remains to be seen — If you say that it remains to be seen whether something will happen, you mean that nobody knows whether it will happen.
reverberation time — the time it takes for a sound made in a room to diminish by 60 decibels.
row address strobe — (storage) (RAS) An input to a dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) to indicate that the row address lines are valid.
saint john's bread — carob (def 2).
saturation bombing — intense area bombing intended to destroy everything in the target area.
selective abortion — the aborting of particular embryos for medical or social reasons
september holidays — a period of time in September when people do not have to go to school, college or work
shorthand notebook — a notebook used by a shorthand writer
sindbad the sailor — (in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments), a wealthy citizen of Baghdad who relates the adventures of his seven wonderful voyages.
small pastern bone — the part of the foot of a horse, cow, etc., between the fetlock and the hoof.
sodium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, in powder or granules, NaHCO 3 , usually prepared by the reaction of soda ash with carbon dioxide or obtained from the intermediate product of the Solvay process by purification: used chiefly in the manufacture of sodium salts, baking powder, and beverages, as a laboratory reagent, as a fire extinguisher, and in medicine as an antacid.
sodium tetraborate — borax1 .
software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
solomon rabinowitz — Solomon, Aleichem, Sholom.
stand-by generator — an electrical system which operates automatically in case the usual system malfunctions
stationary bicycle — an exercise bike
stomach sweetbread — sweetbread (def 1).
stroustrup, bjarne — Bjarne Stroustrup
subatomic particle — physics:
subordinate clause — a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.
supraorbital ridge — browridge.
task control block — (architecture) An MVS control block used to communicate information about tasks within an address space that are connected to an MVS subsystem such as MQSeries for MVS/ESA or CICS.
tectorial membrane — membrane in the inner ear that covers the organ of Corti
the better part of — a large part of
the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
the powers that be — You can refer to people in authority as the powers that be, especially when you want to say that you disagree with them or do not understand what they say or do.
thermonuclear bomb — hydrogen bomb.
to bare one's soul — If you bare your soul, you tell someone your most secret thoughts and feelings.
to be above ground — to be alive
to be caught short — If you are caught short or are taken short, you feel a sudden strong need to urinate, especially when you cannot easily find a toilet.
to be on the radar — to be noticed or important
to be said for sth — If you say there is a lot to be said for something, you mean you think it has a lot of good qualities or aspects.
to bear witness to — If a person or thing bears witness to something, they show or say that it exists or happened.
to get a bad press — If someone or something gets a bad press, they are criticized, especially in the newspapers, on television, or on radio. If they get a good press, they are praised.
to put years on sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has put years on someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much older
to sweep the board — If someone sweeps the board in a competition or election, they win nearly everything that it is possible to win.
to the manner born — a way of doing, being done, or happening; mode of action, occurrence, etc.: I don't like the manner in which he complained.
too clever by half — If someone is too clever by half, they are very clever and they show their cleverness in a way that annoys other people.

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