19-letter words containing a, b, s, e
- japanese black pine — a pine, Pinus thunbergiana, of Japan, grown as a seaside ornamental in the U.S.
- job creation scheme — a governmental scheme to increase the number of jobs in an area, organization, etc
- jumping bristletail — any of several thysanuran insects that live in dark, warm, moist places, as under leaves, bark, and dead tree trunks and along rocky seacoasts, and are active jumpers, making erratic leaps when disturbed.
- kansas-nebraska act — the act of Congress in 1854 annulling the Missouri Compromise, providing for the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and permitting these territories self-determination on the question of slavery.
- keyboard instrument — any musical instrument that is played using a keyboard
- king's remembrancer — (in Great Britain) a judiciary official who collects debts owed to the king.
- knock someone bandy — to amaze or astound
- label switched path — (networking) (LSP) The specific path through a network that a datagram follows, based on its MPLS labels.
- lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
- learning disability — a disorder, as dyslexia, usually affecting school-age children of normal or above-normal intelligence, characterized by difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language, and thought to be related to impairment or slowed development of perceptual motor skills.
- liability insurance — insurance covering the insured against losses arising from injury or damage to another person or property.
- library of congress — one of the major library collections in the world, located in Washington, D.C., and functioning in some ways as the national library of the U.S. although not officially designated as such: established by Congress in 1800 for service to its members, but now also serving government agencies, other libraries, and the public.
- line-of-battle ship — ship of the line.
- lobster-tail helmet — a burgonet fitted with a long, articulated tail of lames for protecting the nape of the neck, worn by cavalry in the 17th century.
- magnesium carbonate — a white powder, MgCO 3 , insoluble in water and alcohol, soluble in acids, used in dentifrices and cosmetics, in medicine as an antacid, and as a refractory material.
- make no bones about — Anatomy, Zoology. one of the structures composing the skeleton of a vertebrate. the hard connective tissue forming the substance of the skeleton of most vertebrates, composed of a collagen-rich organic matrix impregnated with calcium, phosphate, and other minerals.
- make the best of it — cope
- malleable cast iron — white cast iron that has been malleablized.
- meet sb's eyes/gaze — If you do not meet someone's eyes or meet someone's gaze, you do not look at them although they are looking at you, for example because you are ashamed.
- megabits per second — (unit) (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps.
- molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
- nominative absolute — a construction consisting in English of a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in the nominative case followed by a predicate lacking a finite verb, used as a loose modifier of the whole sentence, as the play done in The play done, the audience left the theater.
- non-distinguishable — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
- non-transferability — to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another: He transferred the package from one hand to the other.
- objectfuscated code — (humour, programming) Object-oriented code which has been abstracted to so many levels that no-one can understand it anymore. A play on obfuscated code.
- observation balloon — a balloon that is used for gathering information and reconnaissance purposes and spotting aircraft
- obsolescence clause — a clause in an insurance policy that takes account of the obsolescence of the item insured in order to lower the amount to be paid out in the event of a claim
- olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
- on someone's behalf — in / on behalf of, as a representative of or a proxy for: On behalf of my colleagues, I address you tonight.
- on the baker's list — in good health
- optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
- out at (the) elbows — shabby; poverty-stricken
- over sb's dead body — You can say over my dead body to emphasize that you feel very strongly that something should not happen, and that you will do everything you can to prevent it.
- own flesh and blood — If you say that someone is your own flesh and blood, you are emphasizing that they are a member of your family.
- palaeoethnobotanist — someone who studies fossil seeds and grains to further archaeological knowledge, esp of the domestication of cereals
- palomar observatory — an astronomical observatory situated on Palomar Mountain in S California, having a 200-inch (508-cm) reflecting telescope and a 48-inch (122-cm) Schmidt telescope.
- pancreatic fibrosis — cystic fibrosis.
- paschen-back effect — a splitting of spectral lines observed when the source of a radiation is subjected to a strong magnetic field, caused when the vectors associated with the spin and orbital angular momentum exhibit individual rather than common precession.
- personal belongings — possessions; things that belong to someone
- piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
- pointe-aux-trembles — a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, N of Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- potassium bisulfate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KHSO 4 , used chiefly in the conversion of tartrates to bitartrates.
- potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
- protease inhibitors — 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 unsolvable — The set or property of problems for which no algorithm at all exists. E.g. the Halting Problem. See also provably difficult.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- pseudorandom number — (programming) One of a sequence of numbers generated by some algorithm so as to have an even distribution over some range of values and minimal correlation between successive values. Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation and encryption. They are pseudorandom not random because the sequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determined by the initial conditions. One of the simplest algorithms is x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m but this repeats after at most m numbers and successive numbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally use more previous numbers to calculate the next number.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
- queen anne's bounty — a fund formed by Queen Anne in 1704 for the augmentation of the livings of the poorer Anglican clergy. In 1948 the administrators of the fund were replaced by the Church Commissioners for England