19-letter words containing a, b, s, o, l

cobaltous hydroxide — a rose-red, amorphous, water-insoluble powder, Co 2 O 3 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in the preparation of cobalt salts and in the manufacture of paint and varnish driers.
cock and bull story — an absurd, improbable story presented as the truth: Don't ask him about his ancestry unless you want to hear a cock-and-bull story.
cock-and-bull story — If you describe something that someone tells you as a cock-and-bull story, you mean that you do not believe it is true.
corrosive sublimate — mercuric chloride
cudgel one's brains — to think hard about a problem
dependable software — software reliability
detective constable — a police officer who investigates crime and who is of the lowest rank
developable surface — a surface that can be flattened onto a plane without stretching or compressing any part of it, as a circular cone.
devils-on-horseback — a savoury of prunes wrapped in bacon slices and served on toast
dobsonian telescope — a relatively inexpensive Newtonian telescope, suitable for visual but not photographic use, in which the tube assembly slips freely in the lower base.
dry-bulk cargo ship — a ship that carries an unpackaged dry cargo such as coal or grain; bulk carrier
ebola virus disease — Also called Ebola fever, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease. a usually fatal disease, a type of hemorrhagic fever, caused by the Ebola virus and marked by high fever, severe gastrointestinal distress, and bleeding.
electro-shock baton — a baton used as a weapon to pass an electric current through part of the body
exhibitionistically — In an exhibitionistic manner.
feel strongly about — to have decided opinions concerning
financial ombudsman — any of five British ombudsmen: the Banking Ombudsman, set up in 1986 to investigate complaints from bank customers; the Building Society Ombudsman, set up in 1987 to investigate complaints from building society customers; the Insurance Ombudsman, set up in 1981 to investigate complaints by policyholders (since 1988 this ombudsman has also operated a Unit Trust Ombudsman scheme); the Investment Ombudsman set up in 1989 to investigate complaints by investors (the Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman is responsible for investigating complaints by personal investors); and the Pensions Ombudsman, set up in 1993 to investigate complaints regarding pension schemes
flowering raspberry — a shrub, Rubus ordoratus, of eastern North America, having loose clusters of showy purplish or rose-purple flowers and inedible, dry, red fruit.
for all sb is worth — If you do something for all you are worth, you do it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
functional database — (database, language) A database which uses a functional language as its query language. Databases would seem to be an inappropriate application for functional languages since, a purely functional language would have to return a new copy of the entire database every time (part of) it was updated. To be practically scalable, the update mechanism must clearly be destructive rather than functional; however it is quite feasible for the query language to be purely functional so long as the database is considered as an argument. One approach to the update problem would use a monad to encapsulate database access and ensure it was single threaded. Alternative approaches have been suggested by Trinder, who suggests non-destructive updating with shared data structures, and Sutton who uses a variant of a Phil Wadler's linear type system. There are two main classes of functional database languages. The first is based upon Backus' FP language, of which FQL is probably the best known example. Adaplan is a more recent language which falls into this category. More recently, people have been working on languages which are syntactically very similar to modern functional programming languages, but which also provide all of the features of a database language, e.g. bulk data structures which can be incrementally updated, type systems which can be incrementally updated, and all data persisting in a database. Examples are PFL [Poulovassilis&Small, VLDB-91], and Machiavelli [Ohori et al, ACM SIGMOD Conference, 1998].
goodwill ambassador — an ambassador who shows goodwill to another country, organization, etc, on behalf of his or her own country, organization, etc
grasshopper warbler — a Eurasian warbler Locustella naevia
handlebar moustache — a man's moustache having long, curved ends that resemble the handlebars of a bicycle.
have one's blood up — to be or cause to be angry or inflamed
heat of sublimation — the heat absorbed by one gram or unit mass of a substance in the process of changing, at a constant temperature and pressure, from a solid to a gaseous state. Compare sublime (def 10).
honorable discharge — a discharge from military service of a person who has fulfilled obligations efficiently, honorably, and faithfully.
hydrostatic balance — a balance for finding the weight of an object submerged in water in order to determine the upthrust on it and thus determine its relative density
hyperbolic cosecant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of hyperbolic sine
incommensurableness — (rare) Incommensurability.
internal-combustion — of or relating to an internal-combustion engine.
isle of shoals boat — a sailing boat formerly used in Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts, rigged with two spritsails or gaff sails.
isobutyl propionate — a colorless liquid, C 7 H 14 O 2 , used chiefly as a paint, varnish, and lacquer solvent.
isthmus of san blas — the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Panama. Width: about 50 km (30 miles)
lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
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.
look sb up and down — If someone looks you up and down, they direct their eyes from your head to your feet, in a rude and superior way and often as though they disapprove of you.
malleable cast iron — white cast iron that has been malleablized.
molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
mutual masturbation — the act of two or more people masturbating each other
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.
normal distribution — a theoretical frequency distribution represented by a normal curve.
not by a long sight — on no account; not at all
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

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