19-letter words containing a, b, s, o, l
- 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
- 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.
- personal belongings — possessions; things that belong to someone
- pointe-aux-trembles — a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, N of Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- postal savings bank — any of the savings banks formerly operated by local post offices and limited to small accounts.
- potassium bisulfate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KHSO 4 , used chiefly in the conversion of tartrates to bitartrates.
- profitability study — a study of how much profit a company, organization, etc, makes or how profitable it is
- 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.
- relational database — an electronic database comprising multiple files of related information, usually stored in tables of rows (records) and columns (fields), and allowing a link to be established between separate files that have a matching field, as a column of invoice numbers, so that the two files can be queried simultaneously by the user.
- removable hard disk — (storage) A type of magnetic disk, or possibly magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same drive. The term "removable disk" would seem to be applicable to floppy disks but is generally reserved for hard disks in suitable cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and others. Removable disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11 in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels. Removable disks became popular on microcomputers in the 1990s as a cheap way of expanding disk space, transporting large amounts of data between computers and storing backups. Large, cheap fixed hard disks and USB memory sticks have made removable disks less attractive.
- research laboratory — place for scientific experimentation
- reversible reaction — a reaction that, depending on ambient conditions, can proceed in either of two directions: the production of the reaction products from the reactants, or the production of the original reactants from the formed reaction products. Compare equilibrium (def 4).
- saddle-billed stork — a large stork, Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, of West Africa, having a white and black body and a long, red and black bill.
- sb's spiritual home — your spiritual home is the place where you feel that you belong, usually because your ideas or attitudes are the same as those of the people who live there
- seat belt tensioner — A seat belt tensioner is a device in a vehicle that pulls a seat belt tight if there is a sudden movement or stop.
- semibituminous coal — a coal intermediate between bituminous and anthracite coal in hardness, yielding the maximum heat of any ordinary steam coal.
- short-tail business — Short-tail business is insurance business where it is known that claims will be made and settled quickly.
- siberian wallflower — a North American plant, Erysimum asperum, of the mustard family, having orange-yellow flowers.
- simple carbohydrate — a carbohydrate, as glucose, that consists of a single monosaccharide unit.
- southern crab apple — a tree, Malus angustifolia, of the eastern U.S., having oblong leaves, fragrant, pink or rose-colored flowers, and small, round, yellow-green fruit.
- spaghetti bolognese — Italian dish of pasta and tomato sauce
- stabilization print — a print made by the stabilization process.
- stochastic variable — a random variable.
- strait of gibraltar — a narrow strait between the S tip of Spain and the NW tip of Africa, linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic
- telescopic umbrella — an umbrella having parts that telescope
- the compassion club — (in Canada) a nonprofit organization that provides uncontaminated cannabis for medical purposes and natural therapies in a safe environment
- the london assembly — the devolved legislature of London, based in City Hall, Southwark
- throw oneself at sb — If someone throws themselves at you, they make it very obvious that they want to begin a relationship with you, by behaving as though they are sexually attracted to you.
- to be full of beans — If someone is full of beans, they are very lively and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
- to be headline news — to attract a lot of attention from newspapers
- to blow a raspberry — If you blow a raspberry, you make a sound by putting your tongue out and blowing, in order to insult someone.
- to give sb a leg up — to help with climbing
- to make like sth/sb — If you make like you are doing something, you act as if you are doing it, and if you make like someone, you act as if you are that person.
- total probable loss — A total probable loss is the highest degree of loss or damage that is probable if an insured event occurs.
- touch all the bases — to deal with all related details
- wandering albatross — a large albatross, Diomedea exulans, of southern waters, having the plumage mostly white with dark markings on the upper parts.
- yablonovy mountains — a mountain range in Siberia. Highest peak: 1680 m (5512 ft)