18-letter words containing a, c, h, e, r
- thermal efficiency — the ratio of the work output of a heat engine to the heat input expressed in the same units of energy.
- thermonuclear bomb — hydrogen bomb.
- thioarsenious acid — any of a group of hypothetical acids, H3AsS3, HAsS2, and H4As2S5, known only in the forms of their salts
- threatened species — a species likely, in the near future, to become an endangered species within all or much of its range.
- three-cornered hat — a triangular shaped hat which was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries; its turned up brim formed a gutter for catching rain
- 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 clear the decks — If you clear the decks, you get ready to start something new by finishing any work that has to be done or getting rid of any problems that are in the way.
- to cut the mustard — If someone does not cut the mustard, their work or their performance is not as good as it should be or as good as it is expected to be.
- to hold your peace — If you hold or keep your peace, you do not speak, even though there is something you want or ought to say.
- to meet your match — If you meet your match, you find that you are competing or fighting against someone who you cannot beat because they are as good as you, or better than you.
- to watch your step — If someone tells you to watch your step, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
- 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.
- traveller's cheque — Traveller's cheques are cheques that you buy at a bank and take with you when you travel, for example so that you can exchange them for the currency of the country that you are in.
- turk's-head cactus — a cactus, Melocactus communis, of Jamaica, having needlelike spines and a cylindrical body with a tawny-red, fezlike terminal part bearing red flowers.
- two-chamber system — the system of having two parliamentary chambers, as the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the United Kingdom
- under the jackboot — If a country or group of people is under the jackboot, they are suffering because the government is cruel and undemocratic.
- upper palaeolithic — the latest of the three periods of the Palaeolithic, beginning about 40 000 bc and ending, in Europe, about 12 000 bc: characterized by the emergence of modern man, Homo sapiens
- ur of the chaldees — the city where Abraham was born, sometimes identified with the Sumerian city of Ur. Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7.
- vectorcardiography — a method of determining the direction and magnitude of the electrical forces of the heart.
- vulcan nerve pinch — (jargon) (Or "three-finger salute", Vulcan death grip; from the old "Star Trek" TV series via Commodore Amiga hackers) The keyboard combination that forces a soft boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). On an Amiga this is done with Ctrl/Right Amiga/Left Amiga; on IBM PCs and many microcomputers it is Ctrl/Alt/Del; on Suns, L1-A; on some Macintoshes, it is
- ! Silicon Graphics users are obviously the most dextrous however, as these machines use the five-finger combination: Left Shift/Left Ctrl/Left Alt/Keypad Divide/F12. Compare quadruple bucky. - warehouse capacity — the amount of storage space in a warehouse
- weather forecaster — meteorologist
- wernicke's aphasia — a type of aphasia caused by a lesion in Wernicke's area of the brain and characterized by grammatical but more or less meaningless speech and an apparent inability to comprehend speech.
- wheelchair housing — housing designed or adapted for a chairbound person
- white-collar crime — any of various crimes, as embezzlement, fraud, or stealing office equipment, committed by business or professional people while working at their occupations.
- white-faced hornet — any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America.
- whittaker chambers — Robert, 1802–71, Scottish publisher and editor.
- writ of attachment — a document by which a court orders the seizing of property in order to ensure satisfaction of a judgement