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16-letter words containing a, d, h, o

  • busman's holiday — If you have a holiday, but spend it doing something similar to your usual work, you can refer to it as a busman's holiday.
  • calcium chloride — a white deliquescent salt occurring naturally in seawater and used in the de-icing of roads and as a drying agent. Formula: CaCl2
  • call of the wild — a novel (1903) by Jack London.
  • camborne-redruth — a former (until 1974) urban district in SW England, in Cornwall: formed in 1934 by the amalgamation of the neighbouring towns of Camborne and Redruth. Pop: 39 936 (2001)
  • canadian hemlock — eastern hemlock.
  • canyon de chelly — a canyon in NE Arizona, in the Navajo reservation: site contains prehistoric cliff dwellings.
  • cape cod lighter — a device for lighting a fire, as in a fireplace, consisting of a lump of nonflammable material on a metal rod, that is soaked in kerosene or the like and lighted with a match.
  • cardiotachometer — a device for counting heartbeats, usually displaying the number of beats per minute
  • cash on delivery — If you pay for goods cash on delivery, you pay for them in cash when they are delivered. The abbreviation C.O.D. is also used.
  • catherine howard — Catherine, c1520–42, fifth wife of Henry VIII.
  • cathode ray tube — (hardware)   (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer VDUs and monitors, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a vacuum tube. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a raster. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "pixel") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "persistence" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their dot pitch, which determines their spatial resolution, and in whether they use interlace or not.
  • cathode-ray tube — A cathode-ray tube is a device in televisions and computer terminals which sends an image onto the screen.
  • chain of command — the various individual officers, ranks etc that constitute a hierarchy each level receiving orders from the one above it and passing on the orders to the one below
  • chamber of trade — a national organization representing local chambers of commerce
  • chanson de geste — one of a genre of Old French epic poems celebrating heroic deeds, the most famous of which is the Chanson de Roland
  • character comedy — comedy, or a comedy, in which the main source of humour is in the character of the people represented in it
  • chase the dragon — to smoke opium or heroin
  • chest of drawers — A chest of drawers is a low, flat piece of furniture with drawers in which you keep clothes and other things.
  • chichagof island — an island of Alaska, in the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 5439 sq km (2100 sq miles)
  • chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse)   A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
  • childcare worker — someone who takes care of children in return for money
  • chipped potatoes — chips
  • chloracetic acid — chloroacetic acid.
  • chlordiazepoxide — a chemical compound used as a tranquillizer and muscle relaxant and in the treatment of delirium tremens. Formula: C16H14ClN3O
  • chlorinated lime — bleaching powder.
  • chlorogenic acid — a colorless crystalline acid, C 16 H 18 O 9 , that is important in plant metabolism and is purportedly responsible for the browning or blackening of cut apples, potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables.
  • chondrodysplasia — (medicine) A genetic disorder characterized by short-limbed dwarfism.
  • chopped tomatoes — tomatoes cut into pieces
  • cigarette holder — A cigarette holder is a narrow tube that you can put a cigarette into in order to hold it while you smoke it.
  • close by/at hand — Something that is close by or close at hand is near to you.
  • commonwealth day — the anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth, May 24, celebrated (now on the second Monday in March) as a holiday in many parts of the Commonwealth
  • considering that — You use considering that to indicate that you are thinking about a particular fact when making a judgment or giving an opinion.
  • corned beef hash — a dish consisting of corned beef chopped and mixed together with mashed potatoes and various other ingredients, then fried
  • corona discharge — an electrical discharge appearing on and around the surface of a charged conductor, caused by ionization of the surrounding gas
  • crown and anchor — a game played with dice marked with crowns and anchors
  • cyclophosphamide — an alkylating agent used in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphomas
  • dagwood sandwich — a thick sandwich filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, dressings, and condiments.
  • dandruff shampoo — a preparation of soap or detergent used to wash the hair and which helps to control and reduce dandruff
  • dark of the moon — the period during which the moon is not visible.
  • darwinian theory — Darwin's theory of evolution, which holds that all species of plants and animals developed from earlier forms by hereditary transmission of slight variations in successive generations, and that natural selection determines which forms will survive
  • data warehousing — the use of large amounts of data taken from multiple sources to create reports and for data analysis
  • daylight robbery — If someone charges you a great deal of money for something and you think this is unfair or unreasonable, you can refer to this as daylight robbery.
  • dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
  • dealcoholization — to remove some or all of the alcohol from (a drink).
  • dear john letter — a letter from someone (esp to a man) breaking off a love affair
  • dearborn heights — city in SE Mich.: suburb of Detroit: pop. 58,000
  • dehumidification — Dehumidification is the removal of vapor from a gas-vapor mixture.
  • dehydroascorbate — (organic compound) Any salt or ester of dehydroascorbic acid.
  • deoxyhaemoglobin — (biochemistry) The form of haemoglobin that has released its oxygen.
  • dephlogisticated — Simple past tense and past participle of dephlogisticate.
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