18-letter words containing a, e, c, l
- theodore gericault — (Jean Louis André) Théodore [zhahn lwee ahn-drey tey-aw-dawr] /ʒɑ̃ lwi ɑ̃ˈdreɪ teɪ ɔˈdɔr/ (Show IPA), 1791–1824, French painter.
- 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.
- tick all the boxes — to satisfy all of the apparent requirements for success
- to all appearances — apparently
- 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 fall from grace — If someone falls from grace, they suddenly stop being successful or popular.
- to fall into place — If things fall into place, events happen naturally to produce a situation you want.
- 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 lick into shape — If you lick, knock, or whip someone or something into shape, you use whatever methods are necessary to change or improve them so that they are in the condition that you want them to be in.
- to scrape a living — If you say that someone scrapes a living or scratches a living, you mean that they manage to earn enough to live on, but it is very difficult. In American English, you say they scrape out a living or scratch out a living.
- 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.
- touch-in-goal line — either of the two touchlines at each end of the field between the goal line and the dead-ball line.
- townsend avalanche — avalanche (def 3).
- traffic controller — a person whose job is to control the flow of air traffic
- transcendental ego — (in Kantian epistemology) that part of the self that is the subject and never the object.
- translation agency — an organization that provide people to translate speech or writing into a different language
- 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.
- triangle of forces — a triangle whose sides represent the magnitudes and directions of three forces whose resultant is zero and which are therefore in equilibrium
- trickle irrigation — drip irrigation.
- truck center plate — one of a pair of plates that fit together and support the body of a car on a truck, while allowing the truck to rotate with respect to the body. One plate (body center plate) is attached to the underside of the car body and the other (truck center plate) is part of the car truck.
- ulcerative colitis — chronic ulceration in the large intestine, characterized by painful abdominal cramps and profuse diarrhea containing pus, blood, and mucus.
- ultralow frequency — an electromagnetic wave with a frequency between 300 and 3000 hertz. Abbreviation: ULF, ulf.
- ultrasonic testing — the scanning of material with an ultrasonic beam, during which reflections from faults in the material can be detected: a powerful nondestructive test method
- ultrasonic welding — the use of high-energy vibration of ultrasonic frequency to produce a weld between two components which are held in close contact
- ultrasound scanner — a device used to examine an internal bodily structure by the use of ultrasonic waves, esp for the diagnosis of abnormality in a fetus
- under lock and key — a device for securing a door, gate, lid, drawer, or the like in position when closed, consisting of a bolt or system of bolts propelled and withdrawn by a mechanism operated by a key, dial, etc.
- unenthusiastically — full of or characterized by enthusiasm; ardent: He seems very enthusiastic about his role in the play.
- unilateral neglect — a symptom of brain damage in which a person is unaware of one side of his or her body and of anything in the external world on the same side
- unit magnetic pole — the unit of magnetic pole strength equal to the strength of a magnetic pole that repels a similar pole with a force of one dyne, the two poles being placed in a vacuum and separated by a distance of one centimeter.
- universal coupling — a coupling between rotating shafts set at an angle to one another, allowing for rotation in three planes.
- university faculty — a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas
- upper middle class — wealthy, highly-educated people
- 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.
- valle de la pascua — a city in N Venezuela.
- venture capitalist — funds invested or available for investment in a new or unproven business enterprise.
- vicar of wakefield — a novel (1766) by Goldsmith.
- victor emmanuel ii — 1820–78, king of Sardinia 1849–78; first king of Italy 1861–78.
- video surveillance — a system of monitoring activity in an area or building using a television system in which signals are transmitted from a television camera to the receivers by cables or telephone links forming a closed circuit
- 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. - watson-crick model — a widely accepted model for the three-dimensional structure of DNA, featuring a double-helix configuration for the molecule's two hydrogen-bonded complementary polynucleotide strands.
- wattless component — Electricity. reactive component.
- weak nuclear force — weak interaction
- welland ship canal — a ship canal in S Canada, in Ontario, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario: 8 locks. 25 miles (40 km) long.
- welwyn garden city — a town in SE England, in Hertfordshire: established (1920) as a planned industrial and residential community. Pop: 43 512 (2001)
- 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.
- widemouth blindcat — any of several catfishes, as Satan eurystomus (widemouth blindcat) of Texas, that inhabit underground streams and have undeveloped eyes and unpigmented skin.
- wildlife sanctuary — an area where wild animals and plants are protected