20-letter words containing a, e, g, y
- saint mary magdalene — a woman of Magdala (ˈmæɡdələ ) in Galilee whom Jesus cured of evil spirits (Luke 8:2) and who is often identified with the sinful woman of Luke 7:36–50. In Christian tradition she is usually taken to have been a prostitute. Feast day: July 22
- sanitary engineering — a branch of civil engineering dealing with matters affecting public health, as water supply or sewage disposal.
- see the light of day — come into being
- self-belaying system — (in climbing) equipment used to pay out rope as required and thus enable a climber to self-belay
- sensitivity training — a form of group therapy designed to develop understanding of oneself and others through free, unstructured discussion.
- short message system — A short message system is a way of sending short written messages from one mobile phone to another. The abbreviation SMS is also used.
- software methodology — (programming) The study of how to navigate through each phase of the software process model (determining data, control, or uses hierarchies, partitioning functions, and allocating requirements) and how to represent phase products (structure charts, stimulus-response threads, and state transition diagrams).
- squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
- state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
- sunday-go-to-meeting — most presentable; best: Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
- supplementary angles — either of two angles that added together produce an angle of 180°.
- synchronized skating — the art or sport of teams of up to twenty skaters holding onto each other and moving in patterns in time to music
- technology agreement — a framework designed by trade unions for negotiating changes in employment caused by the introduction of new technology
- tetrahydrogestrinone — a synthetic anabolic steroid. Formula: C21H28O2
- the (great) pyramids — the three large pyramids at Gîza, Egypt: the largest is the Pyramid of Khufu
- the day of judgement — a Christian term for the ending of the world
- the garment industry — the manufacturing of items of clothing
- the naughty nineties — (in Britain) the 1890s, considered to be a period of fun-loving and laxity, esp in sexual morals
- to get your bearings — to find out where one is or to find out what one should do next
- to get your own back — If you get your own back on someone, you have your revenge on them because of something bad that they have done to you.
- to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.
- toxemia of pregnancy — an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension, fluid retention, edema, and the presence of protein in the urine.
- track-laying vehicle — A track-laying vehicle is a vehicle whose wheels run inside a continuous chain or track.
- video graphics array — (hardware) (VGA) A display standard for IBM PCs, with 640 x 480 pixels in 16 colours and a 4:3 aspect ratio. There is also a text mode with 720 x 400 pixels. IBM technical references define the *product name* of their original VGA display board as "Video Graphics Array", in contrast to the preceding boards, the "Color Graphics Adapter" (CGA) and "Enhanced Graphics Adapter" (EGA). See also Super Video Graphics Adapter.
- walking-around money — money that is carried on the person for routine expenses and minor emergencies; pocket money.
- walton and weybridge — a city in Surrey, SE England: a London suburb.
- watering of the eyes — the formation of tears in the eyes
- winter olympic games — an international contest of winter sports, esp skiing, held every four years
- wintergreen barberry — a Chinese evergreen shrub, Berberis julianae, of the barberry family, having spiny leaves, dark green above, pale beneath, clusters of yellow flowers, and bluish-black fruit.
- yellow-billed magpie — either of two corvine birds, Pica pica (black-billed magpie) of Eurasia and North America, or P. nuttalli (yellow-billed magpie) of California, having long, graduated tails, black-and-white plumage, and noisy, mischievous habits.
- your marching orders — If you give someone their marching orders, you tell them that you no longer want or need them, for example as your employee or as your lover.
- yu-shiang whole fish — /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ An obsolete name for the Greek character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII code 9, Unicode glyph 0x0263) which with a loop in its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked whole (not parsed) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang) sauce. Used primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display this character on the screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand.