16-letter words containing a, g, h, o
- rough-and-tumble — characterized by violent, random, disorderly action and struggles: a rough-and-tumble fight; He led an adventuresome, rough-and-tumble life.
- saint-john-night — Midsummer Eve.
- saint-ulmo-light — St. Elmo's fire.
- sawn-off shotgun — A sawn-off shotgun is a shotgun on which the barrel has been cut short. Guns like this are often used by criminals because they can be easily hidden.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- school-age child — a child who is old enough to go to school
- scratch together — to assemble with difficulty
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- secondary growth — an increase in the thickness of the shoots and roots of a vascular plant as a result of the formation of new cells in the cambium.
- sex-and-shopping — (of a novel) belonging to a genre of novel in which the central character, a woman, has a number of sexual encounters, and the author mentions the name of many up-market products
- shaggy dog story — a funny story, traditionally about a talking dog, that, after an often long and involved narration of unimportant incidents, has an absurd or irrelevant punch line.
- shaggy-dog story — a funny story, traditionally about a talking dog, that, after an often long and involved narration of unimportant incidents, has an absurd or irrelevant punch line.
- sharpe's grysbok — either of two small, usually solitary antelopes of southern Africa, Raphicerus melanotis, or R. sharpei (Sharpe's grysbok) having a light to dark reddish-brown coat speckled with white.
- shipping company — business that sends goods overseas
- shoestring catch — a catch of a ball on the fly, made close to the ground while running.
- shooting gallery — a place equipped with targets and used for practice in shooting.
- shopping channel — television station used to sell goods
- shopping village — a shopping centre that designed to look like a village
- shorthand typing — shorthand and typing
- shotgun marriage — a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
- smooth breathing — a symbol (') used in the writing of Greek to indicate that the initial vowel over which it is placed is unaspirated.
- social gathering — party, get-together
- social pathology — a social factor, as poverty, old age, or crime, that tends to increase social disorganization and inhibit personal adjustment.
- soft pornography — soft-core pornography.
- solemn high mass — a Mass sung with the assistance of a deacon and subdeacon.
- sounding machine — any of various machines for taking and recording soundings.
- spectroheliogram — a photograph of the sun made with a spectroheliograph.
- speech pathology — the scientific study and treatment of defects, disorders, and malfunctions of speech and voice, as stuttering, lisping, or lalling, and of language disturbances, as aphasia or delayed language acquisition.
- sphygmomanometer — an instrument, often attached to an inflatable air-bladder cuff and used with a stethoscope, for measuring blood pressure in an artery.
- sphygmomanometry — an instrument, often attached to an inflatable air-bladder cuff and used with a stethoscope, for measuring blood pressure in an artery.
- stagedoor johnny — a man who often goes to a theater or waits at a stage door to court an actress.
- statutory change — a change in the law
- steamboat gothic — a florid architectural style suggesting the gingerbread-decorated construction of river boats of the Victorian period.
- stick at nothing — to be prepared to do anything; be unscrupulous or ruthless
- still photograph — a photograph taken from a cinema film which is used for publicity purposes
- stocking machine — a type of knitting machine
- stomach stapling — Stomach stapling is an operation in which part of the stomach is removed in order to help a person to eat less and lose weight.
- stomach-churning — causing nausea.
- straight shooter — a person who is forthright and upstanding in behavior.
- string orchestra — an orchestra consisting only of violins, violas, cellos, and double basses
- stroboradiograph — a stroboscopic radiograph.
- subtropical high — one of several highs, as the Azores and Pacific highs, that prevail over the oceans at latitudes of about 30 degrees N and S. Also called subtropical anticyclone. Compare high (def 37).
- sulu archipelago — an island group in the SW Philippines, separating the Sulawesi Sea from the Sulu Sea. 1086 sq. mi. (2813 sq. km). Capital: Jolo.
- summa theologica — a philosophical and theological work (1265–74) by St. Thomas Aquinas, consisting of an exposition of Christian doctrine.
- surrogate mother — a person who acts in the place of another person's biological mother.
- take (to) flight — to run away; flee
- teachers college — a four-year college offering courses for the training of primary and secondary school teachers and granting the bachelor's degree and often advanced degrees.
- thatched cottage — a cottage that has a roof that is thatched with straw, reed etc
- the gang of four — a radical faction within the Chinese Communist Party that emerged as a political force in the spring of 1976 and was suppressed later that year. Its members, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, and Jiang Qing, were tried and imprisoned (1981)
- the great karroo — karroo in S South Africa: c. 350 mi (563 km) long & 2,000 to 3,000 ft (610 to 914 m) high