20-letter words containing a, g, r, o, s

price-earnings ratio — the current price of a share of common stock divided by earnings per share over a 12-month period, often used in stock evaluation. Abbreviation: p/e.
private investigator — private detective. Abbreviation: PI, p.i., P.I.
proportional spacing — a feature of some typewriters and other output devices whereby the space allotted to each character is determined by the width of the character
prosecuting attorney — the public officer in a county, district, or other jurisdiction charged with carrying on the prosecution in criminal proceedings.
pyroligneous alcohol — methyl alcohol.
pythagoras's theorem — (mathematics) The theorem of geometry, named after Pythagoras, of Samos, Ionia, stating that, for a right-angled triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides. I.e. if the longest side has length A and the other sides have lengths B and C (in any units), A^2 = B^2 + C^2 (2004-02-12)
quaker meeting house — a place where Quakers gather for worship
raise one's glass to — to drink the health of; drink a toast to
real-time processing — data-processing by a computer which receives constantly changing data, such as information relating to air-traffic control, travel booking systems, etc, and processes it sufficiently rapidly to be able to control the source of the data
refracting telescope — an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms (refracting telescope) consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope) has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed. Compare radio telescope.
reservations manager — A reservations manager at a hotel is responsible for the reservations at the hotel.
restriction fragment — a length of DNA cut from the strand by a restriction enzyme.
retinitis pigmentosa — degeneration of the retina manifested by night blindness and gradual loss of peripheral vision, eventually resulting in tunnel vision or total blindness.
rose-colored glasses — a cheerful or optimistic view of things, usually without valid basis: He saw life through rose-colored glasses.
rough-winged swallow — either of two New World swallows of the genus Stelgidopteryx, having outer primary feathers with small barblike hooks on the margins.
royal british legion — an organization founded in 1921 to provide services and assistance for former members of the armed forces
royal leamington spa — a city in Warwickshire, central England: health resort.
saint george's cross — the Greek cross as used in the flag of Great Britain.
satellite photograph — a photograph taken by an artificial satellite from space
scatter site housing — public housing, especially for low-income families, built throughout an urban area rather than being concentrated in a single neighborhood.
schrodinger equation — the wave equation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. Also called Schrödinger wave equation. Compare wave equation (def 2).
semiautobiographical — pertaining to or being a fictionalized account of an author's own life.
serve a person right — to pay a person back, esp for wrongful or foolish treatment or behaviour
server message block — (protocol) (SMB) A client/server protocol that provides file and printer sharing between computers. In addition SMB can share serial ports and communications abstractions such as named pipes and mail slots. SMB is similar to remote procedure call (RPC) specialised for file system access. SMB was developed by Intel, Microsoft, and IBM in the early 1980s. It has also had input from Xerox and 3Com. It is the native method of file and print sharing for Microsoft operating systems; where it is called Microsoft Networking. Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, and Windows NT all include SMB clients and servers. SMB is also used by OS/2, Lan Manager and Banyan Vines. There are SMB servers and clients for Unix, for example Samba and smbclient. SMB is a presentation layer protocol structured as a large set of commands (Server Message Blocks). There are commands to support file sharing, printer sharing, user authentication, resource browsing, and other miscellaneous functions. As clients and servers may implement different versions ("dialects") of the protocol they negotiate before starting a session. The redirector packages SMB requests into a network control block (NBC) structure that can be sent across the network to a remote device. SMB originally ran on top of the lower level protocols NetBEUI and NetBIOS, but now typically runs over TCP/IP. Microsoft have developed an extended version of SMB for the Internet, the Common Internet File System (CIFS), which in most cases replaces SMB. CIFS runs only runs over TCP/IP.
set the ball rolling — to open or initiate (an action, discussion, movement, etc)
sex change operation — a surgical operation designed to change a person's physical sexual characteristics to those of the opposite sex
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.
shoulder-length hair — hair that reaches a person's shoulders
snowflake generation — the generation of people who became adults in the 2010s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations
software engineering — the process of writing computer programs
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).
special patrol group — a former police unit tasked with counter terrorism in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
st. george's channel — a channel between Wales and Ireland, connecting the Irish Sea and the Atlantic. 100 miles (160 km) long; 50–90 miles (81–145 km) wide.
staff sergeant major — a noncommissioned officer equivalent in rank to a command sergeant major but having no command responsibility.
state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
storage area network — (storage) (SAN) A high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data. A SAN's architecture works in a way that makes all storage devices available to all servers on a LAN or WAN. As more storage devices are added to a SAN, they too will be accessible from any server in the larger network. The server merely acts as a pathway between the end user and the stored data. Because stored data does not reside directly on any of a network's servers, server power is used for business applications, and network capacity is released to the end user.
straight as an arrow — direct, unwavering
straight-cut tobacco — tobacco that is cut in such a way that it will lie flat.
strong nuclear force — an interaction between elementary particles responsible for the forces between nucleons in the nucleus. It operates at distances less than about 10–15 metres, and is about a hundred times more powerful than the electromagnetic interaction
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
television programme — a programme broadcast on television
tetrahydrogestrinone — a synthetic anabolic steroid. Formula: C21H28O2
the founding fathers — any of the men who were members of the U.S. Constituional Convention of 1787
the legal profession — the profession of law
the roaring twenties — a phrase used to describe the decade of the 1920s (esp in America), so called due to the social, artistic, and cultural dynamism of the period
there's no mistaking — You can say there is no mistaking something when you are emphasizing that you cannot fail to recognize or understand it.
thought transference — transference of thought by extrasensory means from the mind of one individual to another; telepathy.
to be a warning shot — to be a warning
to be at loggerheads — to be in conflict

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