18-letter words containing a, h, o, l
- commercial attache — an attaché in an embassy or legation representing the commercial interests of his or her country.
- commercial vehicle — a vehicle for carrying goods or (less commonly) passengers
- common-law husband — a man considered to be a woman's husband after the couple have cohabited for several years
- commonwealth games — an event held every four years in which sportspeople from the countries of the Commonwealth compete
- community hospital — (in the US) a local hospital
- considered harmful — (programming, humour) A type of phrase based on the title of Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM, "Goto Statement Considered Harmful", which fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print articles taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies bore titles of the form "X considered Y". The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realisation that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke.
- continental shield — any of the large, low-lying areas in the Earth's crust that are composed of Precambrian crystalline rocks
- controllable-pitch — (of a marine or aircraft propeller) having blades whose pitch can be changed during navigation or flight; variable-pitch.
- corpuscular theory — the theory, originally proposed by Newton, and revived with the development of the quantum theory, that light consists of a stream of particles
- cranial osteopathy — osteopathy that focuses on the cranium and the spine
- crystal microphone — a microphone that uses a piezoelectric crystal to convert sound energy into electrical energy
- dear john (letter) — a letter from one's fiancée or girlfriend breaking off an engagement or love affair, or from one's wife asking for a divorce
- death by chocolate — a very rich type of chocolate dessert or cake
- decachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) The fully chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl containing ten chlorine atoms.
- dichloracetic acid — a highly corrosive acid. Formula: C2H2Cl2O2
- didaskaleinophobia — The fear of going to school.
- digital switchover — the process of changing the method of transmitting television from analogue to digital format
- digital technology — the branch of scientific or engineering knowledge that deals with the creation and practical use of digital or computerized devices, methods, systems, etc.: advances in digital technology.
- dihydrotachysterol — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble sterol, C 28 H 46 O, derived from ergosterol: used chiefly in the treatment of hypoparathyroidism.
- diphosphoglycerate — an ester of phosphoric acid and glyceric acid that occurs in the blood and that promotes the release of hemoglobin-bound oxygen.
- diplomatic shuttle — a series of diplomatic visits to other states made by an official, such as an ambassador or envoy
- division algorithm — the theorem that an integer can be written as the sum of the product of two integers, one a given positive integer, added to a positive integer smaller than the given positive integer. Compare Euclidean algorithm.
- dodecadodecahedral — Having the form of a dodecadodecahedron.
- double achievement — a representation of the arms of a husband beside those of his wife such that a difference of rank between them is shown.
- drinking chocolate — sweetened cocoa powder
- dry-powder inhaler — A dry-powder inhaler is a device that delivers medication to the lungs in the form of a dry powder.
- dynamic psychology — any system of psychology that emphasizes the interaction between different motives, emotions, and drives
- echoencephalograph — a device that employs reflected ultrasonic waves to examine the position of brain structures.
- eggshell porcelain — a type of very thin translucent porcelain originally made in China
- electrocardiograph — A machine used for electrocardiography.
- electrophotography — Any of several methods of photocopying in which an image is created and then transferred between surfaces using static electricity.
- electrotherapeutic — Relating to electrotherapeutics.
- elizabeth petrovna — 1709-62; empress of Russia (1741-62): daughter of Peter I
- elizabethan sonnet — Shakespearean sonnet
- epicycloidal wheel — one of the planetary gears of an epicyclic train
- ethnomusicological — Relating to or pertaining to ethnomusicology.
- ethnopsychological — Relating to ethnopsychology.
- euclid's algorithm — (algorithm) (Or "Euclidean Algorithm") An algorithm for finding the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two numbers. It relies on the identity gcd(a, b) = gcd(a-b, b) To find the GCD of two numbers by this algorithm, repeatedly replace the larger by subtracting the smaller from it until the two numbers are equal. E.g. 132, 168 -> 132, 36 -> 96, 36 -> 60, 36 -> 24, 36 -> 24, 12 -> 12, 12 so the GCD of 132 and 168 is 12. This algorithm requires only subtraction and comparison operations but can take a number of steps proportional to the difference between the initial numbers (e.g. gcd(1, 1001) will take 1000 steps).
- fall to the ground — (of a plan, theory, etc) to be rendered invalid, esp because of lack of necessary information
- family-tree theory — a theory that describes language change in terms of genetically related languages developing in successive splits from a common parent language, such as Indo-European, as depicted by a family tree diagram.
- farm the long acre — to graze cows on the verge of a road
- feldenkrais method — a system of gentle movements that promote flexibility, coordination, and self-awareness
- fischer von erlach — Johann Bernhard [yaw-hahn bern-hahrt] /ˈyɔ hɑn ˈbɛrn hɑrt/ (Show IPA), 1656–1723, Austrian architect.
- flame-of-the-woods — an Indian evergreen shrub, Ixora coccinea, of the madder family, having red, tubular flowers in dense clusters.
- fly in the face of — to move through the air using wings.
- fly off the handle — a part of a thing made specifically to be grasped or held by the hand.
- foundling hospital — an institutional home for foundlings.
- fourth normal form — database normalisation
- genetic algorithms — genetic algorithm
- gestalt psychology — (sometimes lowercase) the theory or doctrine that physiological or psychological phenomena do not occur through the summation of individual elements, as reflexes or sensations, but through gestalts functioning separately or interrelatedly.