20-letter words containing a, h, o
- to overstep the mark — If someone oversteps the mark, they behave in a way that is considered unacceptable.
- to push the boat out — If you push the boat out, you spend a lot of money on something, especially in order to celebrate.
- to put an end to sth — To put an end to something means to cause it to stop.
- to put it to sb that — If you put it to someone that something is true, you suggest that it is true, especially when you think that they will be unwilling to admit this.
- to reach new heights — to become higher than ever before
- to scrape the barrel — If you say that someone is scraping the barrel, or scraping the bottom of the barrel, you disapprove of the fact that they are using or doing something of extremely poor quality.
- to shake like a leaf — If you say that someone is shaking like a leaf, you mean that their body is shaking a lot, for instance because they are very cold or frightened.
- to stick in the craw — to be unacceptable or displeasing to someone
- to use shock tactics — to attempt to influence people by shocking them
- to waste your breath — If someone says you are wasting your breath, they mean that the person you are talking to will not take any notice and so there is no point saying anything to them.
- to wear the trousers — If one person in a couple, especially the woman, wears the pants, or in British English wears the trousers, they are the one who makes all the decisions.
- to weather the storm — If someone weathers the storm, they succeed in reaching the end of a very difficult period without much harm or damage.
- to work your way swh — If you work your way somewhere, you move or progress there slowly, and with a lot of effort or work.
- tom, dick, and harry — the ordinary person; people generally; everyone: They invited every Tom, Dick, and Harry to the party.
- too much information — I don't want to hear any more
- toothbrush moustache — a short narrow moustache, resembling the filaments of a toothbrush
- transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
- tribromoacetaldehyde — bromal.
- trichloroacetic acid — a toxic, deliquescent, and colorless crystalline compound, C 2 HCl 3 O 2 , soluble in water, alcohol, and ether: used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, herbicides, and other chemicals, and as a reagent for the detection of albumin. Abbreviation: TCA.
- tropospheric scatter — transmission of radio frequency signals that have been scattered from irregularities in the troposphere to locations hundreds of kilometers distant.
- trumpet call for sth — a signal for something
- turn an honest penny — to earn money fairly and honestly
- twisted stomach worm — stomach worm.
- university of durham — (body, education) A busy research and teaching community in the historic cathedral city of Durham, UK (population 61000). Its work covers key branches of science and technology and traditional areas of scholarship. Durham graduates are in great demand among employers and the University helps to attract investment into the region. It provides training, short courses, and expertise for industry. Through its cultural events, conferences, tourist business and as a major employer, the University contributes in a wide social and economic sense to the community. Founded in 1832, the University developed in Durham and Newcastle until 1963 when the independent University of Newcastle upon Tyne came into being. Durham is a collegiate body, with 14 Colleges or Societies which are a social and domestic focus for students. In 1992, the Universities of Durham and Teesside launched University College, Stockton-on-Tees, which has 190 students in the first year.
- university of hawaii — (body, education) A University spread over 10 campuses on 4 islands throughout the state. See also Aloha, Aloha Net.
- uranium hexafluoride — a colorless, water-insoluble, crystalline, volatile solid, UF 6 , used in its gaseous state in separating uranium 235 from uranium.
- 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.
- voluntary euthanasia — the act of killing someone painlessly, esp to relieve suffering from an incurable illness, with their consent
- war of the rebellion — American Civil War.
- warehouse facilities — places for storing goods
- watch someone's back — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- watering of the eyes — the formation of tears in the eyes
- western mountain ash — a mountain ash, Sorbus sitchensis, of western North America.
- what did you do with — You can ask someone what they did with something as another way of asking them where they put it.
- what-you-may-call-it — an object or person whose name one does not know or cannot recall.
- white bush (scallop) — a variety of summer squash having a saucer-shaped white fruit, scalloped around the edges
- whole-life insurance — a type of insurance with a savings element that is guaranteed to pay out on death provided premiums have been paid as required by the policy
- whyte classification — a system for classifying steam locomotives according to the total number of wheels on the front trucks, drivers, and rear trucks, in that order. For example, a Pacific locomotive is designated as 4-6-2.
- wilson cloud chamber — cloud chamber.
- with a grain of salt — to season with salt.
- with a pinch of salt — without wholly believing; sceptically
- with all one's heart — Anatomy. a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs and slightly to the left and consisting of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae, a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation, a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve, and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.
- with all one's might — If you do something with all your might, you do it using all your strength and energy.
- woman of the streets — a prostitute; streetwalker.
- worcestershire sauce — a sharp sauce made with soy, vinegar, spices, etc., originally made in Worcester, England.
- working relationship — a relationship with a colleague, boss or employee
- yellow-breasted chat — an American warbler, Icteria virens, having a yellow throat and breast and greenish-brown upper parts and noted for imitating the songs of other species.
- you know what i mean — You can use expressions such as you know what I mean and if you know what I mean to suggest that the person listening to you understands what you are trying to say, and so you do not have to explain any more.
- 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.