18-letter words containing a, k, u
- optical soundtrack — the final soundtrack on a motion picture, which appears as a band of black and white serrations along a strip of film to the left of the composite print. Light is shined through the serrations and is converted to audible sound.
- peak-to-peak value — Peak-to-peak value is the maximum voltage change occurring during one cycle of alternating voltage or current.
- percussion flaking — a method of forming a flint tool by striking flakes from a stone core with another stone or a piece of bone or wood.
- porter-house steak — Also called porterhouse steak. a choice cut of beef from between the prime ribs and the sirloin.
- put the clock back — to regress
- quick off the mark — If you are quick off the mark, you are quick to understand or respond to something. If you are slow off the mark, you are slow to understand or respond to something.
- runge-kutta method — a numerical method, involving successive approximations, used to solve differential equations.
- sickness insurance — a type of insurance which pays out if you become ill
- sit up like jackie — to sit bolt upright, esp cheekily
- ski-mountaineering — a combination of the sports of skiing and mountaineering, for example by climbing up a mountain then skiing down it
- slow on the uptake — slow to understand or learn
- south saskatchewan — a river in W Canada, flowing E from S Alberta and joining the North Saskatchewan River to form the Saskatchewan River. 865 miles (1392 km) long.
- spackling compound — spackle
- speak for yourself — If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.
- statutory sick pay — the pay an employee is legally entitled to when sick
- strike an attitude — to assume a posture or pose, often an affected or theatrical one
- take a bite out of — If something takes a bite out of a sum of money, part of the money is spent or taken away in order to pay for it.
- take out insurance — take out insurance against something
- talk a blue streak — speak rapidly and incessantly
- technical knockout — the termination of a bout by the referee when it is the judgment of the attending physician, a boxer's seconds, or the referee that a boxer cannot continue fighting without sustaining severe or disabling injury. Abbreviation: TKO, T.K.O.
- the black mountain — a mountain range in S Wales, in E Carmarthenshire and W Powys. Highest peak: Carmarthen Van, 802 m (2632 ft)
- the masurian lakes — a group of lakes in Masuria in NE Poland: scene of Russian defeats by the Germans (1914, 1915) during World War I
- to speak your mind — If you speak your mind, you say firmly and honestly what you think about a situation, even if this may offend or upset people.
- to take the plunge — If you take the plunge, you decide to do something that you consider difficult or risky.
- truck center plate — one of a pair of plates that fit together and support the body of a car on a truck, while allowing the truck to rotate with respect to the body. One plate (body center plate) is attached to the underside of the car body and the other (truck center plate) is part of the car truck.
- turk's-head cactus — a cactus, Melocactus communis, of Jamaica, having needlelike spines and a cylindrical body with a tawny-red, fezlike terminal part bearing red flowers.
- turn one's back on — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- under lock and key — a device for securing a door, gate, lid, drawer, or the like in position when closed, consisting of a bolt or system of bolts propelled and withdrawn by a mechanism operated by a key, dial, etc.
- under the jackboot — If a country or group of people is under the jackboot, they are suffering because the government is cruel and undemocratic.
- upper klamath lake — See under Klamath Lakes.
- war risk insurance — life insurance for members of the armed forces.
- weak nuclear force — weak interaction
- westinghouse brake — a railroad air brake operated by compressed air.
- work-study program — a program enabling high-school or college students to combine academic work with actual job experience.