23-letter words containing a, n, h, e, d
- secondary sex character — any of a number of manifestations, as development of breasts or beard, muscularity, distribution of fat tissue, and change of pitch in voice, specific to each sex and incipient at puberty but not essential to reproduction.
- sheltered accommodation — housing specially designed to provide a safe environment for the elderly, handicapped, or disabled, often with some shared facilities and a caretaker
- short-billed marsh wren — sedge wren.
- snap someone's head off — to cut, wound, or tear with the teeth: She bit the apple greedily. The lion bit his trainer.
- steal someone's thunder — to strike, drive, inflict, give forth, etc., with loud noise or violent action.
- take it into one's head — If somebody takes it into their head to do something, especially something strange or foolish, they suddenly decide to do it.
- take sth in your stride — In British English, if you take a problem or difficulty in your stride, you deal with it calmly and easily. The American expression is take something in stride.
- talk someone's head off — to communicate or exchange ideas, information, etc., by speaking: to talk about poetry.
- the data protection act — a United Kingdom act of parliament designed to ensure the proper handling of information stored about individuals on computers and entitling individuals to find out what information is stored about them
- the department of state — the United States federal department concerned with foreign policy
- the haves and have-nots — the people who are very wealthy and the people who are very poor
- the kingdom of lorraine — an early medieval kingdom on the Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine rivers: later a duchy
- the whys and wherefores — The whys and wherefores of something are the reasons for it.
- thousand and one nights — a collection of Eastern folk tales derived in part from Indian and Persian sources and dating from the 10th century a.d.
- throw down the gauntlet — a medieval glove, as of mail or plate, worn by a knight in armor to protect the hand.
- to drive a hard bargain — If people drive a hard bargain, they argue with determination in order to achieve a deal which is favourable to themselves.
- to force someone's hand — If you force someone's hand, you force them to act sooner than they want to, or to act in public when they would prefer to keep their actions secret.
- to get ahold of oneself — to force oneself to become calm and sensible after a shock or in a difficult situation
- to have an axe to grind — If someone has an axe to grind, they are doing something for selfish reasons.
- to have your hands full — If you have your hands full with something, you are very busy because of it.
- to hell in a handbasket — to one's doom
- to shake someone's hand — If you shake someone's hand or shake someone by the hand, you shake hands with them.
- track and field athlete — a sportsperson who participates in events that involve running, sprinting, throwing, jumping and walking
- trigonal trisoctahedron — a trisoctahedron whose faces are triangles.
- turn a cold shoulder to — to treat with disdain; snub
- twenty-fourth amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, forbidding the use of the poll tax as a requirement for voting in national or U.S. Congressional elections.
- unconditional discharge — the release of a defendant without having to spend time on parole or probation
- under a gooseberry bush — used humorously in answering children's questions regarding their birth
- under the circumstances — a condition, detail, part, or attribute, with respect to time, place, manner,agent, etc., that accompanies, determines, or modifies a fact or event; a modifying or influencing factor: Do not judge his behavior without considering every circumstance.
- united church of canada — the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, formed in the 1920s by incorporating some Presbyterians and most Methodists
- urea-formaldehyde resin — any of a group of resins formed by the interaction of urea and formaldehyde under conditions that include heat and pH control: used chiefly in the manufacture of buttons, baking enamels, and for making fabrics wrinkle-resistant.
- ventricular tachycardia — a cardiac arrhythmia in which the muscles of the ventricles contract irregularly in a rapid, uncoordinated manner, impairing the normal pumping of blood.
- when the chips are down — a small, slender piece, as of wood, separated by chopping, cutting, or breaking.
- wholly-owned subsidiary — A wholly-owned subsidiary is a company whose shares are all owned by another company.