19-letter words containing a, n, o, d, y
- out of the ordinary — of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
- overplay one's hand — If you say that someone is overplaying something such as a problem, you mean that they are making it seem more important than it really is.
- parathyroid hormone — a polypeptide hormone, produced in the parathyroid glands, that helps regulate the blood levels of calcium and phosphate. Abbreviation: PTH.
- peritoneal dialysis — a form of dialysis in which the peritoneum is used as an autogenous semipermeable membrane
- phenylthiocarbamide — a crystalline, slightly water-soluble solid, C 6 H 5 NHCSNH 2 , that is either tasteless or bitter, depending upon the heredity of the taster, and is used in medical genetics and as a diagnostic.
- play fast and loose — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- polyclonal antibody — a mixture of antibodies of different specificities, as in the serum of a person immunized to various antigens.
- punch and judy show — A Punch and Judy show is a puppet show for children, often performed at fairs or at the seaside. Punch and Judy, the two main characters, are always fighting.
- punch-and-judy show — a puppet show having a conventional plot consisting chiefly of slapstick humor and the tragicomic misadventures of the grotesque, hook-nosed, humpback buffoon Punch and his wife Judy.
- recording secretary — an officer charged with keeping the minutes of meetings and responsible for the records.
- royal correspondent — a journalist who reports on matters relating to royalty
- san fernando valley — valley in SW Calif., partly in NW Los Angeles: c. 260 sq mi (673 sq km)
- sandra day o'connor — Frank (Michael Donovan) 1903–66, Irish writer.
- secondary dentition — the permanent dentition
- secondary education — education at high-school level
- secondary infection — an infection resulting from another infection
- secondary intention — See under intention (def 5b).
- secondary picketing — the picketing by strikers of a place of work that supplies goods to or distributes goods from their employer
- secondary processes — the conscious mental activity and logical thinking controlled by the ego and influenced by environmental demands.
- secondary qualities — one of the qualities attributed by the mind to an object perceived, such as color, temperature, or taste.
- secondary structure — the arrangement of a polypeptide into a regular alpha helix, beta structure, or random coil configuration by the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds along the length of the chain.
- secondary-intention — an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.
- sensory deprivation — the experimental or natural reduction of environmental stimuli, as by physical isolation or loss of eyesight, often leading to cognitive, perceptual, or behavioral changes, as disorientation, delusions, or panic.
- sessional indemnity — the remuneration paid to a member of the Canadian parliament.
- smokestack industry — A smokestack industry is a traditional industry such as heavy engineering or manufacturing, rather than a modern industry such as electronics.
- stanford university — (education) A University in the city of Palo Alto, California, noted for work in computing, especially artificial intelligence. See SAIL.
- stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
- tall poppy syndrome — a tendency to disparage any person who has achieved great prominence or wealth
- talleyrand-perigord — Charles Maurice de [sharl moh-rees duh] /ʃarl moʊˈris də/ (Show IPA), Prince de Bénévent [duh bey-ney-vahn] /də beɪ neɪˈvɑ̃/ (Show IPA), 1754–1838, French statesman.
- the london assembly — the devolved legislature of London, based in City Hall, Southwark
- to change your mind — If you change your mind, or if someone or something changes your mind, you change a decision you have made or an opinion that you had.
- to hang by a thread — If you say that something is hanging by a thread, you mean that it is in a very uncertain state and is unlikely to survive or succeed.
- to lay down the law — If you say that someone lays down the law, you are critical of them because they give other people orders and they think that they are always right.
- to turn a blind eye — If you say that someone is turning a blind eye to something bad or illegal that is happening, you mean that you think they are pretending not to notice that it is happening so that they will not have to do anything about it.
- turn a blind eye to — to pretend not to notice or ignore deliberately
- velocity modulation — the modulation in velocity of a beam of electrons or ions caused by passing the beam through a high-frequency electric field, as in a cavity resonator
- wassermann antibody — reagin (def 1).
- websters-dictionary — Informal. a dictionary of the English language, especially American English, such as Dictionary.com.
- wesleyan methodists — a branch of the Methodist Church in its original form
- withdrawal syndrome — a spectrum of physical and behavioral symptoms following cessation from the continuous use of an addictive drug, the character and severity of the symptoms depending upon the particular drug and the daily dose.
- wood-and-water joey — a person employed to carry out menial tasks
- wouldn't harm a fly — If you say that someone wouldn't hurt a fly or wouldn't harm a fly, you are emphasizing that they are very kind and gentle.
- yellow-dog contract — a contract between a worker and an employer in which, as a condition of employment, the worker agrees not to remain in or join a union.
- yellowtail flounder — a righteyed flounder, Limanda ferruginea, inhabiting waters along the Atlantic coast of North America, having a yellowish tail fin and rusty-red spots on the body: once commercially important, now greatly reduced in number.
- yeoman of the guard — a member of the bodyguard of the English sovereign, instituted in 1485, which now consists of 100 men, including officers, having purely ceremonial duties.
- yesterday afternoon — during the afternoon of the day preceding today
- your hands are tied — If you say that your hands are tied, you mean that something is preventing you from acting in the way that you want to.