16-letter words containing a, s, h, i
- christmas lights — strings of lights put up in the Christmas period to decorate houses
- chromatographies — Plural form of chromatography.
- chryselephantine — (of ancient Greek statues) made of or overlaid with gold and ivory
- churidar pyjamas — long tight-fitting trousers, worn by Indian men and women
- chuvash republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga valley: generally low-lying with undulating plains and large areas of forest. Capital: Cheboksary. Pop: 1 313 900 (2002). Area: 18 300 sq km (7064 sq miles)
- civilian clothes — not military uniform
- clackmannanshire — a council area and historical county of central Scotland; became part of the Central region in 1975 but reinstated as an independent unitary authority in 1996; mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Alloa. Pop: 47 680 (2003 est). Area: 142 sq km (55 sq miles)
- classical school — an economic theory based on the works of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, which explains the creation of wealth and advocates free trade
- clay-with-flints — a deposit of stiff clay containing unworn whole flints in the S England
- clearsightedness — The property of being clearsighted.
- cochineal cactus — a treelike cactus, Nopalea cochenillifera, of Mexico and Central America, that is a principal source of food of the cochineal insect.
- cochineal insect — a Mexican homopterous insect, Dactylopius coccus, that feeds on cacti
- colonial heights — a town in central Virginia.
- columbia heights — a city in SE Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
- combination shot — a shot in pool in which the cue ball strikes at least one object ball before contact is made with the ball to be pocketed.
- concertina crash — a collision in which vehicle after vehicle hits the one ahead in a sequence of events triggered by the first car crash
- considering that — You use considering that to indicate that you are thinking about a particular fact when making a judgment or giving an opinion.
- coping mechanism — something a person does to deal with a difficult situation
- corona discharge — an electrical discharge appearing on and around the surface of a charged conductor, caused by ionization of the surrounding gas
- coronary cushion — a thick band of vascular tissue in the coronet of horses and other hoofed animals that secretes the horny wall of the hoof.
- cottage hospital — a small rural hospital
- cowichan sweater — a heavy sweater of grey, unbleached wool with distinctive designs that were originally black-and-white but are now sometimes coloured: knitted originally by Cowichan Indians in British Columbia
- craftspersonship — The body of activities, skills, techniques, knowledge, and expertise pertinent to (a) particular craft(s).
- crystallographic — of, relating to, or dealing with crystals or crystallography.
- cut a wide swath — to make an ostentatious display or forceful impression
- cyclophosphamide — an alkylating agent used in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphomas
- dagwood sandwich — a thick sandwich filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, dressings, and condiments.
- dark-side hacker — (jargon, legal) A criminal or malicious hacker; a cracker. From George Lucas's Darth Vader, "seduced by the dark side of the Force". The implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Opposite: samurai.
- darwin's finches — the finches of the subfamily Geospizinae of the Galapagos Islands, showing great variation in bill structure and feeding habits: provided Darwin with evidence to support his theory of evolution
- data warehousing — the use of large amounts of data taken from multiple sources to create reports and for data analysis
- database machine — (hardware) A computer or special hardware that stores and retrieves data from a database. It is specially designed for database access and is coupled to the main (front-end) computer(s) by a high-speed channel. This contrasts with a database server, which is a computer in a local area network that holds a database. The database machine is tightly coupled to the main CPU, whereas the database server is loosely coupled via the network.
- dead-smooth file — the smoothest grade of file commonly used
- dearborn heights — city in SE Mich.: suburb of Detroit: pop. 58,000
- dechristianizing — Present participle of dechristianize.
- deep in the past — long ago
- deep-sea fishing — the activity of catching fish that live in the deep parts of the sea
- dental hygienist — a dentist's assistant skilled in dental hygiene
- depart this life — to die
- dephlogisticated — Simple past tense and past participle of dephlogisticate.
- derbyshire chair — a chair of the mid-17th century, made of oak, usually without arms, and having a back of two carved rails between square uprights.
- devonshire cream — clotted cream.
- dialysis machine — device: kidney treatment
- diesel-hydraulic — a locomotive driven by a diesel engine through hydraulic transmission and torque converters
- digital research — (company) The company which developed CP/M, the operating system used on many of the first generation 8-bit microprocessor-based personal computers. Digital Research also produced DR-DOS. Address: Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
- dimethyl sulfate — a colorless or yellow, slightly water-soluble, poisonous liquid, (CH 3) 2 SO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- diphosphorylated — (biochemistry) phosphorylated with two units of phosphoric acid.
- diphthongisation — The process by which a single vowel sound (monophthong) shifts to a two-vowel vocalization (diphthong).
- direct-mail shot — the posting of unsolicited sales literature to potential customers' homes or business addresses
- director's chair — a lightweight folding armchair with transversely crossed legs and having a canvas seat and back panel, as traditionally used by motion-picture directors.
- discharging arch — an arch for taking some of the weight from a structural member beneath it.