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19-letter words containing a, s, k

  • norfolk island pine — a coniferous evergreen tree, Araucaria heterophylla (or A. excelsa), having whorled branches and needlelike foliage, widely cultivated as a houseplant.
  • olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
  • on the baker's list — in good health
  • parachute spinnaker — a very large spinnaker used on a racing yacht.
  • parkinson's disease — a common neurologic disease believed to be caused by deterioration of the brain cells that produce dopamine, occurring primarily after the age of 60, characterized by tremors, especially of the fingers and hands, muscle rigidity, shuffling gait, slow speech, and a masklike facial expression.
  • particle kinematics — Particle kinematics is the study of the movement of particles, without considering the forces that cause this movement.
  • paschen-back effect — a splitting of spectral lines observed when the source of a radiation is subjected to a strong magnetic field, caused when the vectors associated with the spin and orbital angular momentum exhibit individual rather than common precession.
  • peak listening time — the time at which the highest numbers of audiences are listening to the radio
  • phakoemulsification — the removal of a cataract by first liquefying the affected lens with ultrasonic vibrations and then extracting it by suction.
  • piggyback investing — Piggyback investing is a situation in which a broker repeats a trade on his own behalf immediately after trading for an investor, because he thinks the investor may have inside information.
  • pistol-handle knife — a table knife, especially of the 18th century, having a slightly curved handle resembling the grip of a flintlock pistol.
  • port jackson willow — an Australian acacia tree, Acacia cyanophylla, introduced in the 19th century into South Africa, where it is now regarded as a pest
  • portuguese-speaking — being a speaker of Portuguese; having Portuguese as the national language
  • postage and packing — the cost of packing and mailing an item bought by post
  • postal savings bank — any of the savings banks formerly operated by local post offices and limited to small accounts.
  • prairie rattlesnake — a rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis viridis, of the prairies of western North America.
  • presentation skills — the set of techniques and skills required successfully to present oral information to others
  • prick up one's ears — a puncture made by a needle, thorn, or the like.
  • put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
  • put one's skates on — ice skate (def 1).
  • quick-change artist — a person adept at changing from one thing to another, as an entertainer who changes costumes quickly during a performance.
  • raise one's hackles — one of the long, slender feathers on the neck or saddle of certain birds, as the domestic rooster, much used in making artificial flies for anglers.
  • rake over the coals — a black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter, used as a fuel. Compare anthracite, bituminous coal, lignite.
  • rap on the knuckles — a mild reprimand or light sentence
  • red-shouldered hawk — a North American hawk, Buteo lineatus, having rufous shoulders.
  • reef whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 1).
  • removable hard disk — (storage)   A type of magnetic disk, or possibly magneto-optical disk which is not permanently attached to the disk drive (not a fixed disk) but which can be taken out and replaced, allowing many disks to be used in the same drive. The term "removable disk" would seem to be applicable to floppy disks but is generally reserved for hard disks in suitable cartridges such as those made by Syquest, Iomega and others. Removable disk packs were common on minicomputers such as the PDP-11 in use in the 1970s except that the drives were the size of washing machines and the disk packs as big as car wheels. Removable disks became popular on microcomputers in the 1990s as a cheap way of expanding disk space, transporting large amounts of data between computers and storing backups. Large, cheap fixed hard disks and USB memory sticks have made removable disks less attractive.
  • rhodesian ridgeback — a large short-haired breed of dog characterized by a ridge of hair growing along the back in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat. It was originally a hunting dog from South Africa
  • rickettsial disease — any of several acute infectious diseases caused by ticks, mites, or body lice infected with rickettsiae. The main types include typhus, spotted fever, Q fever, trench fever, and tsutsugamushi disease
  • rock-paper-scissors — a method of selecting, for example, which of two people perform a task: each person simultaneously makes one of three hand gestures representing a rock, a sheet of paper, and a pair of scissors respectively. Each gesture defeats one and is defeated by one of the other two: rock defeats scissors but is defeated by paper; paper defeats rock but is defeated by scissors. The person whose gesture defeats the other is selected
  • sackcloth and ashes — a public display of extreme grief, remorse, or repentance
  • saddharma-pundarika — a Mahayana sutra, forming with its references to Amida and the Bodhisattvas the basis for the doctrine that there is something of Buddha in everyone, so that salvation is universally available: a central text of Mahayana Buddhism.
  • saddle-billed stork — a large stork, Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, of West Africa, having a white and black body and a long, red and black bill.
  • saint luke's summer — a period of unusually warm weather in the autumn
  • saint patrick's day — March 17, observed by the Irish in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
  • sale and lease back — leaseback.
  • san francisco peaks — a mountain mass in N Arizona: highest point in the state, Humphrey's Peak, 12,611 feet (3845 meters).
  • save someone's neck — to help someone else escape from such a situation
  • secondary picketing — the picketing by strikers of a place of work that supplies goods to or distributes goods from their employer
  • sell like hot cakes — a pancake or griddlecake.
  • shield-tailed snake — any of several burrowing snakes of the family Uropeltidae, of the Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka, having a tail that ends in a flat disk.
  • short-stay car park — a car park where a car can be left for a relatively short time
  • shucking and jiving — misleading or deceptive talk or behavior, as to give a false impression.
  • sickle-cell anaemia — Sickle-cell anaemia is an inherited illness in which the red blood cells become curved, causing a number of health problems.
  • smokestack industry — A smokestack industry is a traditional industry such as heavy engineering or manufacturing, rather than a modern industry such as electronics.
  • smoking compartment — a compartment of a train where smoking is permitted
  • speaking in tongues — a form of glossolalia in which a person experiencing religious ecstasy utters incomprehensible sounds that the speaker believes are a language spoken through him or her by a deity.
  • st. kitts and nevis — country in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies, consisting of two islands (St. Kitts & Nevis): formerly a British colony, it became an independent state (1983) & a member of the Commonwealth: c. 101 sq mi (262 sq km); pop. 41,000; cap. Basseterre
  • stakeholder pension — In Britain, a stakeholder pension is a flexible pension scheme with low charges. Both employees and the state contribute to the scheme, which is optional, and is in addition to the basic state pension.
  • stanislavski method — method (def 5).
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