21-letter words containing a, t, s, b
- mayor of casterbridge — a novel (1886) by Thomas Hardy.
- megaloblastic anaemia — any anaemia, esp pernicious anaemia, characterized by the presence of megaloblasts in the blood or bone marrow
- national savings bank — (in Britain) a government savings bank, run through the post office, esp for small savers
- negotiable instrument — order or promise to pay money
- negotiable securities — securities that are legally transferable in title from one party to another
- northumberland strait — the part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that separates Prince Edward Island from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, in SE Canada. About 200 miles (320 km) long; 9–30 miles (15–48 km) wide.
- not a patch on sb/sth — If you say that someone or something is not a patch on another person or thing, you mean that they are not as good as that person or thing.
- not hold one's breath — If you say that you won't hold your breath, you mean that you do not expect something to happen even though someone has suggested that it might.
- observation satellite — an unmanned satellite that observes the earth and gathers data
- on o's best behaviour — If someone is on their best behaviour, they are trying very hard to behave well.
- optical double (star) — double star (sense 2)
- past its sell-by date — the last date on which perishable food should be sold, usually established with some allowance for home storage under refrigeration. Compare shelf life.
- pipelined burst cache — Pipeline Burst Cache
- poke borak at someone — to jeer at someone
- poor robin's plantain — the rattlesnake weed, Hieracium venosum.
- portable common loops — (PCL) A language which started out as an implementation of CommonLoops and turned into a portable CLOS implementation. Version 1992-08-28. It runs under Lucid Common LISP 4.0.1 and CMU Common LISP 16e.
- posterior probability — the probability assigned to some parameter or to an event on the basis of its observed frequency in a sample, and calculated from a prior probability by Bayes' theorem
- potassium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, slightly alkaline, salty-tasting, water-soluble powder, KHCO 3 , produced by the passage of carbon dioxide through an aqueous potassium carbonate solution: used in cookery as a leavening agent and in medicine as an antacid.
- private member's bill — In Britain, a Private Member's Bill is a law that is proposed by a Member of Parliament acting as an individual rather than as a member of his or her political party.
- public address system — loudspeaker
- public administration — the implementation of public policy, largely by the executive branch.
- public health service — the agency that is responsible for the health of the general public
- public transportation — means of fare-paying travel
- public-address system — a combination of electronic devices that makes sound audible via loudspeakers to many people, as in an auditorium or out of doors.
- push the panic button — an alarm button for use in an emergency, as to summon help.
- put sb in their place — If you put someone in their place, you show them that they are less important or clever than they think they are.
- put sb out to pasture — If you say that someone is being put out to pasture, you mean they are no longer being employed because they are considered to be too old or no longer useful.
- put someone's back up — to annoy someone
- rayleigh distribution — (mathematics) A curve that yields a good approximation to the actual labour curves on software projects.
- real estate liability — Real estate liability is liability for risks that come from owning real estate.
- roodepoort-maraisburg — a city in S Transvaal, in the NE Republic of South Africa.
- salam-weinberg theory — the electroweak theory.
- sampling distribution — the distribution of a statistic based on all possible random samples that can be drawn from a given population.
- san gabriel mountains — a mountain range in S California, N of Los Angeles. Highest peak, San Antonio Peak, 10,080 feet (3072 meters).
- santa barbara islands — group of nine islands, & many islets, off the SW coast of Calif.
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- satisficing behaviour — the form of behaviour demonstrated by firms who seek satisfactory profits and satisfactory growth rather than maximum profits
- scarlet runner (bean) — a climbing bean plant (Phaseolus coccineus) of tropical America, having pods with large, edible, red-and-black seeds and usually having scarlet flowers: often grown in cold climates as an ornamental
- sealed-beam headlight — a headlight in which the reflector and lens are hermetically sealed together with the filament in a single unit.
- sense and sensibility — a novel (1811) by Jane Austen.
- serbia and montenegro — a former country in SE Europe, consisting of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro; replaced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2003, and dissolved in 2006 following Montenegro’s decision to secede
- single parent benefit — a form of government funded financial assistance paid to single parents
- single spanish burton — a tackle having a runner as well as the fall supporting the load, giving a mechanical advantage of three, neglecting friction.
- snr bandwidth product — (communications) The integral of the SNR over frequency. The SNR bandwidth product is an important limit in the capacity of a communication channel.
- socialist labor party — a U.S. political party, organized in 1874, advocating the peaceful introduction of socialism.
- sodium metabisulphite — an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na2S2O5 that is used as a preservative, antioxidant and disinfectant
- space shuttle orbiter — orbiter (def 1).
- spicebush swallowtail — a swallowtail butterfly, Papilio troilus, having a dark body with yellow spots on the forewings and greenish hind wings.
- splice the main brace — to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.
- split-finger fastball — a type of fastball that sinks abruptly as it nears home plate, thrown with the grip used for a forkball