16-letter words containing a, t, s
- hailing distance — the distance within which the human voice can be heard: They sailed within hailing distance of the island.
- hairbrush cactus — a stout, spiny cactus, Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum, of Mexico, having white flowers and bristly fruits sometimes used locally as combs.
- hammer and tongs — with great vigor, determination, or vehemence: When he starts a job he goes at it hammer and tongs.
- hammerstein (ii) — Oscar1895-1960; U.S. librettist & lyricist of musical comedies
- hamming distance — (data) The minimum number of bits that must be changed in order to convert one bit string into another. Named after the mathematician Richard Hamming.
- hamstring injury — an instance of physical damage to a person's hamstring
- hanseatic league — a medieval league of towns of northern Germany and adjacent countries for the promotion and protection of commerce.
- happenstantially — (rare) By happenstance; occurring due to random chance.
- hard times token — any of a series of U.S. copper tokens, issued 1834–41, bearing a political inscription or advertising message and serving as currency during coin shortages.
- hare's-foot fern — a fern, Polypodium aureum, of tropical America, having a brown, scaly rootstock and green or deep bluish-green fronds.
- harvest festival — religious celebration of crops gathered
- harvey firestone — Harvey Samuel, 1868–1938, U.S. industrialist and rubber manufacturer.
- has the x nature — (From Zen Buddhist koans of the form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?") Common hacker construction for "is an X", used for humorous emphasis. "Anyone who can't even use a program with on-screen help embedded in it truly has the loser nature!" See also the X that can be Y is not the true X.
- haussmannization — Georges Eugène [zhawrzh œ-zhen] /ʒɔrʒ œˈʒɛn/ (Show IPA), Baron, 1809–91, French administrator who improved the landscaping, street designs, and utilities systems of Paris.
- have issues with — If someone has issues with a particular aspect of their life, they have problems connected with it.
- have sb to thank — If you say that you have someone to thank for something, you mean that you are grateful to them because they caused it to happen.
- haversian system — a Haversian canal and the series of concentric bony plates surrounding it.
- hawksbill turtle — a sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, the shell of which is the source of tortoise shell: an endangered species.
- hay-scented fern — a fern, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, of eastern North America, having brittle, yellow-green fronds.
- hayes-compatible — (communications) A description of a modem which understands the same set of commands as one made by Hayes.
- haymarket square — a square in Chicago: scene of a riot (Haymarket Riot) in 1886 between police and labor unionists.
- head post office — the main post office in a town
- headmistressship — (rare) Alternative form of headmistress-ship.
- health food shop — a shop which sells health foods
- health inspector — a public employee who inspects places such as restaurants, shops, factories etc to make sure they are hygienic and do not pose any dangers to health
- health insurance — insurance that compensates the insured for expenses or loss incurred for medical reasons, as through illness or hospitalization.
- health-conscious — having an active interest in one's health
- heart transplant — surgery to replace a patient's heart
- heat of solution — the heat evolved or absorbed when one mole of a substance dissolves completely in a large volume of solvent
- heat prostration — heat exhaustion.
- hemangioblastoma — (medicine) Any of several benign neoplasm tumours of the brain.
- hematocrystallin — (biology, archaic) hemoglobin.
- hemotherapeutics — hemotherapy.
- henley-on-thames — a city in SE Oxfordshire, in S England: annual rowing regatta.
- hepatopancreases — Plural form of hepatopancreas.
- hernando de soto — Hernando [her-nan-doh;; Spanish er-nahn-daw] /hərˈnæn doʊ;; Spanish ɛrˈnɑn dɔ/ (Show IPA), or Fernando [fer-nan-doh;; Spanish fer-nahn-daw] /fərˈnæn doʊ;; Spanish fɛrˈnɑn dɔ/ (Show IPA), c1500–42, Spanish soldier and explorer in America.
- herpes genitalis — genital herpes.
- hesitation waltz — a waltz based on the frequent use of a step that consists of a pause and glide.
- heterometabolism — insect development in which the young hatch in a form very similar to the adult and then mature without a pupal stage
- heterometabolous — undergoing development in which the young are born adultlike in form, often maturing without a pupal stage.
- high wire artist — a performer of a high-wire act
- high-level waste — radioactive waste material, such as spent nuclear fuel initially having a high activity and thus needing constant cooling for several decades by its producers before it can be reprocessed or treated
- high-pass filter — a filter that allows high-frequency electromagnetic signals to pass while rejecting or attenuating others below a specific value.
- high/great hopes — If you have high hopes or great hopes that something will happen, you are confident that it will happen.
- histopathologist — A person involved in histopathology.
- historical novel — a novel within the genre of historical fiction.
- historiographies — Plural form of historiography.
- hit one's straps — to achieve one's full potential or become fully effective
- horary astrology — a method through which the answer to a question is sought by casting and interpreting a horoscope for the precise moment one learns of an event, problem, career opportunity, etc.
- horizon distance — Television. the distance of the farthest point on the earth's surface visible from a transmitting antenna.