19-letter words containing a, u, s, t
- to rack your brains — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- to run out of steam — If you run out of steam, you stop doing something because you have no more energy or enthusiasm left.
- to stick out a mile — If you say that something or someone sticks out a mile or stands out a mile, you are emphasizing that they are very obvious and easy to recognize.
- to take the biscuit — If someone has done something very stupid, rude, or selfish, you can say that they take the biscuit or that what they have done takes the biscuit, to emphasize your surprise at their behaviour.
- touch all the bases — to deal with all related details
- traffic regulations — rules designed to expedite the flow of traffic and prevent collisions
- training instructor — a person who teaches people the skills they need for a particular field or profession
- transference number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- transuranic element — any element having an atomic number greater than 92, the atomic number of uranium. All such elements are radioactive and can be synthesized by bombarding a heavy element with a light particle or element. See also transactinide element.
- triangulum australe — a small bright triangular constellation in the S hemisphere, lying between Ara and the Southern Cross, that contains an open star cluster
- tricalcium silicate — a component of cement, Ca 3 SiO 5 , also used in food to prevent caking.
- trisodium phosphate — sodium phosphate (def 3).
- tubular steel chair — a chair with a frame made of tubular steel
- turn someone's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
- tussock caterpillar — the larva of a tussock moth.
- ultracrepidarianism — noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside the area of his or her expertise: The play provides a classic, simplistic portrayal of an ultracrepidarian mother-in-law.
- ultramicrochemistry — the branch of microchemistry dealing with minute quantities of material weighing one microgram or less.
- ultrasonic cleaning — the use of ultrasound to vibrate a piece to be cleaned while the piece is immersed in a cleaning fluid. The process produces a very high degree of cleanliness, and is used for jewellery and ornately shaped items
- unconstitutionality — not constitutional; unauthorized by or inconsistent with the constitution, as of a country.
- under consideration — being deliberated
- under the shadow of — in danger of; apparently fated for
- underrepresentation — the act of representing.
- unit of measurement — physical quantity
- united presbyterian — a member of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, founded in Pittsburgh in 1858 by a union of two Presbyterian groups.
- universal recipient — a person with blood type AB, able to receive blood from a person of any blood type but able to donate blood only to a person with the same blood type
- university entrance — an examination taken by pupils of postprimary schools
- university hospital — a hospital that is affiliated with a university. University hospitals provide clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients
- unnatural practices — acts which are deemed to be contrary to expected standards of human behaviour
- up against the wall — any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
- upset the applecart — a pushcart used by a vendor of apples.
- vacuum distillation — a process of distillation employing a vacuum that by lowering the pressure on a liquid allows volatilization at a lower temperature than normal.
- vaginal intercourse — intercourse involving insertion of the penis into the vagina
- vesicular exanthema — an infectious viral disease of swine, characterized by blisters on the snout, mucous membranes, and feet.
- visual basic script — (language) (VBScript) Microsoft's scripting language which is an extension of their Visual Basic language. VBScript can be used with Microsoft Office applications and others. It can also be embedded in web pages but can only be understood by Internet Explorer. Visual Basic is a BASIC variant with object-oriented features. Objects include applications, windows and selections.
- visual display unit — video display terminal. Abbreviation: VDU.
- volumetric analysis — determination of the concentration, by volume, of a substance in a solution, as by titration.
- wage-push inflation — an inflationary trend caused by wage increases that in turn cause rises in production costs and prices.
- waste disposal unit — an electrically operated fitment in the plughole of a kitchen sink that breaks up food refuse so that it goes down the waste pipe
- welsh mountain pony — a small sturdy but graceful breed of pony used mostly for riding, originally from Wales
- west dunbartonshire — a council area of W central Scotland, on Loch Lomond and the Clyde estuary: corresponds to part of the historical county of Dunbartonshire; part of Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: engineering industries. Administrative centre: Dumbarton. Pop: 92 320 (2003 est). Area: 162 sq km (63 sq miles)
- what possessed you? — If you ask what possessed someone to do something, you are emphasizing your great surprise that they have done something which you consider foolish or dangerous.
- what's your poison? — what would you like to drink?
- xt bus architecture — (hardware, architecture) (After the IBM PC XT) An eight-bit ISA bus architecture used by Intel 8086 and Intel 8088 systems in the IBM PC and IBM PC XT in the 1980s. It predates the 16-bit ISA architecture used on the Intel 80286 based machines. The XT bus has four DMA channels, of which three are brought out to the expansion slots. Of these three, two are normally allocated to machine functions: DMA channel Expansion Standard function 0 No {dynamic RAM} refresh 1 Yes add-on cards 2 Yes {floppy disk} controller 3 Yes {hard disc} controller (1997-09-15)
- yablonovy mountains — a mountain range in Siberia. Highest peak: 1680 m (5512 ft)
- young conservatives — the youth section of the United Kingdom Conservative Party until 1998
- 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.
- zero-base budgeting — a process in government and corporate finance of justifying an overall budget or individual budgeted items each fiscal year or each review period rather than dealing only with proposed changes from a previous budget. Abbreviation: ZBB.
- zero-hours contract — an employment contract which does not oblige the employer to provide regular work for the employee, but requires the employee to be on call in the event that work becomes available