19-letter words containing c, h, a, t
- pinwheel escapement — a clock escapement in which two pallets, usually of unequal length, alternately engage and release pins set on the escape wheel perpendicular to its plane of rotation.
- pistachio ice cream — ice cream flavoured with pistachios
- pocket-handkerchief — handkerchief (def 1).
- police headquarters — building where police are stationed
- political geography — the branch of human geography that deals with the relationship between political processes and spatial structures (regions, territories, etc)
- postsynchronization — the process of adding sound, such as dubbing, to a film or video after shooting or videotaping is completed
- preach to the choir — to express an opinion to someone who is already in agreement with it
- prescription charge — a charge, set by the government, to be paid by a patient for medicines
- programmer's switch — (hardware) A button on the front of some Apple Macintosh computers which, when pressed, causes a command line prompt to appear. This gives access to the built-in mini-debugger, which has commands to dump memory, return to the application that was broken out, and others. A more sophisticated debugger must be installed in order to inspect breakpoints, etc.
- proton-proton chain — a series of thermonuclear reactions, responsible for the energy production in stars like the sun, in which the nuclei of hydrogen atoms are transformed into helium nuclei by sequential addition of single hydrogen nuclei.
- psychotechnological — of or relating to psychotechnology
- psychrometric chart — a chart for calculating values of relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew point from psychrometer readings.
- put sth into action — If you put an idea or policy into action, you begin to use it or cause it to operate.
- quick on the uptake — You say that someone is quick on the uptake when they understand things quickly. You say that someone is slow on the uptake when they have difficulty understanding simple or obvious things.
- quick-change artist — a person adept at changing from one thing to another, as an entertainer who changes costumes quickly during a performance.
- radiochromatography — chromatography in which radiolabeled substances on the chromatogram are determined quantitatively or qualitatively by measuring their radioactivity.
- radiopharmaceutical — any of a number of radioactive drugs used diagnostically or therapeutically.
- 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
- rayleigh scattering — the scattering of light by particles that are very small in relation to the wavelength of the light, and in which the intensity of the scattered light varies inversely with the fourth power of the wavelength.
- redress the balance — to make a fair adjustment; see that justice is done
- research laboratory — place for scientific experimentation
- resorcinolphthalein — fluorescein.
- reticuloendothelial — pertaining to, resembling, or involving cells of the reticuloendothelial system.
- revenue enhancement — a new tax or a tax increase.
- reverse the charges — If you reverse the charges when you make a telephone call, the person who you are phoning pays the cost of the call and not you.
- rhetorical question — a question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply, as “What is so rare as a day in June?”.
- rhythmic gymnastics — a form of gymnastics involving movements using hand apparatus such as balls, hoops, and ribbons
- right circular cone — a cone whose surface is generated by lines joining a fixed point to the points of a circle, the fixed point lying on a perpendicular through the center of the circle.
- ring up the curtain — to begin a theatrical performance
- saccharolactic acid — mucic acid.
- sackcloth and ashes — a public display of extreme grief, remorse, or repentance
- sandwich generation — the generation of people still raising their children while having to care for their aging parents.
- scare the pants off — to scare extremely
- scattersite housing — public housing, especially for low-income families, built throughout an urban area rather than being concentrated in a single neighborhood.
- school of the squad — an institution where instruction is given, especially to persons under college age: The children are at school.
- scratch the surface — examine superficially
- seleucia tracheotis — an ancient city in SE Asia Minor, on the River Calycadnus (modern Goksu Nehri): captured by the Turks in the 13th century; site of present-day Silifke (Turkey)
- sell like hot cakes — a pancake or griddlecake.
- semidetached binary — a pair of stars that are so close together that mass transfer occurs from one to the other
- seventh commandment — “Thou shalt not commit adultery”: seventh of the Ten Commandments.
- shopping facilities — shops or other retail services
- short-stay car park — a car park where a car can be left for a relatively short time
- simple carbohydrate — a carbohydrate, as glucose, that consists of a single monosaccharide unit.
- sissinghurst castle — a restored Elizabethan mansion near Cranbrook in Kent: noted for the gardens laid out in the 1930s by Victoria Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson
- social anthropology — study of human culture
- solid-state physics — the branch of physics that deals with the macroscopic physical properties of matter, especially solids; the study of the electromagnetic, structural, and thermodynamic properties of solids.
- son-of-a-bitch stew — (in the Old West) a stew often prepared by chuck-wagon cooks for working cowboys, containing tripe and often also the heart, liver, brains, kidney, etc., of a slaughtered steer.
- south african dutch — the Boers.
- south pacific ocean — the part of the Pacific Ocean extending S from the Equator to the Antarctic continent.