18-letter words containing d, e, a, k
- kirtland's warbler — a wood warbler, Dendroica kirtlandii, breeding only in north-central Michigan and wintering in the Bahamas, bluish gray above, striped with black and pale yellow below: an endangered species.
- kitchen-sink drama — a type of drama of the 1950s depicting the sordid aspects of domestic reality
- knight of the road — a tramp
- knotted cranesbill — a British wildflower, Geranium nodosum, an meadow geranium with bright pink or purple flowers
- labeled bracketing — a representation of the constituent structure of a string, as a word or sentence, comparable to a tree diagram, in which each constituent is shown in brackets and given a subscript grammatical label, with each bracketed item corresponding to a node in a tree diagram.
- laugh like a drain — to laugh loudly and coarsely
- make no difference — to have no effect; not matter
- make someone tired — to annoy or vex someone
- make up one's mind — (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
- maximum likelihood — greatest probability
- mohammed ibn-kasim — flourished early 8th century a.d, Muslim conqueror of the Sind region in India.
- movers and shakers — a person or thing that moves.
- naked and the dead — a novel (1948) by Norman Mailer.
- nickel-and-dime it — to succeed or obtain something gradually by the repeated expenditure of small sums or the slow gathering of votes, power, money, etc. in small increments
- nickeled-and-dimed — of little or no importance; trivial; petty: a nickel-and-dime business that soon folded.
- norwegian elkhound — one of a breed of dogs having a short, compact body, short, pointed ears, and a thick, gray coat, raised originally in Norway for hunting elk and other game.
- not take kindly to — not welcome
- oak-leaf hydrangea — a shrub, Hydrangea quercifolia, of the southeastern U.S., having lobed leaves and pyramidal clusters of white flowers.
- optical disk drive — (hardware) (Or "optical disc drive", "optical storage") A generic term for any device that reads and/or writes optical media, i.e. compact discs, DVDs and/or Blu-ray discs or future media that uses light (from a small laser) to read data off a removable, rotating disk. At least one such drive is commonly installed in most personal computers to allow them to play and/or record audio and video media and load and store data such as program installers. The floppy disk has been replaced by optical media due to its vastly greater capacity, e.g. 50,000 megabytes for a dual-layer blu-ray disc compared with 1.5 megabytes for a floppy (over 30,000 times as much).
- packet switch node — (PSN) A dedicated computer whose purpose is to accept, route and forward packets in a packet-switched network.
- paper handkerchief — a handkerchief made from tissue paper
- prince of darkness — Satan.
- radiation sickness — sickness caused by irradiation with x-rays or other nuclear radiation as a result of therapeutic treatment, accidental exposure, or a nuclear bomb explosion and characterized by nausea, vomiting, headache, cramps, diarrhea, loss of hair and teeth, destruction of white blood cells, and prolonged hemorrhage.
- random walk theory — the theory that the future movement of share prices does not reflect past movements and therefore will not follow a discernible pattern
- risk based testing — (testing) Testing based on identification of potential risks (or "candidate risks"), which should be analysed by the project stakeholder or which might appear during the project's development.
- runge-kutta method — a numerical method, involving successive approximations, used to solve differential equations.
- sale and leaseback — leaseback.
- schofield barracks — a town on central Oahu, in central Hawaii.
- sedimentation tank — a tank into which sewage is passed to allow suspended solid matter to separate out
- sharp-shinned hawk — a North American hawk, Accipiter striatus, having extremely slender legs, a bluish-gray back, and a white, rusty-barred breast.
- shorthand notebook — a notebook used by a shorthand writer
- snakes and ladders — Snakes and ladders is a British children's game played with a board and dice. When you go up a ladder, you progress quickly. When you go down a snake, you go backwards.
- strike an attitude — to assume a posture or pose, often an affected or theatrical one
- take a deep breath — If you say that you took a deep breath before doing something dangerous or frightening, you mean that you tried to make yourself feel strong and confident.
- take a dim view of — not bright; obscure from lack of light or emitted light: a dim room; a dim flashlight.
- take heed/pay heed — If you take heed of what someone says or if you pay heed to them, you pay attention to them and consider carefully what they say.
- take sth in stride — If you take a problem or difficulty in stride, you deal with it calmly and easily.
- talk of the devil! — used when an absent person who has been the subject of conversation appears
- tardive dyskinesia — a disorder characterized by restlessness and involuntary rolling of the tongue or twitching of the face, trunk, or limbs, usually occurring as a complication of long-term therapy with antipsychotic drugs.
- telford and wrekin — a unitary authority in W Central England, in Shropshire. Pop: 160 300 (2003 est). Area: 289 sq km (112 sq miles)
- the back of beyond — a very remote place
- the black and tans — a specially recruited armed auxiliary police force sent to Ireland in 1921 by the British Government to combat Sinn Féin
- the dark continent — a term for Africa when it was relatively unexplored
- the-dark-continent — Africa: so called, especially during the 19th century, because little was known about it.
- ticker-tape parade — a parade honoring a visiting dignitary, hero, or the like in which confetti, shredded newspapers, or the like are showered into the streets from buildings along the parade route.
- to clear the decks — If you clear the decks, you get ready to start something new by finishing any work that has to be done or getting rid of any problems that are in the way.
- to pick and choose — If you pick and choose, you carefully choose only things that you really want and reject the others.
- to speak your mind — If you speak your mind, you say firmly and honestly what you think about a situation, even if this may offend or upset people.
- to take a dim view — If you take a dim view or a poor view of someone or something, you disapprove of them or have a low opinion of them.
- turk's-head cactus — a cactus, Melocactus communis, of Jamaica, having needlelike spines and a cylindrical body with a tawny-red, fezlike terminal part bearing red flowers.