22-letter words containing d, e, s, t
- to open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
- to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
- to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.
- to ride roughshod over — If you say that someone is riding roughshod over a person or their views, you disapprove of them because they are using their power or authority to do what they want, completely ignoring that person's wishes.
- to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
- to twiddle your thumbs — If you say that someone is twiddling their thumbs, you mean that they do not have anything to do and are waiting for something to happen.
- toey as a roman sandal — very anxious
- torpedo-boat destroyer — a vessel somewhat larger than the ordinary torpedo boat, designed for destroying torpedo boats or as a more powerful form of torpedo boat.
- total allergy syndrome — a condition in which a person suffers from a large number of symptoms that are claimed to be caused by allergies to various substances used or encountered in modern life
- trade descriptions act — In Britain, the Trade Descriptions Act or the Trades Descriptions Act is a law designed to prevent companies from presenting their goods or services in a dishonest or misleading way.
- turn one's hand to sth — If you turn your hand to something such as a practical activity, you learn about it and do it for the first time.
- twenty-first amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1933, providing for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, which had outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
- twenty-sixth amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1971, lowering the voting age to 18.
- unconditioned response — a reflex action innately elicited by a stimulus without the intervention of any learning process
- unconditioned stimulus — any stimulus evoking an unlearnt response, esp in the context of classical conditioning, in which the conditioned stimulus is followed by the unconditioned one
- under no circumstances — not for any reason
- under starter's orders — (of horses in a race) awaiting the start signal
- underground combustion — Underground combustion is the process of heating oil to allow it to flow more easily and make it easier to recover.
- unilateral disarmament — disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament, carried out by one state on its own
- united empire loyalist — any of the American colonists who settled in Canada during or after the War of American Independence because of loyalty to the British Crown
- universal product code — a bar code that indicates price, product classification, etc., and can be read electronically, as at checkout counters in supermarkets. Abbreviation: UPC.
- unprofessional conduct — activity that is contrary to the accepted code of conduct of a profession
- unsaturated production — Unsaturated production is the production of smaller, unsaturated hydrocarbons from saturated hydrocarbons, for example producing alkenes such as ethane and propene.
- user datagram protocol — (protocol) (UDP) Internet standard network layer, transport layer and session layer protocols which provide simple but unreliable datagram services. UDP is defined in STD 6, RFC 768. It adds a checksum and additional process-to-process addressing information [to what?]. UDP is a connectionless protocol which, like TCP, is layered on top of IP. UDP neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program.
- van der waals equation — an equation of state relating the pressure, volume, and absolute temperature of a gas, taking into account the finite size of the molecules and the attractive force between them.
- video display terminal — Computers. a computer terminal consisting of a screen on which data or graphics can be displayed. Abbreviation: VDT.
- video graphics adapter — Video Graphics Array
- video graphics adaptor — Video Graphics Array
- videocassette recorder — See VCR.
- volume of distribution — A volume of distribution is the hypothetical volume of body fluid that would be required to dissolve the amount of drug needed to achieve the same concentration in the blood.
- wardour street english — affectedly archaic speech or writing
- was not born yesterday — is not gullible or foolish
- west greenland current — an ocean current flowing northward along the west coast of Greenland.
- what's the difference? — what does it matter?
- white-tailed sea eagle — a grayish-brown sea eagle, Haliaetus albicilla, of the Old World and Greenland, having a white tail.
- white-throated sparrow — a common North American finch, Zonotrichia albicollis, having a white patch on the throat and a black and white striped crown.
- whitworth screw thread — a thread form and system of standard sizes, proposed by Whitworth in 1841 and adopted as standard in the U.K., having a flank angle of 55° and a rounded top and foot
- wi-fi protected access — (networking, security) (WPA) A security scheme for wireless networks, developed by the networking industry in response to the shortcomings of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). WPA uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption and provides built-in authentication, giving security comparable to VPN tunneling with WEP, with the benefit of easier administration and use.
- within-subjects design — (of an experiment) concerned with measuring the value of the dependent variable for the same subjects under the various experimental conditions
- wrong end of the stick — a complete misunderstanding of a situation, explanation, etc
- yellow-shafted flicker — a North American woodpecker C. auratus, which has a yellow undersurface to the wings and tail
- your neck of the woods — Someone or something that is from your neck of the woods is from the same part of the country as you are.
- ysbaddaden chief-giant — the father of Olwen.
- zodiacal constellation — any of the 12 constellations after which the signs of the zodiac are named: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, or Pisces