19-letter words containing e, a, r, t
- specular reflection — Specular reflection is reflection of heat or light in which the angles of different parts of the surface are important.
- spherical astronomy — the branch of astronomy dealing with the determination of the positions of celestial bodies on the celestial sphere.
- spider-hunting wasp — any solitary wasp of the superfamily Pompiloidea, having a slender elongated body: the fast-running female hunts spiders as a food store for her larvae
- spin quantum number — the quantum number that designates the total angular momentum associated with electron spin and has a value of ½ in units of h /2π.
- splinterproof glass — glass that is designed not to form sharp splinters should it be shattered
- spread oneself thin — to draw, stretch, or open out, especially over a flat surface, as something rolled or folded (often followed by out).
- squirrel-tail grass — any of various grasses having long fruiting stalks.
- st. augustine grass — a low, mat-forming grass, Stenotaphrum secundatum, of the southern U.S. and tropical America, that is cultivated as a lawn grass.
- st. lawrence seaway — a series of channels, locks, and canals between Montreal and the mouth of Lake Ontario, a distance of 182 miles (293 km), enabling most deep-draft vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean, up the St. Lawrence River, to all the Great Lakes ports: developed jointly by the U.S. and Canada.
- st.-germain-en-laye — a city in N France, near Paris: royal château and forest; treaties 1570, 1632, 1679, 1919.
- staff-student ratio — the ratio of teachers to pupils or students in a school, college, or university
- stakeholder pension — In Britain, a stakeholder pension is a flexible pension scheme with low charges. Both employees and the state contribute to the scheme, which is optional, and is in addition to the basic state pension.
- standard atmosphere — an arbitrarily determined vertical distribution of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and density, assumed to have physical constants and conforming to parametric equations, used for calculations in ballistics, the design of pressure altimeters, etc.
- standing martingale — martingale (def 1).
- stanford university — (education) A University in the city of Palo Alto, California, noted for work in computing, especially artificial intelligence. See SAIL.
- stanford-binet test — a revised version of the Binet-Simon scale, prepared at Stanford University for use in the U.S.
- starve the bardies! — an exclamation of surprise or protest
- stationary engineer — a person who runs or is licensed to run a stationary engine.
- stationers' company — a company or guild of the city of London composed of booksellers, printers, dealers in writing materials, etc., incorporated in 1557.
- stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
- steady state theory — a theory in which the universe is assumed to have average properties that are constant in space and time so that new matter must be continuously and spontaneously created to maintain average densities as the universe expands.
- steady-state theory — a cosmological theory postulating that the universe exists throughout time in a steady state such that the average density of matter does not vary with distance or time. Matter is continuously created in the space left by the receding stars and galaxies of the expanding universe
- steamroller tactics — repressive tactics
- step-up transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with an increase of voltage
- sternocleidomastoid — of, relating to, or involving the sternum, the clavicle, and the mastoid process.
- stick in one's craw — the crop of a bird or insect.
- stochastic variable — a random variable.
- straightforwardness — going or directed straight ahead: a straightforward gaze.
- strain at the leash — to be impatient to have freedom from restraint
- straits settlements — a former British crown colony in SE Asia: included the settlements of Singapore, Penang, Malacca, and Labuan.
- strangulated hernia — a hernia, especially of the intestine, that swells and constricts the blood supply of the herniated part, resulting in obstruction and gangrene.
- strawberry geranium — a plant, Saxifraga stolonifera (or S. sarmentosa), of the saxifrage family, native to eastern Asia, that has rounded, variegated leaves and numerous threadlike stolons and is frequently cultivated as a houseplant.
- streaming potential — the potential produced in the walls of a porous membrane or a capillary tube by forcing a liquid through it.
- street photographer — a paparazzo
- strike a false note — to behave inappropriately
- structural engineer — A structural engineer is an engineer who works on large structures such as roads, bridges, and large buildings.
- subminiature camera — a very small, palm-sized still camera for taking photographs on 16-millimeter or similar film.
- subnuclear particle — any of the elementary particles, including those that do not exist in stable matter but appear as a result of high-energy collisions of other particles or nuclei.
- subsistence farming — farming whose products are intended to provide for the basic needs of the farmer, with little surplus for marketing.
- subtractive process — a process of color photography in which the colors are formed by combination of cyan, yellow, and magenta lights.
- sun-and-planet gear — a planetary epicyclic gear train.
- superannuation fund — a fund used for paying pensions
- supercritical fluid — A supercritical fluid is a fluid at a temperature and pressure at which there is no difference between liquid and gas.
- supernatural virtue — one of the three graces: faith, hope, or charity, infused into the human intellect and will by a special grace of God.
- supplementary angle — either of two angles that added together produce an angle of 180°.
- supplementary story — follow-up (def 3b).
- surface effect ship — a large, ship-size air cushion vehicle operated over water.
- suspensory ligament — any of several tissues that suspend certain organs or parts of the body, especially the transparent, delicate web of fibrous tissue that supports the crystalline lens.
- sweetheart contract — a contract made through collusion between management and labor representatives containing terms beneficial to management and detrimental to union workers.
- sweetheart neckline — a neckline on a woman's garment, as a dress, with a high back and a low-cut front with two curved edges resembling the conventionalized shape of a heart.