20-letter words containing g, u, r

public lending right — (in Britain) an act of Parliament that directs compensation to an author for the library loan of his or her book.
pyroligneous alcohol — methyl alcohol.
quaker meeting house — a place where Quakers gather for worship
quantum cryptography — a method of coding information based on quantum mechanics, which is said to be unbreakable
quarantine anchorage — an anchorage for ships awaiting a pratique.
quick on the trigger — quick to fire a gun
radial triangulation — triangulation based upon lines radiating from the center of each of two overlapping photographs to certain objects appearing on each photograph.
red badge of courage — a novel (1895) by Stephen Crane.
redundancy agreement — an agreement over the sum of money given by an employer to an employee who has been made redundant
regenerative furnace — a furnace in which the incoming air is heated by regenerators.
repurchase agreement — a contract between a dealer, as a bank, and an investor, whereby the investor purchases securities with the promise that they will be bought back by the dealer on a designated date, for which the investor receives a fixed return.
ring of the nibelung — Richard Wagner's tetralogy of music dramas: Das Rheingold (completed 1869), Die Walküre (completed 1870), Siegfried (completed 1876), and Götterdämmerung (completed 1876): the cycle was first performed at Bayreuth, 1876.
ring wall foundation — A ring wall foundation is a base made of concrete, used to put large tanks on.
rough-legged buzzard — a buzzard, Buteo lagopus, of Europe, Asia, and North America, having feathers covering its legs
rough-winged swallow — either of two New World swallows of the genus Stelgidopteryx, having outer primary feathers with small barblike hooks on the margins.
rub up the wrong way — to arouse anger (in); annoy
ruby-crowned kinglet — an olive-gray, American kinglet, Regulus calendula, the male of which has an erectile, ruby crest.
scatter site housing — public housing, especially for low-income families, built throughout an urban area rather than being concentrated in a single neighborhood.
scavenger's daughter — an instrument of torture that doubled over and squeezed the body so strongly and violently that blood was brought forth from the ears and nose: invented in 16th-century England.
schrodinger equation — the wave equation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. Also called Schrödinger wave equation. Compare wave equation (def 2).
second-degree murder — Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder) and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder)
semiautobiographical — pertaining to or being a fictionalized account of an author's own life.
setting-up exercises — gymnastic exercises for better posture, suppleness, etc
shoulder-length hair — hair that reaches a person's shoulders
sing for your supper — If someone has to sing for their supper, they have to do a job before they are allowed to do something they want to do.
slip through the net — If criminals slip through the net, they avoid being caught by the system or trap that was meant to catch them.
soke of peterborough — a former administrative unit of E central England, generally considered part of Northamptonshire or Huntingdonshire: absorbed into Cambridgeshire in 1974
special patrol group — a former police unit tasked with counter terrorism in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
squatter sovereignty — (used contemptuously by its opponents) popular sovereignty (def 2).
straight-cut tobacco — tobacco that is cut in such a way that it will lie flat.
strong nuclear force — an interaction between elementary particles responsible for the forces between nucleons in the nucleus. It operates at distances less than about 10–15 metres, and is about a hundred times more powerful than the electromagnetic interaction
supplementary angles — either of two angles that added together produce an angle of 180°.
surface-active agent — any substance that when dissolved in water or an aqueous solution reduces its surface tension or the interfacial tension between it and another liquid.
temperature gradient — rate of change of temperature with distance.
terrestrial guidance — a method of missile or rocket guidance in which the flight path is controlled by reference to the strength and direction of the earth's gravitational or magnetic field
the (great) unwashed — The unwashed or the great unwashed is a way of referring to poor or ordinary people.
the founding fathers — any of the men who were members of the U.S. Constituional Convention of 1787
the garment industry — the manufacturing of items of clothing
the gnomes of zurich — Swiss bankers and financiers
thought transference — transference of thought by extrasensory means from the mind of one individual to another; telepathy.
thread language zero — (language) (TL0) The instruction set of the TAM (Threaded Abstract Machine), used to implement Id.
to be brought to bed — to give birth (to)
to bring up the rear — If a person or vehicle is bringing up the rear, they are the last person or vehicle in a moving line of them.
to get your bearings — to find out where one is or to find out what one should do next
to get your own back — If you get your own back on someone, you have your revenge on them because of something bad that they have done to you.
to give sb their due — You can say 'to give him his due', or 'giving him his due' when you are admitting that there are some good things about someone, even though there are things that you do not like about them.
to put sth to rights — to make something consistent with justice, correctness, or orderly arrangement
to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.
to stand your ground — If you stand your ground or hold your ground, you continue to support a particular argument or to have a particular opinion when other people are opposing you or trying to make you change your mind.
to tighten your belt — If you have to tighten your belt, you have to spend less money and manage without things because you have less money than you used to have.

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