16-letter words containing h, a, c, k
- j. random hacker — (jargon) /J rand'm hak'r/ MIT jargon for a mythical figure; the archetypal hacker nerd. This may originally have been inspired by "J. Fred Muggs", a show-biz chimpanzee whose name was a household word back in the early days of TMRC, and was probably influenced by J. Presper Eckert (one of the co-inventors of the electronic computer). See random, Suzie COBOL.
- keep pace (with) — to go at the same speed (as)
- keratoacanthomas — Plural form of keratoacanthoma.
- khakass republic — a constituent republic of S central Russia, formerly in Krasnoyarsk Territory: formed in 1930. Capital: Abakan. Pop: 546 100 (2002). Area: 61 900 sq km (23 855 sq miles)
- kirchhoff's laws — the law that the algebraic sum of the currents flowing toward any point in an electric network is zero.
- knitting machine — machine that knits yarn into fabric
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- kurdaitcha shoes — (in certain Central Australian Aboriginal tribes) the emu-feather shoes worn by the kurdaitcha on his mission so that his footsteps may not be traced
- labtech notebook — (tool, product) Commercial data aquisition software.
- lake havasu city — a city in W central Arizona.
- laughing jackass — kookaburra.
- luck of the draw — the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
- lumberjack shirt — a thick checked shirt, as worn by lumberjacks
- magical thinking — a conviction that thinking is equivalent to doing, occurring in dreams, the thought patterns of children, and some types of mental disorders, especially obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- make a photocopy — If you make a photocopy of a document, you make a copy of it using a photocopier.
- make a pitch for — to give verbal support to
- man on horseback — a military leader who presents himself as the savior of the country during a period of crisis and either assumes or threatens to assume dictatorial powers.
- near the knuckle — risqué
- nubuck (leather) — tanned leather similar to suede, but with the nap on the grain side
- on the back foot — at a disadvantage; outmanoeuvred or outclassed by an opponent
- packet switching — a method of efficient data transmission whereby the initial message is broken into relatively small units, or packets, that are routed independently and subsequently reassembled.
- packet-switching — a method of efficient data transmission whereby the initial message is broken into relatively small units, or packets, that are routed independently and subsequently reassembled.
- pain in the neck — source of annoyance
- pharmacokinetics — the branch of pharmacology that studies the fate of pharmacological substances in the body, as their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
- pork scratchings — small pieces of crisply cooked pork crackling, eaten cold as an appetizer with drinks
- quick as a flash — If you say that someone reacts to something quick as a flash, you mean that they react to it extremely quickly.
- rape of the lock — a mock-epic poem (1712) by Alexander Pope.
- round lake beach — a town in NE Illinois.
- run the blockade — to go past or through a blockade
- scotch blackface — one of a Scottish breed of mountain sheep having a black face and growing long, coarse wool.
- secondhand smoke — smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe that is involuntarily inhaled, especially by nonsmokers.
- shakedown cruise — extortion, as by blackmail or threats of violence.
- sheepskin jacket — a short jacket made of the skin of a sheep with the wool still attached to it
- silky flycatcher — any of several passerine birds of the family Ptilogonatidae, of the southwestern U.S. to Panama, related to the waxwings.
- slap on the back — to congratulate
- smack in the eye — a snub or setback
- spanish mackerel — an American game fish, Scomberomorus maculatus, inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean.
- stab in the back — to pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon: She stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork.
- stick at nothing — to be prepared to do anything; be unscrupulous or ruthless
- stocking machine — a type of knitting machine
- take a raincheck — to accept the postponement of an offer
- take the biscuit — Take the biscuit means the same as take the cake.
- the black forest — a hilly wooded region of SW Germany, in Baden-Württemberg: a popular resort area
- the long paddock — a stockroute or roadside area offering feed to sheep and cattle in dry times
- the wheel blacks — the international wheelchair rugby football team of New Zealand
- thermal cracking — Thermal cracking is an extraction process in which hydrocarbons such as crude oil are heated to a high temperature to break the molecular bonds.
- thick as thieves — very close friends
- thick-tailed ray — Ichthyology. any ray of the order Rajiformes, having a relatively thick, fleshy tail, including the guitarfishes and the skates.
- three-card trick — a game in which players bet on which of three inverted playing cards is the queen
- thumbnail sketch — small preliminary drawing