20-letter words containing h, i, p, e, s
- sharp-tailed sparrow — a sparrow, Ammospiza caudacuta, inhabiting salt marshes in North America, having narrow, sharply pointed tail feathers.
- 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.
- south american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.
- span of apprehension — the maximum number of objects that can be correctly assessed after a brief presentation
- spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
- spanish west african — of or relating to the former Spanish overseas territory of Spanish West Africa (now the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara) or its inhabitants
- spanish-american war — the war between the U.S. and Spain in 1898.
- spatial technologies — (company) Distributors of the ACIS solid modelling engine.
- special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
- spectrophotoelectric — pertaining to the relationship between the wavelength of the incident radiation and the number of electrons released by a photoelectric substance.
- spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
- spherical coordinate — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
- spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
- splice the mainbrace — to issue and partake of an extra allocation of alcoholic spirits
- split the difference — the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity: There is a great difference between the two.
- state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
- step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
- switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
- synthetic philosophy — the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, intended as a synthesis of all the sciences.
- telephone subscriber — a person who subscribes to a telephone service
- the (great) pyramids — the three large pyramids at Gîza, Egypt: the largest is the Pyramid of Khufu
- the legal profession — the profession of law
- the price of someone — what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
- the thinking process — thought; the activity of thinking
- theosophical society — a society founded by Madame Blavatsky and others, in New York in 1875, advocating a worldwide eclectic religion based largely on Brahmanic and Buddhistic teachings.
- third-party software — software created by programmers or publishers independent of the manufacturer of the hardware for which it is intended.
- to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
- to give up the ghost — If someone gives up the ghost, they stop trying to do something because they no longer believe they can do it successfully. If a machine gives up the ghost, it stops working.
- transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
- tropospheric scatter — transmission of radio frequency signals that have been scattered from irregularities in the troposphere to locations hundreds of kilometers distant.
- tubing head pressure — The tubing head pressure is the pressure on the tubing, which is measured at the wellhead.
- under the impression — If you are under the impression that something is the case, you believe that it is the case, usually when it is not actually the case.
- under the microscope — If you say that something is under the microscope, you mean that it is being studied very closely, usually because it is believed that something is wrong with it.
- video graphics array — (hardware) (VGA) A display standard for IBM PCs, with 640 x 480 pixels in 16 colours and a 4:3 aspect ratio. There is also a text mode with 720 x 400 pixels. IBM technical references define the *product name* of their original VGA display board as "Video Graphics Array", in contrast to the preceding boards, the "Color Graphics Adapter" (CGA) and "Enhanced Graphics Adapter" (EGA). See also Super Video Graphics Adapter.
- visually handicapped — unable to carry out normal activities because of defects of vision, including blindness
- white bush (scallop) — a variety of summer squash having a saucer-shaped white fruit, scalloped around the edges
- white elephant stall — a stall, usually at a fete or fundraising event, where unwanted possessions are sold
- wipe the slate clean — begin afresh
- with all due respect — despite my regard for you
- with one's eyes open — the organ of sight, in vertebrates typically one of a pair of spherical bodies contained in an orbit of the skull and in humans appearing externally as a dense, white, curved membrane, or sclera, surrounding a circular, colored portion, or iris, that is covered by a clear, curved membrane, or cornea, and in the center of which is an opening, or pupil, through which light passes to the retina.
- working relationship — a relationship with a colleague, boss or employee