16-letter words containing h, i, r, o, s
- saccharification — to convert (starch) into sugar.
- saint-john perse — (Alexis Saint-Léger Léger) 1887–1975, French diplomat and poet: Nobel Prize in literature 1960.
- savonarola chair — a chair of the Renaissance having a number of transverse pairs of curved legs, crossing beneath the seat and rising to support the arms and back.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- schlieren method — a method for detecting regions of differing densities in a clear fluid by photographing a beam of light passed obliquely through it.
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- schoolgirl crush — an infatuation that a young girl has, usually for an older man such as a teacher or an actor, which is seen as superficial and unlikely to last for long
- schoolteacherish — showing characteristics thought to be typical of a schoolteacher, as strictness and primness.
- scottish borders — a council area in SE Scotland, on the English border: created in 1996, it has the same boundaries as the former Borders Region: it is mainly hilly, with agriculture (esp sheep farming) the chief economic activity. Administrative centre: Newtown St Boswells. Pop: 108 280 (2003 est). Area: 4734 sq km (1827 sq miles)
- scottish terrier — one of a Scottish breed of small terriers having short legs and a wiry, steel-gray, brindled, black, sandy, or wheaten coat.
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- self-nourishment — something that nourishes; food, nutriment, or sustenance.
- semi-hibernation — Zoology. to spend the winter in close quarters in a dormant condition, as bears and certain other animals. Compare estivate.
- sensible horizon — the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.
- shakedown cruise — extortion, as by blackmail or threats of violence.
- shared ownership — (in Britain) a form of house purchase whereby the purchaser buys a proportion of the dwelling, usually from a local authority or housing association, and rents the rest
- sharia-compliant — (of a product or service) produced or offered in accordance with the doctrines of the sharia
- shoestring catch — a catch of a ball on the fly, made close to the ground while running.
- shooting gallery — a place equipped with targets and used for practice in shooting.
- shopping trolley — A shopping trolley is a large metal basket on wheels which is provided by shops such as supermarkets for customers to use while they are in the shop.
- short ski method — a way of learning to ski, using short skis
- short sweetening — sugar.
- shortfin corvina — See under corvina.
- shorthand typing — shorthand and typing
- shorthand typist — A shorthand typist is a person who types and writes shorthand, usually in an office.
- shorthand writer — a person trained to write in shorthand
- shortsightedness — unable to see far; nearsighted; myopic.
- shot in the dark — a discharge of a firearm, bow, etc.
- shotgun marriage — a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
- shoulder surfing — a form of credit-card fraud in which the perpetrator stands behind and looks over the shoulder of the victim as he or she withdraws money from an automated teller machine, memorizes the card details, and later steals the card
- showbiz reporter — a journalist who writes about the entertainment industry
- shrinking violet — a shy, modest, or self-effacing person.
- shutter priority — of or relating to a semiautomatic exposure system in which the photographer presets the shutter speed and the camera selects the aperture.
- shutter-priority — of or relating to a semiautomatic exposure system in which the photographer presets the shutter speed and the camera selects the aperture.
- siberian mammoth — a shaggy-coated mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, that lived in cold regions across Eurasia and North America during the Ice Age, known from fossils, cave paintings, and well-preserved frozen carcasses.
- simonyi, charles — Charles Simonyi
- smooth breathing — a symbol (') used in the writing of Greek to indicate that the initial vowel over which it is placed is unaspirated.
- social gathering — party, get-together
- sodium hydroxide — a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, NaOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, chips, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of other chemicals, rayon, film, soap, as a laboratory reagent, and in medicine as a caustic.
- soft furnishings — home fabrics
- something fierce — desperately, intensely
- sour-milk cheese — cottage cheese made from sour milk.
- south australian — a state in S Australia. 380,070 sq. mi. (984,380 sq. km). Capital: Adelaide.
- south burlington — a town in NW Vermont.
- south carolinian — a state in the SE United States, on the Atlantic coast. 31,055 sq. mi. (80,430 sq. km). Capital: Columbia. Abbreviation: SC (for use with zip code), S.C.
- southern baptist — a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, that is strictly Calvinistic and active in religious publishing and education.
- spanish moroccan — of or relating to the former Spanish colony of Spanish Morocco (now part of Morocco) or its inhabitants
- spectrochemistry — the branch of chemistry that deals with the chemical analysis of substances by means of the spectra of light they absorb or emit.