18-letter words containing h, o, n, r, a
- prepare the ground — make conditions ready
- prerelease showing — a showing of a film before it goes on general release
- price on sb's head — If there is a price on someone 's head, an amount of money has been offered for the capture or killing of that person.
- prison authorities — the people in charge of running a prison
- processionary moth — a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae, esp the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea), the larvae of which leave the communal shelter nightly for food in a V-shaped procession
- projection machine — an apparatus that projects motion pictures; projector.
- propaganda machine — the group of people, publications, etc, such as of a government, country etc, responsible for the organized dissemination of information, allegations, etc, to assist or damage the cause of a government, movement, etc
- protease inhibitor — a drug that inhibits the action of protease, especially any of a class of antiviral drugs that prevent the cleavage and replication of HIV proteins.
- provision merchant — a person or company in the business of retailing food and other provisions
- pseudo-anarchistic — a person who advocates or believes in anarchy or anarchism.
- psychogalvanometer — a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.
- purchasing officer — the member of staff in an organization who is responsible for buying goods or products
- quite the contrary — not at all, the very opposite
- random walk theory — the theory that the future movement of share prices does not reflect past movements and therefore will not follow a discernible pattern
- reach for the moon — to desire or attempt something unattainable or difficult to obtain
- ready when you are — If you say to someone 'Ready when you are', you are telling them that you are now ready to do something and that as soon as they are ready, you will do it.
- recharacterization — portrayal; description: the actor's characterization of a politician.
- regular hexahedron — a solid cube with six square faces
- residential school — (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements
- reverse angle shot — Movies. reverse shot.
- rhode island white — one of a dual-purpose American breed of chickens having white feathers and a rose comb.
- rhondda cynon taff — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of Mid Glamorgan in 1996. Pop: 231 600 (2003 est). Area: 558 sq km (215 sq miles)
- rhyming dictionary — a specialist dictionary organized by the final sounds of words, used to write poetry
- roman architecture — buildings in style of ancient Rome
- root canal therapy — endodontics.
- rotary clothesline — an apparatus of radiating spokes that support lines on which clothes are hung to dry
- runge-kutta method — a numerical method, involving successive approximations, used to solve differential equations.
- saint john's bread — carob (def 2).
- school for scandal — a comedy of manners (1777) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
- scratch one's head — If you say that someone is scratching their head, you mean that they are thinking hard and trying to solve a problem or puzzle.
- search-and-destroy — designed to find and destroy by bombing etc
- second-hand dealer — a person who deals in second-hand things, such as cars, or furniture
- secondary syphilis — the second stage of syphilis, characterized by eruptions of the skin and mucous membrane.
- set one's heart on — Anatomy. a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation, composed mainly of rhythmically contractile smooth muscle, located in the chest between the lungs and slightly to the left and consisting of four chambers: a right atrium that receives blood returning from the body via the superior and inferior vena cavae, a right ventricle that pumps the blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for oxygenation, a left atrium that receives the oxygenated blood via the pulmonary veins and passes it through the mitral valve, and a left ventricle that pumps the oxygenated blood, via the aorta, throughout the body.
- shipping container — a large, strong container, usually of metal, used to store goods in during shipment
- shorthand notebook — a notebook used by a shorthand writer
- shugart technology — Seagate Technology
- shunting operation — an operation in which rail coaches are manoeuvred
- sindbad the sailor — (in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments), a wealthy citizen of Baghdad who relates the adventures of his seven wonderful voyages.
- something to spare — a surplus of something
- sound and the fury — a novel (1929) by William Faulkner.
- sound spectrograph — an electronic device for recording a sound spectogram.
- southern cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- southern rhodesian — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- sow dragon's teeth — to take some action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but that actually brings it about
- store launch event — A store launch event is a special event, which publicizes the opening of a new store and at which discounts and free samples may be offered.
- strathclyde region — a former local government region in W Scotland: formed in 1975 from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Buteshire, Dunbartonshire, and parts of Argyllshire, Ayrshire, and Stirlingshire; replaced in 1996 by the council areas of Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and East Ayrshire
- symphony orchestra — a large orchestra composed of wind, string, and percussion instruments and organized to perform symphonic compositions.
- teacher evaluation — the process of vetting teachers to maintain teaching standards
- temporary hardness — hardness of water due to the presence of magnesium and calcium hydrogencarbonates, which can be precipitated as carbonates by boiling