23-letter words containing h, o, s
- snap someone's head off — to cut, wound, or tear with the teeth: She bit the apple greedily. The lion bit his trainer.
- sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
- someone's night to howl — someone's time for unrestrained pleasure
- speak well/highly of sb — If you speak well of someone or speak highly of someone, you say good things about them. If you speak ill of someone, you criticize them.
- spirit of nitrous ether — ethyl nitrite spirit.
- staggered directorships — a defence against unwelcome takeover bids in which a company resolves that its directors should serve staggered terms of office and that no director can be removed from office without just cause, thus preventing a bidder from controlling the board for some years
- statement of cash flows — A statement of cash flows is a financial statement that shows the amounts of cash that came into and went out of a company over a particular period of time.
- steal someone's thunder — to strike, drive, inflict, give forth, etc., with loud noise or violent action.
- straight bill of lading — a bill of lading that is issued to a specified consignee for the delivery of the goods and that cannot be endorsed to another party.
- structural anthropology — a school of anthropology founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and based loosely on the principles of structural linguistics.
- suit down to the ground — the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
- suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
- survival of the fittest — (not in technical use) natural selection.
- take it into one's head — If somebody takes it into their head to do something, especially something strange or foolish, they suddenly decide to do it.
- take sth in your stride — In British English, if you take a problem or difficulty in your stride, you deal with it calmly and easily. The American expression is take something in stride.
- take sthing on the chin — If you say that someone took something on the chin, you mean that they accepted an unpleasant or difficult situation bravely and without making a lot of fuss about it.
- talk someone's head off — to communicate or exchange ideas, information, etc., by speaking: to talk about poetry.
- talk/speak of the devil — People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.
- tennessee walking horse — an American breed of horse, marked by its stamina and trained to move at a fast running walk
- thank one's lucky stars — any of the heavenly bodies, except the moon, appearing as fixed luminous points in the sky at night.
- the best of both worlds — advantages of two different things
- the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
- the department of state — the United States federal department concerned with foreign policy
- the haves and have-nots — the people who are very wealthy and the people who are very poor
- the lesser of two evils — If you have two choices, but think that they are both bad, you can describe the one which is less bad as the lesser of two evils, or the lesser evil.
- the library of congress — the official library of the United States in Washington, DC. It houses extensive collections in all subject areas and formats, important historical documents, and is also a depository for copyrighted materials.
- the next thing sb knows — You can say the next thing I knew to suggest that a new situation which you are describing was surprising because it happened very suddenly.
- the royal naval reserve — the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom
- the scottish parliament — the devolved national legislature of Scotland, located in Edinburgh
- the taming of the shrew — a comedy (1594?) by Shakespeare.
- the teaching profession — the profession of a teacher
- the thrill of the chase — If you talk about the thrill of the chase, you are referring to the excitement that people feel when they are trying hard to get something.
- the whys and wherefores — The whys and wherefores of something are the reasons for it.
- there is no holding him — he is so spirited or resolute that he cannot be restrained
- there is nothing for it — If you say that there is nothing for it but to take a particular action, you mean that it is the only possible course of action that you can take, even though it might be unpleasant.
- there's no need/no need — You can tell someone that there's no need for them to do something as a way of telling them not to do it or of telling them to stop doing it, for example because it is unnecessary.
- thompson submachine gun — a portable, .45-caliber, automatic weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder or hip.
- thousand and one nights — a collection of Eastern folk tales derived in part from Indian and Persian sources and dating from the 10th century a.d.
- till the cows come home — the mature female of a bovine animal, especially of the genus Bos.
- to be in short trousers — to be a little boy
- to bring the house down — If a person or their performance or speech brings the house down, the audience claps, laughs, or shouts loudly because the performance or speech is very impressive or amusing.
- to change for the worse — If a situation changes for the worse, it becomes more unpleasant or more difficult.
- to draw the short straw — If you draw the short straw, you are chosen from a number of people to perform a job or duty that you will not enjoy.
- to force someone's hand — If you force someone's hand, you force them to act sooner than they want to, or to act in public when they would prefer to keep their actions secret.
- to get ahold of oneself — to force oneself to become calm and sensible after a shock or in a difficult situation
- to get the better of sb — If a feeling such as jealousy, curiosity, or anger gets the better of you, it becomes too strong for you to hide or control.
- to have feelings for sb — to be emotionally or sexually attracted to
- to have your hands full — If you have your hands full with something, you are very busy because of it.
- to hell in a handbasket — to one's doom
- to keep a straight face — If you manage to keep a straight face, you manage to look serious, although you want to laugh.