25-letter words containing h, o, t, a, n

keep an ear to the ground — If you keep or have your ear to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying.
khakass autonomous region — an autonomous region in the Russian Federation, in S Siberia. 19,161 sq. mi. (49,627 sq. km). Capital: Abakan.
land of the little sticks — the part of the north of Canada that lies south of the tree line but contains only stunted evergreens or dwarf deciduous trees.
lead down the garden path — a plot of ground, usually near a house, where flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, or herbs are cultivated.
lie at (or on) the lurch — to lie in wait
local education authority — a body that is responsible for education in a particular area
magnetohydromagnetic wave — Physics. Alfvén wave.
maintenance of membership — an arrangement or agreement between an employer and a labor union by which employees who are members of the union at the time the agreement is made, or who subsequently join, must either remain members until the agreement expires, or be discharged.
make a thing about/out of — If you make a thing of something or make a thing about it, you talk about it or do it in an exaggerated way, so that it seems much more important than it really is.
massachusetts bay company — a company, chartered in England in 1629 to establish a colony on Massachusetts Bay, that founded Boston in 1630.
massacre of the innocents — the slaughter of all the young male children of Bethlehem at Herod's command in an attempt to destroy Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18)
metal-free phthalocyanine — phthalocyanine (def 1).
methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet.
nail in the coffin of sth — If you say that one thing is a nail in the coffin of another thing, you mean that it will help bring about its end or failure.
net positive suction head — The net positive suction head is a measure of a pump's performance.
neurocirculatory asthenia — cardiac neurosis.
never do things by halves — If you say that someone never does things by halves, you mean that they always do things very thoroughly.
non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic
northern corn-leaf blight — northern leaf blight.
not for the faint-hearted — If you say that something is not for the faint-hearted, you mean that it is an extreme or very unusual example of its kind, and is not suitable for people who like only safe and familiar things.
not know what has hit one — to be completely taken by surprise
nuffield teaching project — (in Britain) a complete school programme in mathematics, science, languages, etc, with suggested complementary theory and practical work
occupational psychologist — a person who makes a study of human behaviour at work, including ergonomics, selection procedures, and the effects of stress
off the top of one's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
off-balance sheet reserve — a sum of money or an asset that should appear on a company's balance but does not; hidden reserve
on the big/small etc side — If you say that something is on the small side, you are saying politely that you think it is slightly too small. If you say that someone is on the young side, you are saying politely that you think they are slightly too young.
on the edge of one's seat — If you say that someone is on the edge of their seat or chair, you mean that they are very interested in what is happening or what is going to happen.
on the horns of a dilemma — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
on the side of the angels — If you say that someone is on the side of the angels, you believe very strongly that what they are doing is right.
on the understanding that — with the condition that; providing
organizational psychology — the study of the structure of an organization and of the ways in which the people in it interact, usually undertaken in order to improve the organization
oxidative phosphorylation — the aerobic synthesis, coupled to electron transport, of ATP from phosphate and ADP.
palo alto research center — XEROX PARC
palo alto research centre — XEROX PARC
pentose phosphate pathway — a sequence of metabolic reactions by which NADPH is synthesized, together with ribose phosphate, part of the synthesis of nucleic acids
peripheral nervous system — the portion of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord.
phase contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
phase-contrast microscope — a microscope that utilizes the phase differences of light rays transmitted by different portions of an object to create an image in which the details of the object are distinct despite their near-uniformity of refractive index.
play into someone's hands — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
poacher turned gamekeeper — someone whose occupation or behaviour is the opposite of what it previously was, such as a burglar who now advises on home security
polymerase chain reaction — a technique in which a known DNA sequence is synthesized at high temperatures by means of a polymerase, producing millions of copies for statistical analysis: used in DNA fingerprinting, in detecting minute quantities of cancer cells, etc.
polynomial-time algorithm — (complexity) A known algorithm (or Turing Machine) that is guaranteed to terminate within a number of steps which is a polynomial function of the size of the problem. See also computational complexity, exponential time, nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP), NP-complete.
portable network graphics — (file format) /ping/ (PNG) An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-colour, greyscale and truecolour images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits. PNG is designed for on-line viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma correction and chromaticity data for improved colour matching on heterogeneous platforms.
put on one's thinking cap — to ponder a matter or problem
put one's head in a noose — to bring about one's own downfall
put sb/sth/swh on the map — If you say that someone or something put a person, thing, or place on the map, you approve of the fact that they made it become well-known and important.
ram down someone's throat — the passage from the mouth to the stomach or to the lungs, including the pharynx, esophagus, larynx, and trachea.
rate monotonic scheduling — (algorithm) A means of scheduling the time allocated to periodic hard-deadline real-time users of a resource. The users are assigned priorities such that a shorter fixed period between deadlines is associated with a higher priority. Rate monotonic scheduling provides a low-overhead, reasonably resource-efficient means of guaranteeing that all users will meet their deadlines provided that certain analytical equations are satisfied during the system design. It avoids the design complexity of time-line scheduling and the overhead of dynamic approaches such as earliest-deadline scheduling.
read someone the riot act — If someone in authority reads you the riot act, they tell you that you will be punished unless you start behaving properly.
rehabilitation department — a government department set up after World War II to assist ex-servicemen

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