19-letter words containing h, o, t

to change your tune — If you say that someone has changed their tune, you are criticizing them because they have changed their opinion or way of doing things.
to click your heels — If someone such as a soldier clicks their heels, they make a sound by knocking the heels of their shoes together when saluting or greeting someone.
to clutch at straws — If you are clutching at straws or grasping at straws, you are trying unusual or extreme ideas or methods because other ideas or methods have failed.
to do the drying-up — to dry dishes, cups, glasses, etc after they have been washed
to fight for breath — If you fight for breath, you try to breathe but find it very difficult.
to get short shrift — If someone or something gets short shrift, they are paid very little attention.
to hang by a thread — If you say that something is hanging by a thread, you mean that it is in a very uncertain state and is unlikely to survive or succeed.
to have and to hold — to possess for life
to have it off/away — To have it off with someone or have it away with someone means to have sex with them.
to have sth in mind — If you ask someone what they have in mind, you want to know in more detail about an idea or wish they have.
to hold your breath — If you hold your breath, you make yourself stop breathing for a few moments, for example because you are under water.
to hold your tongue — If you hold your tongue, you do not say anything even though you might want to or be expected to, because it is the wrong time to say it.
to lay down the law — If you say that someone lays down the law, you are critical of them because they give other people orders and they think that they are always right.
to let go of sb/sth — If you let go of someone or something, you stop holding them.
to make like sth/sb — If you make like you are doing something, you act as if you are doing it, and if you make like someone, you act as if you are that person.
to play hard to get — If someone plays hard to get, they pretend not to be interested in another person or in what someone is trying to persuade them to do.
to plumb new depths — If you say that something plumbs new depths, you mean that it is worse than all the things of its kind that have existed before, even though some of them have been very bad.
to plumb the depths — If someone plumbs the depths of an unpleasant emotion or quality, they experience it or show it to an extreme degree.
to pop the question — If you pop the question, you ask someone to marry you.
to pull your weight — If you pull your weight, you work as hard as everyone else who is involved in the same task or activity.
to ring the changes — If you say that someone rings the changes, you mean that they make changes or improvements to the way something is organized or done.
to run the gauntlet — If you run the gauntlet, you go through an unpleasant experience in which a lot of people criticize or attack you.
to shorten the odds — To shorten the odds on something happening means to make it more likely to happen. To lengthen the odds means to make it less likely to happen. You can also say that the odds shorten or lengthen.
to shudder to think — If you say that you shudder to think what would happen in a particular situation, you mean that you expect it to be so bad that you do not really want to think about it.
to sit on the fence — If you sit on the fence, you avoid supporting a particular side in a discussion or argument.
to take the biscuit — If someone has done something very stupid, rude, or selfish, you can say that they take the biscuit or that what they have done takes the biscuit, to emphasize your surprise at their behaviour.
to the exclusion of — If you do one thing to the exclusion of something else, you only do the first thing and do not do the second thing at all.
to the prejudice of — to the detriment of
to think nothing of — If you think nothing of doing something that other people might consider difficult, strange, or wrong, you consider it to be easy or normal, and you do it often or would be quite willing to do it.
to this/that effect — You use to this effect, to that effect, or to the effect that to indicate that you have given or are giving a summary of something that was said or written, and not the actual words used.
to wet your whistle — To wet your whistle means to have a drink.
toot one's own horn — 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.
toshiba corporation — (company) A Japanese technology manufacturer with 364 subsidiaries worldwide. Toshiba makes and sells electronics for home, office, industry and health care including information and communication systems, electronic components, heavy electrical apparatus, consumer products and medical diagnostic imaging equipment. In FY 2003-4, Toshiba employed 161,286 people.
touch all the bases — to deal with all related details
trahison des clercs — a compromising of intellectual integrity, esp. for political reasons
trickle-down theory — an economic theory that monetary benefits directed especially by the government to big business will in turn pass down to and profit smaller businesses and the general public.
tricks of the trade — expert techniques
trisodium phosphate — sodium phosphate (def 3).
trooping the colour — a military ceremony, performed by regiments of the British army and the Commonwealth, in which the regimental colour or flag is marched past ranks of troops
trumpet honeysuckle — an American honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, having spikes of large, tubular flowers, deep-red outside and yellow within.
trusteeship council — a United Nations body that supervises the government of a territory by a foreign country
tuamotu archipelago — a group of about 80 coral islands in the S Pacific, in French Polynesia. Pop: 15 973 (2002; including the Gambier Islands). Area: 860 sq km (332 sq miles)
turn of the century — point when one century becomes another
turn someone'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.
turn sth inside out — If someone turns a place inside out or upside down, they search it very thoroughly and usually make it very untidy.
typographical error — an error in printed or typewritten matter resulting from striking the improper key of a keyboard, from mechanical failure, or the like.
ultramicrochemistry — the branch of microchemistry dealing with minute quantities of material weighing one microgram or less.
under the banner of — If someone does something under the banner of a particular cause, idea, or belief, they do it saying that they support that cause, idea, or belief.
under the shadow of — in danger of; apparently fated for
under the spotlight — If someone or something comes under the spotlight, they are thoroughly examined, especially by journalists and the public.

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