17-letter words containing h, u
- shirt-tail cousin — a distant cousin
- shoot one's cuffs — to expose one's shirt cuffs beyond the coat sleeves
- shortcrust pastry — a basic type of pastry that is made with half the quantity of fat to flour, and has a crisp but crumbly texture
- shouting distance — hailing distance.
- show in (or out) — to usher into (or out of) a given place
- shubra al khaymah — a city in NE Egypt, a Cairo suburb.
- shutter-preferred — of or relating to a semiautomatic exposure system in which the photographer presets the shutter speed and the camera selects the aperture.
- shuttle diplomacy — diplomatic negotiations carried out by a mediator who travels back and forth between the negotiating parties.
- simulated leather — fake leather that is an imitation of real leather and is usually made from a cheaper material
- sir arthur harden — Sir Arthur, 1865–1940, English biochemist: Nobel Prize 1929.
- sixty-fourth note — a note having one sixty-fourth of the time value of a whole note; hemidemisemiquaver.
- sixty-fourth rest — a rest equal in time value to a sixty-fourth note.
- skin of our teeth — a play (1942) by Thornton Wilder.
- smoothing circuit — a circuit used to remove ripple from the output of a direct current power supply
- socratic elenchus — the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
- sodium bichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- sodium dichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south frigid zone — the part of the earth's surface between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.
- south lanarkshire — a council area of S Scotland, comprising the S part of the historical county of Lanarkshire: included within Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: has uplands in the S and part of the Glasgow conurbation in the N: mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Hamilton. Pop: 303 010 (2003 est). Area: 1771 sq km (684 sq miles)
- south sea company — a British joint stock company that traded in South America in the 18th century. The South Sea Company took over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks, and a financial crash in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble)
- south sea islands — the islands in the S Pacific that constitute Oceania
- south west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- southampton water — an inlet of the English Channel in S England
- southeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of southeast. Abbreviation: SEbE.
- southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
- southern studfish — See under studfish.
- southern triangle — the constellation Triangulum Australe.
- southwest by west — a point on the compass 11°15′ west of southwest. Abbreviation: SWbW.
- spanish influenza — the pandemic respiratory infection that spread throughout the world during 1917–18.
- specific humidity — the ratio of the mass of water vapor in air to the total mass of the mixture of air and water vapor.
- speech difficulty — a problem encountered in speaking
- spiritual healing — faith healing
- spruce gall aphid — any of various homopterous insects of the family Adelgidae, as Adelges abietis (spruce gall aphid) and Pineus pinifoliae (pine leaf aphid) that feed and form galls on conifers.
- square the circle — a rectangle having all four sides of equal length.
- square-shouldered — having the shoulders held back, giving a straight form to the upper part of the back.
- squash vine borer — the larva of a clearwing moth, Melittia satyriniformis, that bores into the stems of squash and related plants.
- squatter's rights — the rights to a property claimed by someone who has occupied it in the owner's absence
- squaw huckleberry — deerberry.
- squeegee merchant — a person who attempts to make money by squeegeeing the windscreens of cars that are stopped at traffic lights and then asking for payment
- stannous chloride — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, SnCl 2 ⋅2H 2 O, used chiefly as a reducing and tinning agent, and as a mordant in dyeing with cochineal.
- state the obvious — point out sth already evident
- statutory holiday — a public holiday; a holiday all workers are entitled to
- stretch limousine — a limousine that has been lengthened to provide extra seating accommodation and more legroom
- stretching course — (in brickwork) a course of stretchers.
- stump-jump plough — a plough designed for use on land not cleared of stumps
- substantive right — a right, as life, liberty, or property, recognized for its own sake and as part of the natural legal order of society.
- sulfonyl chloride — a colorless liquid, SO 2 Cl 2 , having a very pungent odor and corrosive to the skin and mucous membranes: used as a chlorinating or sulfonating agent.