19-letter words containing i, h, e, a
- 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 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.
- trahison des clercs — a compromising of intellectual integrity, esp. for political reasons
- travelers' diarrhea — persistent and often severe diarrhea experienced by a traveler whose digestive system is unaccustomed to the bacteria in local food and water.
- tricks of the trade — expert techniques
- trisodium phosphate — sodium phosphate (def 3).
- 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)
- tubular steel chair — a chair with a frame made of tubular steel
- turn in their grave — If you say that someone who is dead would turn in their grave at something that is happening now, you mean that they would be very shocked or upset by it, if they were alive.
- typographical error — an error in printed or typewritten matter resulting from striking the improper key of a keyboard, from mechanical failure, or the like.
- ultrahigh frequency — any frequency between 300 and 3000 megahertz. Abbreviation: UHF, uhf.
- ultramicrochemistry — the branch of microchemistry dealing with minute quantities of material weighing one microgram or less.
- university hospital — a hospital that is affiliated with a university. University hospitals provide clinical education and training to future and current doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in addition to delivering medical care to patients
- up against the wall — any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
- valley of the kings — a valley on the west bank of the Nile near the site of Thebes: the necropolis of many of the kings and queens of the 18th and 19th dynasties of ancient Egypt, c1350–c1200 b.c.
- vesicular exanthema — an infectious viral disease of swine, characterized by blisters on the snout, mucous membranes, and feet.
- von neumann machine — the stored-program computer developed by John von Neumann and his associates
- wage-push inflation — an inflationary trend caused by wage increases that in turn cause rises in production costs and prices.
- watch night service — a service held on the night of December 24, or of December 31
- welsh mountain pony — a small sturdy but graceful breed of pony used mostly for riding, originally from Wales
- wesleyan methodists — a branch of the Methodist Church in its original form
- west dunbartonshire — a council area of W central Scotland, on Loch Lomond and the Clyde estuary: corresponds to part of the historical county of Dunbartonshire; part of Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: engineering industries. Administrative centre: Dumbarton. Pop: 92 320 (2003 est). Area: 162 sq km (63 sq miles)
- wet behind the ears — moistened, covered, or soaked with water or some other liquid: wet hands.
- what makes one tick — a slight, sharp, recurring click, tap, or beat, as of a clock.
- whispering campaign — the organized spreading of insinuations or rumors to destroy the reputation of a person, organization, etc.
- whistle in the dark — to make a clear musical sound, a series of such sounds, or a high-pitched, warbling sound by the forcible expulsion of the breath through a small opening formed by contracting the lips, or through the teeth, with the aid of the tongue.
- white-collar worker — office employee, clerical worker
- white-handed gibbon — a gibbon, Hylobates lar, inhabiting Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and northern Sumatra, varying from black to light buff in color, and having white hands and feet: an endangered species.
- white-water rafting — White-water rafting is the activity of riding on a raft over rough, dangerous parts of a fast-flowing river.
- whorfian hypothesis — Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
- wild bleeding-heart — a plant, Dicentra eximia, of the fumitory family, native to the eastern coast of the U.S., having elongated clusters of drooping, heart-shaped rose-colored or pink flowers.
- william shakespeare — William ("the Bard"; "the Bard of Avon") 1564–1616, English poet and dramatist.
- wire-haired terrier — a breed of terrier having a rough wiry coat
- wireless telegraphy — Now Rare. radiotelegraphy.
- withdrawal syndrome — a spectrum of physical and behavioral symptoms following cessation from the continuous use of an addictive drug, the character and severity of the symptoms depending upon the particular drug and the daily dose.
- within rocket range — able to be reached by rockets
- without further ado — If you do something without further ado or without more ado, you do it at once and do not discuss or delay it any longer.
- woman in the street — the average woman: a new magazine for the woman in the street.
- world heritage site — a natural or manmade area or structure which is recognized as being of international importance and therefore deserving special protection
- writing on the wall — writing done with a pen or pencil in the hand; script.
- xt bus architecture — (hardware, architecture) (After the IBM PC XT) An eight-bit ISA bus architecture used by Intel 8086 and Intel 8088 systems in the IBM PC and IBM PC XT in the 1980s. It predates the 16-bit ISA architecture used on the Intel 80286 based machines. The XT bus has four DMA channels, of which three are brought out to the expansion slots. Of these three, two are normally allocated to machine functions: DMA channel Expansion Standard function 0 No {dynamic RAM} refresh 1 Yes add-on cards 2 Yes {floppy disk} controller 3 Yes {hard disc} controller (1997-09-15)
- yellowtail kingfish — a large carangid game fish, Seriola grandis, of S Australian waters
- your hands are tied — If you say that your hands are tied, you mean that something is preventing you from acting in the way that you want to.
- zenithal projection — a type of map projection in which part of the earth's surface is projected onto a plane tangential to it, either at one of the poles (polar zenithal), at the equator (equatorial zenithal), or between (oblique zenithal)