18-letter words containing k, e, l, s
- locked-in syndrome — a condition in which a person is conscious but unable to move any part of the body except the eyes: results from damage to the brainstem
- looking-glass self — the self-image an individual forms by imagining what others think of his or her behavior and appearance.
- make a meal of sth — If you think someone is taking more time and energy to do something than is necessary, you can say that they are making a meal of it.
- maksutov telescope — a reflecting telescope in which coma and spherical aberration are reduced to a minimum by a combination of a spherical mirror and a meniscus lens placed inside the radius of curvature of the mirror.
- multicast backbone — (MBONE) A virtual network on top of the Internet which supports routing of IP multicast packets, intended for multimedia transmission. MBONE gives public access desktop video communications. The quality is poor with only 3-5 frames per second instead of the 30 frames per second of commercial television. Its advantage is that it avoids all telecommunications costs normally associated with teleconferencing. An interesting innovation is the use of MBONE for audio communications and an electronic "whiteboard" where the computer screen becomes a shared workspace where two physically remote parties can draw on and edit shared documents in real-time.
- needlestick injury — an injury that is caused by accidentally pricking the skin with a hypodermic needle
- optical disk drive — (hardware) (Or "optical disc drive", "optical storage") A generic term for any device that reads and/or writes optical media, i.e. compact discs, DVDs and/or Blu-ray discs or future media that uses light (from a small laser) to read data off a removable, rotating disk. At least one such drive is commonly installed in most personal computers to allow them to play and/or record audio and video media and load and store data such as program installers. The floppy disk has been replaced by optical media due to its vastly greater capacity, e.g. 50,000 megabytes for a dual-layer blu-ray disc compared with 1.5 megabytes for a floppy (over 30,000 times as much).
- out of one's skull — foolish; silly
- percussion flaking — a method of forming a flint tool by striking flakes from a stone core with another stone or a piece of bone or wood.
- przewalski's horse — a wild horse, Equus caballus przevalskii, chiefly of Mongolia and Sinkiang, characterized by light yellow coloring and a stiff, upright black mane with no forelock: the only remaining breed of wild horse, it is now endangered and chiefly maintained in zoos.
- rattlesnake master — any of various plants of the genus Eryngium, especially E. yuccifolium, having spiny leaves and dense, rounded flower heads.
- sale and leaseback — leaseback.
- schofield barracks — a town on central Oahu, in central Hawaii.
- scottish blackface — a common breed of hardy mountain sheep having horns and a black face, kept chiefly on the mainland of Scotland
- sheltered workshop — a place of employment for persons with disabilities where their rights are protected and their needs are met.
- sickle cell anemia — a chronic hereditary blood disease, occurring primarily among Africans or persons of African descent, in which abnormal hemoglobin causes red blood cells to become sickle-shaped and nonfunctional, characterized by enlarged spleen, chronic anemia, lethargy, weakness, joint pain, and blood clot formation.
- sickle-cell anemia — Sickle-cell anemia is an inherited illness in which the red blood cells become curved, causing a number of health problems.
- sierra blanca peak — a mountain in S New Mexico: highest peak in the Sacramento Mountains. 11,997 feet (3651 meters).
- sit up like jackie — to sit bolt upright, esp cheekily
- slow on the uptake — slow to understand or learn
- snakes and ladders — Snakes and ladders is a British children's game played with a board and dice. When you go up a ladder, you progress quickly. When you go down a snake, you go backwards.
- societal marketing — marketing that takes into account society's long-term welfare
- software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
- speak for yourself — If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.
- split-level cooker — a cooker that is designed with a separate oven and hob so that they can be fitted wherever is most convenient in the kitchen
- stinking chamomile — mayweed.
- stockholm syndrome — an emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival.
- stokely carmichael — Hoagland Howard [hohg-luh nd] /ˈhoʊg lənd/ (Show IPA), ("Hoagy") 1899–1981, U.S. songwriter and musician.
- take sth literally — If you take something literally, you think that a word or expression is being used with its most simple or basic meaning.
- take to one's legs — to run away
- talk a blue streak — speak rapidly and incessantly
- talk between ships — TBS (def 1).
- tell it like it is — to give an account or narrative of; narrate; relate (a story, tale, etc.): to tell the story of Lincoln's childhood.
- the black and tans — a specially recruited armed auxiliary police force sent to Ireland in 1921 by the British Government to combat Sinn Féin
- the masurian lakes — a group of lakes in Masuria in NE Poland: scene of Russian defeats by the Germans (1914, 1915) during World War I
- thorfinn karlsefni — 980–after 1007, Icelandic navigator, explorer, and leader of early colonizing expedition to Vinland, in North America.
- tick all the boxes — to satisfy all of the apparent requirements for success
- timber rattlesnake — a rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus horridus, of the eastern U.S., usually having the body marked with dark crossbands.
- to clear the decks — If you clear the decks, you get ready to start something new by finishing any work that has to be done or getting rid of any problems that are in the way.
- to close the books — to balance accounts in order to prepare a statement or report
- to lick into shape — If you lick, knock, or whip someone or something into shape, you use whatever methods are necessary to change or improve them so that they are in the condition that you want them to be in.
- to look one's best — If you look your best, you are looking as smart and attractive as you can.
- vermilion rockfish — a scarlet-red rockfish, Sebastes miniatus, inhabiting waters along the Pacific coast of North America, important as a food fish.
- watson-crick model — a widely accepted model for the three-dimensional structure of DNA, featuring a double-helix configuration for the molecule's two hydrogen-bonded complementary polynucleotide strands.
- western meadowlark — any of several American songbirds of the genus Sturnella, of the family Icteridae, especially S. magna (eastern meadowlark) and S. neglecta (western meadowlark) having a brownish and black back and wings and a yellow breast, noted for their clear, tuneful song.
- working men's club — A working men's club is a place where working people, especially men, can go to relax, drink alcoholic drinks, and sometimes watch live entertainment.
- yellow honeysuckle — a spreading, twining vine, Lonicera flava, of the southern and eastern U.S., having fragrant, tubular, orange-yellow flowers.
- yelloweye rockfish — a red rockfish, Sebastes ruberrimus, of waters along the Pacific coast of North America, having eyes that are yellow and possessed of strong, sawlike bony ridges on the head.