26-letter words containing n, o, t, h, e, l
- the writing is on the wall — If you say that the writing is on the wall, you mean that there are clear signs that a situation is going to become very difficult or unpleasant.
- three-dimensional printing — the creation of solid objects by building up multiple layers, each layer corresponding to a plan held in a digital file
- to call something your own — If you have something you can call your own, it belongs only to you, rather than being controlled by or shared with someone else.
- to catch hold of something — Hold is used in expressions such as grab hold of, catch hold of, and get hold of, to indicate that you close your hand tightly around something, for example to stop something moving or falling.
- to come to a grinding halt — If you say that something comes to a grinding halt, you are emphasizing that it stops very suddenly, especially before it was meant to.
- to hold someone for ransom — If a kidnapper is holding a person for ransom, they keep that person prisoner until they are given what they want.
- to hold something in check — If something or someone is held in check or is kept in check, they are controlled and prevented from becoming too great or powerful.
- to laugh in someone's face — If someone laughs in your face, they are openly disrespectful towards you.
- to lay oneself open to sth — If you lay yourself open to criticism or attack, or if something lays you open to it, something you do makes it possible or likely that other people will criticize or attack you.
- to look on the bright side — If you look on the bright side, you try to be cheerful about a bad situation by thinking of some advantages that could result from it, or thinking that it is not as bad as it could have been.
- to look someone in the eye — If you look someone in the eye or look them in the face, you look straight at their eyes in a bold and open way, for example in order to make them realize that you are telling the truth.
- to pick holes in something — If you pick holes in an argument or theory, you find weak points in it so that it is no longer valid.
- to rub salt into the wound — If someone or something rubs salt into the wound, they make the unpleasant situation that you are in even worse, often by reminding you of your failures or faults.
- to shed light on something — To shed light on, throw light on, or cast light on something means to make it easier to understand, because more information is known about it.
- to sign on the dotted line — If you sign on the dotted line, you formally agree to something by signing an official document.
- to soften/cushion the blow — Something that softens the blow or cushions the blow makes an unpleasant change or piece of news easier to accept.
- to spare someone's blushes — If you spare someone's blushes or save someone's blushes, you avoid doing or saying something that will embarrass them.
- to steal someone's thunder — If you steal someone's thunder, you get the attention or praise that they thought they would get, usually by saying or doing what they had intended to say or do.
- to take sb to the cleaners — If someone takes you to the cleaners, they unfairly take most of your money, for example in a business deal or in gambling.
- to throw down the gauntlet — If you throw down the gauntlet to someone, you say or do something that challenges them to argue or compete with you.
- triple combination therapy — treatment with three different drugs
- turn the tables on someone — to cause a complete reversal of circumstances, esp to defeat or get the better of someone who was previously in a stronger position
- walther von der vogelweide — c1170–c1230, German minnesinger and poet.
- wilcoxon mann-whitney test — a statistical test of the difference between the distributions of data collected in two experimental conditions applied to unmatched groups of subjects but comparing the distributions of the ranks of the scores
- with one's beer goggles on — seeing people and things as increasingly attractive as one's alcohol intake rises
- won't/wouldn't hear of sth — If you say that you won't hear of someone doing something, you mean that you refuse to let them do it.
- worth one's weight in gold — extremely helpful, kind, etc
- yellow-crowned night heron — any of several thick-billed, crepuscular or nocturnal herons of the genus Nycticorax and related genera, as N. nycticorax (black-crowned night heron) of the Old and New Worlds, and Nyctanassa violacea (yellow-crowned night heron) of America.
- zermelo fränkel set theory — (mathematics) A set theory with the axioms of Zermelo set theory (Extensionality, Union, Pair-set, Foundation, Restriction, Infinity, Power-set) plus the Replacement axiom schema: If F(x,y) is a formula such that for any x, there is a unique y making F true, and X is a set, then {F x : x in X} is a set. In other words, if you do something to each element of a set, the result is a set. An important but controversial axiom which is NOT part of ZF theory is the Axiom of Choice.