18-letter words containing o, b, l, a, t
- octachlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of twelve isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing eight chlorine atoms.
- one's heart bleeds — used to express sympathetic grief, but often used ironically
- optical brightener — an additive that dyes and brightens fabric or paper
- oriental alabaster — alabaster (def 2).
- pileolated warbler — either of two western subspecies of Wilson's warbler.
- point-bearing pile — a pile depending on the soil or rock beneath its foot for support.
- political football — a political issue that is continually debated but has not yet been resolved
- population balance — A population balance is a model showing particle sizes during a grinding process, which is used when designing a process.
- portable equipment — Portable equipment is electrical equipment that can easily be moved from one place to another while in operation or while connected to the supply.
- prepositional verb — a combination of verb and preposition, often with idiomatic meaning, differing from other phrasal verbs in that an object must always follow the preposition, as take after in The children take after their mother.
- probability theory — the theory of analyzing and making statements concerning the probability of the occurrence of uncertain events. Compare probability (def 4).
- provably difficult — The set or property of problems for which it can be proven that no polynomial-time algorithm exists, only exponential-time algorithms.
- public corporation — a corporation, owned and operated by a government, established for the administration of certain public programs.
- public examination — an examination, such as a GCSE exam, that is set by a central examining board
- put a bold face on — to seem bold or confident about
- put the clock back — to regress
- rabbit-foot clover — a plant, Trifolium arvense, having trifoliate leaves with narrow leaflets and fuzzy, cylindrical, grayish-pink flower heads.
- ragtag and bobtail — the riffraff; rabble: The ragtag and bobtail of every nation poured into the frontier in search of gold.
- range of stability — the angle to the perpendicular through which a vessel may be heeled without losing the ability to right itself.
- relational algebra — (database, theory) A family of algebra with a well-founded semantics used for modelling the data stored in relational databases, and defining queries on it. The main operations of the relational algebra are the set operations (such as union, intersection, and cartesian product), selection (keeping only some lines of a table) and the projection (keeping only some columns). The relational data model describes how the data is structured.
- scottish blackface — a common breed of hardy mountain sheep having horns and a black face, kept chiefly on the mainland of Scotland
- see the last of sb — not encounter sb anymore
- selective abortion — the aborting of particular embryos for medical or social reasons
- september holidays — a period of time in September when people do not have to go to school, college or work
- seven-league boots — mythical boots that allowed the wearer to travel seven leagues (a former unit of measurement), ie a great length, at each step
- significant symbol — a verbal or nonverbal gesture, as a word or smile, that has acquired a conventionalized meaning.
- sindbad the sailor — (in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments), a wealthy citizen of Baghdad who relates the adventures of his seven wonderful voyages.
- small pastern bone — the part of the foot of a horse, cow, etc., between the fetlock and the hoof.
- software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
- solomon rabinowitz — Solomon, Aleichem, Sholom.
- spin stabilization — a technique by which a bullet, rocket, etc, is made to spin around its longitudinal axis to assist it in maintaining a steady flight path
- stationary bicycle — an exercise bike
- sub-classification — to arrange in subclasses.
- subatomic particle — physics:
- subordinate clause — a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.
- supraorbital ridge — browridge.
- task control block — (architecture) An MVS control block used to communicate information about tasks within an address space that are connected to an MVS subsystem such as MQSeries for MVS/ESA or CICS.
- tectorial membrane — membrane in the inner ear that covers the organ of Corti
- television cabinet — a cabinet on which a television set is placed or in which it is encased
- the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
- the black mountain — a mountain range in S Wales, in E Carmarthenshire and W Powys. Highest peak: Carmarthen Van, 802 m (2632 ft)
- thermonuclear bomb — hydrogen bomb.
- tick all the boxes — to satisfy all of the apparent requirements for success
- to bare one's soul — If you bare your soul, you tell someone your most secret thoughts and feelings.
- to spill the beans — If you spill the beans, you tell someone something that people have been trying to keep secret.
- too clever by half — If someone is too clever by half, they are very clever and they show their cleverness in a way that annoys other people.
- treaty obligations — obligations or duties that must be carried out by a party as according to a treaty they have entered into
- trobriand islander — a native or inhabitant of the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea
- turbine ventilator — a ventilator, usually mounted on the roof of a building, deck of a ship, etc., having at its head a globular, vaned rotor that is rotated by the wind, conveying air through a duct to and from a chamber below.
- up to the eyeballs — You use up to the eyeballs to emphasize that someone is in an undesirable state to a very great degree.