16-letter words containing o, b, s, t
- embourgeoisement — (chiefly UK) The taking-up of middle-class attitudes or values; bourgeoisification; the process of becoming affluent.
- equidistribution — An equal distribution.
- erythroblastosis — A medical condition in which erythroblasts are abnormally found in the blood.
- expansion bottle — a tank collecting coolant from a radiator while an engine is heated, and from which the coolant returns to the radiator when the engine cools
- eyebrow tweezers — small tweezers for plucking hairs out of your eyebrows
- fantasy football — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- fill one's boots — to take or do as much of something as one wants
- fish or cut bait — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- football special — a train service provided specially to transport football supporters to and from a match
- forbes-robertson — Sir Johnston, 1853–1937, English actor and theatrical manager.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- get up sb's nose — If you say that someone or something gets up your nose, you mean that they annoy you.
- globular cluster — a comparatively older, spherically symmetrical, compact group of up to a million old stars, held together by mutual gravitation, that are located in the galactic halo and move in giant and highly eccentric orbits around the galactic center.
- goldsmith beetle — a brilliant golden scarabaeid beetle, Cetonia aurata, of Europe.
- ground substance — Also called matrix. the homogeneous substance in which the fibers and cells of connective tissue are embedded.
- growth substance — any substance, produced naturally by a plant or manufactured commercially, that, in very low concentrations, affects plant growth; a plant hormone
- have sb to thank — If you say that you have someone to thank for something, you mean that you are grateful to them because they caused it to happen.
- hayes-compatible — (communications) A description of a modem which understands the same set of commands as one made by Hayes.
- hedge one's bets — If you hedge your bets, you reduce the risk of losing a lot by supporting more than one person or thing in a situation where they are opposed to each other.
- hemangioblastoma — (medicine) Any of several benign neoplasm tumours of the brain.
- heterometabolism — insect development in which the young hatch in a form very similar to the adult and then mature without a pupal stage
- heterometabolous — undergoing development in which the young are born adultlike in form, often maturing without a pupal stage.
- hubble telescope — a telescope launched into orbit around the earth in 1990 to provide information about the universe in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet ranges
- in a brown study — in a reverie or daydream
- in the same boat — a vessel for transport by water, constructed to provide buoyancy by excluding water and shaped to give stability and permit propulsion.
- incombustibility — The quality or state of being incombustible.
- incontestability — incapable of being contested; not open to dispute; incontrovertible: incontestable proof.
- inhospitableness — The quality of being inhospitable.
- irresponsibility — said, done, or characterized by a lack of a sense of responsibility: His refusal to work shows him to be completely irresponsible.
- isoamyl benzoate — a colorless liquid, C 11 H 15 O 2 , having a sharp, fruitlike odor: used in cosmetics.
- isobutyl nitrite — butyl nitrite.
- japanese bobtail — any of a breed of domestic cat, originating in Japan, with a very short, fluffy tail, and a soft, silky coat often in three colors, white, black, and red
- job entry system — (operating system) (JES) An IBM mainframe term. There are really two JESs. JES2 is smaller and simpler, and can handle 99.99% of most jobs that run on IBM's MVS operating system. JES3 is much bigger and requires really big iron to run.
- job satisfaction — Job satisfaction is the pleasure that you get from doing your job.
- job's comforters — a person who unwittingly or maliciously depresses or discourages someone while attempting to be consoling.
- john the baptist — the forerunner and baptizer of Jesus. Matt. 3.
- jude the obscure — a novel (1895) by Thomas Hardy.
- knights of labor — a secret workingmen's organization formed in 1869 to defend the interests of labor.
- labour relations — Labour relations refers to the relationship between employers and employees in industry, and the political decisions and laws that affect it.
- labour-intensive — Labour-intensive industries or methods of making things involve a lot of workers. Compare capital-intensive.
- lead by the nose — the part of the face or facial region in humans and certain animals that contains the nostrils and the organs of smell and functions as the usual passageway for air in respiration: in humans it is a prominence in the center of the face formed of bone and cartilage, serving also to modify or modulate the voice.
- libation-bearers — Choëphori.
- liberal unionist — a Liberal who opposed Gladstone's policy of Irish Home Rule in 1886 and after
- lick observatory — the astronomical observatory of the University of California, situated on Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, and having a 120-inch (3-meter) reflecting telescope and a 36-inch (91-cm) refracting telescope.
- limited-stop bus — a bus which only stops at a small number of predetermined stops, rather than on request
- long-established — having a long history; old
- low-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.04 and 0.25 per cent carbon