21-letter words containing o, p, e, n, s
- put something over on — to deceive; trick
- queen's-pawn openings — a class of chess openings in which the pawn in front of the queen is advanced two squares on the first move.
- queer someone's pitch — to upset someone's plans
- rap over the knuckles — to reprimand
- reading comprehension — a text that students use to help them improve their reading skills, by reading it and answering questions relating to the text. Sometimes used as a test or examination of reading skills. A reading comprehension can be in the student's own or another language
- real operating system — (operating system, abuse) The sort the speaker is used to. People from the BSDophilic academic community are likely to issue comments like "System V? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?", people from the commercial/industrial Unix sector are known to complain "BSD? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?", and people from IBM object "Unix? Why don't you use a *real* operating system?" See holy wars, religious issues, proprietary, Get a real computer!.
- recompression chamber — hyperbaric chamber.
- reconnaissance patrol — a patrol made by soldiers in order to obtain military information about a particular place
- repatriation expenses — Repatriation expenses are the costs involved in transporting a claimant or their body back to their own country after they have been injured or killed in a foreign country.
- residual unemployment — the unemployment that remains in periods of full employment, as a result of those mentally, physically, or emotionally unfit to work
- reverse polish syntax — postfix notation
- roll up one's sleeves — to prepare oneself for work, a fight, etc
- roll with the punches — a thrusting blow, especially with the fist.
- sales finance company — a finance company that purchases, at a discount, installment contracts from dealers or that finances retail sales.
- sanitation department — the department of local government responsible for collecting and disposing of refuse
- sao bernardo do campo — a city in SE Brazil, SE of São Paulo.
- sao tome and principe — Democratic Republic of, a republic in W Africa, comprising the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea, N of the equator: a former overseas province of Portugal; gained independence in 1975. 372 sq. mi. (964 sq. km). Capital: São Tomé.
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- schlieren photography — a type of photography which records schlieren
- school superintendent — an official whose job is to oversee school administration within a district
- schoolgirl complexion — a smooth, clear complexion, such as schoolgirls are considered to have
- science correspondent — a newspaper or television journalist who specializes in reporting on new discoveries in science
- sequoia national park — a national park in central California: giant sequoia trees. 604 sq. mi. (1565 sq. km).
- she stoops to conquer — a comedy (1773) by Oliver Goldsmith.
- sheppard's correction — a method of correcting the bias in standard deviations and higher moments of distributions that arises from grouping values of the variable.
- simple actor language — (language) (SAL) A minimal actor language, used for teaching in:
- sing for one's supper — to obtain something by performing a service
- single spanish burton — a tackle having a runner as well as the fall supporting the load, giving a mechanical advantage of three, neglecting friction.
- sinusoidal projection — an equal-area projection in which parallels are straight lines spaced at regular intervals, the central meridian is a straight line one-half the length of the equator, and the other meridians are curves symmetrical to the central meridian.
- skop, skiet en donder — violent action and melodramatic adventure in a film
- snap one's fingers at — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- snappy video snapshot — (hardware) (registered trademark) A frame grabber for the IBM PC designed and marketed by Play, Inc..
- social inquiry report — (in Britain) a report on a person and his or her circumstances, which may be required by a court before sentencing and is made by a probation officer or a social worker from a local authority social services department
- somatotrophic-hormone — a hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, that stimulates growth in humans.
- south pacific current — an ocean current that flows E in the South Pacific Ocean parallel to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
- spark ignition engine — A spark ignition engine is an engine running on the Otto cycle.
- special correspondent — a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone
- spherical coordinates — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
- spin angular momentum — to make (yarn) by drawing out, twisting, and winding fibers: Pioneer women spun yarn on spinning wheels.
- spirits of turpentine — oil of turpentine.
- st. christopher-nevis — St. Kitts-Nevis.
- stabilization-process — the act or process of stabilizing or the state of being stabilized.
- steady-state response — A steady-state response is the behavior of a circuit after a long time when steady conditions have been reached after an external excitation.
- step-down transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with a decrease of voltage
- stock list department — (in an American stock exchange) the department dealing with monitoring compliance with its listing requirements and rules
- stop loss reinsurance — Stop loss reinsurance is a form of reinsurance under which the reinsurer pays the cedant's losses in any year over a particular percentage of the earned premium.
- student participation — the extent to which students participate or involve themselves in a class, course, etc
- subjective complement — subject complement.
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- sun protection factor — SPF.