16-letter words containing o, s, b
- prometheus bound — a tragedy (c457 b.c.) by Aeschylus.
- proslambanomenos — the lowest note of the scale in ancient Greek music
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- public ownership — ownership by the state; nationalization
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- publishing house — a company that publishes books, pamphlets, engravings, or the like: a venerable publishing house in Boston.
- put in mothballs — to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
- questionableness — The state or condition of being questionable; dubiousness.
- rack one's brain — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- rainbow seaperch — an embiotocid fish, Hypsurus caryi, living off the Pacific coast of North America, having red, orange, and blue stripes on the body.
- raise an eyebrow — If something causes you to raise an eyebrow or to raise your eyebrows, it causes you to feel surprised or disapproving.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- reasonable doubt — law: grounds for believing sb is innocent
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- redistributional — a distribution performed again or anew.
- remember oneself — to recover one's good manners after a lapse; stop behaving badly
- reserve buoyancy — the difference between the volume of a hull below the designed waterline and the volume of the hull below the lowest opening incapable of being made watertight.
- responsibilities — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- reverse snobbery — a person overly proud of being one of or sympathetic to the common people, and who denigrates or shuns those of superior ability, education, social standing, etc.
- rhabdomyosarcoma — a malignant tumor made up of striated muscle tissue.
- robert t. morris — The creator of the "Internet Worm" that wreaked havoc on many Internet systems for a day or two. Morris, the son of an NSA spook, did some jail time for releasing the worm.
- robin's plantain — the rattlesnake weed, Hieracium venosum.
- robin's-egg blue — a pale green to a light greenish-blue color.
- safe deposit box — A safe deposit box is a small box, usually kept in a special room in a bank, in which you can store valuable objects.
- safe-deposit box — a lockable metal box or drawer, especially in a bank vault, used for safely storing valuable papers, jewelry, etc.
- sandlot baseball — a form of baseball played by children on an area of vacant ground
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- save one's bacon — the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- scotch blackface — one of a Scottish breed of mountain sheep having a black face and growing long, coarse wool.
- scottish borders — a council area in SE Scotland, on the English border: created in 1996, it has the same boundaries as the former Borders Region: it is mainly hilly, with agriculture (esp sheep farming) the chief economic activity. Administrative centre: Newtown St Boswells. Pop: 108 280 (2003 est). Area: 4734 sq km (1827 sq miles)
- scribbling block — scratch pad.
- sebaceous glands — any of the cutaneous glands that secrete oily matter for lubricating hair and skin.
- self-abandonment — absence or lack of personal restraint.
- self-approbation — approval; commendation.
- self-elaboration — an act or instance of elaborating.
- self-lubrication — the process of becoming lubricated without external factors
- self-observation — an act or instance of noticing or perceiving.
- self-subjugation — the act, fact, or process of subjugating, or bringing under control; enslavement: The subjugation of the American Indians happened across the country.
- semi-hibernation — Zoology. to spend the winter in close quarters in a dormant condition, as bears and certain other animals. Compare estivate.
- sensible horizon — the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.
- sharpe's grysbok — either of two small, usually solitary antelopes of southern Africa, Raphicerus melanotis, or R. sharpei (Sharpe's grysbok) having a light to dark reddish-brown coat speckled with white.
- shoot one's bolt — a movable bar or rod that when slid into a socket fastens a door, gate, etc.
- shoot the breeze — a wind or current of air, especially a light or moderate one.
- shoot-to-disable — of or relating to shooting by soldiers or police that is intended to disable rather than kill
- showbiz reporter — a journalist who writes about the entertainment industry
- showy crab apple — a large Japanese bush or tree, Malus floribunda, of the rose family, having red fruit and rose-colored flowers that fade to white.