20-letter words containing o, s, e, t

to cry your eyes out — If you cry your eyes out, you cry very hard.
to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
to do your damnedest — If you say that you will do your damnedest to achieve something, you mean that you will try as hard as you can to do it, even though you think that it will take a lot of effort.
to fall on deaf ears — If a request falls on deaf ears or if the person to whom the request is made turns a deaf ear to it, they take no notice of it.
to flex your muscles — If a group, organization, or country flexes its muscles, it does something to impress or frighten people, in order to show them that it has power and is considering using it.
to flog a dead horse — If you say that someone is flogging a dead horse, you mean that they are trying to achieve something impossible.
to get off sb's back — If you tell someone to get off your back, you are telling them angrily to stop criticizing you or putting pressure on you.
to get your bearings — to find out where one is or to find out what one should do next
to give sb their due — You can say 'to give him his due', or 'giving him his due' when you are admitting that there are some good things about someone, even though there are things that you do not like about them.
to give someone hell — If you say that someone gives you hell, you are emphasizing that they shout at you very angrily because of something you have done wrong.
to give up the ghost — If someone gives up the ghost, they stop trying to do something because they no longer believe they can do it successfully. If a machine gives up the ghost, it stops working.
to gnash one's teeth — If you say that someone is gnashing their teeth, you mean they are angry or frustrated about something.
to have it in for sb — If someone has it in for you, they do not like you and they want to make life difficult for you.
to hit the headlines — Someone or something that hits the headlines or grabs the headlines gets a lot of publicity from the media.
to hope for the best — If you are in a difficult situation and do something and hope for the best, you hope that everything will happen in the way you want, although you know that it may not.
to let the side down — If you say that someone has let the side down, you mean that they have embarrassed their family or friends by behaving badly or not doing well at something.
to line your pockets — If you say that someone is lining their own or someone else's pockets, you disapprove of them because they are making money dishonestly or unfairly.
to overstep the mark — If someone oversteps the mark, they behave in a way that is considered unacceptable.
to pull your punches — If you say that someone does not pull their punches when they are criticizing a person or thing, you mean that they say exactly what they think, even though this might upset or offend people.
to push the boat out — If you push the boat out, you spend a lot of money on something, especially in order to celebrate.
to put an end to sth — To put an end to something means to cause it to stop.
to reach new heights — to become higher than ever before
to reserve the right — If you say that you reserve the right to do something, you mean that you will do it if you feel that it is necessary.
to sb's disadvantage — If something is to your disadvantage or works to your disadvantage, it creates difficulties for you.
to scrape the barrel — If you say that someone is scraping the barrel, or scraping the bottom of the barrel, you disapprove of the fact that they are using or doing something of extremely poor quality.
to shake like a leaf — If you say that someone is shaking like a leaf, you mean that their body is shaking a lot, for instance because they are very cold or frightened.
to show sb the ropes — to show someone how to do a particular job or task
to spread your wings — If you spread your wings, you do something new and rather difficult or move to a new place, because you feel more confident in your abilities than you used to and you want to gain wider experience.
to stick in the craw — to be unacceptable or displeasing to someone
to take years off sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has taken years off someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much younger
to use shock tactics — to attempt to influence people by shocking them
to waste your breath — If someone says you are wasting your breath, they mean that the person you are talking to will not take any notice and so there is no point saying anything to them.
to wear the trousers — If one person in a couple, especially the woman, wears the pants, or in British English wears the trousers, they are the one who makes all the decisions.
to weather the storm — If someone weathers the storm, they succeed in reaching the end of a very difficult period without much harm or damage.
tomb of the unknowns — See under Unknown Soldier.
toothbrush moustache — a short narrow moustache, resembling the filaments of a toothbrush
tortoiseshell turtle — hawksbill turtle.
townsend's solitaire — a brownish, slender-billed songbird, Myadestes townsendi, of western North America.
toxic shock syndrome — a rapidly developing, sometimes fatal infection characterized by sudden onset of fever, gastrointestinal upsets, a sunburnlike rash, and a drop in blood pressure: caused by a Staphylococcus aureus toxin and occurring especially in menstruating women using high-absorbency tampons. Abbreviation: TSS.
transcendental logic — (in Kantian epistemology) the study of the mind with reference to its perceptions of external objects and to the objective truth of such perceptions.
transfer of training — transfer (def 19).
transformation range — the temperature range within which austenite forms when a ferrous metal is heated, or within which it disappears when the metal is cooled.
transmission density — a measure of the extent to which a substance transmits light or other electromagnetic radiation, equal to the logarithm to base ten of the reciprocal of the transmittance
transposed conjugate — adjoint (def 2).
transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
treaty of versailles — the treaty of 1919 imposed upon Germany by the Allies (except for the US and the Soviet Union): the most important of the five peace treaties that concluded World War I
trigonometric series — an infinite series involving sines and cosines of increasing integral multiples of a variable.
troilus and cressida — a satiric comedy (1598–1602?) by Shakespeare.
trois-rivieres-ouest — French name of West Three Rivers.
tropical disturbance — a very weak, or incipient, tropical cyclone.

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