18-letter words containing o, s, n, a
- sodium thiocyanate — a white powder or colorless, deliquescent crystals, NaSCN, used chiefly in organic synthesis and in medicine in the treatment of hypertension.
- soft touch sealing — Soft touch sealing is a copolymer seal for a tank, with characteristics designed for softness, used instead of a metal seal to help avoid fire when sparks are generated.
- software backplane — (programming, tool) A CASE framework from Atherton.
- solemn (high) mass — a highly ceremonial Mass with parts of the text sung by the celebrant, with a deacon and subdeacon assisting at the ceremonies, and with choir singing and organ music
- solid-fuel heating — heating that uses solid fuel, such as coal or coke
- solitary sandpiper — a North American sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, of inland wetlands, having a brownish-gray, white-spotted back and whitish underparts.
- solomon rabinowitz — Solomon, Aleichem, Sholom.
- solvent extraction — Solvent extraction is the separation of a particular substance from a mixture by dissolving that substance in a solvent that will dissolve it, but which will not dissolve any other substance in the mixture.
- something to spare — a surplus of something
- sound and the fury — a novel (1929) by William Faulkner.
- sound spectrograph — an electronic device for recording a sound spectogram.
- south saskatchewan — a river in W Canada, flowing E from S Alberta and joining the North Saskatchewan River to form the Saskatchewan River. 865 miles (1392 km) long.
- southampton island — an island in N Canada, in the Northwest Territories at the entrance to Hudson Bay. 19,100 sq. mi. (49,470 sq. km).
- southern cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- southern rhodesian — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- sow dragon's teeth — to take some action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but that actually brings it about
- spackling compound — spackle
- spaghetti junction — an interchange, usually between motorways, in which there are a large number of underpasses and overpasses and intersecting roads used by a large volume of high-speed traffic
- spanish succession — War of thea war (1701-14) between European powers disputing the succession to the Spanish throne
- special collection — a collection of materials segregated from a general library collection according to form, subject, age, condition, rarity, source, or value.
- sperry corporation — (company) The company which merged with the Burroughs Corporation to form Unisys Corporation. Divisions included Sperry Univac, Sperry Flight Systems, and others. Some of these were sold off after the merger.
- 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
- spirits of ammonia — a 10% solution of ammonia in alcohol
- spread one's wings — to make full use of one's abilities
- st. andrew's cross — a low evergreen shrub, Ascyrum hypericoides, native to temperate and subtropical America, having flowers in clusters of three: often cultivated.
- stand at attention — military: stand straight
- stand confessed as — to be revealed or admitted as
- stand one's ground — the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
- stand-by generator — an electrical system which operates automatically in case the usual system malfunctions
- standard deviation — a measure of dispersion in a frequency distribution, equal to the square root of the mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean of the distribution.
- standard of living — a grade or level of subsistence and comfort in everyday life enjoyed by a community, class, or individual: The well-educated generally have a high standard of living.
- standing committee — a permanent committee, as of a legislature, society, etc., intended to consider all matters pertaining to a designated subject.
- standoff insulator — a type of insulator that supports an electrical conductor at a distance from other elements or surfaces.
- state of emergency — If a government or other authority declares a state of emergency in an area, it introduces special measures such as increased powers for the police or army, usually because of civil disorder or because of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
- state of the union — A State of the Union speech or address is a speech, given once a year, in which the president of the United States talks about the current political issues that affect the country as a whole and about his plans for the year ahead.
- statement of claim — law: first pleading
- statements of case — the formal written statements presented alternately by the plaintiff and defendant in a lawsuit setting out the respective matters relied upon
- station management — (networking) (SMT) Station Management One of the 4 key FDDI component layers. SMT is an overlay function that handles the management of the FDDI ring. It handles neighbor identification, fault detection and reconfiguration, insertion and de-insertion from the ring, and traffic statistics monitoring.
- station-to-station — (of a long-distance telephone call) chargeable upon speaking with anyone at the number called: a station-to-station call to his home in Dallas.
- stationary bicycle — an exercise bike
- steller's sea lion — any of several large eared seals, as Eumetopias jubatus (Steller's sea lion) of the northern Pacific, and Zalophus californicus (California sea lion) of the Pacific coast of North America.
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- stinking chamomile — mayweed.
- stirling's formula — a relation that approximates the value of n factorial (n!), expressed as .
- store launch event — A store launch event is a special event, which publicizes the opening of a new store and at which discounts and free samples may be offered.
- strait of magellan — a strait between the mainland of S South America and Tierra del Fuego, linking the S Pacific with the S Atlantic. Length: 600 km (370 miles). Width: up to 32 km (20 miles)
- strathclyde region — a former local government region in W Scotland: formed in 1975 from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Buteshire, Dunbartonshire, and parts of Argyllshire, Ayrshire, and Stirlingshire; replaced in 1996 by the council areas of Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and East Ayrshire
- strong interaction — the interaction between gluons and between gluons and quarks that is responsible for the strong force.
- stroustrup, bjarne — Bjarne Stroustrup
- sub-classification — to arrange in subclasses.