20-letter words containing o, t, s

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 put it to sb that — If you put it to someone that something is true, you suggest that it is true, especially when you think that they will be unwilling to admit this.
to put sth to rights — to make something consistent with justice, correctness, or orderly arrangement
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 stand your ground — If you stand your ground or hold your ground, you continue to support a particular argument or to have a particular opinion when other people are opposing you or trying to make you change your mind.
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.
to work your way swh — If you work your way somewhere, you move or progress there slowly, and with a lot of effort or work.
tobacco mosaic virus — a retrovirus causing mosaic disease in members of the nightshade family. Abbreviation: TMV.
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 point — a temperature at which the transformation of one microconstituent to another begins or ends during heating or cooling.
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.

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