18-letter words containing p, a, u, s
- self-preoccupation — the state of being preoccupied.
- sell someone a pup — to swindle someone by selling him something worthless
- separate but equal — pertaining to a racial policy, formerly practiced in some parts of the United States, by which black people could be segregated if granted equal opportunities and facilities, as for education, transportation, or jobs.
- shunting operation — an operation in which rail coaches are manoeuvred
- simple enumeration — a procedure for arriving at empirical generalizations by haphazard accumulation of positive instances.
- sit up like jackie — to sit bolt upright, esp cheekily
- slow on the uptake — slow to understand or learn
- sodium-vapour lamp — a type of electric lamp consisting of a glass tube containing neon and sodium vapour at low pressure through which an electric current is passed to give an orange light. They are used in street lighting
- sound spectrograph — an electronic device for recording a sound spectogram.
- 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).
- 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
- spare-part surgery — surgical replacement of defective or damaged organs by transplant or insertion of artificial devices
- speak for yourself — If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.
- special prosecutor — (formerly) an independent counsel.
- specimen signature — a signature to be compared to an original signature in order to verify someone's identity
- st. peter's square — a square surrounded by colonnades, forming a boundary of and an entrance to Vatican City, leading to St. Peter's: designed by Giovanni Bernini and built during the 17th century.
- status epilepticus — a condition in which repeated epileptic seizures occur without the patient gaining consciousness between them. If untreated for a prolonged period it can lead to long-term disability or death
- statutory sick pay — the pay an employee is legally entitled to when sick
- stroustrup, bjarne — Bjarne Stroustrup
- sturt's desert pea — the desert pea
- subatomic particle — physics:
- subsidiary company — a company whose controlling interest is owned by another company.
- summary proceeding — a mode of trial authorized by statute to be held before a judge without the usual full hearing.
- super giant slalom — a slalom race in which the course is longer and has more widely spaced gates than in a giant slalom.
- super royal octavo — a book size, 63⁄4 by 101⁄4 inches
- super royal quarto — a book size, 101⁄4 by 131⁄2 inches
- superciliary ridge — browridge.
- superior vena cava — See under vena cava.
- supporting actress — an actress playing a supporting role
- supportive therapy — any treatment, such as the intravenous administration of certain fluids, designed to reinforce or sustain the physiological well-being of a patient
- supraorbital ridge — browridge.
- surgical appliance — a specialized device used by somebody to relieve a particular medical condition
- surveyor's compass — an instrument used by surveyors for measuring azimuths.
- sustaining program — a radio or television program without a commercial sponsor.
- temporal summation — the act or process of summing.
- the baptist church — any of various Protestant churches that believe in the baptism of believers
- thiosulphuric acid — an unstable acid known only in solutions and in the form of its salts. Formula: H2S2O3
- to play favourites — to display favouritism
- to pull a fast one — If you say that someone has pulled a fast one on you, you mean that they have cheated or tricked you.
- to put years on sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has put years on someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much older
- to speak your mind — If you speak your mind, you say firmly and honestly what you think about a situation, even if this may offend or upset people.
- to watch your step — If someone tells you to watch your step, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
- under-compensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- unisys corporation — (company) The company formed in 1984-5 when Burroughs Corporation merged with Sperry Corporation. This was when the phrase "dinosaurs mating" was coined. Unisys is one of the largest providers of information services, technology, and software in the world. They employ about 49,000 people and do business in some 100 countries. In 1994 about 80 percent of revenue was derived from commercial information systems and services, with the remainder coming from electronic systems and services for the defense market. The defense business was sold to Loral in early 1995. Slightly more than half of Unisys's revenue is from business in the United States. They specialise in providing business-critical solutions, based on open information networks, for organisations that operate in transaction-intensive environments. These organisations include financial services companies, airlines, telecommunications companies, government agencies, and other commercial enterprises. In August 1994, quarterly sales were $1799M and profits $50M.
- universal coupling — a coupling between rotating shafts set at an angle to one another, allowing for rotation in three planes.
- up someone's alley — suited to someone's tastes or abilities
- up to the eyeballs — You use up to the eyeballs to emphasize that someone is in an undesirable state to a very great degree.
- upper middle class — wealthy, highly-educated people