16-letter words containing p, e, s, a
- sheepskin jacket — a short jacket made of the skin of a sheep with the wool still attached to it
- shepherd's plaid — a checkered black and white pattern
- shifting spanner — an adjustable spanner
- shipping channel — a navigational pathway that a ship uses to travel from one place to another
- shoemaker's shop — a shop where shoes are repaired, or made
- shopping channel — television station used to sell goods
- shopping village — a shopping centre that designed to look like a village
- showcase project — a project designed to attract attention and show off the abilities of the people involved in it
- 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.
- sicilian vespers — a general massacre of the French in Sicily by the local population, begun at the sound of the vesper bell on Easter Monday, 1282.
- singapore strait — a strait between Singapore Island and the Riau Archipelago at the S end of the Malay Peninsula: shipping channel between the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait. 65 miles (105 km) long and 10 miles (16 km) wide.
- single occupancy — a type of travel accommodation, as at a hotel, for one person in a room.
- slap in the face — smack on the cheek
- slap on the back — to congratulate
- slave labor camp — labor camp (def 1).
- sleep like a top — a toy, often inversely conical, with a point on which it is made to spin.
- sleep-wake cycle — Physiology. the species-specific biological pattern of alternating sleep and wakefulness, in humans roughly 8 hours of nocturnal sleep and 16 hours of daytime activity.
- sleeping draught — any drink containing a drug or agent that induces sleep
- sleeping partner — silent partner.
- smack one's lips — If you smack your lips, you open and close your mouth noisily, especially before or after eating, to show that you are eager to eat or enjoyed eating.
- small/fine print — The small print or the fine print of something such as an advertisement or a contract consists of the technical details and legal conditions, which are often printed in much smaller letters than the rest of the text.
- soapberry family — the plant family Sapindaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, or herbaceous vines having compound leaves, clustered flowers, and berrylike, fleshy, or capsular fruit, and including the balloon vine, golden rain tree, litchi, and soapberry.
- sodium pentothal — the sodium salt of thiopental sodium.
- sodium perborate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, NaBO 2 ⋅3H 2 O or NaBO 3 ⋅4H 2 O, used chiefly as a bleaching agent and antiseptic.
- sodium phosphate — Also called monobasic sodium phosphate. a white, crystalline, slightly hygroscopic, water-soluble powder, NaH 2 PO 4 , used chiefly in dyeing and in electroplating.
- software package — bundle of files to execute computer program
- solar prominence — prominence (def 3).
- solid propellant — a rocket propellant in solid form, usually containing a mixture or combination of fuel and oxidizer.
- south plainfield — a city in N New Jersey.
- southern baptist — a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, that is strictly Calvinistic and active in religious publishing and education.
- southern uplands — a hilly region extending across S Scotland: includes the Lowther, Moorfoot, and Lammermuir hills
- spaghetti squash — a variety of a widely cultivated squash, Cucurbita pepo, having edible flesh in the form of spaghettilike strands.
- spanish bluebell — a bulbous plant, Endymion hispanicus, of the lily family, native to Spain and Portugal, having blue, white, or pink, bell-shaped flowers.
- spanish chestnut — Castanea sativa
- spanish mackerel — an American game fish, Scomberomorus maculatus, inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean.
- spanish omelette — an omelette made by adding green peppers, onions, tomato, etc, to the eggs
- spanish-american — noting or pertaining to the parts of America where Spanish is the prevailing language.
- sparking voltage — the minimum voltage required to produce a spark across a given spark gap.
- sparring partner — a boxer who spars with and otherwise serves to train a boxer who is preparing for a bout.
- speak for itself — be self-evident
- speak in tongues — to engage in glossolalia
- speak one's mind — give one's frank opinion
- speaking trumpet — a trumpet-shaped instrument used to carry the voice a great distance or held to the ear by a deaf person to aid his hearing
- spear-head spoon — diamond-point spoon.
- special clearing — (in Britain) the clearing of a cheque through a bank in less than the usual three days, for an additional charge
- special delivery — (in the U.S. Postal Service) delivery of mail outside the regularly scheduled hours, by a special messenger, upon the payment of an extra fee.
- special handling — (in the U.S. Postal Service) the handling of third- and fourth-class mail as first-class upon the payment of a fee.
- special interest — special-interest group (def 1).
- special pleading — Law. pleading that alleges special or new matter in avoidance of the allegations made by the opposite side.
- specific gravity — the ratio of the density of any substance to the density of some other substance taken as standard, water being the standard for liquids and solids, and hydrogen or air being the standard for gases.