20-letter words containing p, h, i

serve a person right — to pay a person back, esp for wrongful or foolish treatment or behaviour
sex change operation — a surgical operation designed to change a person's physical sexual characteristics to those of the opposite sex
sharp-tailed sparrow — a sparrow, Ammospiza caudacuta, inhabiting salt marshes in North America, having narrow, sharply pointed tail feathers.
skating championship — a competition for ice-skating
slip through the net — If criminals slip through the net, they avoid being caught by the system or trap that was meant to catch them.
south american plate — a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.
span of apprehension — the maximum number of objects that can be correctly assessed after a brief presentation
spanish oyster plant — a composite plant, Scolymus hispanicus, of southern Europe, having spiny, thistlelike leaf margins, small yellow flowers, and an edible root.
spanish west african — of or relating to the former Spanish overseas territory of Spanish West Africa (now the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara) or its inhabitants
spanish-american war — the war between the U.S. and Spain in 1898.
spatial technologies — (company) Distributors of the ACIS solid modelling engine.
special relationship — the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical relations between the United States and the United Kingdom
spectrophotoelectric — pertaining to the relationship between the wavelength of the incident radiation and the number of electrons released by a photoelectric substance.
spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
spherical coordinate — Usually, spherical coordinates. any of three coordinates used to locate a point in space by the length of its radius vector and the angles this vector makes with two perpendicular polar planes.
spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
spirits of hartshorn — a colorless, pungent, suffocating, aqueous solution of about 28.5 percent ammonia gas: used chiefly as a detergent, for removing stains and extracting certain vegetable coloring agents, and in the manufacture of ammonium salts.
splice the mainbrace — to issue and partake of an extra allocation of alcoholic spirits
split the difference — the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity: There is a great difference between the two.
state highway patrol — a state's road traffic police
step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
synthetic philosophy — the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, intended as a synthesis of all the sciences.
telephone subscriber — a person who subscribes to a telephone service
the (great) pyramids — the three large pyramids at Gîza, Egypt: the largest is the Pyramid of Khufu
the beautiful people — rich, fashionable people in international high society
the hearing impaired — people whose hearing is partially defective
the legal profession — the profession of law
the price of someone — what someone deserves, esp a fitting punishment
the thinking process — thought; the activity of thinking
theosophical society — a society founded by Madame Blavatsky and others, in New York in 1875, advocating a worldwide eclectic religion based largely on Brahmanic and Buddhistic teachings.
therapeutic abortion — abortion performed when a woman's pregnancy endangers her health.
third-party software — software created by programmers or publishers independent of the manufacturer of the hardware for which it is intended.
to bring up the rear — If a person or vehicle is bringing up the rear, they are the last person or vehicle in a moving line of them.
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 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 keep your hand in — If you do something to keep your hand in, you practise a skill or hobby occasionally in order to remain fairly good at it.
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
transposition cipher — a cipher that rearranges the letters of the plain text in a different sequence.
triphenylmethane dye — any of a great number of dyes, as gentian violet, fuchsin, and rosaniline, produced from triphenylmethane by replacement of the ring hydrogen atoms with hydroxy, amino, sulfo, or other atoms or groups.
triple witching hour — the last hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the four Fridays each year when stock options, stock index futures, and options on such futures simultaneously expire: regarded as a time of extreme volatility in trading.
tropospheric scatter — transmission of radio frequency signals that have been scattered from irregularities in the troposphere to locations hundreds of kilometers distant.
tubing head pressure — The tubing head pressure is the pressure on the tubing, which is measured at the wellhead.
under the impression — If you are under the impression that something is the case, you believe that it is the case, usually when it is not actually the case.
under the microscope — If you say that something is under the microscope, you mean that it is being studied very closely, usually because it is believed that something is wrong with it.
video graphics array — (hardware) (VGA) A display standard for IBM PCs, with 640 x 480 pixels in 16 colours and a 4:3 aspect ratio. There is also a text mode with 720 x 400 pixels. IBM technical references define the *product name* of their original VGA display board as "Video Graphics Array", in contrast to the preceding boards, the "Color Graphics Adapter" (CGA) and "Enhanced Graphics Adapter" (EGA). See also Super Video Graphics Adapter.
visually handicapped — unable to carry out normal activities because of defects of vision, including blindness
white bush (scallop) — a variety of summer squash having a saucer-shaped white fruit, scalloped around the edges
white elephant stall — a stall, usually at a fete or fundraising event, where unwanted possessions are sold

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