14-letter words containing r, h, o, e
- scotch terrier — Scottish terrier.
- scotch verdict — a verdict of not proven: acceptable in certain cases in Scottish criminal law.
- scrape through — only just succeed
- scratch monkey — (humour) As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a scratch monkey", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky operation as a replacement for some precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed. This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when a DEC engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. It is reported that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the field circus manager responsible and asked him sweetly, "Can you swim?" Not all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless droids at the local "humane" society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. A corespondent adds: The details you give are somewhat consistent with the version I recall from the Digital "War Stories" notesfile, but the name "Mabel" and the swimming bit were not mentioned, IIRC. Also, there's a very detailed account that claims that three monkies died in the incident, not just one. I believe Eric Postpischil wrote the original story at DEC, so his coming back with a different version leads me to wonder whether there ever was a real Scratch Monkey incident.
- second chamber — the parliament of the Netherlands, consisting of an upper chamber (First Chamber) and a lower chamber (Second Chamber)
- secret history — a version of historical events which differs from the official or commonly accepted record and purports to be the true version
- self-ownership — the state or fact of being an owner.
- self-righteous — confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.
- sense of humor — finding things funny
- servomechanism — an electronic control system in which a hydraulic, pneumatic, or other type of controlling mechanism is actuated and controlled by a low-energy signal.
- seventy-fourth — next after the seventy-third; being the ordinal number for 74.
- sex chromosome — a chromosome, differing in shape or function from other chromosomes, that determines the sex of an individual.
- share of voice — the proportion of the total audience or readership commanded by a media group across its full range of publishing and broadcasting activities
- sheep-worrying — the act (of a dog, sheepdog, wolf, etc) of chasing a flock of sheep and biting or injuring the sheep
- sheepback rock — roche moutonnée.
- sheepdog trial — a competition in which sheepdogs are tested in their tasks
- shemoneh esreh — the Amidah, consisting of 19 blessings, recited on days other than the Sabbath and holy days.
- sherry cobbler — a cobbler drink made with sherry, sliced fruits, and ice.
- sheva brachoth — the seven blessings said during the marriage service and repeated at the celebration thereafter
- shock absorber — a device for damping sudden and rapid motion, as the recoil of a spring-mounted object from shock.
- shoe repairing — the trade of mending shoes
- shooting brake — station wagon.
- shooting range — place for practising with guns
- shooting spree — a series of shootings by a mad person
- shopping spree — frenzied, indulgent buying
- short covering — purchases that close out short sales on stocks or commodities.
- short interest — the total amount by which a single seller or all sellers are short in a particular stock or commodity or in the market as a whole.
- short trousers — knee-length trousers formerly worn by small boys
- short-tempered — having a quick, hasty temper; irascible.
- shortened form — an abbreviated form of a multisyllable word; clipped form.
- shortleaf pine — a pine, Pinus echinata, of the southern U.S., having short, flexible leaves.
- shoulder blade — the scapula.
- shoulder board — one of a pair of narrow, stiff, cloth patches bearing an insignia of rank and worn on the shoulders by a commissioned officer.
- shoulder joint — the joint at the junction of the forelimb with the pectoral girdle
- shoulder patch — a cloth emblem worn on the upper part of a sleeve of a uniform typically as identification of the organization to which the wearer is assigned.
- shoulder strap — a strap worn over the shoulder, as to support a garment.
- shower cubicle — a shower enclosure
- shower curtain — waterproof sheet around a shower
- shropshire lad — a volume of poetry (1896) by A. E. Housman.
- shrove tuesday — the last day of Shrovetide, long observed as a season of merrymaking before Lent.
- sidereal month — Also called calendar month. any of the twelve parts, as January or February, into which the calendar year is divided.
- sigh of relief — audible breath when difficulty is over
- single honours — a British university degree course that involves study in a single area
- siphonapterous — belonging or pertaining to the insect order Siphonaptera, comprising the fleas.
- slaughterhouse — a building or place where animals are butchered for food; abattoir.
- slaughterously — murderously
- sleep together — have sex with one another
- sleeping porch — a porch enclosed with glass or screening or a room with open sides or a row of windows used for sleeping in the open air.
- smoker's cough — a chronic cough caused by smoking.
- smothered mate — checkmate delivered by a knight when the king's mobility is restricted by his own pieces.