17-letter words containing s, a, f, e, h, o
- one of these days — at some future time
- orifice discharge — Orifice discharge is a model for calculating how quickly a fluid will come out of a punctured vessel or pipe.
- out of one's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
- overhead camshaft — a camshaft in an automotive engine that is located in the cylinder head over the engine block rather than in the block. Abbreviation: OHC.
- overreach oneself — to fail because of trying to do more than one can
- pacific northwest — the region of North America lying north of the Columbia River and west of the Rockies
- phase of the moon — Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon." See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a Lisp program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter "corrected" it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug.
- play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- point of purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
- point-of-purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
- preferential shop — a shop in which union members are preferred, usually by agreement of an employer with a union.
- proof of purchase — a document, such as a receipt, etc, that proves that you have purchased or bought something
- proof-of-purchase — a sales slip, label, box top, or other item associated with a product that is presentable as evidence of actual purchase, as for claiming a refund or rebate.
- salt of the earth — an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.
- sawed-off shotgun — rifle with a short barrel
- scarlet firethorn — a Eurasian evergreen, thorny shrub, Pyracantha coccinea, of the rose family, having white, hairy flower clusters and bright red berries.
- seat-of-the-pants — using or based on experience, instinct, or guesswork: a seat-of-the-pants management style.
- self-annihilation — self-destruction; suicide.
- significant other — Sociology. a person, as a parent or peer, who has great influence on one's behavior and self-esteem.
- sister of charity — a member of one of several congregations of sisters founded in 1634 by St. Vincent de Paul.
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- spaghettification — the theoretical stretching of an object as it encounters extreme differences in gravitational forces, especially those associated with a black hole.
- star of bethlehem — the star that is supposed to have appeared above Bethlehem at the birth of Christ
- star-of-bethlehem — any of several plants belonging to the genus Ornithogalum, of the lily family, having grasslike leaves and clusters of white flowers.
- sulfurated potash — a yellowish-brown mixture consisting mainly of potassium polysulfides and potassium thiosulfate, used in treating mange.
- teaching software — computer software for use in providing online education
- the age of reason — the 18th century in W Europe
- the bag of tricks — every device; everything
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the facts of life — the details of sexual behaviour and reproduction, esp as told to children
- the life and soul — a person regarded as the main source of merriment and liveliness
- the south pacific — the part of the Pacific Ocean to the south of the equator
- thermal diffusion — the separation of constituents, often isotopes, of a fluid under the influence of a temperature gradient.
- thuringian forest — a forested mountain region in central Germany: a resort area.
- to fan the flames — If someone or something fans the flames of a situation or feeling, usually a bad one, they make it more intense or extreme in some way.
- to raise the roof — If a group of people inside a building raise the roof, they make a very loud noise, for example by singing or shouting.
- to show your face — If you show your face somewhere, you go there and see people, although you are not welcome, are rather unwilling to go, or have not been there for some time.
- veiltail goldfish — an artificially bred, indoor variety of goldfish, usually golden or calico and of a spheroid shape, having a fully divided, drooping tail fin exceeding the body in length.
- ventilation shaft — a shaft in a mine, tunnel, or building used for providing ventilation or fresh air
- wars of the roses — the civil struggle between the royal house of Lancaster, whose emblem was a red rose, and the royal house of York, whose emblem was a white rose, beginning in 1455 and ending with the accession of Henry VII in 1485 and the union of the two houses.