22-letter words containing s, a, o

to bend over backwards — If you say that someone is bending over backwards to be helpful or kind, you are emphasizing that they are trying very hard to be helpful or kind.
to cast your mind back — If you cast your mind back to a time in the past, you think about what happened then.
to cast your net wider — If you cast your net wider, you look for or consider a greater variety of things.
to draw someone's fire — If you draw fire from someone, you cause them to shoot at you, for example because they think that you are threatening them.
to drop someone a line — If you drop someone a line, you write to them.
to fall by the wayside — If a person or plan falls by the wayside, they fail or stop before they complete what they set out to do.
to fall to bits/pieces — To fall to pieces, or in British English to fall to bits, means the same as to fall apart.
to hate someone's guts — If you hate someone's guts, you dislike them very much indeed.
to have the last laugh — If you say that you have the last laugh, you mean that you become successful at something so that people who criticize or oppose you look foolish.
to lead someone astray — If you are led astray by someone or something, you behave badly or foolishly because of them.
to make a pig's ear of — If you make a pig's ear of something you are doing, you do it very badly.
to open the floodgates — If events open the floodgates to something, they make it possible for that thing to happen much more often or much more seriously than before.
to overplay one's hand — If someone overplays their hand, they act more confidently than they should because they believe that they are in a stronger position than they actually are.
to play fast and loose — If you say that someone is playing fast and loose, you are expressing disapproval of them for behaving in a deceitful, immoral, or irresponsible way.
to play happy families — to spend time with your family or partner and to outwardly give the impression of being happy (although this may not be the case)
to seal someone's fate — If something seals a person's or thing's fate, it makes it certain that they will fail or that something unpleasant will happen to them.
to sell like hot cakes — If things are selling like hot cakes, a lot of people are buying them.
to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
to twist someone's arm — If you twist someone's arm, you persuade them to do something.
to upset the applecart — If you upset the applecart, you do something which causes a plan, system, or arrangement to go wrong.
toey as a roman sandal — very anxious
torpedo-boat destroyer — a vessel somewhat larger than the ordinary torpedo boat, designed for destroying torpedo boats or as a more powerful form of torpedo boat.
total allergy syndrome — a condition in which a person suffers from a large number of symptoms that are claimed to be caused by allergies to various substances used or encountered in modern life
trade descriptions act — In Britain, the Trade Descriptions Act or the Trades Descriptions Act is a law designed to prevent companies from presenting their goods or services in a dishonest or misleading way.
transactional analysis — a form of individual or group psychotherapy focusing on social interactions, psychological games, and analysis of relationships as persons shift among the roles of parent, child, and adult. Abbreviation: TA.
transformational rules — rules that specify in purely syntactic terms a method by which theorems may be derived from the axioms of a formal system
transient program area — (operating system) (TPA) The region of memory CP/M set aside for user programs.
transition probability — the probability of going from a given state to the next state in a Markov process.
transition temperature — Physics. a temperature at which a substance undergoes some abrupt change in its properties, as when it passes from the normal to the superconducting state.
transposing instrument — a musical instrument played at a pitch different from that indicated in the score.
tripotassium phosphate — any of the three orthophosphates of potassium ((potassium monophosphate) (K 2 HPO 4), (potassium diphosphate) (KH 2 PO 4), and (tripotassium phosphate) (K 3 PO 4) )
turn one's hand to sth — If you turn your hand to something such as a practical activity, you learn about it and do it for the first time.
turn someone's stomach — If you say that something turns your stomach or makes your stomach turn, you mean that it is so unpleasant or offensive that it makes you feel sick.
under no circumstances — not for any reason
under starter's orders — (of horses in a race) awaiting the start signal
unemployment insurance — a government program that provides a limited number of payments to eligible workers who are involuntarily unemployed.
united empire loyalist — any of the American colonists who settled in Canada during or after the War of American Independence because of loyalty to the British Crown
universal postal union — an international organization, formed in Bern, Switzerland (1875), that administers and regulates international postal service. Abbreviation: UPU.
universal product code — a bar code that indicates price, product classification, etc., and can be read electronically, as at checkout counters in supermarkets. Abbreviation: UPC.
university of michigan — (body, education) A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. 70% of the University's students graduated in the top 10% of their high school class. 90% rank in the top 20% of their high school class. 60% of the students receive financial aid. The main Ann Arbor Campus lies in the Huron River valley, 40 miles west of Detroit. The campus boasts 2700 acres with 200 buildings, six million volumes in 23 libraries, nine museums, seven hospitals, hundreds of laboratories and institutes, and over 18000 microcomputers.
university of tasmania — (body, education)
unprofessional conduct — activity that is contrary to the accepted code of conduct of a profession
unreasonable behaviour — conduct by a spouse sufficient to cause the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage
unsaturated production — Unsaturated production is the production of smaller, unsaturated hydrocarbons from saturated hydrocarbons, for example producing alkenes such as ethane and propene.
urban district council — a council of an urban district that, in conjunction with a county council, has responsibilities for local government issues
user datagram protocol — (protocol) (UDP) Internet standard network layer, transport layer and session layer protocols which provide simple but unreliable datagram services. UDP is defined in STD 6, RFC 768. It adds a checksum and additional process-to-process addressing information [to what?]. UDP is a connectionless protocol which, like TCP, is layered on top of IP. UDP neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program.
user network interface — (communications, networking) (UNI) An interface point between ATM end users and a private ATM switch, or between a private ATM switch and the public carrier ATM network. The physical and protocol specifications for UNIs are defined by the ATM Forum's UNI documents, which allow for various types of physical interfaces. See also: NNI
van der waals equation — an equation of state relating the pressure, volume, and absolute temperature of a gas, taking into account the finite size of the molecules and the attractive force between them.
varicella zoster virus — a type of herpesvirus that causes chickenpox and shingles.
video display terminal — Computers. a computer terminal consisting of a screen on which data or graphics can be displayed. Abbreviation: VDT.

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