18-letter words containing s, e, n, g
- sesto san giovanni — a city in Lombardy, N Italy: a suburb of Milan.
- seven-league boots — mythical boots that allowed the wearer to travel seven leagues (a former unit of measurement), ie a great length, at each step
- shape-note singing — a traditional style of a capella singing using shape-note notation.
- shift one's ground — to change one's argument or defense
- shipping container — a large, strong container, usually of metal, used to store goods in during shipment
- shipping documents — documents relating to the sending of a shipment of goods, for example containing details of contents, weight, value etc.
- shotgun microphone — a directional microphone with a narrow-angle range of sensitivity.
- shugart technology — Seagate Technology
- shunting operation — an operation in which rail coaches are manoeuvred
- sign of the zodiac — one of the twelve constellations along the path of the ecliptic.
- significance level — (in the statistical test of a hypothesis) the maximum probability of a Type I error for all distributions consistent with the null hypothesis.
- single-lens reflex — See under reflex camera. Abbreviation: SLR.
- six-finger country — an isolated area considered as being inhabited by people who practise inbreeding
- ski-mountaineering — a combination of the sports of skiing and mountaineering, for example by climbing up a mountain then skiing down it
- sleeping policeman — a bump built across roads, esp in housing estates, to deter motorists from speeding
- slim hole drilling — Slim hole drilling is drilling a well in which at least 90 percent of the hole has a diameter of seven inches or less.
- sling psychrometer — a psychrometer so designed that the wet-bulb thermometer can be ventilated, to expedite evaporation, by whirling in the air.
- slip of the tongue — If you describe something you said as a slip of the tongue, you mean that you said it by mistake.
- snake in the grass — a treacherous person, especially one who feigns friendship.
- social engineering — the application of the findings of social science to the solution of actual social problems.
- societal marketing — marketing that takes into account society's long-term welfare
- sociotechnological — of, relating to, or signifying the combination or interaction of social and technological factors.
- soft touch sealing — Soft touch sealing is a copolymer seal for a tank, with characteristics designed for softness, used instead of a metal seal to help avoid fire when sparks are generated.
- solemn (high) mass — a highly ceremonial Mass with parts of the text sung by the celebrant, with a deacon and subdeacon assisting at the ceremonies, and with choir singing and organ music
- solid-fuel heating — heating that uses solid fuel, such as coal or coke
- something or other — sth not remembered precisely
- something to go on — something that is adequate for the present time
- something to spare — a surplus of something
- sound spectrograph — an electronic device for recording a sound spectogram.
- sow dragon's teeth — to take some action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but that actually brings it about
- spaghetti junction — an interchange, usually between motorways, in which there are a large number of underpasses and overpasses and intersecting roads used by a large volume of high-speed traffic
- specimen signature — a signature to be compared to an original signature in order to verify someone's identity
- speech recognition — Computers. the computerized analysis of spoken words in order to identify the speaker, as in security systems, or to respond to voiced commands: the analysis is performed by finding patterns in the spectrum of the incoming sound and comparing them with stored patterns of elements of sound, as phones, or of complete words.
- spherical triangle — a triangle formed by arcs of great circles of a sphere.
- spread one's wings — to make full use of one's abilities
- squinting modifier — a word or phrase that can modify either the words that precede it or those that follow, as frequently in the sentence Studying frequently is tedious.
- squirting cucumber — a Mediterranean plant, Ecballium elaterium, of the gourd family, whose ripened fruit forcibly ejects the seeds and juice.
- stand one's ground — the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
- stand-by generator — an electrical system which operates automatically in case the usual system malfunctions
- stand-by passenger — someone who buys a (usually cheaper) ticket, if they are still available, on a plane just before it is about to leave rather than booking in advance
- standing committee — a permanent committee, as of a legislature, society, etc., intended to consider all matters pertaining to a designated subject.
- state of emergency — If a government or other authority declares a state of emergency in an area, it introduces special measures such as increased powers for the police or army, usually because of civil disorder or because of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
- station management — (networking) (SMT) Station Management One of the 4 key FDDI component layers. SMT is an overlay function that handles the management of the FDDI ring. It handles neighbor identification, fault detection and reconfiguration, insertion and de-insertion from the ring, and traffic statistics monitoring.
- steering committee — a committee, especially of a deliberative or legislative body, charged with preparing the agenda of a session.
- stepping-off place — jumping-off place (def 2).
- stinking chamomile — mayweed.
- stinking goosefoot — a European goosefoot with foul-smelling leaves
- strait of magellan — a strait between the mainland of S South America and Tierra del Fuego, linking the S Pacific with the S Atlantic. Length: 600 km (370 miles). Width: up to 32 km (20 miles)
- strangeness number — a quantum number, designating the strangeness of an elementary particle, equivalent to the hypercharge minus the baryon number
- strathclyde region — a former local government region in W Scotland: formed in 1975 from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Buteshire, Dunbartonshire, and parts of Argyllshire, Ayrshire, and Stirlingshire; replaced in 1996 by the council areas of Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and East Ayrshire