17-letter words containing s, h, o
- shopping precinct — pedestrian area with shops
- shopping-bag lady — bag lady (def 1).
- short short story — a very short piece of prose fiction, much more condensed than the average short story.
- short-term memory — information retained in the brain and retrievable from it over a brief span of time (contrasted with long-term memory).
- shortcrust pastry — a basic type of pastry that is made with half the quantity of fat to flour, and has a crisp but crumbly texture
- shorten the reins — to take up the reins so that the distance between hand and bit is lessened, in order that the horse may be more collected
- shorter catechism — one of the two catechisms established by the Westminster Assembly in 1647, used chiefly in Presbyterian churches.
- shorthold tenancy — letting of a dwelling for between one and five years at a fair rent
- shouting distance — hailing distance.
- show in (or out) — to usher into (or out of) a given place
- show sb the ropes — If you show someone the ropes, you show them how to do a particular job or task.
- shower attachment — a device fixed to taps to make a shower
- shuttle diplomacy — diplomatic negotiations carried out by a mediator who travels back and forth between the negotiating parties.
- sign of the cross — a movement of the hand to indicate a cross, as from forehead to breast and left shoulder to right or, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, from right shoulder to left.
- significant other — Sociology. a person, as a parent or peer, who has great influence on one's behavior and self-esteem.
- sinbad the sailor — a merchant in The Arabian Nights who makes seven adventurous voyages
- sister of charity — a member of one of several congregations of sisters founded in 1634 by St. Vincent de Paul.
- sixth commandment — “Thou shalt not kill”: sixth of the Ten Commandments.
- sixty-fourth note — a note having one sixty-fourth of the time value of a whole note; hemidemisemiquaver.
- sixty-fourth rest — a rest equal in time value to a sixty-fourth note.
- skate on thin ice — to place oneself in a dangerous or delicate situation
- skin of our teeth — a play (1942) by Thornton Wilder.
- slap on the wrist — a sharp blow or smack, especially with the open hand or with something flat.
- smarandache logic — neutrosophic logic
- smoothing circuit — a circuit used to remove ripple from the output of a direct current power supply
- snatch one's time — to leave a job, taking whatever pay is due
- social psychology — the psychological study of social behavior, especially of the reciprocal influence of the individual and the group with which the individual interacts.
- socratic elenchus — the drawing out of the consequences of a position in order to show them to be contrary to some accepted position
- sodium bichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- sodium dichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south frigid zone — the part of the earth's surface between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.
- south lanarkshire — a council area of S Scotland, comprising the S part of the historical county of Lanarkshire: included within Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: has uplands in the S and part of the Glasgow conurbation in the N: mainly agricultural. Administrative centre: Hamilton. Pop: 303 010 (2003 est). Area: 1771 sq km (684 sq miles)
- south sea company — a British joint stock company that traded in South America in the 18th century. The South Sea Company took over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks, and a financial crash in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble)
- south sea islands — the islands in the S Pacific that constitute Oceania
- south west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- southampton water — an inlet of the English Channel in S England
- southeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of southeast. Abbreviation: SEbE.
- southern rhodesia — a former name (until 1964) of Zimbabwe (def 1).
- southern sporades — a group of Greek islands in the Aegean, including the Dodecanese, lying off the SW coast of Turkey
- southern studfish — See under studfish.
- southern triangle — the constellation Triangulum Australe.
- southwest by west — a point on the compass 11°15′ west of southwest. Abbreviation: SWbW.
- spaghettification — the theoretical stretching of an object as it encounters extreme differences in gravitational forces, especially those associated with a black hole.
- spark photography — photography of fast-moving objects, as bullets, by the light of an electric spark.
- special schooling — the system of educating children with special needs in schools designed to meet their needs
- spectroheliograph — an apparatus for making photographs of the sun with a monochromatic light to show the details of the sun's surface and surroundings as they would appear if the sun emitted only that light.
- spectrohelioscope — a spectroheliograph.
- spectrophotometer — an instrument for making photometric comparisons between parts of spectra.