14-letter words containing s, o, t, h
- 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.
- sea of okhotsk — part of the NW Pacific, surrounded by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin Island, and the E coast of Siberia. Area: 1 589 840 sq km (613 838 sq miles)
- second thought — Often, second thoughts. reservation about a previous action, position, decision, judgment, or the like: He had second thoughts about his decision.
- secret history — a version of historical events which differs from the official or commonly accepted record and purports to be the true version
- self-righteous — confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.
- semito-hamitic — a former name for the Afro-Asiatic family of languages
- seventy-fourth — next after the seventy-third; being the ordinal number for 74.
- shadow cabinet — (in the British Parliament) a group of prominent members of the opposition who are expected to hold positions in the cabinet when their party assumes power.
- shalach manoth — the practice of giving gifts to one another or to the needy on Purim.
- sharptail mola — a fish, Masturus lanceolatus, related to the ocean sunfish but having a pointed tail.
- sheepdog trial — a competition in which sheepdogs are tested in their tasks
- sheva brachoth — the seven blessings said during the marriage service and repeated at the celebration thereafter
- shifty-looking — having the appearance of being dishonest
- shillingsworth — the amount that can be purchased for a shilling
- shittim (wood) — the wood of the shittah, used in making the ark of the covenant and parts of the Jewish tabernacle: Ex. 25:10, 13, 23, etc.
- shoo-fly plant — apple of Peru.
- shoot the bull — exaggerations; lies; nonsense.
- shooting brake — station wagon.
- shooting guard — the player responsible for attempting long-range shots
- shooting lodge — a country house providing accommodation for a shooting party during the shooting season
- shooting match — a contest in marksmanship.
- shooting party — a social gathering when people shoot game together
- shooting range — place for practising with guns
- shooting spree — a series of shootings by a mad person
- shooting stick — a device resembling a cane or walking stick, with a spike on one end and a small, folding seat on the other, often used by spectators at outdoor sporting events.
- shop assistant — a store clerk.
- short covering — purchases that close out short sales on stocks or commodities.
- short division — division, especially by a one-digit divisor, in which the steps of the process are performed mentally and are not written down.
- 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 position — the position of one who has not yet covered a short sale
- 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 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.
- shouting match — a loud, often abusive quarrel or argument.
- shower curtain — waterproof sheet around a shower
- 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.
- simchath torah — a Jewish festival, celebrated on the 23rd day of Tishri, being the 9th day of Sukkoth, that marks the completion of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah in the synagogue and the beginning of the new cycle.
- simplex method — a numerical method for solving problems in linear programming.
- siphonapterous — belonging or pertaining to the insect order Siphonaptera, comprising the fleas.
- sixteenth note — a note having one sixteenth of the time value of a whole note; semiquaver.
- skip-tooth saw — a saw with alternate teeth absent
- slaughterhouse — a building or place where animals are butchered for food; abattoir.
- slaughterously — murderously
- sleep together — have sex with one another
- smooth dogfish — any of several requiem sharks having no spines in front of the dorsal fin, especially Mustelus canis, ranging along the American coast of the Atlantic Ocean.