16-letter words containing s, p, e
- aplastic anaemia — anaemia caused by a defect in the body's ability to regenerate blood cells
- appeals tribunal — a tribunal that hears appeals
- apple of discord — a golden apple inscribed "For the fairest". It was claimed by Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, to whom Paris awarded it, thus beginning a chain of events that led to the Trojan War
- apples and pears — stairs
- applied research — research that is put to practical use
- applied sciences — sciences that are put to practical use
- appraisal method — a method used for the appraisal of an employee
- appreciativeness — The state or quality of being appreciative.
- apprehensiveness — uneasy or fearful about something that might happen: apprehensive for the safety of the mountain climbers.
- approachableness — capable of being approached; accessible.
- armillary sphere — a model of the celestial sphere consisting of rings representing the relative positions of the celestial equator, ecliptic, etc, used by early astronomers for determining the positions of stars
- ascidian tadpole — the free-swimming larva of an ascidian, having a tadpole-like tail containing the notochord and nerve cord
- asiatic elephant — Indian elephant. See under elephant.
- asparagus beetle — either of two leaf beetles of the genus Crioceris that feed on the asparagus plant in both the larval and adult stages.
- asparagus spears — the succulent young shoots of Asparagus officinalis, which may be cooked and eaten
- assistant priest — a person who assists a priest in their work or who is not yet fully qualified as a priest
- assisted passage — a scheme whereby a government encourages people to emigrate or return home by agreeing to pay for their ticket
- aston dark space — the dark region between the cathode and the cathode glow in a vacuum tube, occurring when the pressure is low.
- at the last gasp — at the point of death
- at the sharp end — If you say that someone is at the sharp end of a particular activity or type of work, you mean that they are involved in the most difficult or dangerous aspects of it.
- atmospheric tide — a movement of atmospheric masses caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon and by daily solar heating.
- australopithecus — an extinct genus of small-brained,large-toothed bipedal hominids that lived in Africa between one and four million years ago.
- autostereoscopic — Of or pertaining to autostereoscopy.
- avalon peninsula — a large peninsula of Newfoundland, between Trinity and Placentia Bays. Area: about 10 000 sq km (4000 sq miles)
- aversion therapy — a method of suppressing an undesirable habit, such as excessive smoking, by causing the subject to associate an unpleasant effect, such as an electric shock or nausea, with the habit
- axminster carpet — a type of patterned carpet with a cut pile
- azuero peninsula — a peninsula in SW Panama, bordered on the E by the Gulf of Panama.
- balkan peninsula — a large peninsula in SE Europe, between the Adriatic and Aegean Seas
- banana republics — any of the small countries in the tropics, especially in the Western Hemisphere, whose economies are largely dependent on fruit exports, tourism, and foreign investors.
- band-pass filter — a filter that transmits only those currents having a frequency lying within specified limits
- barbecue stopper — a controversial current-affairs issue
- bargaining scope — the range of topics within the scope of a particular set of negotiations leading to a collective agreement
- basement complex — the undifferentiated assemblage of rock (basement rock) underlying the oldest stratified rocks in any region: usually crystalline, metamorphosed, and mostly, but not necessarily, Precambrian in age.
- bashkir republic — a constituent republic of E central Russia, in the S Urals: established as the first Soviet autonomous republic in 1919; rich mineral resources. Capital: Ufa. Pop: 4 012 900 (2002). Area: 143 600 sq km (55 430 sq miles)
- basque provinces — an autonomous region of N Spain, comprising the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya: inhabited mainly by Basques, who retained virtual autonomy from the 9th to the 19th century. Pop: 1 840 700 (2003 est). Area: about 7250 sq km (2800 sq miles)
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
- bearing pedestal — an independent support for a bearing, usually incorporating a bearing housing
- beauty therapist — a person whose job is to carry out treatments to improve a person's appearance, such as facials, manicures, removal of unwanted hair, etc
- belgian sheepdog — any of a Belgian breed of large herding dog with a black coat, sometimes used as a guide dog
- beside the point — If you say that something is beside the point, you mean that it is not relevant to the subject that you are discussing.
- bessemer process — (formerly) a process for producing steel by blowing air through molten pig iron at about 1250°C in a Bessemer converter: silicon, manganese, and phosphorus impurities are removed and the carbon content is controlled
- big bag of pages — (BIBOP) Where data objects are tagged with some kind of descriptor (giving their size or type for example) memory can be saved by storing objects with the same descriptor in one "page" of memory. The most significant bits of an object's address are used as the BIBOP page number. This is looked up in a BIBOP table to find the descriptor for all objects in that page. This idea is similar to the "zones" used in some Lisp systems (e.g. LeLisp).
- bimetallic strip — a strip consisting of two metals of different coefficients of expansion welded together so that it buckles on heating: used in thermostats, etc
- bipolar disorder — Bipolar disorder is a mental illness in which a person's state of mind changes between extreme happiness and extreme depression.
- bird of paradise — A bird of paradise is a songbird which is found mainly in New Guinea. The male birds have very brightly coloured feathers.
- bird's-eye maple — a cut of sugar maple wood used especially for veneers, having a wavy grain with many dark, circular markings.
- bird's-nest soup — a rich spicy Chinese soup made from the outer part of the nests of SE Asian swifts of the genus Collocalia
- bird-of-paradise — Also called bird-of-paradise flower. any of several plants of the genus Strelitzia, native to southern Africa, especially S. reginae, having a large, showy orange and blue inflorescence.
- birthday present — a gift given to someone on their birthday