25-letter words containing s, t, a, l
- structured query language — SQL
- subscriber trunk dialling — a service by which telephone subscribers can obtain trunk calls by dialling direct without the aid of an operator
- sulphate-resisting cement — a type of Portland cement that resists normal concentrations of sulphates: used in concrete for flues and underwater work
- take the queen's shilling — to enlist in the army
- take up the cudgels (for) — to come to the defense (of)
- tetragonal trisoctahedron — Geometry. a trisoctahedron the faces of which are quadrilaterals; trapezohedron.
- thank one's (lucky) stars — to be thankful for what appears to be good luck
- the ball is in sb's court — If you say that the ball is in someone's court, you mean that it is his or her responsibility to take the next action or decision in a situation.
- the ball is in your court — you are obliged to make the next move
- the calm before the storm — You can use the calm before the storm to refer to a quiet period in which there is little or no activity, before a period in which there is a lot of trouble or intense activity.
- the empire state building — a very high skyscraper in New York City
- the industrial revolution — the transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries of first Britain and then other W European countries and the US into industrial nations
- the leaning tower of pisa — the bell tower of Pisa Cathedral
- the mother of parliaments — the British Parliament: the model and creator of many other Parliaments
- the scholastic profession — the profession of teaching
- there are no flies on him — he is no fool
- thermoluminescence dating — a method of dating archaeological specimens, chiefly pottery, by measuring the radiation given off by ceramic materials as they are heated.
- through the looking-glass — a story for children (1871) by Lewis Carroll: the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- to call something to mind — If something brings another thing to mind or calls another thing to mind, it makes you think of that other thing, usually because it is similar in some way.
- to cut a long story short — In British English, you use to cut a long story short to indicate that you are going to state the final result of an event and not give any more details. In American English, you say to make a long story short.
- to drink someone's health — When you drink to someone's health or drink their health, you have a drink as a sign of wishing them health and happiness.
- to hold someone to ransom — If a kidnapper is holding someone to ransom or holding them ransom in British English, or is holding a person for ransom in American English, they keep that person prisoner until they are given what they want.
- to lay claim to something — If you lay claim to something you do not have, you say that it belongs to you.
- to lay siege to something — If police, soldiers, or journalists lay siege to a place, they surround it in order to force the people there to come out or give up control of the place.
- to live beyond your means — If someone is living beyond their means, they are spending more money than they can afford. If someone is living within their means, they are not spending more money than they can afford.
- to pull out all the stops — If you pull out all the stops, you do everything you can to make something happen or succeed.
- to read between the lines — If you read between the lines, you understand what someone really means, or what is really happening in a situation, even though it is not said openly.
- to sail close to the wind — If you sail close to the wind, you take a risk by doing or saying something that may get you into trouble.
- to sound the death knelll — If you say that something sounds the death knell for a particular person or thing, you mean it will cause that person or thing to fail, end, or cease to exist.
- to teach someone a lesson — If you say that you are going to teach someone a lesson, you mean that you are going to punish them for something that they have done so that they do not do it again.
- to thank your lucky stars — If you say that someone should thank their lucky stars that something is the case, you mean that they should be very grateful that it is the case, because otherwise their situation would be a lot worse.
- touch/cover all the bases — If someone touches all the bases or covers the bases, they deal with everyone or everything involved in a situation.
- track and field athletics — a collection of sporting events that involve running, sprinting, throwing, jumping and walking
- transcendental meditation — a technique, based on ancient Hindu writings, by which one seeks to achieve a relaxed state through regular periods of meditation during which a mantra is repeated. Abbreviation: TM.
- transcendental-philosophy — transcendental character, thought, or language.
- transport layer interface — (networking, programming) (TLI, or "Transport Level Interface") A protocol-independent interface for accessing network facilities, modelled after the ISO transport layer (level 4), that first appeared in Unix SVR3. TLI is defined by SVID as transport mechanism for networking interfaces, in preference to sockets, which are biased toward IP and friends. A disavantage is that a process cannot use read/write directly, but has to use backends using stdin and stdout to communicate with the network connection. TLI is implemented in SVR4 using the STREAMS interface. It adds no new system calls, just a library, libnsl_s.a. The major functions are t_open, t_bind, t_connect, t_listen, t_accept, t_snd, t_rcv, read, write. According to the Solaris t_open man page, XTI (X/OPEN Transport Interface) evolved from TLI, and supports the TLI API for compatibility, with some variations on semantics.
- transport level interface — Transport Layer Interface
- undisputed world champion — a boxer who holds the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Organization, and the International Boxing Federation world championship titles simultaneously
- unemployment compensation — an allowance of money paid, usually weekly, to an unemployed worker by a state or federal agency or by the worker's labor union or former employer during all or part of the period of unemployment.
- university of east london — (body, education) (UEL) A UK University with six academic Faculties: Design and The Built Environment, East London Business School, Institute Of Health and Rehabilitation, Faculty Of Science, Social Sciences and Technology.
- wallis and futuna islands — a group of islands in the SW Pacific Ocean: overseas territory of France. 106 sq. mi. (274 sq. km).
- white sands missile range — a U.S. Army military testing ground for rockets and guided missiles in SW New Mexico, W of Alamogordo.
- xpress transport protocol — (networking, protocol) (XTP) A transport layer protocol for high-speed networks promoted by the XTP Forum. XTP provides protocol options for error control, flow control, and rate control. Instead of separate protocols for each type of communication, XTP controls packet exchange patterns to produce different models, e.g. reliable datagrams, transactions, unreliable streams, and reliable multicast connections. Contrast with Transmission Control Protocol. XTP does not employ congestion avoidance algorithms.
- yakut autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NE Russian Federation in Asia. 1,198,146 sq. mi. (3,103,200 sq. km). Capital: Yakutsk.
- yellowstone national park — a park in NW Wyoming and adjacent parts of Montana and Idaho: geysers, hot springs, falls, canyon. 3458 sq. mi. (8955 sq. km).