16-letter words containing s, t, r, e, l
- triple-expansion — noting a power source, especially a steam engine, using the same fluid at three successive stages of expansion to do work in three or more cylinders.
- troop the colors — to parade the colors, or flag, before troops
- twin-lens camera — a camera having two separately mounted lenses coordinated to eliminate parallax errors or for making stereoscopic photographs.
- twin-lens reflex — See under reflex camera. Abbreviation: TLR.
- two-stroke cycle — See under two-cycle.
- twofold purchase — a purchase using a double standing block and a double running block so as to give a mechanical advantage of four or five, neglecting friction, depending on whether the hauling is on the standing block or the running block.
- ultra-liberalism — extremely liberal, especially in politics.
- unconversational — of, relating to, or characteristic of conversation: a conversational tone of voice.
- under one's belt — a band of flexible material, as leather or cord, for encircling the waist.
- universalization — to make universal.
- ununderstandable — capable of being understood; comprehensible.
- upsilon particle — the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- vegetable oyster — salsify.
- vegetable slicer — a device with a sharp blade for slicing vegetables finely;
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- vertical tasting — a tasting of different vintages of one particular wine.
- vestibular nerve — the part of the auditory nerve in the inner ear that carries sensory information related to body equilibrium.
- viceregal assent — the formal signing of an act of parliament by a governor general, by which it becomes law
- victimless crime — a legal offense, as prostitution or gambling, to which all participating parties have consented.
- victorian values — qualities considered to characterize the Victorian period, including enterprise and initiative and the importance of the family
- visibility meter — any instrument for measuring the visual range through the atmosphere, as a transmissometer.
- visible spectrum — the range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that is normally visible, from 380 to 760 nm.
- visual interface — (tool, text) (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. vi became the de facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of MIT until the rise of Emacs after about 1984. It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/). Nevertheless it is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 Usenet poll preferred it), and even some Emacs fans resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs). See holy wars.
- voluntary muscle — muscle whose action is normally controlled by an individual's will; mainly skeletal muscle, composed of parallel bundles of striated, multinucleate fibers.
- voluntary sector — the part of the economy that consists of non-profit-making organizations, as opposed to the public and private sectors
- walk the streets — to be a prostitute
- walrus moustache — a long thick moustache drooping at the ends
- waterless cooker — a tight-lidded kitchen utensil in which food can be cooked using only a small amount of water or only the juices emitted while cooking.
- welfare benefits — financial assistance; social security payment
- welfare payments — government benefits
- well-constructed — to build or form by putting together parts; frame; devise.
- well-illustrated — containing pictures, drawings, and other illustrations: an illustrated book.
- well-ordered set — a totally ordered set in which every nonempty subset has a smallest element with the property that there is no element in the subset less than this smallest element.
- well-represented — having good or sufficient representation
- well-upholstered — (of a person) fat
- west springfield — a city in SW Massachusetts, near Springfield.
- whited sepulcher — an evil person who feigns goodness; hypocrite. Matt. 23:27.
- whited sepulchre — hypocrite
- wholeheartedness — fully or completely sincere, enthusiastic, energetic, etc.; hearty; earnest: a wholehearted attempt to comply.
- wiener schnitzel — Viennese Cookery. a breaded veal cutlet, variously seasoned or garnished.
- winchester rifle — a type of magazine rifle, first made in about 1866.
- woman of letters — a woman engaged in literary pursuits, especially a professional writer.
- world exposition — world's fair.
- world federalist — a promoter or supporter of world federalism.
- worth one's salt — a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.
- xenotransplanted — Transplanted by xenotransplantation.
- ziegler catalyst — any of a group of catalysts, such as titanium trichloride (TiCl3) and aluminium alkyl (Al(CH3)3), that produce stereospecific polymers