18-letter words containing s, u, r, o
- helicopter gunship — military attack helicopter
- honour moderations — (at Oxford University) the first public examination, in which candidates are placed into one of three classes of honours
- horses for courses — a policy, course of action, etc modified slightly to take account of specific circumstances without departing in essentials from the original
- houghton-le-spring — a town in N England, in Sunderland unitary authority, Tyne and Wear: coal-mining. Pop: 36 746 (2001)
- house of burgesses — the assembly of representatives in colonial Virginia.
- human rights group — a group that campaigns for human rights
- hungry programmers — (body) A group of programmers producing free software.
- hydrofluorocarbons — Plural form of hydrofluorocarbon.
- hypersexualisation — Alternative spelling of hypersexualization.
- hypersexualization — The act or process of hypersexualizing.
- hyposulfurous acid — an acid, H 2 S 2 O 4 , next in a series below sulfurous acid, known only in solution or in the form of its salts.
- ifs, ands, or buts — a supposition; uncertain possibility: The future is full of ifs.
- immunofluorescence — any of various techniques for detecting an antigen or antibody in a sample by coupling its specifically interactive antibody or antigen to a fluorescent compound, mixing with the sample, and observing the reaction under an ultraviolet-light microscope.
- in terrorem clause — a clause in a will stating that a beneficiary who contests the will shall lose his or her legacy.
- in your mind's eye — If you see something in your mind's eye, you imagine it and have a clear picture of it in your mind.
- incommensurability — not commensurable; having no common basis, measure, or standard of comparison.
- indirect discourse — discourse consisting not of an exact quotation of a speaker's words but of a version transformed from them for grammatical inclusion in a larger sentence. He said he was hungry is an example of indirect discourse.
- industrial diamond — a small often synthetic diamond, valueless as a gemstone, used in cutting tools, abrasives, etc
- inner automorphism — an automorphism that maps an element x into an element of the form axa −1 where a −1 is the inverse of a.
- inquisitor-general — the head of the Spanish court of Inquisition
- instruction manual — how-to, usage guide
- instrument station — station (def 14a).
- intercartilaginous — (anatomy) Within cartilage.
- interinstitutional — Between institutions.
- involuntary muscle — muscle: contracts involuntarily
- iron (ii) sulphate — an iron salt with a saline taste, usually obtained as greenish crystals of the heptahydrate, which are converted to the white monohydrate above 100°C: used in inks, tanning, water purification, and in the treatment of anaemia. Formula: FeSO4
- isthmus of corinth — a narrow strip of land between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf: crossed by the Corinth Canal making navigation possible between the gulfs
- iverson's language — APL, which went unnamed for many years.
- jerusalem syndrome — a delusive condition affecting some visitors to Jerusalem in which the sufferer identifies with a major figure from his or her religious background
- johannes gutenberg — Johannes [yoh-hahn-uh s] /yoʊˈhɑn əs/ (Show IPA), (Johann Gensfleisch) c1400–68, German printer: credited with invention of printing from movable type.
- jump through hoops — If someone makes you jump through hoops, they make you do lots of difficult or boring things in order to please them or achieve something.
- junior high school — a school attended after elementary school and usually consisting of grades seven through nine.
- keep your shirt on — refrain from losing your temper (often used as an exhortation to another)
- king's regulations — (in Britain and the Commonwealth when the sovereign is male) the code of conduct for members of the armed forces that deals with discipline, aspects of military law, etc
- komsomolsk-on-amur — city in SE Russia, on the Amur River: pop. 309,000
- krause's corpuscle — any of numerous encapsulated nerve endings occurring in the skin and mucous membranes, functioning as sensory cold receptors.
- last in, first out — The expression last in, first out is used to say that the last person who started work in an organization should be the first person to leave it, if fewer people are needed.
- last-in, first-out — an inventory plan based on the assumption that materials constituting manufacturing costs should be carried on the books at the market price of the last lot received. Abbreviation: LIFO. Compare first-in, first-out.
- lay down your arms — If soldiers lay down their arms, they stop fighting and give up their weapons.
- lenticular process — a method for producing images with a three-dimensional effect by photographing on lenticulated film.
- like a house afire — a building in which people live; residence for human beings.
- liqueur chocolates — chocolates containing liqueur
- liquid distributor — A liquid distributor is a device which is used to spread liquid when it enters a packed column (= a tall vessel with packing, used for separating substances).
- literae humaniores — (at Oxford University) the faculty concerned with Greek and Latin literature, ancient history, and philosophy; classics
- logarithmus dualis — (mathematics) (ld) Latin for logarithm base two. More commonly written as "log" with a subscript "2". Roughly the number of bits required to represent an integer.
- lonely hearts club — a club for people who are trying to find a lover or a friend
- long-hours culture — The long-hours culture is the way in which some workers feel that they are expected to work much longer hours than they are paid to do.
- lord chief justice — the presiding judge of Britain's High Court of Justice, the superior court of record for both criminal and civil cases.
- loschmidt's number — the number of molecules in one cubic centimeter of an ideal gas at standard temperature and pressure, equal to 2.687 × 10 19.
- louisiana purchase — a treaty signed with France in 1803 by which the U.S. purchased for $15,000,000 the land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.