20-letter words containing t, e, s, b, a
- spherical aberration — variation in focal length of a lens or mirror from center to edge, due to its spherical shape.
- splice the mainbrace — to issue and partake of an extra allocation of alcoholic spirits
- spontaneous abortion — miscarriage (def 1).
- spontaneous-abortion — Also called voluntary abortion. the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.
- spotted crane's-bill — the American wild geranium, Geranium maculatum.
- st. james-assiniboia — a city in SE Manitoba, in S central Canada: suburb of Winnipeg.
- standard book number — International Standard Book Number. Abbreviation: SBN.
- star spangled banner — Stars and Stripes.
- star-spangled banner — Stars and Stripes.
- stare sb in the face — If a situation or the answer to a problem is staring you in the face, it is very obvious, although you may not be immediately aware of it.
- ste. anne de beaupre — a village in S Quebec, in SE Canada, on the St. Lawrence, NE of Quebec: Roman Catholic shrine.
- stefan-boltzmann law — the law stating that the total energy radiated from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
- step into the breach — If you step into the breach, you do a job or task which someone else was supposed to do or has done in the past, because they are suddenly unable to do it.
- strawberry-raspberry — an arching, prickly, Japanese plant, Rubus illecebrosus, of the rose family, having an herbaceous stem, white, fragrant flowers, and large, edible, scarlet fruit.
- subjective idea-list — a doctrine that the world has no existence independent of sensations or ideas.
- subpoena duces tecum — a writ directing a person to appear in court and to bring some document described in the writ.
- switchboard operator — a person who operates an installation in a telephone exchange, office, hotel, etc, at which the interconnection of telephone lines is manually controlled
- take sides/sb's side — If you take sides or take someone's side in an argument or war, you support one of the sides against the other.
- television broadcast — sth shown on tv
- the canterbury tales — an uncompleted sequence of tales by Chaucer, written for the most part after 1387.
- to be a one-man show — to be reliant on one person alone
- to be a warning shot — to be a warning
- to be at loggerheads — to be in conflict
- to beat one's breast — If you say that someone beats their breast, you are emphasizing that they are very angry or upset about something, or that they are pretending to be very angry or upset about it.
- to burst into flames — If something bursts into flames or bursts into flame, it suddenly starts burning strongly.
- to disturb the peace — If someone is accused of disturbing the peace, they are accused of behaving in a noisy and offensive way in public.
- to get off sb's back — If you tell someone to get off your back, you are telling them angrily to stop criticizing you or putting pressure on you.
- to get your bearings — to find out where one is or to find out what one should do next
- to have it in for sb — If someone has it in for you, they do not like you and they want to make life difficult for you.
- to push the boat out — If you push the boat out, you spend a lot of money on something, especially in order to celebrate.
- to sb's disadvantage — If something is to your disadvantage or works to your disadvantage, it creates difficulties for you.
- to scrape the barrel — If you say that someone is scraping the barrel, or scraping the bottom of the barrel, you disapprove of the fact that they are using or doing something of extremely poor quality.
- to take years off sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has taken years off someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much younger
- to waste your breath — If someone says you are wasting your breath, they mean that the person you are talking to will not take any notice and so there is no point saying anything to them.
- toothbrush moustache — a short narrow moustache, resembling the filaments of a toothbrush
- tropical disturbance — a very weak, or incipient, tropical cyclone.
- trustee savings bank — a British financial institution which offered savings facilities for small investors and was managed by unpaid trustees. Depositors had no voting rights and no say in financial or managerial matters. The bank is now a public limited company with the same rights and services as other banks and only retains the title in the abbreviated form TSB.
- tubing head pressure — The tubing head pressure is the pressure on the tubing, which is measured at the wellhead.
- united arab emirates — group of Arabian states
- watch sb like a hawk — If you watch someone like a hawk, you observe them very carefully, usually to make sure that they do not make a mistake or do something you do not want them to do.
- watch someone's back — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- webster's dictionary — Informal. a dictionary of the English language, especially American English, such as Dictionary.com.
- westminster assembly — a convocation that met at Westminster, London, 1643–49, and formulated the articles of faith (Westminster Confession of Faith) that are accepted as authoritative by most Presbyterian churches.
- white bush (scallop) — a variety of summer squash having a saucer-shaped white fruit, scalloped around the edges
- yellow-breasted chat — an American warbler, Icteria virens, having a yellow throat and breast and greenish-brown upper parts and noted for imitating the songs of other species.