23-letter words containing t, h, e, s
- set one's teeth on edge — (in most vertebrates) one of the hard bodies or processes usually attached in a row to each jaw, serving for the prehension and mastication of food, as weapons of attack or defense, etc., and in mammals typically composed chiefly of dentin surrounding a sensitive pulp and covered on the crown with enamel.
- sheltered accommodation — housing specially designed to provide a safe environment for the elderly, handicapped, or disabled, often with some shared facilities and a caretaker
- short-billed marsh wren — sedge wren.
- short-tailed shearwater — any of several long-winged seabirds, often used as food, especially Puffinus tenuirostris (short-tailed shearwater) of Australia and Puffinus griseus (sooty shearwater) which breeds in the Southern Hemisphere and winters in the Northern Hemisphere.
- shout from the rooftops — to proclaim (something) publicly
- sign on the dotted line — a line on a contract or similar document for a party's signature.
- site catchment analysis — the examination by survey, excavation, maps, and graphs of a contained area to evaluate the productivity of the resources customarily exploited by the inhabitants of a settlement, especially a prehistoric one.
- slip between the cracks — to break without complete separation of parts; become fissured: The plate cracked when I dropped it, but it was still usable.
- sodium tripolyphosphate — a white powder, Na 5 P 3 O 1 0 , used as a water softener, sequestering agent, and food additive.
- someone's night to howl — someone's time for unrestrained pleasure
- speak the same language — to communicate with understanding because of common background, values, etc
- spirit of nitrous ether — ethyl nitrite spirit.
- staggered directorships — a defence against unwelcome takeover bids in which a company resolves that its directors should serve staggered terms of office and that no director can be removed from office without just cause, thus preventing a bidder from controlling the board for some years
- statement of cash flows — A statement of cash flows is a financial statement that shows the amounts of cash that came into and went out of a company over a particular period of time.
- steal someone's thunder — to strike, drive, inflict, give forth, etc., with loud noise or violent action.
- suit down to the ground — the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.
- suprasegmental phonemes — phonemes or features of speech, as pitch, stress, and juncture, that may extend over and modify series of segmental phonemes
- survival of the fittest — (not in technical use) natural selection.
- take it into one's head — If somebody takes it into their head to do something, especially something strange or foolish, they suddenly decide to do it.
- take sth in your stride — In British English, if you take a problem or difficulty in your stride, you deal with it calmly and easily. The American expression is take something in stride.
- take sthing on the chin — If you say that someone took something on the chin, you mean that they accepted an unpleasant or difficult situation bravely and without making a lot of fuss about it.
- talk someone's head off — to communicate or exchange ideas, information, etc., by speaking: to talk about poetry.
- talk/speak of the devil — People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.
- tennessee walking horse — an American breed of horse, marked by its stamina and trained to move at a fast running walk
- thank one's lucky stars — any of the heavenly bodies, except the moon, appearing as fixed luminous points in the sky at night.
- the best of both worlds — advantages of two different things
- the chamber of deputies — the lower legislative assembly in some parliaments
- the department of state — the United States federal department concerned with foreign policy
- the haves and have-nots — the people who are very wealthy and the people who are very poor
- the lesser of two evils — If you have two choices, but think that they are both bad, you can describe the one which is less bad as the lesser of two evils, or the lesser evil.
- the library of congress — the official library of the United States in Washington, DC. It houses extensive collections in all subject areas and formats, important historical documents, and is also a depository for copyrighted materials.
- the next thing sb knows — You can say the next thing I knew to suggest that a new situation which you are describing was surprising because it happened very suddenly.
- the numbers game/racket — If you refer to the numbers game, the numbers racket, or the numbers, you are referring to an illegal lottery or illegal betting.
- the royal naval reserve — the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom
- the scottish parliament — the devolved national legislature of Scotland, located in Edinburgh
- the taming of the shrew — a comedy (1594?) by Shakespeare.
- the teaching profession — the profession of a teacher
- the thrill of the chase — If you talk about the thrill of the chase, you are referring to the excitement that people feel when they are trying hard to get something.
- the whys and wherefores — The whys and wherefores of something are the reasons for it.
- there is no holding him — he is so spirited or resolute that he cannot be restrained
- there is nothing for it — If you say that there is nothing for it but to take a particular action, you mean that it is the only possible course of action that you can take, even though it might be unpleasant.
- there's no need/no need — You can tell someone that there's no need for them to do something as a way of telling them not to do it or of telling them to stop doing it, for example because it is unnecessary.
- thompson submachine gun — a portable, .45-caliber, automatic weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder or hip.
- thousand and one nights — a collection of Eastern folk tales derived in part from Indian and Persian sources and dating from the 10th century a.d.
- till the cows come home — the mature female of a bovine animal, especially of the genus Bos.
- to be in short trousers — to be a little boy
- to bring the house down — If a person or their performance or speech brings the house down, the audience claps, laughs, or shouts loudly because the performance or speech is very impressive or amusing.
- to change for the worse — If a situation changes for the worse, it becomes more unpleasant or more difficult.
- to draw the short straw — If you draw the short straw, you are chosen from a number of people to perform a job or duty that you will not enjoy.
- to force someone's hand — If you force someone's hand, you force them to act sooner than they want to, or to act in public when they would prefer to keep their actions secret.