23-letter words containing t, o, r, s, l
- grant-maintained school — a school funded directly by central government
- grist to someone's mill — anything that someone can use profitably
- guest relations manager — A guest relations manager at a hotel is responsible for the relationships that the hotel has with its guests and the way in which it treats them.
- hang out your/a shingle — If you hang out your shingle or hang out a shingle, you start your own business.
- heterogeneous catalysis — Heterogeneous catalysis is catalysis in which the catalyst does not take part in the reaction that it increases.
- hexagonal cross-section — If a kelly has a hexagonal cross-section, it has a surface area with six equal sides, when looked at as if has been sliced through.
- horsehair-blight fungus — a fungal parasite, Marasmius equicrinis, that causes a disease of certain tropical plants, especially tea.
- industrial psychologist — a person who studies human behaviour and cognitive processes in relation to the working environment
- internal reconstruction — the hypothetical reconstruction of an earlier stage of a language or of some part of it, as its phonology, by deductions from irregularities in its present structure, as the reconstruction of a stage in English when certain instances of r were related to s in a systematic way by comparing the pair was:were to other pairs, as lose:forlorn.
- international relations — a branch of political science dealing with the relations between nations.
- lady chatterley's lover — a novel (1928) by D. H. Lawrence.
- large-scale integration — LSI.
- largemouth (black) bass — a black bass (Micropterus salmoides) found in warm, sluggish waters
- leave no stone unturned — the hard substance, formed of mineral matter, of which rocks consist.
- lesser peach tree borer — the larva of a clearwing moth, Synanthedon pictipes, distributed throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada but most prevalent in the South, that burrows into the injured trunks and branches of stone fruit trees.
- lie through one's teeth — a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. Synonyms: prevarication, falsification. Antonyms: truth.
- light-emitting resistor — (electronics, humour) (LER, from "light-emitting diode") A resistor in the final stages of burning up. (Though intended as purely humorous, the term could sensibly describe the filament of a common incandescent electric light bulb). See also SED.
- lingual protrusion lisp — a speech defect consisting in pronouncing s and z like or nearly like the th- sounds of thin and this, respectively.
- liquefied petroleum gas — a mixture of various petroleum gases, esp propane and butane, stored as a liquid under pressure and used as an engine fuel
- lock, stock, and barrel — a device for securing a door, gate, lid, drawer, or the like in position when closed, consisting of a bolt or system of bolts propelled and withdrawn by a mechanism operated by a key, dial, etc.
- look on the bright side — consider positive aspects
- low-density lipoprotein — a plasma protein that is the major carrier of cholesterol in the blood: high levels are associated with atherosclerosis. Abbreviation: LDL.
- lower of cost or market — Lower of cost or market is a method of valuing assets where the asset is valued at either the historical cost or the fair market value, whichever is lower.
- make allowances for sth — If you make allowances for something, you take it into account in your decisions, plans, or actions.
- martha washington table — a sewing table of the 18th century having an oval top that can be lifted and a central compartment of drawers with semicircular bins at each end.
- meaningful relationship — a romantic relationship based upon mutual respect and supportiveness and marked by a sense of commitment and fulfillment.
- national health service — In Britain, the National Health Service is the state system for providing medical care. It is paid for by taxes.
- national superannuation — a means-related pension paid to elderly people
- network solutions, inc. — (company) (NSI) One of the three companies that provide and coordinate InterNIC services for the NSFNet. NSI is responsible for registration. NSI has been bought by, and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).
- new year's honours list — an Honour's List published at the beginning of a new year
- nondisclosure agreement — a legal contract in which one or more parties agree to keep information, as a trade secret, confidential and protected for a specific amount of time. Abbreviation: NDA.
- north east lincolnshire — a unitary authority in E England, in Lincolnshire: formerly (1974–96) part of the county of Humberside. Pop: 157 400 (2003 est). Area: 192 sq km (74 sq miles)
- north ossetian republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the N slopes of the central Caucasus Mountains. Capital: Vladikavkaz. Pop: 709 900 (2002). Area: about 8000 sq km (3088 sq miles)
- not long for this world — nearing death
- o'reilly and associates — The leading publisher of information on the Internet, Unix, the X Window System and other open systems. They also provide the Global Network Navigator service.
- object relations theory — a form of psychoanalytic theory postulating that people relate to others in order to develop themselves
- oil-immersion objective — immersion objective.
- ole for process control — (standard) (OPC) A set of seven open standards for connectivity and interoperability of industrial automation and the enterprise systems. Based on fundamental and evolving standards and technology of the general computing market, the OPC Foundation adapts and creates specifications that fill industry-specific needs.
- on-line computer system — (OLC) A predecessor of the Culler-Fried System from UCSB ca. 1966.
- on-line data processing — the storing or processing of data on a computer using the internet
- out of a clear blue sky — the region of the clouds or the upper air; the upper atmosphere of the earth: airplanes in the sky; cloudy skies.
- out-of-court settlement — a resolution of a legal dispute which takes place outside of a court proceeding or before the court comes to a final decision
- parametric polymorphism — Polymorphism was first identified by Christopher Strachey in 1967 and developed by Hindley and Milner. For example we could specify that the argument of the "head" function was a list without specifying a type for the elements of the list. In Haskell we would write: head :: [a] -> a meaning head has type function from "list of a" to "a" where "a" is a type variable). This is known as parametric polymorphism. Polymorphic typing allows strong type checking as well as generic functions. ML in 1976 was the first language with polymorphic typing. See also generic type variable.
- parasexual reproduction — reproduction by recombination of genes from genetically dissimilar nuclei within binucleate or multinucleate cells, as in filamentous fungi.
- parkinson's law of data — "Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.
- pay one's last respects — If you pay your last respects to someone who has just died, you show your respect or affection for them by coming to see their body or their grave.
- pest control department — the local government department responsible for controlling such pests as rats and mice
- pharmaceuticals company — a company specialising in developing and marketing pharmaceuticals
- photoelectric threshold — the minimum frequency or maximum wavelength of incident radiation necessary to release photons from a given surface.
- plan position indicator — a radarscope on which an object reflecting radar waves shows its bearing and distance from the radar detector by causing a spot of light to appear on a screen that represents a map of the area around the detector. Abbreviation: PPI.