21-letter words containing t, r, a, v
- observation satellite — an unmanned satellite that observes the earth and gathers data
- of time and the river — a novel (1935) by Thomas Wolfe.
- on o's best behaviour — If someone is on their best behaviour, they are trying very hard to behave well.
- one foot in the grave — near to death
- overuse strain injury — (medical) (Or "repetitive strain injury", RSI, "repetitive strain disorder") Any tendon or muscle injury resulting from overuse, usually in the hand, wrist, or arm. Injury may be caused by any combination of repetitive, unacustomed, or prolonged movements, forcefulness, or an awkward position (often due to bad ergonomics). The symptoms are pain, tingling, weakness, numbness, swelling, cracking, stiffness, or reduced coordination. Common conditions are: Carpal tunnel syndrome, where swelling of the membrane linings in your wrist surrounding the tendons that bend your fingers compresses the median nerve. This may result in numbness and pain in the hand, arm, shoulder, and neck. Tennis elbow, where rotating your wrist and using force causes a form of epicondylitis. Tendinitis, where unacustomed exercise or repeated awkward movements inflame wrist, elbow, or shoulder tendons, often leading to severe stiffness. Trigger finger, a popping or catching sensation when you bend your finger, wrist, or shoulder. This form of tenosynovitis is caused by repetitive hand movements. To prevent the condition worsening, treat the pain with heat, cold, or aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen sodium; rest; or immobilise the injured area with a splint or bandage. See a doctor.
- paper over the cracks — conceal flaws or problems
- path coverage testing — (testing) Testing a program by examining which lines of executable code are visited (as in code coverage testing) and also the ways of getting to each line of code and the subsequent sequence of execution. Path coverage testing is the most comprehensive type of testing that a test suite can provide. It can find more bugs, especially those that are caused by data coupling. However, path coverage is hard and usually only used for small and/or critical sections of code.
- personality inventory — a questionnaire designed to measure personality types or characteristics.
- private member's bill — In Britain, a Private Member's Bill is a law that is proposed by a Member of Parliament acting as an individual rather than as a member of his or her political party.
- progressive education — any of various reformist educational philosophies and methodologies since the late 1800s, applied especially to elementary schools, that reject the rote recitation and strict discipline of traditional, single-classroom teaching, favoring instead more stimulation of the individual pupil as well as group discussion, more informality in the classroom, a broader curriculum, and use of laboratories, gymnasiums, kitchens, etc., in the school.
- protective coloration — coloration or anything likened to it that eliminates or reduces visibility or conspicuousness.
- public health service — the agency that is responsible for the health of the general public
- quality point average — grade point average.
- rap over the knuckles — to reprimand
- real-estate developer — a person who buys and develops houses, buildings, and land in order to sell them and make a profit from them
- record of achievement — a statement of the personal and educational development of each pupil
- redevelopment company — a private corporation or a public agency that stimulates the improvement of land, as through a building project subject to certain designs and controls, by financing, selling, or leasing such real estate to interested buyers or lessees.
- relative permeability — the ratio of the permeability of a medium to that of free space
- relative permittivity — Electricity. the ratio of the flux density produced by an electric field in a given dielectric to the flux density produced by that field in a vacuum.
- reverberation chamber — a room with walls that reflect sound. It is used to make acoustic measurements and as a source of reverberant sound to be mixed with direct sound for recording or broadcasting
- reverberatory furnace — See at reverberatory (def 2).
- reverse polish syntax — postfix notation
- reverse transcriptase — a retrovirus enzyme that synthesizes DNA from viral RNA, the reverse of the usual DNA-to-RNA replication: used in genetic engineering to clone genes from RNA strands.
- rio de la plata river — Rí·o de la [ree-aw th e lah] /ˈri ɔ ðɛ lɑ/ (Show IPA) an estuary on the SE coast of South America between Argentina and Uruguay, formed by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers, about 185 miles (290 km) long.
- royal victorian order — (in Britain) an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1896, membership of which is conferred for special services to the sovereign
- satisficing behaviour — the form of behaviour demonstrated by firms who seek satisfactory profits and satisfactory growth rather than maximum profits
- seventeen-year locust — a cicada, Magicicada septendecim, of the eastern U.S., having nymphs that live in the soil, usually emerging in great numbers after 17 years in the North or 13 years in the South.
- short message service — (messaging) (SMS) A message service offered by the GSM digital mobile telephone system. Using SMS, a short alphanumeric message (160 alphanumeric characters) can be sent to a mobile phone to be displayed there, much like in an alphanumeric pager system. The message is buffered by the GSM network until the phone becomes active.
- sieve of eratosthenes — a method of obtaining prime numbers by sifting out the composite numbers from the set of natural numbers so that only prime numbers remain.
- sovereign wealth fund — an investment fund created using the financial assets of a national government
- steady state universe — a universe described by the steady state theory.
- surface acoustic wave — an acoustic wave generated on the surface of a piezoelectric substrate: used as a filter in electronic circuits
- surface of revolution — a surface formed by revolving a plane curve about a given line.
- sympathetic vibration — a vibration induced by resonance.
- take under advisement — to consider carefully
- temperature inversion — inversion (def 12).
- the barber of seville — Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia. a comic opera (1816) by Gioacchino Rossini based on a comedy (1775) by Beaumarchais.
- the central provinces — the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec
- the household cavalry — a group of British soldiers on horseback who have the job of protecting the king or queen and their family
- the lower vertebrates — relatively simple and primitive vertebrates
- the probation service — a criminal justice service that is mainly responsible for dealing with offenders by placing them under the supervision of a probation officer
- threatening behaviour — intimidation or intentional behaviour that causes another person to fear injury or harm
- throw sb a curve ball — If someone throws you a curve or throws you a curve ball, they surprise you by doing something that you do not expect.
- throw someone a curve — a continuously bending line, without angles.
- to have green fingers — If someone has green fingers, they are very good at gardening and their plants grow well.
- to have money to burn — If you say that someone has money to burn, you mean that they have more money than they need or that they spend their money on things that you think are unnecessary.
- topological invariant — a property of a topological space that is a property of every space related to the given space by a homeomorphism.
- total recoverable gas — Total recoverable gas is the amount of gas which is still left in the ground in gas fields that have already been worked.
- total recoverable oil — Total recoverable oil is the amount of oil which is still left in the ground in oilfields that have already been worked.
- toussaint l'ouverture — François Dominique [frahn-swa dawmee-neek] /frɑ̃ˈswa dɔmiˈnik/ (Show IPA), 1743–1803, Haitian patriot and leader of the Haitian Revolution slave rebellion.