21-letter words containing t, u, r, b, o, a
- not care a hang about — to not care the least bit about
- on o's best behaviour — If someone is on their best behaviour, they are trying very hard to behave well.
- optical double (star) — double star (sense 2)
- potassium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, slightly alkaline, salty-tasting, water-soluble powder, KHCO 3 , produced by the passage of carbon dioxide through an aqueous potassium carbonate solution: used in cookery as a leavening agent and in medicine as an antacid.
- printed circuit board — a circuit in which the interconnecting conductors and some of the circuit components have been printed, etched, etc., onto a sheet or board of dielectric material (PC board, printed-circuit board)
- public administration — the implementation of public policy, largely by the executive branch.
- public transportation — means of fare-paying travel
- put sb out to pasture — If you say that someone is being put out to pasture, you mean they are no longer being employed because they are considered to be too old or no longer useful.
- rayleigh distribution — (mathematics) A curve that yields a good approximation to the actual labour curves on software projects.
- rectangular hyperbola — a hyperbola with perpendicular asymptotes
- reverberatory furnace — See at reverberatory (def 2).
- rob peter to pay paul — to take something from (someone) by unlawful force or threat of violence; steal from.
- roodepoort-maraisburg — a city in S Transvaal, in the NE Republic of South Africa.
- sampling distribution — the distribution of a statistic based on all possible random samples that can be drawn from a given population.
- san gabriel mountains — a mountain range in S California, N of Los Angeles. Highest peak, San Antonio Peak, 10,080 feet (3072 meters).
- saponification number — the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide required to saponify one gram of a given ester, especially a glyceride.
- satisficing behaviour — the form of behaviour demonstrated by firms who seek satisfactory profits and satisfactory growth rather than maximum profits
- single spanish burton — a tackle having a runner as well as the fall supporting the load, giving a mechanical advantage of three, neglecting friction.
- snr bandwidth product — (communications) The integral of the SNR over frequency. The SNR bandwidth product is an important limit in the capacity of a communication channel.
- space shuttle orbiter — orbiter (def 1).
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- substitution reaction — the replacement of an atom or group of atoms in a compound by another atom or group.
- take sb/sth seriously — If you take someone or something seriously, you believe that they are important and deserve attention.
- tetrabromofluorescein — eosin (def 1).
- theater of the absurd — theater in which standard or naturalistic conventions of plot, characterization, and thematic structure are ignored or distorted in order to convey the irrational or fictive nature of reality and the essential isolation of humanity in a meaningless world.
- theatre of the absurd — drama in which normal conventions and dramatic structure are ignored or modified in order to present life as irrational or meaningless
- 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.
- to be hard luck on sb — to be unfortunate or unlucky for someone
- 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.
- uniform business rate — a local tax in the UK paid by businesses, based on a local valuation of their premises and a rate fixed by central government that applies throughout the country
- venus's flower basket — a glass sponge of the genus Euplectella, inhabiting deep waters off the Philippines and Japan, having a cylindrical skeleton formed of an intricate latticework of siliceous spicules.
- writ of habeas corpus — law: petition for hearing