19-letter words containing u, s, a, b
- out at (the) elbows — shabby; poverty-stricken
- pointe-aux-trembles — a city in S Quebec, in E Canada, N of Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- potassium bisulfate — a colorless, crystalline, water-soluble solid, KHSO 4 , used chiefly in the conversion of tartrates to bitartrates.
- potassium carbonate — a white, granular, water-soluble powder, K 2 CO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of soap, glass, and potassium salts.
- profitability study — a study of how much profit a company, organization, etc, makes or how profitable it is
- provably unsolvable — The set or property of problems for which no algorithm at all exists. E.g. the Halting Problem. See also provably difficult.
- pseudo-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- pseudorandom number — (programming) One of a sequence of numbers generated by some algorithm so as to have an even distribution over some range of values and minimal correlation between successive values. Pseudorandom numbers are used in simulation and encryption. They are pseudorandom not random because the sequence eventually repeats exactly and is entirely determined by the initial conditions. One of the simplest algorithms is x[i+1] = (a * x[i] + c) mod m but this repeats after at most m numbers and successive numbers are closely related. Better algorithms generally use more previous numbers to calculate the next number.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- put one's back into — to devote all one's strength to (a task)
- queen anne's bounty — a fund formed by Queen Anne in 1704 for the augmentation of the livings of the poorer Anglican clergy. In 1948 the administrators of the fund were replaced by the Church Commissioners for England
- rebus sic stantibus — (of the duration of the binding force treaty) for as long as the relevant facts and circumstances remain basically the same.
- registration number — number on vehicle licence plate
- sb's spiritual home — your spiritual home is the place where you feel that you belong, usually because your ideas or attitudes are the same as those of the people who live there
- semibituminous coal — a coal intermediate between bituminous and anthracite coal in hardness, yielding the maximum heat of any ordinary steam coal.
- short-tail business — Short-tail business is insurance business where it is known that claims will be made and settled quickly.
- southern crab apple — a tree, Malus angustifolia, of the eastern U.S., having oblong leaves, fragrant, pink or rose-colored flowers, and small, round, yellow-green fruit.
- specialized subject — a school or university subject that concentrates on a particular field of knowledge
- spin quantum number — the quantum number that designates the total angular momentum associated with electron spin and has a value of ½ in units of h /2π.
- standing broad jump — a jump for distance from a standing position.
- stationery cupboard — a cupboard where things like paper, pens and paper clips are kept
- strawberry geranium — a plant, Saxifraga stolonifera (or S. sarmentosa), of the saxifrage family, native to eastern Asia, that has rounded, variegated leaves and numerous threadlike stolons and is frequently cultivated as a houseplant.
- subjective idealism — a doctrine that the world has no existence independent of sensations or ideas.
- submandibular gland — either of a pair of salivary glands located one on each side of and beneath the lower jaw.
- subminiature camera — a very small, palm-sized still camera for taking photographs on 16-millimeter or similar film.
- subnuclear particle — any of the elementary particles, including those that do not exist in stable matter but appear as a result of high-energy collisions of other particles or nuclei.
- subsistence farming — farming whose products are intended to provide for the basic needs of the farmer, with little surplus for marketing.
- subtractive process — a process of color photography in which the colors are formed by combination of cyan, yellow, and magenta lights.
- tarnished plant bug — a bug, Lygus lineolaris, of the family Miridae, that is a common and widely distributed pest of alfalfa and other legumes and of peach and other fruit trees.
- telescopic umbrella — an umbrella having parts that telescope
- the bluegrass state — Kentucky
- the compassion club — (in Canada) a nonprofit organization that provides uncontaminated cannabis for medical purposes and natural therapies in a safe environment
- the retail business — the business sector in which goods are sold individually or in small quantities to consumers
- thumb one's nose at — to deride or mock, esp by placing the thumb on the nose with fingers extended
- to be full of beans — If someone is full of beans, they are very lively and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
- to give sb a leg up — to help with climbing
- to make a fast buck — When someone makes a fast buck or makes a quick buck, they earn a lot of money quickly and easily, often by doing something which is considered to be dishonest.
- to rack your brains — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- to take the biscuit — If someone has done something very stupid, rude, or selfish, you can say that they take the biscuit or that what they have done takes the biscuit, to emphasize your surprise at their behaviour.
- touch all the bases — to deal with all related details
- transference number — that fraction of the total electric current that anions and cations carry in passing through an electrolytic solution.
- tubular steel chair — a chair with a frame made of tubular steel
- united presbyterian — a member of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, founded in Pittsburgh in 1858 by a union of two Presbyterian groups.
- upper carboniferous — Pennsylvanian (defs 2, 4).
- visual basic script — (language) (VBScript) Microsoft's scripting language which is an extension of their Visual Basic language. VBScript can be used with Microsoft Office applications and others. It can also be embedded in web pages but can only be understood by Internet Explorer. Visual Basic is a BASIC variant with object-oriented features. Objects include applications, windows and selections.
- west dunbartonshire — a council area of W central Scotland, on Loch Lomond and the Clyde estuary: corresponds to part of the historical county of Dunbartonshire; part of Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996: engineering industries. Administrative centre: Dumbarton. Pop: 92 320 (2003 est). Area: 162 sq km (63 sq miles)
- xt bus architecture — (hardware, architecture) (After the IBM PC XT) An eight-bit ISA bus architecture used by Intel 8086 and Intel 8088 systems in the IBM PC and IBM PC XT in the 1980s. It predates the 16-bit ISA architecture used on the Intel 80286 based machines. The XT bus has four DMA channels, of which three are brought out to the expansion slots. Of these three, two are normally allocated to machine functions: DMA channel Expansion Standard function 0 No {dynamic RAM} refresh 1 Yes add-on cards 2 Yes {floppy disk} controller 3 Yes {hard disc} controller (1997-09-15)
- yablonovy mountains — a mountain range in Siberia. Highest peak: 1680 m (5512 ft)
- zero-base budgeting — a process in government and corporate finance of justifying an overall budget or individual budgeted items each fiscal year or each review period rather than dealing only with proposed changes from a previous budget. Abbreviation: ZBB.