16-letter words containing v, r, y
- salivary amylase — an enzyme in the saliva that converts starch into dextrin and maltose.
- same-day service — (humour, operating system) An ironic term used to describe long response time, particularly with respect to MS-DOS system calls (which ought to require only a tiny fraction of a second to execute). Such response time is a major incentive for programmers to write programs that are not well-behaved. See also PC-ism.
- save as you earn — (in Britain) a savings scheme which offers a tax-free bonus and allows employees to buy shares in the company they work for at a fixed price
- security vetting — the process of investigating somebody to establish their trustworthiness
- selective memory — an ability to remember some facts while apparently forgetting others, especially when they are inconvenient
- self-sovereignty — the quality or state of being sovereign, or of having supreme power or authority.
- send to coventry — to ostracize or ignore
- sensory overload — being overwhelmed by sights, sounds, etc.
- service industry — business providing a service
- seven years' war — the war (1756–63) in which England and Prussia defeated France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony.
- severnaya zemlya — an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, between the Kara Sea and Laptev Sea, in N Russia. 14,175 sq. mi. (36,712 sq. km).
- shoemaker-levy 9 — a comet that was captured into an orbit around Jupiter and later broke up, the fragments colliding with Jupiter in July 1995
- special delivery — (in the U.S. Postal Service) delivery of mail outside the regularly scheduled hours, by a special messenger, upon the payment of an extra fee.
- specific gravity — the ratio of the density of any substance to the density of some other substance taken as standard, water being the standard for liquids and solids, and hydrogen or air being the standard for gases.
- state university — a university maintained by the government of a state.
- strawberry guava — a shrub or small tree, Psidium littorale, of the myrtle family, native to Brazil, having smooth, grayish-brown bark, leathery leaves, white flowers, and edible, white-fleshed, purplish-red fruit.
- superheavyweight — an amateur boxer weighing more than 91 kg
- supersensitivity — extremely or excessively sensitive; hypersensitive: a supersensitive smoke detector.
- surveyor's chain — a series of objects connected one after the other, usually in the form of a series of metal rings passing through one another, used either for various purposes requiring a flexible tie with high tensile strength, as for hauling, supporting, or confining, or in various ornamental and decorative forms.
- surveyor's level — level (def 8a).
- the moving party — a person who applies to a court or judge with the aim of obtaining a ruling in their favour
- time sovereignty — control by an employee of the use of his or her time, involving flexibility of working hours
- top drive system — A top drive system is a system which includes a motor that turns the drill string, used instead of the kelly.
- treaty of verdun — an agreement reached in 843 ad by three grandsons of Charlemagne, dividing his empire into an E kingdom (later Germany), a W kingdom (later France), and a middle kingdom (containing what became the Low Countries, Lorraine, Burgundy, and N Italy)
- valency electron — an electron in the outer shell of an atom, responsible for forming chemical bonds
- variable annuity — an annuity in which the premiums are invested chiefly in common stocks or other securities, the annuitant receiving payments based on the yield of the investments instead of in fixed amounts.
- vegetable oyster — salsify.
- ventriculography — radiography of the ventricles of the heart after injection of a contrast medium
- verbal auxiliary — an auxiliary verb, especially when considered as a member of a separate class of words used with verbs rather than as a special subclass of verbs.
- videodisc player — an electronic device for playing videodiscs through a television set.
- vinylidene group — the bivalent group C 2 H 2 , derived from ethylene.
- vinylidene resin — any synthetic resin in which the basic structure consists of the H2C:CR2 group, where R usually is a halogen
- vinylpyrrolidone — Vinylpyrrolidone is a substance used as a binder in pharmaceuticals.
- virgin territory — place never visited
- visibility meter — any instrument for measuring the visual range through the atmosphere, as a transmissometer.
- vocabulary entry — (in dictionaries) a word, phrase, abbreviation, symbol, affix, name, etc., listed with its definition or explanation in alphabetical order or listed for identification after the word from which it is derived or to which it is related.
- voluntary helper — a person who aids or assists in a specified function of one's own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- voluntary muscle — muscle whose action is normally controlled by an individual's will; mainly skeletal muscle, composed of parallel bundles of striated, multinucleate fibers.
- voluntary school — a school that promotes specific religious beliefs and which is funded by a local education authority but was not established by the authority
- voluntary sector — the part of the economy that consists of non-profit-making organizations, as opposed to the public and private sectors
- voluntary worker — a person who serves or acts in a specified function of their own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- weather advisory — advisory (def 5).
- white-eyed vireo — a vireo, Vireo griseus, of eastern North America, having olive, yellow, and white plumage, a yellow ring around each eye, and white irises.
- yablonovyy range — a mountain range in the SE Russian Federation in Asia, E of Lake Baikal.
- yeoman's service — good, useful, or workmanlike service: His trusty sword did him yeoman's service.