15-letter words starting with s
- sharp as a tack — intelligent, quick witted
- she'll be right — that's all right; not to worry
- shearing strain — a coefficient of elasticity of a substance, expressing the ratio between the force per unit area (shearing stress) that laterally deforms the substance and the shear (shearing strain) that is produced by this force.
- shearing stress — a force causing two contacting parts or layers to slide upon each other, in opposite directions parallel to the plane of their contact
- shearing-stress — a coefficient of elasticity of a substance, expressing the ratio between the force per unit area (shearing stress) that laterally deforms the substance and the shear (shearing strain) that is produced by this force.
- sheet lightning — lightning appearing merely as a general illumination over a broad area, usually because the path of the flash is obscured by clouds.
- sheffield plate — sheet copper with a cladding of silver.
- shelikof strait — a strait between the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, in S Alaska. 130 miles (209 km) long and 30 miles (48 km) wide.
- shemini atseres — the festival which follows upon Sukkoth on Tishri 22 (and 23 outside Israel), and includes Simchat Torah
- sherlock holmes — a fictitious British detective with great powers of deduction, the main character in many stories by A. Conan Doyle
- sherwood forest — an ancient royal forest in central England, chiefly in Nottinghamshire: the traditional haunt of Robin Hood.
- shield of david — a hexagram used as a symbol of Judaism.
- shillyshallying — hesitation; vacillation
- ship's articles — a type of contract by which sailors agree to the conditions, payment, etc, for the ship in which they are going to work
- ship's manifest — a list of the shipments or cargo that a vessel is carrying
- shipping losses — the total loss of a navy's ships in wartime, esp with reference to those sunk during the Second World War
- shire highlands — an upland area of S Malawi. Average height: 900 m (3000 ft)
- shock probation — the release on probation of a criminal after brief imprisonment
- shock resistant — not affected by impact
- shock treatment — electroconvulsive therapy
- shock-resistant — strong or resilient enough to sustain minor impacts without damage to the internal mechanism: a shock-resistant watch.
- shockwave flash — flash
- sholem aleichem — Sholom [shaw-luh m] /ˈʃɔ ləm/ (Show IPA), or Sholem [shoh-lem,, -luh m] /ˈʃoʊ lɛm,, -ləm/ (Show IPA), or Shalom [shah-lohm] /ʃɑˈloʊm/ (Show IPA), (pen name of Solomon Rabinowitz) 1859–1916, Russian author of Yiddish novels, plays, and short stories; in the U.S. from 1906.
- sholom aleichem — Sholom [shaw-luh m] /ˈʃɔ ləm/ (Show IPA), or Sholem [shoh-lem,, -luh m] /ˈʃoʊ lɛm,, -ləm/ (Show IPA), or Shalom [shah-lohm] /ʃɑˈloʊm/ (Show IPA), (pen name of Solomon Rabinowitz) 1859–1916, Russian author of Yiddish novels, plays, and short stories; in the U.S. from 1906.
- shoot one's wad — a small mass, lump, or ball of anything: a wad of paper; a wad of tobacco.
- shoot the works — exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.
- shoot-the-chute — a fairground ride consisting of a boat which slides down into a lagoon
- shooting script — a motion-picture scenario having the scenes arranged in the order in which they are to be photographed.
- shopping arcade — a place where a number of shops are connected together under one roof
- shopping basket — a metal or plastic container with one or two handles, used to carry shopping in a shop
- shopping center — a group of stores within a single architectural plan, supplying most of the basic shopping needs, especially in suburban areas.
- shopping centre — A shopping centre is a specially built area containing a lot of different shops.
- short and sweet — having little length; not long.
- short of breath — If you are short of breath, you find it difficult to breathe properly, for example because you are ill. You can also say that someone suffers from shortness of breath.
- short-eared owl — a streaked, buffy brown, cosmopolitan owl, Asio flammeus, having very short tufts of feathers on each side of the head.
- shorthand notes — notes written in shorthand
- shortwave radio — a radio that transmits or receives shortwaves.
- shoshone cavern — a large cave in NW Wyoming: a national monument.
- shot in the arm — a discharge of a firearm, bow, etc.
- shotgun wedding — a wedding occasioned or precipitated by pregnancy.
- shoulder charge — an instance of a player charging into another so that there is contact between their shoulders (permissible in some circumstances)
- shoulder girdle — pectoral girdle (def 2).
- shoulder season — a travel season between peak and off-peak seasons, especially spring and fall, when fares tend to be relatively low.
- shoulder weapon — a firearm that is fired while being held in the hands with the butt of the weapon braced against the shoulder.
- shoulder-length — Shoulder-length hair is long enough to reach your shoulders.
- shove-halfpenny — a shuffleboard game played with coins or brass disks that are pushed by the hand and thumb down a board toward a scoring pit.
- show one's face — the front part of the head, from the forehead to the chin.
- show one's hand — the terminal, prehensile part of the upper limb in humans and other primates, consisting of the wrist, metacarpal area, fingers, and thumb.
- show to a table — When you show a customer to a table in a restaurant, you take them to the table where you want them to sit and help them sit down.
- shrimp cocktail — prawns and lettuce in Mary Rose sauce