16-letter words starting with s
- savings and loan — type of savings bank
- savonarola chair — a chair of the Renaissance having a number of transverse pairs of curved legs, crossing beneath the seat and rising to support the arms and back.
- sawn-off shotgun — A sawn-off shotgun is a shotgun on which the barrel has been cut short. Guns like this are often used by criminals because they can be easily hidden.
- saxifrage family — the plant family Saxifragaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and small trees having alternate or opposite leaves, clustered or solitary flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including the astilbe, currant, deutzia, gooseberry, hydrangea, mock orange, piggy-back plant, saxifrage, and strawberry geranium.
- saxo grammaticus — c1150–1206? Danish historian and poet.
- sb will be lucky — If you say that someone will be lucky to do or get something, you mean that they are very unlikely to do or get it, and will definitely not do or get any more than that.
- scandinavian lox — a kind of brine-cured salmon, having either a salt cure (Scandinavian lox) or a sugar cure (Nova Scotia lox) often eaten with cream cheese on a bagel.
- scar tissue code — (humour, programming) Old code that is commented out but still included in the current release.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- scarlet clematis — a slightly woody vine, Clematis texensis, of Texas, having bluish-green leaves, plumed fruit, and solitary, urn-shaped, scarlet-to-pink flowers.
- scarlet eggplant — a hairy, prickly plant, Solanum integrifolium, of the nightshade family, native to Africa, grown for its furrowed, nearly round, scarlet or yellow ornamental fruit.
- scavenger beetle — any beetle of the mostly aquatic family Hydrophilidae, having clubbed antennae and long palps, and usually feeding on decaying vegetation
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- scheduled castes — (in India) the official name given to the lower castes that are now protected by the government and offered special concessions.
- scheme of things — Someone's scheme of things is the way in which they think that things in their life should be organized.
- schiff's reagent — a solution of rosaniline and sulfurous acid in water, used to test for the presence of aldehydes.
- schlieren method — a method for detecting regions of differing densities in a clear fluid by photographing a beam of light passed obliquely through it.
- schmaltz herring — herring caught just before spawning, when it has much fat
- schneider trophy — a trophy for air racing between seaplanes of any nation, first presented by Jacques Schneider (1879–1928) in 1913; won outright by Britain in 1931
- school committee — (in New Zealand) a parent group selected to support a primary school
- school inspector — an official whose job is to inspect schools and to report on their quality and conditions
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- school-age child — a child who is old enough to go to school
- schoolgirl crush — an infatuation that a young girl has, usually for an older man such as a teacher or an actor, which is seen as superficial and unlikely to last for long
- schoolteacherish — showing characteristics thought to be typical of a schoolteacher, as strictness and primness.
- schouten islands — a group of islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, in the Pacific Oceans, off the N coast of New Guinea.
- schreiner finish — a lustrous surface imparted to a fabric by schreinerizing.
- schweizerdeutsch — Schwyzertütsch.
- sclerenchymatous — supporting or protective tissue composed of thickened, dry, and hardened cells.
- score points off — to gain an advantage at someone else's expense
- scotch blackface — one of a Scottish breed of mountain sheep having a black face and growing long, coarse wool.
- scottish borders — a council area in SE Scotland, on the English border: created in 1996, it has the same boundaries as the former Borders Region: it is mainly hilly, with agriculture (esp sheep farming) the chief economic activity. Administrative centre: Newtown St Boswells. Pop: 108 280 (2003 est). Area: 4734 sq km (1827 sq miles)
- scottish terrier — one of a Scottish breed of small terriers having short legs and a wiry, steel-gray, brindled, black, sandy, or wheaten coat.
- scratch hardness — resistance of a material, as a stone or metal, to scratching by one of several other materials, the known hardnesses of which are assembled into a standard scale, as the Mohs' scale of minerals.
- scratch together — to assemble with difficulty
- scribbling block — scratch pad.
- scrovegni chapel — Arena Chapel.
- sculpture garden — a garden that showcases sculptures in landscaped surroundings
- sea fish farming — the farming of saltwater fish
- seal of approval — royal stamp of endorsement
- sealyham terrier — one of a Welsh breed of small terriers having short legs, a docked tail, and a wiry, mostly white coat.
- seaside knotweed — See under knotweed.
- seat of learning — People sometimes refer to a university or a similar institution as a seat of learning.
- seating capacity — the number of people a place can seat
- sebaceous glands — any of the cutaneous glands that secrete oily matter for lubricating hair and skin.
- second adventist — Adventist (def 1).
- second amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms as necessary to maintain a state militia.
- second childhood — senility; dotage.
- second intention — See under intention (def 5b).
- second messenger — any of various intracellular chemical substances, as cyclic AMP, that transmit and amplify the messages delivered by a first messenger to specific receptors on the cell surface.