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17-letter words containing a, f, e, r

  • california nutmeg — a tall, pungently aromatic California evergreen tree, Torreya californica, of the yew family, having a fissured, gray-brown bark and small, purple-streaked, green fruit.
  • california privet — a privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium, of the olive family, native to Japan, having glossy, oval leaves and long clusters of white flowers, widely used for hedges in the U.S.
  • call-by-reference — (programming)   An argument passing convention where the address of an argument variable is passed to a function or procedure, as opposed to passing the value of the argument expression. Execution of the function or procedure may have side-effects on the actual argument as seen by the caller. The C language's "&" (address of) and "*" (dereference) operators allow the programmer to code explicit call-by-reference. Other languages provide special syntax to declare reference arguments (e.g. ALGOL 60). See also call-by-name, call-by-value, call-by-value-result.
  • camp-fire-members — a U.S. organization for girls and boys that emphasizes the building of character and good citizenship through work, health, and love; originally founded for girls (Camp Fire girls) in 1910, it is now open to both boys and girls (Camp Fire members)
  • canarybird flower — a nasturtium, Tropaeolum peregrinum, of Peru, having round, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
  • carbon offsetting — a program in which a company, country, etc., reduces or offsets its carbon emissions through the funding of activities and projects that improve the environment: Carbon offsetting does not always have a quantifiable impact on the planet.
  • cat scratch fever — a disorder characterized by fever and swelling of the lymph glands, caused by a viral infection resulting from the scratch or bite of a cat.
  • cat-scratch fever — a disease of humans caused by an organism, Bartonella henselae, usually resulting from a scratch by a cat and characterized by lymph node enlargement
  • cattle tick fever — Texas fever
  • center of gravity — The center of gravity of an object is a point in it. If this point is above the base of the object, it stays stable, rather than falling over.
  • centre of gravity — The centre of gravity of an object is a point in it. If this point is above the base of the object, it stays stable, rather than falling over.
  • centrifugal brake — a safety mechanism on a hoist, crane, etc, that consists of revolving brake shoes that are driven outwards by centrifugal force into contact with a fixed brake drum when the rope drum revolves at excessive speed
  • centrifugal force — In physics, centrifugal force is the force that makes objects move outwards when they are spinning around something or travelling in a curve.
  • centripetal force — a force that acts inwards on any body that rotates or moves along a curved path and is directed towards the centre of curvature of the path or the axis of rotation
  • certified teacher — a teacher who has the required credentials to teach in a particular place
  • character defense — a personality trait, as a habitual tendency to idealize or rationalize, that serves some unconscious defensive purpose.
  • charge d'affaires — A chargé d'affaires is a person appointed to act as head of a diplomatic mission in a foreign country while the ambassador is away.
  • charter of rights — a section of the Canadian Constitution containing a statement of the basic rights of citizens of Canada.
  • cherchez la femme — look for the woman
  • church of england — The Church of England is the main church in England. It has the Queen as its head and it does not recognize the authority of the Pope.
  • class-a amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for the whole of the input signal cycle
  • class-b amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output flows for half of the input signal cycle
  • class-c amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for less than half of the input cycle
  • clifden nonpareil — a handsome nocturnal moth, Catocala fraxini, that is brown with bluish patches on the hindwings: related to the red underwing
  • cloverleaf aerial — a type of aerial, having three or four similar coplanar loops arranged symmetrically around an axis, to which in-phase signals are fed
  • code of behaviour — the generally accepted rules governing how people behave
  • code of hammurabi — a Babylonian legal code of the 18th century b.c. or earlier, instituted by Hammurabi and dealing with criminal and civil matters.
  • coin of the realm — legal tender.
  • coliform bacteria — a large group of bacteria inhabiting the intestinal tract of humans and animals that may cause disease and whose presence in water is an indicator of faecal pollution
  • comedie francaise — the French national theatre, founded in Paris in 1680
  • comedy of manners — a comedy dealing with the way of life and foibles of a social group
  • complete fracture — a bone fracture in which the bone is split completely across.
  • compound fracture — A compound fracture is a fracture in which the broken bone sticks through the skin.
  • conscript fathers — august legislators, esp Roman senators
  • continental drift — Continental drift is the slow movement of the Earth's continents towards and away from each other.
  • contraflow system — a system of traffic lanes whose normal direction is reversed to allow traffic to move during repairs or an accident
  • corporal of horse — a noncommissioned rank in the British Household Cavalry above that of sergeant and below that of staff sergeant
  • court of chancery — (in the US) a court of equity
  • court-of-chancery — chancery (def 4a).
  • cream of the crop — the best of a group
  • creature comforts — Creature comforts are the things that you need to feel comfortable in a place, for example good food and modern equipment.
  • creature of habit — If you say that someone is a creature of habit, you mean that they usually do the same thing at the same time each day, rather than doing new and different things.
  • credit facilities — a type of loan made by a bank
  • cross of lorraine — a cross with two horizontal bars above and below the midpoint of the vertical bar, the lower longer than the upper
  • culture-fair test — a test, usually for intelligence, that does not put anyone taking it at a disadvantage, esp regarding material or cultural background
  • cut a good figure — to appear or behave well
  • cut a poor figure — to appear or behave badly
  • damp-proof course — A damp-proof course is the same as a damp course.
  • darwinian fitness — fitness (def 3).
  • darwinian-fitness — health.
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