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

  • as the crow flies — If you say that a place is a particular distance away as the crow flies, you mean that it is that distance away measured in a straight line.
  • ask for the check — If you ask for the check, you ask the waitperson in a restaurant to bring you a piece of paper on which the price of your meal is written.
  • assistant referee — An assistant referee is the same as a linesman.
  • associate of arts — a degree granted especially by junior colleges after completion of two years of study. Abbreviation: A.A.
  • association fiber — any of several nerve fibers connecting different areas of the cerebral cortex in the same hemisphere.
  • at the request of — in accordance with the specific demand or wish of (someone)
  • at the service of — To be at the service of a person or organization means to be available to help or be used by that person or organization.
  • attorneys-in-fact — a person authorized by power of attorney to act on the authorizer's behalf outside a court of law.
  • axis of ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
  • axis-of-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
  • babinski's reflex — a reflex extension of the great toe with flexion of the other toes, evoked by stroking the sole of the foot: normal in infants but otherwise denoting central nervous system damage.
  • balance of nature — the stable state in which natural communities of animals and plants exist, maintained by adaptation, competition, and other interactions between members of the communit ies and their nonliving environment
  • balance of terror — military deterrence based on the possession of weapons of mass destruction by opponents in a conflict
  • bald-faced hornet — any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America.
  • barbed wire fence — a fence constructed from strong wire that has sharply pointed barbs at close intervals along its length
  • barber of seville — Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia. a comic opera (1816) by Gioacchino Rossini based on a comedy (1775) by Beaumarchais.
  • barkhausen effect — the phenomenon of short, sudden changes in the magnetism of a ferromagnetic substance occurring when the intensity of the magnetizing field is continuously altered.
  • barmecide (feast) — a pretended feast with no food
  • barrow-in-furness — an industrial town in NW England, in S Cumbria. Pop: 47 194 (2001)
  • base rate fallacy — the tendency, when making judgments of the probability with which an event will occur, to ignore the base rate and to concentrate on other information
  • battle of britain — (in World War II) the series of aerial combats that took place between British and German aircraft during the autumn of 1940 and that included the severe bombardment of British cities.
  • be a box of birds — to be very well indeed
  • beat the drum for — to attempt to arouse interest in
  • bed and breakfast — Bed and breakfast is a system of accommodation in a hotel or guest house, in which you pay for a room for the night and for breakfast the following morning. The abbreviation B&B is also used.
  • bed-and-breakfast — an accommodation offered by an inn, hotel, or especially a private home, consisting of a room for the night and breakfast the next morning for one inclusive price.
  • bellflower family — the plant family Campanulaceae, characterized by chiefly herbaceous plants having simple, alternate leaves and solitary or clustered flowers with a bell-shaped, five-lobed, often blue or purple corolla, and including the harebell, Canterbury bells, and balloon flower.
  • benjamin franklin — Aretha [uh-ree-thuh] /əˈri θə/ (Show IPA), born 1942, U.S. singer.
  • best first search — (algorithm)   A graph search algorithm which optimises breadth first search by ordering all current paths according to some heuristic. The heuristic attempts to predict how close the end of a path is to a solution. Paths which are judged to be closer to a solution are extended first. See also beam search, hill climbing.
  • bill of adventure — a certificate made out by a merchant to show that goods handled by him and his agents are the property of another party at whose risk the dealing is done
  • bill of attainder — (formerly) a legislative act finding a person guilty without trial of treason or felony and declaring him attainted
  • biological father — the man whose semen fertilized the ovum from which a child was born
  • birth certificate — Your birth certificate is an official document which gives details of your birth, such as the date and place of your birth, and the names of your parents.
  • black forest cake — a torte consisting typically of thin layers of chocolate cake spread with alternating layers of chocolate, cherry, and whipped-cream filling and covered with whipped cream
  • black-water fever — a form of babesiosis seen in cattle, deer, bison, water buffalo, African buffalo, and reindeer; characterized by fever, depression, jaundice, dark red-black discolouration of the urine, anaemia, and death
  • blue sky software — eHelp Corporation
  • board of estimate — a special organ of a municipal government, as of New York City, composed of the mayor, the president of the city council, and the controller, and charged with approving the city's budget and fiscal matters.
  • board of managers — a group of people responsible for managing an organization
  • board of trustees — a governing board which directs the policies of an educational institution
  • breach of promise — (formerly) failure to carry out one's promise to marry
  • break the back of — to complete the greatest or hardest part of (a task)
  • breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
  • budgetary deficit — the amount by which government expenditure exceeds income from taxation, customs duties, etc, in any one fiscal year
  • bureau of customs — former name of the United States Customs Service.
  • butterfly bandage — a butterfly-shaped strip of adhesive medical tape used, when stitches are not required, to keep a deep cut or incision tightly closed while it heals
  • butterfly diagram — a graphical butterfly-shaped representation of the sunspot density on the solar disc in the 11-year sunspot cycle
  • buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
  • caa the feet frae — to send (a person) sprawling
  • cabbage butterfly — a common white butterfly (Pieris rapae) whose green larvae feed upon cabbage and related plants
  • cafeteria benefit — a fringe benefit chosen by an employee from a range of benefits offered under a cafeteria plan.
  • california laurel — a Pacific coast shrub or tree (Umbellularia californica) of the laurel family, having aromatic evergreen leaves and hard wood; Oregon myrtle: a source of bay leaves
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