17-letter words containing a, f, r
- drained of colour — colourless
- dress-down friday — In some companies employees are allowed to wear clothes that are less smart than usual on a Friday. This day is known as a dress-down Friday.
- drilling platform — a structure, either fixed to the sea bed or mobile, which supports the machinery and equipment (the drilling rig), together with the stores, required for digging an offshore oil well
- drink like a fish — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- drinking fountain — a water fountain that ejects a jet of water for drinking without a cup.
- drool-proof paper — (jargon) Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down, to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the "drool-proof paper syndrome" or to have been "written on drool-proof paper". For example, this is an actual quote from Apple Computer's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame."
- due course of law — the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.
- dwarf huckleberry — tangleberry.
- east pacific rise — a long north-south elevation of the sea floor in the E Pacific Ocean extending southward from SW Mexico to the Antarctic Ocean.
- east renfrewshire — a council area of W central Scotland, comprising part of the historical county of Renfrewshire; part of Strathclyde region from 1975 to 1996: chiefly agricultural and residential. Administrative centre: Giffnock. Pop: 89 680 (2003 est). Area: 173 sq km (67 sq miles)
- edward fitzgerald — Edward, 1809–83, English poet: translator of drama and poetry, especially of Omar Khayyám.
- electrical fitter — someone whose job is to fit electrical equipment
- electrofiltration — Electrofiltration is a separation process in which an electric field is applied across a filter to improve separation.
- electron affinity — a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to form a negative ion, expressed as the energy released when an electron is attached
- empirical formula — a chemical formula indicating the proportion of each element present in a molecule
- ends of the earth — remote regions
- english breakfast — An English breakfast is a breakfast consisting of cooked food such as bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatoes. It also includes toast and tea or coffee.
- exfoliating cream — a granular cosmetic preparation that removes dead cells from the skin's surface
- factory inspector — a person who inspects factories
- facts and figures — details; precise information
- fade in (or out) — to appear or cause to appear (or disappear) gradually; make or become more (or less) distinct
- faint-heartedness — lack of courage
- fair market price — the price of something at which both a seller and a buyer are willing to strike a deal.
- fair market value — The fair market value of an asset is what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for it on the open market.
- fairness doctrine — a policy mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, requiring radio and television stations to grant equal time to a political candidate, group, etc., to present an opposing viewpoint to one already aired.
- falkland islander — a person from the Falkland Islands
- fall off the roof — to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support.
- fall on deaf ears — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
- fall over oneself — to do everything within one's power
- false bread-fruit — ceriman.
- fancy dress party — a party at which the guests wear fancy dress
- far be it from me — I would not presume; on no account
- farmers' alliance — an informal name for various regional political organizations that farmers established in the 1880s and that led to the formation of the Peoples' party in 1891–92.
- farming community — a community where farming is the main industry
- farthingale chair — an English chair of c1600 having no arms, a straight and low back, and a high seat.
- father substitute — a male who replaces an absent father and becomes an object of attachment.
- fear and loathing — (Hunter S. Thompson) A state inspired by the prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally brain-damaged but ubiquitous - Intel 8086s, COBOL, EBCDIC, or any IBM machine except the Rios (also known as the RS/6000).
- feathered friends — Birds are sometimes referred to as our feathered friends.
- federal land bank — a U.S. federal bank for making long-term loans to farmers.
- feint-ruled paper — writing paper with light horizontal lines printed across at regular intervals
- felix frankfurter — Felix, 1882–1965, U.S. jurist, born in Austria: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1939–62.
- fellow countryman — sb of same nationality
- fendalton tractor — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
- fermentation lock — a valve placed on the top of bottles of fermenting wine to allow bubbles to escape
- ferrimagnetically — In a ferrimagnetic manner.
- ferroelectric ram — Ferroelectric Random Access Memory
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- field sales force — a team of people selling a product or service in the field as opposed to over the telephone, etc
- fifth normal form — database normalisation
- financial adviser — A financial adviser is someone whose job it is to advise people about financial products and services.