17-letter words containing a, k, e, l, d
- locked and loaded — [Military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and prepared for firing] Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared for use - that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded. Ironically, because their heads are "loaded" whenever the power is up, this description is never used of Winchester drives (which are named after a rifle).
- loggerhead shrike — a common, North American shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, gray above and white below with black wings, tail, and facial mask.
- make the dust fly — earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
- meech lake accord — the agreement reached in 1987 at Meech Lake, Quebec, at a Canadian federal-provincial conference that accepted Quebec's conditions for signing the Constitution Act of 1982. The Accord lapsed when the legislatures of two provinces, Newfoundland and Quebec, failed to ratify it by the deadline of June 23, 1990
- monkeygland sauce — a piquant sauce, made from tomatoes, ketchup, fruit chutney, garlic, spices, etc
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- never looked back — If you say that someone did something and then never looked back, you mean that they were very successful from that time on.
- nord-ostsee kanal — German name of Kiel Canal.
- radial keratotomy — a surgical technique for correcting nearsightedness by making a series of spokelike incisions in the cornea to change its shape and focusing properties.
- reading knowledge — the ability to read a language, but not speak it
- red and the black — a novel (1832) by Stendhal.
- rough-legged hawk — a large hawk, Buteo lagopus, of the Northern Hemisphere, that feeds chiefly on small rodents.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- self-acknowledged — widely recognized; generally accepted: an acknowledged authority on Chinese art.
- single-track road — a road that is only wide enough for one vehicle
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- take second place — If one thing takes second place to another, it is considered to be less important and is given less attention than the other thing.
- the silken ladder — a one-act opera by Rossini, telling the story of Giulia, who is secretly married to Dorvil; he visits her bedroom every night by climbing up a ladder made of silk. Giulia's guardian, Dormont, expects her to marry Blansac, but she introduces Blansac to her cousin Lucilla; after much confusion, the two couples are joyfully united
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- video disk player — a device that reads the information on a video disc
- well-acknowledged — widely recognized; generally accepted: an acknowledged authority on Chinese art.
- white-tailed kite — an American kite, Elanus leucurus, having gray plumage with a white head, breast, and tail.