17-letter words containing a, k, e, r
- heartbreakingness — The state or quality of being heartbreaking.
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- horatio kitchener — Horatio Herbert (1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and of Broome) 1850–1916, English field marshal and statesman.
- housekeeping cart — A housekeeping cart is a large metal basket on wheels which is used by a cleaner in a hotel to move clean bed linen, towels, and cleaning equipment.
- humpbacked bridge — A humpbacked bridge or humpback bridge is a short and very curved bridge with a shape similar to a semi-circle.
- immigrant workers — people who work in a country they arrived to in order to settle there
- in the background — behind the focus of attention
- in the market for — an open place or a covered building where buyers and sellers convene for the sale of goods; a marketplace: a farmers' market.
- indian rope-trick — the supposed Indian feat of climbing an unsupported rope
- infinitive marker — a word or affix occurring with the verb stem in the infinitive, such as to in to make
- internet backbone — (communications, networking) High-speed networks that carry Internet traffic. These communications networks are provided by companies such as AT&T, GTE, IBM, MCI, Netcom, Sprint, UUNET and consist of high-speed links in the T1, T3, OC1 and OC3 ranges. The backbones carry Internet traffic around the world and meet at Network Access Points (NAPs). The topology of the "backbone" and its interconnections may once have resembled a spine with ribs connected along its length but is now almost certainly more like a fishing net wrapped around the world with many circular paths.
- investment banker — an executive in an investment bank
- jack-in-the-green — (in England, formerly) a man who wore or supported a leaf-covered wooden framework while dancing in May-Day celebrations
- jerusalem cricket — a large, nocturnal, wingless, long-horned grasshopper, Stenopelmatus fuscus, occuring chiefly in loose soil and sand along the Pacific coast of the U.S.
- karelian republic — a constituent republic of NW Russia between the White Sea and Lakes Onega and Ladoga. Capital: Petrozavodsk. Pop: 716 700 (2002). Area: 172 400 sq km (66 560 sq miles)
- karitane hospital — a hospital for young babies and their mothers
- kawasaki syndrome — a syndrome, usually afflicting children, characterized by high fever, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, rashes, irritated eyes and mucous membranes, etc. with possible damage to the cardiovascular system
- keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- kerguelen islands — an archipelago in the S Indian Ocean: a possession of France. 2394 sq. mi. (6200 sq. km).
- key man insurance — Key man insurance is an insurance policy taken out by a small company on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss.
- key-man assurance — an assurance policy taken out, esp by a small company, on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss
- keyboard commando — (messaging) A bulletin board user who posts authoritatively on military or combat topics, but who has never served in uniform or heard a shot fired in anger. A poseur.
- kidney transplant — surgery to replace a kidney
- king george's war — a war (1744–48) waged by England and its colonies against France, constituting the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession.
- klerer-may system — Early system from Columbia University with special mathematics symbols. Its reference manual was two pages long!
- kolar gold fields — a city in S India, in SE Karnataka: a major gold-mining centre since 1881. Pop: 176 000 (2005 est)
- kvatro telecom as — (company) The company that maintains Mary. Address: Trondheim, Norway.
- ladder-back chair — a chair with a back of two upright posts connected by horizontal slats
- lake waikaremoana — a lake in the North Island of New Zealand in a dense bush setting. Area: about 55 sq km (21 sq miles)
- lan kanal adapter — (networking) (LKA) A sort of external LAN interface for a BS200 computer.
- loggerhead shrike — a common, North American shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, gray above and white below with black wings, tail, and facial mask.
- make a difference — have a significant impact
- make conversation — If you make conversation, you talk to someone in order to be polite and not because you really want to.
- make inroads into — to start to use up the supply of something
- make reference to — mention, allude to
- make the worst of — to be pessimistic about
- mark of the beast — the mark put on the forehead of those who worship the beast, the symbol of opposition to God.
- market researcher — a person who carries out market research
- marketing manager — a person who is in charge of a marketing department or campaign
- 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
- mikhail gorbachev — Mikhail S(ergeyevich) [mi-kahyl sur-gey-uh-vich,, mi-keyl;; Russian myi-khuh-yeel syir-gye-yi-vyich] /mɪˈkaɪl sɜrˈgeɪ ə vɪtʃ,, mɪˈkeɪl;; Russian myɪ xʌˈyil syɪrˈgyɛ yɪ vyɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), born 1931, Soviet political leader: general secretary of the Communist Party 1985–91; president of the Soviet Union 1988–91; Nobel Peace Prize 1990.
- money-market fund — a mutual fund that invests in the money market.
- monkey bread tree — a bombacaceous tree, Adansonia digitata, native to Africa, that has a very thick trunk, large white flowers, and a gourdlike fruit with an edible pulp called monkey bread
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- network marketing — a marketing strategy in which sales representatives of a company recruit other salespeople and earn commissions on their own sales and on the sales made by their team: Use your personal relationships to be successful in network marketing.
- 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.
- niger-kordofanian — a language family comprising Niger-Congo and Kordofanian.
- nikita khrushchev — Nikita S(ergeyevich) [ni-kee-tuh sur-gey-uh-vich;; Russian nyi-kyee-tuh syir-gye-yuh-vyich] /nɪˈki tə sɜrˈgeɪ ə vɪtʃ;; Russian nyɪˈkyi tə syɪrˈgyɛ yə vyɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), 1894–1971, Russian political leader: premier of the U.S.S.R. 1958–64.
- non-manual worker — a person whose job involves the use of their mind, rather than the use of their hands or physical strength