16-letter words containing a, k, u
- make the fur fly — the fine, soft, thick, hairy coat of the skin of a mammal.
- make the running — If someone is making the running in a situation, they are more active than the other people involved.
- measured daywork — a system of wage payment, usually determined by work-study techniques, whereby the wage of an employee is fixed on the understanding that a specific level of work performance will be maintained
- murasaki shikibu — Lady, 978?–1031? Japanese poet and novelist.
- nassella tussock — type of tussock grass
- near the knuckle — risqué
- norodom sihanouk — Prince Norodom [nawr-uh-dom,, -duh m] /ˈnɔr əˌdɒm,, -dəm/ (Show IPA), 1922–2004, Cambodian statesman: premier 1952–60; chief of state 1960–70 and 1975–76.
- nubuck (leather) — tanned leather similar to suede, but with the nap on the grain side
- nutcracker suite — a ballet and concert suite (1892) arranged by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky from his orchestral work for a ballet, The Nutcracker.
- oak leaf cluster — a U.S. military decoration in the form of a small bronze twig bearing four oak leaves and three acorns, worn on the ribbon of another decoration for valor, wounds, or distinguished service to signify a second award of the same medal.
- ocellated turkey — a wild turkey, Agriocharis ocellata, of Yucatán, Belize, and Guatemala, typically having green, blue, reddish-brown, and yellowish-brown plumage of a metallic luster and eyelike spots on the tail.
- out like a light — If someone goes out like a light, they fall asleep or become unconscious very quickly or immediately.
- parkerhouse roll — a yeast roll shaped by folding over a flat, round piece of buttered dough
- pleasure-seeking — always looking for pleasure
- pressure flaking — a method of manufacturing a flint tool by pressing flakes from a stone core with a pointed implement, usually of wood tipped with antler or copper.
- punctuation mark — any of a group of conventional marks or characters used in punctuation, as the period, comma, semicolon, question mark, or dash.
- put a sock in it — be quiet!
- quick as a flash — If you say that someone reacts to something quick as a flash, you mean that they react to it extremely quickly.
- razor-billed auk — a black and white auk, Alca torda, of the American and European coasts of the northern North Atlantic, having a compressed black bill encircled by a white band.
- river carpsucker — a carpsucker, Carpiodes carpio, found in silty rivers of the central U.S. south to Mexico.
- round lake beach — a town in NE Illinois.
- run the blockade — to go past or through a blockade
- security blanket — a blanket or other familiar item carried especially by a young child to provide reassurance and a feeling of psychological security.
- shakedown cruise — extortion, as by blackmail or threats of violence.
- south lake tahoe — a city in E California.
- speak in tongues — to engage in glossolalia
- speaking trumpet — a trumpet-shaped instrument used to carry the voice a great distance or held to the ear by a deaf person to aid his hearing
- square kilometer — a unit of area measurement equal to a square measuring one kilometer on each side. 2 , sq. km. Abbreviation: km.
- squeaky-bum time — the tense final matches in the race to a league championship, esp from the point of view of the leaders
- stalked puffball — a puffball-like mushroom of the genus Tulestoma, maturing in early winter.
- stick out a mile — to be extremely obvious
- streaked gurnard — a type of fish, Chelidonichthys lastoviza or Trigloporus lastoviza
- substantive rank — a permanent rank in the armed services obtained by length of service, selection, etc
- take by surprise — to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness: Her beauty surprised me.
- take one's lumps — a piece or mass of solid matter without regular shape or of no particular shape: a lump of coal.
- take the biscuit — Take the biscuit means the same as take the cake.
- take the trouble — If you take the trouble to do something, you do something which requires a small amount of additional effort.
- thumbnail sketch — small preliminary drawing
- to pass the buck — If you pass the buck, you refuse to accept responsibility for something, and say that someone else is responsible.
- to speak volumes — If something such as an action speaks volumes about a person or thing, it gives you a lot of information about them.
- tokugawa iyeyasu — Tokugawa [taw-koo-gah-wah] /ˈtɔ kuˈgɑ wɑ/ (Show IPA), 1542–1616, Japanese general and public servant.
- trucking company — a company that transports goods by lorry
- unfranked income — any income from an investment that does not qualify as franked investment income
- unknown quantity — mathematics: amount not known
- unlawful killing — Unlawful killing is used to refer to crimes which involve one person killing another.
- up with the lark — up early in the morning
- upside-down cake — a cake that is baked on a layer of fruit, then turned before serving so that the fruit is on top.
- voluntary worker — a person who serves or acts in a specified function of their own accord and without compulsion or promise of remuneration
- what do you know — People sometimes say 'What do you know!' when they are very surprised about something.
- world bank group — the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the International Development Association, whose headquarters are all in Washington