17-letter words containing a, l, k
- 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
- kastor and pollux — Castor and Pollux.
- 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.
- kendal sneck bent — a fishhook having a wide, squarish bend.
- kensington palace — a royal residence in Kensington Gardens, in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea; dating from the 17th century, it was improved and extended by Sir Cristopher Wren
- kerguelen islands — an archipelago in the S Indian Ocean: a possession of France. 2394 sq. mi. (6200 sq. km).
- kidney transplant — surgery to replace a kidney
- kinetic potential — the kinetic energy minus the potential energy in a system obeying the principle of conservation of energy. Symbol: L.
- king philip's war — the war (1675–76) between New England colonists and a confederation of Indians under their leader, King Philip.
- kitchen appliance — a machine intended for use in the kitchen, such as a fridge or a food processor
- klerer-may system — Early system from Columbia University with special mathematics symbols. Its reference manual was two pages long!
- know only by name — to be familiar with the name of but not know personally
- knowledgeableness — The state, quality, or measure of being knowledgeable; wisdom.
- 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.
- lackadaisicalness — without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; lethargic: a lackadaisical attempt.
- ladder-back chair — a chair with a back of two upright posts connected by horizontal slats
- lake of the woods — Eldrick [el-drik] /ˈɛl drɪk/ (Show IPA), ("Tiger") born 1975, U.S. professional golfer.
- lake waikaremoana — a lake in the North Island of New Zealand in a dense bush setting. Area: about 55 sq km (21 sq miles)
- lake winnipegosis — a lake in S Canada, in W Manitoba. Area: 5400 sq km (2086 sq miles)
- lame-duck session — (formerly) the December to March session of those members of the U.S. Congress who were defeated for reelection the previous November.
- lan kanal adapter — (networking) (LKA) A sort of external LAN interface for a BS200 computer.
- landlocked salmon — a variety of the Atlantic Ocean salmon, Salmo salar, confined to the freshwater lakes of New England and adjacent areas of Canada.
- lay it on (thick) — to exaggerate
- linking consonant — a consonant inserted between two vowels in speech
- little black book — an address book, esp. one kept by a man, with the names of women companions considered available for dating
- 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.
- lyon king of arms — the chief herald of Scotland
- make light of sth — If you make light of something, you treat it as though it is not serious or important, when in fact it is.
- make no apologies — If you say that you make no apologies for what you have done, you are emphasizing that you feel that you have done nothing wrong.
- make the dust fly — earth or other matter in fine, dry particles.
- management skills — skills regarding the technique, practice, or science of managing a company, business, etc
- 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
- michigan bankroll — a large roll of paper money in small denominations.
- 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.
- 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
- natural hat trick — three goals scored in succession by one player in one game or one period.
- 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.
- nicholas bourbaki — the pseudonym of a group of mainly French mathematicians that, since 1939, has been producing a monumental work on advanced mathematics, Eléments de Mathématique
- nikolaus von cusa — Nicholas (def 1).
- non-manual worker — a person whose job involves the use of their mind, rather than the use of their hands or physical strength
- nord-ostsee kanal — German name of Kiel Canal.
- north lanarkshire — a council area of central Scotland: consists mainly of the NE part of the historical county of Lanarkshire; formerly (1974–96) part of Strathclyde Region: engineering and metalworking industries. Administrative centre: Motherwell. Pop: 321 820 (2003 est). Area: 1771 sq km (684 sq miles)
- parker house roll — a soft dinner roll made by folding a flat disk of dough in half.
- particle kinetics — Particle kinetics is the study of the movement of particles and the forces that cause this movement.
- peach bark beetle — a bark beetle, Phloeotribus liminaris, that feeds on and nests in peach and other drupaceous trees.
- peacock butterfly — a European nymphalid butterfly, Inachis io, having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot