12-letter words containing a, s, k, i
- bright spark — If you say that some bright spark had a particular idea or did something, you mean that their idea or action was clever, or that it seemed clever but was silly in some way.
- brinkmanship — Brinkmanship is a method of behaviour, especially in politics, in which you deliberately get into dangerous situations which could result in disaster but which could also bring success.
- burkina faso — an inland republic in W Africa: dominated by Mossi kingdoms (10th–19th centuries); French protectorate established in 1896; became an independent republic in 1960; consists mainly of a flat savanna plateau. Official language: French; Mossi and other African languages also widely spoken. Religion: mostly animist, with a large Muslim minority. Currency: franc. Capital: Ouagadougou. Pop: 17 812 961 (2013 est). Area: 273 200 sq km (105 900 sq miles)
- bushwhacking — to make one's way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc.
- by-a-whisker — whiskers, a beard.
- call in sick — afflicted with ill health or disease; ailing.
- camiknickers — women's knickers attached to a camisole top
- cancer stick — a cigarette.
- candlesticks — Plural form of candlestick.
- casing knife — a knife for trimming wallpaper after it has been attached.
- chain smoker — person: smokes heavily
- chain-smoker — A chain-smoker is a person who chain-smokes.
- chalk stripe — (on a fabric) a pattern of thin white lines on a dark ground.
- chalk-stripe — a stripe, as in the fabric of some suits, that is wider and usually more muted than a pinstripe
- chickasawhay — a river in SE Mississippi, flowing S to the Pascagoula River. 210 miles (338 km) long.
- chickenheads — Plural form of chickenhead.
- clickstreams — Plural form of clickstream.
- compact disk — an optical disk approximately 4.75 inches (12 cm) in diameter, on which a program, data, music, etc., is digitally encoded for a laser beam to scan, decode, and transmit to a playback system, computer monitor, or television set. Abbreviation: CD.
- cook islands — a group of islands in the SW Pacific, an overseas territory of New Zealand: consists of the Lower Cooks and the Northern Cooks Capital: Avarua, on Rarotonga. Pop: 10 447 (2013 est). Area: 234 sq km (90 sq miles)
- cooking salt — a type of salt used in cooking
- damaskeening — Present participle of damaskeen.
- dark tourism — tourism to sites associated with tragedies, disasters, and death
- dark-skinned — (of a person or race) having skin of a dark colour
- deerstalking — The hunting of deer on foot, by stealing upon them unawares.
- devil's mark — (in witchcraft) a mark, as a scar or blemish, on the body of a person who has made a compact with a devil.
- diamondbacks — Plural form of diamondback.
- disembarking — Present participle of disembark.
- disk storage — space for storing information on a disk
- display hack — (graphics) A program with the same approximate purpose as a kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures. Famous display hacks include munching squares, smoking clover, the BSD Unix "rain(6)" program, "worms(6)" on miscellaneous Unixes, and the X "kaleid(1)" program. Display hacks can also be implemented without programming by creating text files containing numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal; one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with twinkling lights and a toy train circling its base. The hack value of a display hack is proportional to the aesthetic value of the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the size of the code. Synonym psychedelicware.
- display pack — an empty box, etc, on a shop shelf, advertising a piece of merchandise that, due to its value or size, is not stored on the shelf. The display pack is normally taken to the till and there exchanged, on payment, for the actual item
- drinks party — a cocktail party
- earthshaking — imperiling, challenging, or affecting basic beliefs, attitudes, relationships, etc.
- ekman spiral — a complex interaction on the surface of the sea between wind, rotation of the earth, and friction forces, discovered by Vagn Walfrid Ekman
- enterokinase — (enzyme) An enzyme, secreted by the upper intestinal mucosa, that catalyzes the activation of trypsinogen by converting it to trypsin.
- eriskay pony — a breed of medium-sized pony, typically grey, with a dense waterproof coat. The Eriskay is the only surviving variety of the native ponies of the Western Isles of Scotland
- eskimo-aleut — (designating or of) a family of languages including Aleut and the Eskimo languages
- fair-skinned — having pale skin; pale-complexioned
- figure skate — a shoe skate used in figure skating, especially one having a blade shorter than that of a racing skate, usually not extending beyond the toe or heel, and with notches or sawteeth on the curved forward edge.
- figure-skate — to take part in figure skating
- fillet steak — boneless cut of beef
- finger lakes — group of long, narrow glacial lakes in WC N.Y.
- firecrackers — Plural form of firecracker.
- florida keys — chain of small islands extending southwest from the S tip of Fla.
- fort pulaski — Count Casimir [kaz-uh-meer] /ˈkæz əˌmɪər/ (Show IPA), 1748–79, Polish patriot; general in the American Revolutionary army.
- frankenstein — a person who creates a monster or a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin.
- frankincense — an aromatic gum resin from various Asian and African trees of the genus Boswellia, especially B. carteri, used chiefly for burning as incense in religious or ceremonial practices, in perfumery, and in pharmaceutical and fumigating preparations.
- freakishness — The characteristic or quality of being freakish.
- free skating — a freestyle competition with no required elements, in which skaters perform an original program of jumps, spins, sequences, etc., to music of their choice.
- fruit basket — a basket containing a variety of fruits sent as a gift
- frying steak — a steak that is cooked by frying