17-letter words containing b, e, a, k, r
- humpbacked bridge — A humpbacked bridge or humpback bridge is a short and very curved bridge with a shape similar to a semi-circle.
- in the background — behind the focus of attention
- 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
- 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)
- 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.
- 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.
- ladder-back chair — a chair with a back of two upright posts connected by horizontal slats
- mark of the beast — the mark put on the forehead of those who worship the beast, the symbol of opposition to God.
- 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.
- 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
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- 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.
- 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
- quality paperback — a softbound book that is usually larger and more expensive than a mass market paperback and is sold primarily in bookstores as a trade book.
- quarterback sneak — a play in which the quarterback charges into the middle of the line, usually immediately after receiving the ball from the center.
- rack one's brains — to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
- receiving blanket — a small blanket, usually of cotton, for wrapping an infant, especially following a bath.
- red and the black — a novel (1832) by Stendhal.
- red-backed shrike — a common Eurasian shrike, Lanius collurio, the male of which has a grey crown and rump, brown wings and back, and a black-and-white face
- republic of korea — a former country in E Asia, on a peninsula SE of Manchuria and between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea: a kingdom prior to 1910; under Japanese rule 1910–45; now divided at 38° N into North Korea and South Korea. Compare Korean War.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- squaw huckleberry — deerberry.
- take sth by storm — If someone or something takes a place by storm, they are extremely successful.
- take years off sb — If you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has taken years off someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much younger.
- tax-bracket creep — bracket creep.
- the bag of tricks — every device; everything
- the black country — the formerly heavily industrialized region of central England, northwest of Birmingham
- throw the book at — a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
- to break the bank — If you say that the cost of something will not break the bank, you mean that it will not cost a large sum of money.
- triskaidekaphobia — fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.
- trouble came back — (jargon) (TCB) An IBM term for an intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or shotgun debugging. Compare heisenbug.
- wastepaper basket — a standing basket for wastepaper, small items of trash, etc.
- wedding breakfast — meal served at wedding reception
- work-life balance — a situation in which one divides or balances one's time between work and activities outside of work: It's hard to achieve a reasonable work-life balance when you run your own business.
- working substance — a substance, usually a fluid, that undergoes changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or form as part of a process for accomplishing work.