17-letter words containing b, e, n, p
- get one's back up — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- golf ball printer — IBM 2741
- haemoglobinopathy — (medicine) Any of a group of inherited disorders in which haemoglobin does not function properly.
- half-breadth plan — a diagrammatic plan of one half of the hull of a vessel divided lengthwise amidships, showing water lines, stations, diagonals, and bow and buttock lines.
- hyperbolic cosine — one of a group of functions of an angle expressed as a relationship between the distances of a point on a hyperbola to the origin and to the coordinate axes; cosh
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- i beg your pardon — You say 'Pardon?' or 'I beg your pardon?' or, in American English, 'Pardon me?' when you want someone to repeat what they have just said because you have not heard or understood it.
- iambic pentameter — a verse line consisting of five metrical iambs
- iberian peninsula — Also called Iberian Peninsula. a peninsula in SW Europe, comprising Spain and Portugal.
- impracticableness — The state of being impracticable; impracticability.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- in the public eye — featured prominently in the media
- incompatibilities — not compatible; unable to exist together in harmony: She asked for a divorce because they were utterly incompatible.
- incompressibility — The quality of being incompressible, of not compressing under pressure.
- incubation period — the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.
- indecipherability — Quality of being indecipherable.
- indispensableness — The characteristic of being indispensable; indispensability.
- insupportableness — The state of being insupportable; insufferableness.
- intestinal bypass — the surgical circumvention, by anastomosis, of a diseased portion of the intestine; also sometimes used to reduce nutrient absorption in morbidly obese patients.
- invisible exports — services sold to a foreign country or countries
- invisible imports — imports of services rather than goods
- japanese barberry — a thorny barberry, Berberis thunbergii, of Japan, having yellow flowers and bearing bright-red fruit, grown as a hedge plant.
- job specification — a detailed description of the qualifications, skills, and experience required for a particular post of employment
- 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.
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
- least upper bound — an upper bound that is less than or equal to all the upper bounds of a particular set. 3 is the least upper bound of the set consisting of 1, 2, 3. Abbr.: lub.
- ligurian republic — the republic in NW Italy set up by Napoleon in 1797, incorporated into France in 1805, and united with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814.
- mind-body problem — the problem of explaining the relation of the mind to the body.
- neath port talbot — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of West Glamorgan in 1996. Administrative centre: Port Talbot. Pop: 135 300 (2003 est). Area: 439 sq km (169 sq miles)
- notebook computer — laptop, portable
- object complement — a word or a group of words used in the predicate following a factitive verb and referring to its direct object, as treasurer in We appointed him treasurer, white in They painted the house white, or an interesting speaker in They thought him an interesting speaker.
- old contemptibles — the British expeditionary force to France in 1914
- on the pig's back — successful; established
- opisthobranchiate — (zoology) Of or pertaining to the Opisthobranchiata.
- oregon crab apple — a shrub or small tree, Malus fusca, of the rose family, of the northwestern coast of North America, having hairy leaves, white flowers, and yellow or green oblong fruit.
- palaeoethnobotany — the study of fossil seeds and grains to further archaeological knowledge, esp of the domestication of cereals
- passive obedience — unquestioning obedience to authority
- pay-cable channel — a television channel that has to be paid for
- percussion bullet — a bullet that is exploded by percussion
- performance bonus — a monetary bonus paid to staff who have performed well in their job
- phonetic alphabet — an alphabet containing a separate character for each distinguishable speech sound.
- piece of business — business (def 10).
- pillar-and-breast — room-and-pillar.
- plumbing fixtures — things such as pipes, sinks, toilets that are fixed in position in a building
- plymouth brethren — a religious sect founded c. 1827, strongly Puritanical in outlook and prohibiting many secular occupations for its members. It combines elements of Calvinism, Pietism, and millenarianism, and has no organized ministry
- precision bombing — aerial bombing in which bombs are dropped, as accurately as possible, on a specific, usually small, target.
- pressurized cabin — the cabin of an aircraft in which the air has been pressurized
- probation officer — an officer who investigates and reports on the conduct of offenders who are free on probation.
- production number — a specialty number or routine, usually performed by the entire cast consisting of musicians, singers, dancers, stars, etc., of a musical comedy, vaudeville show, or the like.