17-letter words containing b, i, o, s
- secondary rainbow — a faint rainbow formed by light rays that undergo two internal reflections in drops of rain, appearing above the primary rainbow and having its colors in the opposite order.
- self-incompatible — not capable of self-pollination.
- semi-biographical — of or relating to a person's life: He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
- shopping bag lady — bag lady (def 1).
- shopping-bag lady — bag lady (def 1).
- sinbad the sailor — a merchant in The Arabian Nights who makes seven adventurous voyages
- six-speed gearbox — a gearbox containing a system of six gears
- sleeping problems — difficulties in getting to sleep or in staying asleep
- sodium bichromate — a red or orange crystalline, water-soluble solid, Na 2 Cr 2 O 7 ⋅2H 2 O, used as an oxidizing agent in the manufacture of dyes and inks, as a corrosion inhibitor, a mordant, a laboratory reagent, in the tanning of leather, and in electroplating.
- sodium pyroborate — borax1 .
- sorolla y bastida — Joaquín [hwah-keen] /ʰwɑˈkin/ (Show IPA), 1863–1923, Spanish painter.
- special constable — a person recruited for temporary or occasional police duties, esp in time of emergency
- spiritual bouquet — the spiritual presentation of a good work to another person.
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- spoonbill catfish — flathead catfish.
- squash vine borer — the larva of a clearwing moth, Melittia satyriniformis, that bores into the stems of squash and related plants.
- state the obvious — point out sth already evident
- statue of liberty — a large copper statue, on Liberty Island, in New York harbor, depicting a woman holding a burning torch: designed by F. A. Bartholdi and presented to the U.S. by France; unveiled 1886.
- steamboat springs — a town in NW Colorado: ski resort.
- stick to the ribs — to pierce or puncture with something pointed, as a pin, dagger, or spear; stab: to stick one's finger with a needle.
- subclavian groove — either of two grooves in the first rib, one for the main artery (subclavian artery) and the other for the main vein (subclavian vein) of the arm
- subordinated debt — a debt that an unsecured creditor can only claim, in the event of a liquidation, after the claims of secured creditors have been paid
- subscription rate — the price charged for a subscription
- subtractive color — cyan, yellow, or magenta, as used in the subtractive process of color photography.
- supervisory board — a board of management of which nonmanagerial workers are members, having supervisory powers over some aspects of management decision-making
- surrender to bail — to present oneself at court at the appointed time after having been on bail
- suspension bridge — a bridge having a deck suspended from cables anchored at their extremities and usually raised on towers.
- symbolic assembly — (language) An early system on the IBM 705.
- symbolic language — a specialized language dependent upon the use of symbols for communication and created for the purpose of achieving greater exactitude, as in symbolic logic or mathematics.
- synchronous orbit — an orbit in which the orbital period of a satellite is identical to the spin period of the central body
- synovial membrane — anatomy: connective tissue
- synthetic biology — the application of computer science techniques to create artificial biological systems
- take some beating — to be difficult to improve upon
- teething problems — If a project or new product has teething problems, it has problems in its early stages or when it first becomes available.
- teething troubles — Teething troubles are the same as teething problems.
- terrestrial globe — the planet Earth (usually preceded by the).
- terrorist bombing — the bombing of a place carried out in order to achieve some goal
- the bag of tricks — every device; everything
- the carboniferous — the Carboniferous period or rock system
- the joke is on sb — If you say that the joke is on a particular person, you mean that they have been made to look very foolish by something.
- the tabloid press — (considered as a whole) newspapers with pages about 30 cm (12 inches) by 40 cm (16 inches), usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs and a concise and often sensational style
- to read sb's mind — If you can read someone's mind, you know what they are thinking without them saying anything.
- transonic barrier — sound barrier.
- triboluminescence — luminescence produced by friction, usually within a crystalline substance.
- triskaidekaphobia — fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.
- trobriand islands — a group of coral islands in the Solomon Sea, north of the E part of New Guinea: part of Papua New Guinea. Area: about 440 sq km (170 sq miles)
- troilus butterfly — spicebush swallowtail.
- turbinado (sugar) — a partially refined, granulated, pale-brown sugar obtained by washing raw sugar in a centrifuge until most of the molasses is removed
- uncle tom's cabin — an antislavery novel (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
- unreconstructible — not capable of being reconstructed.