17-letter words containing b, w, r
- garden strawberry — a plant which has white flowers and red edible fruits and is spread by runners, Fragaria ananassa
- great willow herb — either of two tall, large-flowered willow herbs, Epilobium angustifolium or E. hirsutum.
- harvey wallbanger — a screwdriver cocktail topped with Galliano.
- indian strawberry — a plant, Duchesnea indica, of the rose family, native to India, having yellow flowers and inedible fruit resembling strawberries.
- into one's barrow — suited to one's interests or desires
- learned borrowing — a word or other linguistic form borrowed from a classical language into a modern language.
- leg before wicket — a manner of dismissal on the grounds that a batsman has been struck on the leg by a bowled ball that otherwise would have hit the wicket
- lowbush blueberry — a shrub, Vaccinium angustifolium, of eastern North America, having small, white flowers and blue-black fruit.
- nashville warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, having a gray head, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts.
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- northern bobwhite — any of several American quail of the genus Colinus, especially C. virginianus (northern bobwhite) having mottled reddish-brown, black, and white plumage.
- northwest by west — a point on the compass, 11°15′ west of northwest. Abbreviation: NWbW.
- number eight wire — a standard gauge of fencing wire
- number three wood — spoon (def 5).
- observation tower — lookout, observation point
- railway timetable — a list of railway journeys arranged according to the time when they begin and end
- rainbow coalition — a political grouping together by several minority parties
- rub the wrong way — to subject the surface of (a thing or person) to pressure and friction, as in cleaning, smoothing, polishing, coating, massaging, or soothing: to rub a table top with wax polish; to rub the entire back area.
- sb could do worse — If you tell someone that they could do worse than do a particular thing, you are advising them that it would be quite a good thing to do.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- 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.
- september weather — weather characteristic of the month of September, esp in being unpredictable as summer is ending and autumn is beginning
- show sb the ropes — If you show someone the ropes, you show them how to do a particular job or task.
- slowly but surely — If you say that something is happening slowly but surely, you mean that it is happening gradually but it is definitely happening.
- small waved umber — a brownish geometrid moth, Horisme vitalbata, that is cryptically marked to merge with tree bark
- squaw huckleberry — deerberry.
- strawberry blonde — woman: with reddish fair hair
- strawberry tomato — the small, edible, tomato-like fruit of the plant Physalis pruinosa, of the nightshade family.
- tanenbaum, andrew — Andrew Tanenbaum
- tennessee warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora peregrina, having a gray head, a greenish back, and white underparts.
- throat sweetbread — sweetbread (def 2).
- 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 knit your brow — If you knit your brows or knit your eyebrows, you frown because you are angry or worried.
- waitangi tribunal — (in New Zealand) a government tribunal empowered to examine and make recommendations on Māori claims under the Treaty of Waitangi
- wang laboratories — (body) Computer manufacturer, known for their office automation products and the Wang PC. Quarterly sales $208M, profits $3M (Aug 1994).
- war establishment — the full wartime complement of men, equipment, and vehicles of a military unit
- wardrobe mistress — a woman in charge of keeping theatrical costumes cleaned, pressed, and in wearable condition.
- wastepaper basket — a standing basket for wastepaper, small items of trash, etc.
- water tube boiler — a boiler for generating steam by passing water in tubes (water tubes) through flames and hot gases.
- water-tube boiler — a boiler for generating steam by passing water in tubes (water tubes) through flames and hot gases.
- wearable computer — a small computer that is worn or carried on the body; a wearable computing device: a wrist-worn wearable computer with a head-mounted display.
- wedding breakfast — meal served at wedding reception
- westminster abbey — a Gothic church in London, England.
- wheatstone bridge — a circuit for measuring an unknown resistance by comparing it with known resistances.
- whiskey rebellion — a revolt of settlers in western Pennsylvania in 1794 against a federal excise tax on whiskey: suppressed by militia called out by President George Washington to establish the authority of the federal government.
- white book cd-rom — (hardware, standard) A more open CD-ROM standard than Green Book CD-ROM. All films mastered on CD-ROM after March 1994 use White Book. Like Green Book, it is ISO 9660 compliant, uses mode 2 form 2 addressing and can only be played on a CD-ROM drive which is XA (Extended Architecture) compatible. White book CDs are labelled "Video CD".
- winchester bushel — a unit of dry measure containing 4 pecks, equivalent in the U.S. (and formerly in England) to 2150.42 cubic inches or 35.24 liters (Winchester bushel) and in Great Britain to 2219.36 cubic inches or 36.38 liters (Imperial bushel) Abbreviation: bu., bush.
- with bated breath — to moderate or restrain: unable to bate our enthusiasm.
- 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.