16-letter words containing c, b, r, a
- nuclear umbrella — a guarantee from a country or state that possesses nuclear weapons to a country that does not that they will defend them
- numbered account — a bank account whose owner is identified by a number for the purpose of preserving anonymity.
- objective danger — a danger, such as a stone fall or avalanche, to which climbing skill is irrelevant
- observation deck — an area on a high building that is surrounded with railings or fencing and which provides panoramic views
- onboard computer — onboard a vehicle, ship, plane, train or spacecraft
- orbital velocity — the minimum velocity at which a body must move to maintain a given orbit.
- overexcitability — to excite too much.
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- peach tree borer — the larva of any of several clearwing moths, as Sanninoidea exitiosa, that bore into the wood of the peach and other drupaceous trees.
- performance bond — contract bond.
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
- presence chamber — the special room in which a great personage, as a sovereign, receives guests, holds audiences, etc.
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- rack one's brain — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- rainbow seaperch — an embiotocid fish, Hypsurus caryi, living off the Pacific coast of North America, having red, orange, and blue stripes on the body.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- reaction chamber — the chamber in a rocket engine in which the reaction or combustion of fuel occurs
- reaction turbine — a turbine driven by the reactive force of a fluid passing through the rotor blades.
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- republican party — one of the two major political parties in the U.S.: originated 1854–56.
- republican river — a river flowing E from E Colorado through Nebraska and Kansas into the Kansas River. 422 miles (680 km) long.
- research library — a general or specialized library that collects materials for use in intensive research projects.
- reserve buoyancy — the difference between the volume of a hull below the designed waterline and the volume of the hull below the lowest opening incapable of being made watertight.
- rhabdomyosarcoma — a malignant tumor made up of striated muscle tissue.
- ribonucleic acid — RNA.
- rich tea biscuit — any of various semisweet biscuits
- right about face — Military. a command, given to a soldier or soldiers at attention, to turn the body about toward the right so as to face in the opposite direction. the act of so turning in a prescribed military manner.
- round lake beach — a town in NE Illinois.
- roundabout chair — corner chair.
- run the blockade — to go past or through a blockade
- sabattier effect — the alteration of the image tones of a photographic print by briefly reexposing the negative after it has been partially developed.
- sacrificial lamb — If you refer to someone as a sacrificial lamb, you mean that they have been blamed unfairly for something they did not do, usually in order to protect another more powerful person or group.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- scavenger beetle — any beetle of the mostly aquatic family Hydrophilidae, having clubbed antennae and long palps, and usually feeding on decaying vegetation
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- security blanket — a blanket or other familiar item carried especially by a young child to provide reassurance and a feeling of psychological security.
- self-lubricating — to apply some oily or greasy substance to (a machine, parts of a mechanism, etc.) in order to diminish friction; oil or grease (something).
- self-lubrication — the process of becoming lubricated without external factors
- showy crab apple — a large Japanese bush or tree, Malus floribunda, of the rose family, having red fruit and rose-colored flowers that fade to white.
- simon boccanegra — an opera (1857) by Giuseppe Verdi.
- slave labor camp — labor camp (def 1).
- sodium carbonate — Also called soda ash. an anhydrous, grayish-white, odorless, water-soluble powder, Na 2 CO 3 , usually obtained by the Solvay process and containing about 1 percent of impurities consisting of sulfates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium: used in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, soaps, paper, petroleum products, sodium salts, as a cleanser, for bleaching, and in water treatment.
- sole beneficiary — the only beneficiary
- spectacled cobra — Indian cobra.
- stretcher bearer — a person who helps to carry a stretcher, esp in wartime
- stretcher-bearer — a person who helps carry a stretcher, as in removing wounded from a battlefield.
- strict liability — responsibility for damage or loss regardless of intention or culpability