17-letter words containing c, r, i, n, u
- cartesian product — the set of all ordered pairs of members of two given sets. The product A × B is the set of all pairs <a, b> where a is a member of A and b is a member of B
- casting the runes — (jargon) What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program because it never works for anyone else; especially used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. Compare incantation, runes, examining the entrails; also see the AI koan about Tom Knight.
- cellulose nitrate — a compound made by treating cellulose with nitric and sulphuric acids, used in plastics, lacquers, and explosives: a nitrogen-containing ester of cellulose
- cellulose varnish — a varnish made from cellulose nitrate, used as a protective sealing film
- centrifugal brake — a safety mechanism on a hoist, crane, etc, that consists of revolving brake shoes that are driven outwards by centrifugal force into contact with a fixed brake drum when the rope drum revolves at excessive speed
- centrifugal force — In physics, centrifugal force is the force that makes objects move outwards when they are spinning around something or travelling in a curve.
- chicken drumstick — a chicken leg, considered as food
- chiltern hundreds — (in Britain) short for Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds; a nominal office that an MP applies for in order to resign his seat
- chinese turkestan — the E part of the central Asian region of Turkestan: corresponds generally to the present-day Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China
- christmas pudding — Christmas pudding is a special pudding that is eaten at Christmas.
- church triumphant — those Christians in heaven who have triumphed over evil and the enemies of Christ.
- circassian walnut — the hard, heavy, brown or purplish wood of the English walnut
- circuit switching — (communications) Communication via a single dedicated path between the sender and receiver. The telephone system is an example of a circuit switched network. The term connection-oriented is used in packet-based networks in contrast to connectionless communication or packet switching.
- circular function — trigonometric function (def 1).
- circular triangle — a triangle in which each side is the arc of a circle
- circumlocutionary — a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
- circumstantiality — the quality of being circumstantial
- circumstantiating — Present participle of circumstantiate.
- ciudad del carmen — a city in SE Mexico, on the Gulf of Campeche.
- clairaut equation — a differential equation of the form y = xy prime; + f (y prime;).
- club subscription — an amount of money that someone pays regularly in order to belong to a club
- clumber (spaniel) — a short-legged spaniel with a heavy body and a thick coat of straight, white hair marked with yellow or orange
- colour separation — the division of a coloured original into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black so that plates may be made for print reproduction. Separation may be achieved by electronic scanning or by photographic techniques using filters to isolate each colour
- colour television — television that broadcasts in real-life colours, as opposed to black and white
- columnar jointing — (in basaltic igneous rocks) a series of generally hexagonal columns formed by vertical joints as a result of contraction during cooling.
- communal marriage — group marriage.
- communion service — the Christian ceremony in which people eat bread and drink wine in memory of Christ's death
- community service — Community service is unpaid work that criminals sometimes do as a punishment instead of being sent to prison.
- commuter airplane — air taxi.
- compound fraction — complex fraction
- compound interest — Compound interest is interest that is calculated both on an original sum of money and on interest which has previously been added to the sum. Compare simple interest.
- compound interval — an interval that is greater than an octave, as a ninth or a thirteenth.
- computer confetti — (jargon) (Or "chad") A common term for punched-card chad, which, however, does not make good confetti, as the pieces are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes.
- computer printout — a document that is printed from a computer file
- computer terminal — a keyboard and computer monitor connected to a computer
- concurrent euclid — (language, parallel) A concurrent extension of a subset of Euclid ("Simple Euclid") developed by J.R. Cordy and R.C. Holt of the University of Toronto in 1980. Concurrent Euclid features separate compilation, modules, processes and monitors, signal and wait on condition variables, 'converters' to defeat strong type checking, absolute addresses. All procedures and functions are re-entrant. TUNIS (a Unix-like operating system) is written in Concurrent Euclid.
- configurationally — With regard to a configuration.
- construction loan — the act or fact of taking out.
- construction site — the piece of land where a building, etc, is to be located
- consumer sampling — a research technique in which targeted consumers are polled or tested for their receptiveness to a product or service
- consumer spending — the percentage of an economy that is accounted for by what consumers spend
- continental crust — that part of the earth's crust that underlies the continents and continental shelves
- continuous cutter — any of various machines that can remove coal from the mine face and load it into cars or conveyors.
- contour ploughing — ploughing following the contours of the land, to minimize the effects of erosion
- contradistinguish — to differentiate by means of contrasting or opposing qualities
- contrasuggestible — responding or tending to respond to a suggestion by doing or believing the opposite
- coordinate clause — one of two or more clauses in a sentence having the same status and introduced by coordinating conjunctions
- corpus spongiosum — a mass of tissue that, with the corpora cavernosa, forms the erectile tissue of the penis of mammals
- cost-plus pricing — the setting of prices at the cost price plus a percentage
- council of europe — an association of European states, established in 1949 to promote unity between its members, defend human rights, and increase social and economic progress