17-letter words containing e, c, l, o, s
- carolina moonseed — a twining woody vine, Cocculus carolinus, of the southeastern U.S., having inconspicuous flowers and showy, red fruit.
- cat-o'-nine-tails — a rope whip consisting of nine knotted thongs, used formerly to flog prisoners
- catholic epistles — the epistles of James, I and II Peter, I John, and Jude, which were addressed to the universal Church rather than to an individual or a particular church
- celestial equator — the great circle lying on the celestial sphere, the plane of which is perpendicular to the line joining the north and south celestial poles
- celestial horizon — the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.
- cellulose acetate — nonflammable material made by acetylating cellulose: used in the manufacture of film, dopes, lacquers, and artificial fibres
- 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
- centi-call second — (spelling) No, it's centum call second.
- ch'eng-chu school — School of Law.
- châlons-sur-marne — city in NE France, on the Marne River: scene of defeat ( a.d. 451) of Attila by the Romans: pop. 50,000
- chanson de roland — English The Song of Roland. a chanson de geste (c1100) relating Roland's brave deeds and death at Roncesvalles and Charlemagne's revenge.
- charles henry dow — Charles Henry, 1851–1902, U.S. journalist and publisher: a founder of Dow Jones company.
- charles townshend — Charles, 1725–67, English politician, chancellor of the exchequer for whom the Townshend Acts are named.
- checkable deposit — a checking account
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chemoluminescence — (chemistry) The emission of light as the result of a chemical reaction.
- chinese vermilion — pimento (def 3).
- choanoflagellates — Plural form of choanoflagellate.
- chocolate biscuit — a biscuit covered with chocolate
- chocolate soldier — a person who mistakenly believes that he or she is very powerful, important, or impressive
- cholecystectomies — Plural form of cholecystectomy.
- cinisello balsamo — a city in N Italy, near Milan.
- circle the wagons — to take defensive action; prepare for an attack: from arranging a wagon train in a circular formation
- classical college — (in Quebec) a college offering a programme that emphasizes the classics and leads to university entrance
- classless society — a society in which class distinctions are negligible or absent
- clear box testing — white box testing
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- close corporation — a small private limited company
- close parenthesis — right parenthesis
- close punctuation — punctuation in which many commas, full stops, etc, are used
- close the book on — to bring to a definite end
- close the door on — rule out, exclude
- close to the bone — If something is too close to the bone, it makes you feel uncomfortable because it is very close to the truth or to the real nature of something.
- close to the wind — sailing as nearly as possible towards the direction from which the wind is blowing
- close-order drill — practice in formation marching and other movements, in the carrying of arms during formal marching, and in the formal handling of arms for ceremonies and guard.
- closed-captioning — (of a television program, film, or video) distributed with synchronized transcription of speech and written descriptions of other relevant audio elements, as for the hearing-impaired, that are visible only when the option to display them is selected. Abbreviation: CC.
- closing-down sale — a sale held to clear stock from a shop that is ceasing to operate
- coal-tar creosote — impure phenol or carbolic acid, distinct from the creosote of wood tar.
- coarse-grain salt — salt with a much larger grain size than table salt
- coastguard vessel — a ship used by the coastguard
- cocktail waitress — a woman who serves in a bar or cocktail lounge
- codlins-and-cream — an onagraceous plant, Epilobium hirsutum, native to Europe and Asia and introduced into North America, having purplish-red flowers and hairy stems and leaves
- cohesionless soil — any free-running type of soil, such as sand or gravel, whose strength depends on friction between particles
- coldstream guards — a guard regiment of the English royal household: formed in Coldstream, Scotland, 1659–60, and instrumental in restoring the English monarchy under Charles II.
- collaborativeness — Quality of being collaborative.
- college professor — a lecturer or researcher who works in a college
- collegium musicum — a group of usually amateur musicians, often connected with a university, who meet to study and perform chiefly old or little-known music.
- collision density — the rate at which collisions are occurring per unit volume per unit time, usually pertaining to the collisions of neutrons in a nuclear reactor.
- collodion process — wet plate process.