17-letter words containing e, r, i, n
- brazilian peridot — a light yellowish-green tourmaline used as a gem: not a true peridot.
- breakdown service — a service that provides assistance to motorists who break down
- breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
- brezhnev doctrine — the doctrine expounded by Leonid Brezhnev in November 1968 affirming the right of the Soviet Union to intervene in the affairs of Communist countries to strengthen Communism.
- brigadier general — In the United States, a brigadier general is a senior officer in the armed forces who is often in charge of a brigade and has a rank above colonel and below major general.
- brightening agent — a compound applied to a textile to increase its brightness by the conversion of ultraviolet radiation to visible (blue) light, used in detergents
- brighton and hove — a city and unitary authority in S England, in East Sussex. Pop: 251 500 (2003 est). Area: 72 sq km (28 sq miles)
- bring up the rear — to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
- british cameroons — a former British trust territory of West Africa
- british-cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- broad-winged hawk — an American hawk, Buteo platypterus, dark brown above and white barred with rufous below.
- broderie anglaise — open embroidery on white cotton, fine linen, etc
- broken white line — a regular, discontinuous white line on a roadway, indicating that overtaking is permitted
- brownian movement — random movement of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid, caused by bombardment of the particles by molecules of the fluid. First observed in 1827, it provided strong evidence in support of the kinetic theory of molecules
- browserconfig.xml — (web) A Microsoft configuration file used to customise the appearance and behaviour of website links pinned to the Windows start screen or desktop taskbar. browserconfig.xml allows the site owner to specify things like badges and tile images.
- brzesc nad bugiem — Polish name of Brest Litovsk.
- budget resolution — a resolution adopted by both houses of the U.S. Congress setting forth, reaffirming, or revising the budget for the U.S. government for a fiscal year.
- building labourer — an unskilled worker on construction sites
- bureaucratization — to divide an administrative agency or office into bureaus.
- bursting strength — the capacity of a thing or substance to resist change when under pressure.
- butternut pumpkin — a variety of pumpkin, eaten as vegetable
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- caesarean section — A Caesarean or a Caesarean section is an operation in which a baby is lifted out of a woman's womb through an opening cut in her abdomen.
- cafeteria benefit — a fringe benefit chosen by an employee from a range of benefits offered under a cafeteria plan.
- calcium carbonate — a white crystalline salt occurring in limestone, chalk, marble, calcite, coral, and pearl: used in the production of lime and cement. Formula: CaCO3
- california laurel — a Pacific coast shrub or tree (Umbellularia californica) of the laurel family, having aromatic evergreen leaves and hard wood; Oregon myrtle: a source of bay leaves
- california nutmeg — a tall, pungently aromatic California evergreen tree, Torreya californica, of the yew family, having a fissured, gray-brown bark and small, purple-streaked, green fruit.
- california privet — a privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium, of the olive family, native to Japan, having glossy, oval leaves and long clusters of white flowers, widely used for hedges in the U.S.
- calorie-conscious — aware of the calorie content of one's diet
- campus university — a university in which the buildings, often including shops and cafés, are all on one site
- canarybird flower — a nasturtium, Tropaeolum peregrinum, of Peru, having round, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
- cancer specialist — a medical professional who specializes in the treatment or study of malignant growths or tumours
- canine parvovirus — a highly contagious viral disease of dogs characterized by vomiting, haemorrhagic diarrhoea, depression, and, in severe cases, death
- cantilever bridge — a bridge having spans that are constructed as cantilevers and often a suspended span or spans, each end of which rests on one end of a cantilever span
- carbon disulphide — a colourless slightly soluble volatile flammable poisonous liquid commonly having a disagreeable odour due to the presence of impurities: used as an organic solvent and in the manufacture of rayon and carbon tetrachloride. Formula: CS2
- carbon microphone — a microphone in which a diaphragm, vibrated by sound waves, applies a varying pressure to a container packed with carbon granules, altering the resistance of the carbon. A current flowing through the carbon is thus modulated at the frequency of the sound waves
- carbon offsetting — a program in which a company, country, etc., reduces or offsets its carbon emissions through the funding of activities and projects that improve the environment: Carbon offsetting does not always have a quantifiable impact on the planet.
- carbonyl chloride — phosgene
- carboxyhemoglobin — a compound formed in the blood when carbon monoxide occupies the positions on the hemoglobin molecule normally taken by oxygen, resulting in cellular oxygen starvation
- cardiac tamponade — tamponade (def 2).
- cardiac-tamponade — Medicine/Medical. the use of a tampon, as to stop a hemorrhage.
- cardinal grosbeak — any of various mostly tropical American buntings, such as the cardinal and pyrrhuloxia, the males of which have brightly coloured plumage
- cardiogenic shock — a type of shock caused by decreased cardiac output despite adequate blood volume, owing to a disease of the heart itself, as myocardial infarction, or any other factor that interferes with the filling or emptying of the heart.
- caribbean current — an ocean current flowing westward through the Caribbean Sea.
- carolina allspice — any of a genus (Calycanthus) of hardy shrubs (family Calycanthaceae) of a dicotyledonous order (Laurales) of plants, bearing reddish-brown, sweet-smelling flowers
- carolina moonseed — a twining woody vine, Cocculus carolinus, of the southeastern U.S., having inconspicuous flowers and showy, red fruit.
- carolina parakeet — an extinct New World parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis, that ranged into the northern U.S., having yellowish-green plumage with an orange-yellow head.
- 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.
- castle in the air — a hope or desire unlikely to be realized; daydream