17-letter words containing f, a, b
- board of trustees — a governing board which directs the policies of an educational institution
- body modification — any method of permanently adorning the body, including tattooing and piercing
- bradford spinning — a wool-spinning method in which the fibers are oiled prior to combing and subsequently spun into worsted yarn.
- breach of promise — (formerly) failure to carry out one's promise to marry
- break the back of — to complete the greatest or hardest part of (a task)
- breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
- budgetary deficit — the amount by which government expenditure exceeds income from taxation, customs duties, etc, in any one fiscal year
- bureau of customs — former name of the United States Customs Service.
- butacaine sulfate — a colorless, crystalline substance, (C18H30N2O2)2·H2SO4, used as a local anesthetic, esp. on mucous membranes
- butterfly bandage — a butterfly-shaped strip of adhesive medical tape used, when stitches are not required, to keep a deep cut or incision tightly closed while it heals
- butterfly diagram — a graphical butterfly-shaped representation of the sunspot density on the solar disc in the 11-year sunspot cycle
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- cabbage butterfly — a common white butterfly (Pieris rapae) whose green larvae feed upon cabbage and related plants
- cafeteria benefit — a fringe benefit chosen by an employee from a range of benefits offered under a cafeteria plan.
- call-by-reference — (programming) An argument passing convention where the address of an argument variable is passed to a function or procedure, as opposed to passing the value of the argument expression. Execution of the function or procedure may have side-effects on the actual argument as seen by the caller. The C language's "&" (address of) and "*" (dereference) operators allow the programmer to code explicit call-by-reference. Other languages provide special syntax to declare reference arguments (e.g. ALGOL 60). See also call-by-name, call-by-value, call-by-value-result.
- camp-fire-members — a U.S. organization for girls and boys that emphasizes the building of character and good citizenship through work, health, and love; originally founded for girls (Camp Fire girls) in 1910, it is now open to both boys and girls (Camp Fire members)
- canadian fleabane — a plant, Conyza (or Erigeron) canadensis, with small white tubular flower heads
- canadian football — a game resembling American football, played on a grass pitch between two teams of 12 players
- canarybird flower — a nasturtium, Tropaeolum peregrinum, of Peru, having round, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
- 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.
- 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
- city of gibraltar — a city on the Rock of Gibraltar, a limestone promontory at the tip of S Spain: settled by Moors in 711 and taken by Spain in 1462; ceded to Britain in 1713; a British crown colony (1830–1969), still politically associated with Britain; a naval and air base of strategic importance. Pop: 29 111 (2013 est). Area: 6.5 sq km (2.5 sq miles)
- class-b amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output flows for half of the input signal cycle
- code of behaviour — the generally accepted rules governing how people behave
- code of hammurabi — a Babylonian legal code of the 18th century b.c. or earlier, instituted by Hammurabi and dealing with criminal and civil matters.
- coffee-table book — A coffee-table book is a large expensive book with a lot of pictures, which is designed to be looked at rather than to be read properly, and is usually placed where people can see it easily.
- coliform bacillus — any of several bacilli, especially Escherichia coli and members of the genus Aerobacter, found as commensals in the large intestine of humans and certain other animals, the presence of which in water indicates fecal pollution.
- coliform bacteria — a large group of bacteria inhabiting the intestinal tract of humans and animals that may cause disease and whose presence in water is an indicator of faecal pollution
- common of turbary — (in England) the legal right to cut peat for fuel on a common
- confirmation-bias — the tendency to process and analyze information in such a way that it supports one’s preexisting ideas and convictions: Confirmation bias is a major issue when we get all our news from social media sites. Unfortunately, their experimental method was proven invalid due to confirmation bias.
- contraband of war — war materiel, as ammunition or weapons, which, by international law, may rightfully be intercepted and seized by either belligerent when shipped to the other one by a neutral country
- creature of habit — If you say that someone is a creature of habit, you mean that they usually do the same thing at the same time each day, rather than doing new and different things.
- de-baathification — the process of removing the members and influence of the Ba'ath Party from public office in Iraq following the US-led invasion of 2003
- differentiability — The ability to be differentiated.
- division of labor — a production process in which a worker or group of workers is assigned a specialized task in order to increase efficiency.
- double quatrefoil — a charge having the form of a foil with eight leaves, used especially as the cadency mark of a ninth son.
- double refraction — the separation of a ray of light into two unequally refracted, plane-polarized rays of orthogonal polarizations, occurring in crystals in which the velocity of light rays is not the same in all directions.
- dwarf huckleberry — tangleberry.
- english breakfast — An English breakfast is a breakfast consisting of cooked food such as bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatoes. It also includes toast and tea or coffee.
- false bread-fruit — ceriman.
- far be it from me — I would not presume; on no account
- father substitute — a male who replaces an absent father and becomes an object of attachment.
- feasibility study — (systems analysis) Part of the systems develpment life cycle which aims to determine whether it is sensible to develop some system. The most popular model of feasibility study is "TELOS", standing for Technical, Economic, Legal, Operational, Schedule. Technical Feasibility: does the technology exist to implement the proposed system? Is it a practical proposition? Economic Feasibility: is the system cost-effective? Do benefits outweigh costs? Legal Feasibility: is there any conflict between the proposed system and legal requirements, e.g. the Data Protection Act? Operational Feasibility: are the current work practices and procedures adequate to support the new system? Schedule Feasibility: can the system be developed in time? After the feasibility study, the requirements analysis should be carried out.
- federal land bank — a U.S. federal bank for making long-term loans to farmers.
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- flowering tobacco — any plant belonging to the genus Nicotiana, of the nightshade family, as N. alata and N. sylvestris, having clusters of fragrant flowers that usually bloom at night, grown as an ornamental.
- fluid lubrication — lubrication in which bearing surfaces are separated by an oil film sustained by the motion of the parts
- football hooligan — a noisy violent football supporter
- fort walton beach — a city in NW Florida.
- four-rowed barley — a class of barley having, in each spike, six rows of grain, with two pairs of rows overlapping.