20-letter words containing f, b
- order bill of lading — a bill of lading that is issued to the order of a shipper or consignee for delivery of the goods and that can be transferred by endorsement to third parties.
- outside (of) the box — in a fresh, inventive, unconventional way
- probability function — the function the values of which are probabilities of the distinct outcomes of a discrete random variable
- public record office — an institution in which official records are stored and kept available for inspection by the public
- red badge of courage — a novel (1895) by Stephen Crane.
- republic of maldives — a republic occupying an archipelago of 1087 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka: came under British protection in 1887; became independent in 1965 and a republic in 1968; member of the Commonwealth (1982–2016). The economy and infrastructure were severely damaged in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Official language: Divehi. Official religion: (Sunni) Muslim. Currency: rufiyaa. Capital: Malé. Pop: 393 988 (2013 est). Area: 298 sq km (115 sq miles)
- ring of the nibelung — Richard Wagner's tetralogy of music dramas: Das Rheingold (completed 1869), Die Walküre (completed 1870), Siegfried (completed 1876), and Götterdämmerung (completed 1876): the cycle was first performed at Bayreuth, 1876.
- sb's future lies swh — If you say that someone's future lies in a particular place or activity, you think they will be most successful or happy in that place or doing that activity.
- self-belaying system — (in climbing) equipment used to pay out rope as required and thus enable a climber to self-belay
- sell a bill of goods — a quantity or consignment of salable items, as an order, shipment, etc.
- sodium metabisulfite — Sodium metabisulfite is a crystalline compound used as an antioxidant.
- soke of peterborough — a former administrative unit of E central England, generally considered part of Northamptonshire or Huntingdonshire: absorbed into Cambridgeshire in 1974
- stare sb in the face — If a situation or the answer to a problem is staring you in the face, it is very obvious, although you may not be immediately aware of it.
- stefan-boltzmann law — the law stating that the total energy radiated from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
- tchebycheff equation — a differential equation of the form (1 − x 2) d 2 y/dx 2 − x dy/dx + n 2 y = 0, where n is any nonnegative integer.
- the beautiful people — rich, fashionable people in international high society
- the butterfat cheque — the total annual cash return for operations on a dairy farm
- the infinite (being) — God
- to bear the brunt of — To bear the brunt or take the brunt of something unpleasant means to suffer the main part or force of it.
- to burst into flames — If something bursts into flames or bursts into flame, it suddenly starts burning strongly.
- to get off sb's back — If you tell someone to get off your back, you are telling them angrily to stop criticizing you or putting pressure on you.
- to have it in for sb — If someone has it in for you, they do not like you and they want to make life difficult for you.
- to hope for the best — If you are in a difficult situation and do something and hope for the best, you hope that everything will happen in the way you want, although you know that it may not.
- to take years off sb — if you say that something such as an experience or a way of dressing has taken years off someone, you mean that it has made them look or feel much younger
- tomb of the unknowns — See under Unknown Soldier.
- unemployment benefit — an allowance of money paid, usually weekly, to an unemployed worker by a state or federal agency or by the worker's labor union or former employer during all or part of the period of unemployment.
- vertical lift bridge — lift bridge.
- war of the rebellion — American Civil War.
- wardrobe malfunction — an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing
- white-fringed beetle — any of several weevils of the genus Graphognathus, native to South America and now of southeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S., whose larvae feed on roots and cause serious damage to a wide variety of plants.