16-letter words containing i, c, k, n, e
- in a cleft stick — If you say that a person or organization is in a cleft stick, you mean that they are in a difficult situation which will bring them problems and harm whatever they decide to do.
- in lockstep with — progressing at exactly the same speed and in the same direction as other people or things, esp as a matter of course rather than by choice
- induction stroke — The induction stroke is the stroke of the piston in an internal combustion engine in which working fluid is drawn into the cylinder.
- insurance broker — person who sells insurance policies
- inter-packet gap — (networking) A time delay between successive data packets mandated by the network standard for protocol reasons. In Ethernet, the medium has to be "silent" (i.e., no data transfer) for a few microseconds before a node can consider the network idle and start to transmit. This is necessary for fairness reasons. The delay time, which approximately equals the signal propagation time on the cable, allows the "silence" to reach the far end so that all nodes consider the net idle.
- karyokinetically — In a karyokinetic manner; by means of karyokinesis.
- kellner eyepiece — a Ramsden eyepiece having an achromatic lens, used in binoculars.
- kentucky windage — a method of correcting for windage, gravity, etc., by aiming a weapon to one side of the target instead of by adjusting the sights.
- keyman insurance — life insurance taken out by a business firm on an essential or very important employee, with the firm as beneficiary.
- kick one's heels — If you are kicking your heels, you are having to wait around with nothing to do, so that you get bored or impatient.
- kidney corpuscle — Malpighian corpuscle.
- kiloelectronvolt — (physics) A unit of energy equal to a thousand electron volts.
- kit and caboodle — a set or collection of tools, supplies, instructional matter, etc., for a specific purpose: a first-aid kit; a sales kit.
- knitting machine — machine that knits yarn into fabric
- knuckle sandwich — a punch in the mouth with a clenched fist.
- lake saint clair — a lake between SE Michigan and Ontario: linked with Lake Huron by the St Clair River and with Lake Erie by the Detroit River. Area: 1191 sq km (460 sq miles)
- leisure sickness — a medical condition in which people who have been working become ill with symptoms such as fatigue or muscular pains at a weekend or while on holiday
- lick one's chops — Usually, chops. the jaw.
- like cat and dog — quarrelling savagely
- lincoln reckoner — An interactive mathematics program including matrix operations, written about 1965. It ran on the TX-2.
- lipstick lesbian — a lesbian who is feminine in manner or appearance; a femme.
- little black ant — a widely distributed ant, Monomorium minimum, sometimes a household pest.
- mackinaw blanket — a thick woolen blanket, often woven with bars of color, formerly used in the northern and western U.S. by Indians, loggers, etc.
- magnetic pick-up — a type of record player pick-up in which the stylus moves an iron core in a coil, causing a changing magnetic field that produces the current
- make a complaint — If a guest makes a complaint, they express their dissatisfaction with something.
- mock examination — an examination, esp in a school, taken as practice before an official examination
- morning sickness — nausea occurring in the early part of the day, especially as a characteristic symptom in the first months of pregnancy.
- narcotraffickers — Plural form of narcotrafficker.
- necklace killing — an instance in which someone is killed by a burning tyre that has been placed around his or her neck.
- new jack (swing) — a style of rhythm-and-blues music blending rap, disco, funk, soul, etc. and characterized by aggressive, boastful, romantic lyrics
- nick someone for — to defraud someone to the extent of
- nutcracker suite — a ballet and concert suite (1892) arranged by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky from his orchestral work for a ballet, The Nutcracker.
- observation deck — an area on a high building that is surrounded with railings or fencing and which provides panoramic views
- ovshinsky effect — an effect that turns special types of glassy, thin films into semiconductors upon application of low voltage.
- packet switching — a method of efficient data transmission whereby the initial message is broken into relatively small units, or packets, that are routed independently and subsequently reassembled.
- packet-switching — a method of efficient data transmission whereby the initial message is broken into relatively small units, or packets, that are routed independently and subsequently reassembled.
- pain in the neck — source of annoyance
- pharmacokinetics — the branch of pharmacology that studies the fate of pharmacological substances in the body, as their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
- poverty-stricken — suffering from poverty; extremely poor: poverty-stricken refugees.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- rack one's brain — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- reckless driving — a serious traffic offence whereby the driver of a vehicle disregards the rules of the road, driving very dangerously, causing accidents or other damage
- ring-necked duck — a North American scauplike duck, Aythya collaris, having a chestnut ring around the neck.
- rocket scientist — a specialist in rocketry.
- rockville centre — a city on W Long Island, in SE New York.
- security blanket — a blanket or other familiar item carried especially by a young child to provide reassurance and a feeling of psychological security.
- sedimentary rock — rock formed from compacted minerals
- shakedown cruise — extortion, as by blackmail or threats of violence.
- sheepskin jacket — a short jacket made of the skin of a sheep with the wool still attached to it
- sickness benefit — Sickness benefit is money that you receive regularly from the government when you are unable to work because of illness.