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18-letter words containing i, d, r, s

  • board of elections — a bipartisan board appointed usually by local authorities and charged with control of elections and voting procedure.
  • board of examiners — a group of people who officially administer examinations
  • brazilian rosewood — a Brazilian tree, Dalbergia nigra, of the legume family.
  • bread and circuses — something offered as a means of distracting attention from a problem or grievance
  • brewer's blackbird — a blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, of the U.S., the male of which has greenish-black plumage with a purplish-black head.
  • bring-and-buy sale — A bring-and-buy sale is an informal sale to raise money for a charity or other organization. People who come to the sale bring things to be sold and buy things that other people have brought.
  • briquet's syndrome — somatization disorder.
  • british somaliland — a former British protectorate (1884–1960) in E Africa, on the Gulf of Aden: united with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form Somalia (or the Somali Republic); in 1991 the self-styled republic of Somaliland, covering the same area as the former British Somaliland, declared itself independent and continues to function largely as a separate entity, though without international recognition
  • broadcasting house — any of a number of buildings in the UK from which the BBC broadcasts or has broadcast
  • bronchocandidiasis — See under candidiasis.
  • building materials — materials such as bricks, cement, timber, etc
  • burn one's bridges — If you burn your bridges, you do something which forces you to continue with a particular course of action, and makes it impossible for you to return to an earlier situation or relationship.
  • butler's sideboard — a sideboard, often with a fall front, having on its top a china cabinet with glazed doors.
  • by fits and starts — spasmodically; without concerted effort
  • camp david accords — a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt issuing from talks at Camp David between Egyptian President Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and the host, U.S. President Carter: signed in 1979.
  • cape breton island — an island off SE Canada, in NE Nova Scotia, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso: its easternmost point is Cape Breton. Pop: 132 298 (2006). Area: 10 280 sq km (3970 sq miles)
  • carbonic anhydrase — an enzyme in blood cells that catalyses the decomposition of carbonic acid into carbon dioxide and water, facilitating the transport of carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs
  • carcinoid syndrome — the systemic effects, including flushing, palpitations, diarrhea, and cramps, resulting from increased blood levels of serotonin secreted by a carcinoid.
  • centralized school — a public school formed from the pupils and teachers of a number of discontinued smaller schools, especially in a rural district.
  • chambered nautilus — nautilus (def 1).
  • character disorder — a disorder characterized by socially undesirable behavior, as poor control of impulses or inability to maintain close emotional relationships, and by absence of anxiety or guilt.
  • chickenheartedness — Alternative form of chicken-heartedness.
  • children of israel — the Jews; Hebrews
  • children's crusade — a crusade to recover Jerusalem from the Saracens, undertaken in 1212 by thousands of French and German children who perished, were sold into slavery, or were turned back.
  • chinese fire drill — a state of chaotic, often clamorous disorder.
  • chinese water deer — a small Chinese or Korean deer, Hydropotes inermis, having tusks and no antlers: introduced into England and France
  • chord of the sixth — sixth chord.
  • chrétien de troyes — 12th century, French poet, who wrote the five Arthurian romances Erec; Cligès; Lancelot, le chevalier de la charette; Yvain, le chevalier au lion; and Perceval, le conte del Graal (?1155–?1190), the first courtly romances
  • christian democrat — a member or supporter of a Christian Democratic party
  • christian endeavor — an organization of young people of various evangelical Protestant churches, formed in 1881 to promote Christian principles and service.
  • christian reformed — of or relating to a Protestant denomination (Christian Reformed Church) organized in the U.S. in 1857 by groups that had seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church.
  • christine de pisan — ?1364–?1430, French poet and prose writer, born in Venice. Her works include ballads, rondeaux, lays, and a biography of Charles V of France
  • cigar-store indian — a wooden statue of an American Indian, traditionally displayed at the entrance of cigar stores.
  • circular dichroism — selective absorption of one of the two possible circular polarizations of light.
  • closed corporation — a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market
  • closed scholarship — a scholarship for which only certain people, such as those from a particular school or with a particular surname, are eligible
  • coastguard station — the headquarters or local offices of a coastguard
  • collision diameter — the distance between the centers of two colliding molecules when at their closest point of approach.
  • comb-footed spider — any of numerous spiders constituting the family Theridiidae, having a comblike row of bristles on the tarsi of the hind legs.
  • compensation award — an amount of money awarded as compensation in a court case
  • compensation order — (in Britain) the requirement of a court that an offender pay compensation for injury, loss, or damage resulting from an offence, either in preference to or as well as a fine
  • concussion grenade — a grenade designed to inflict damage by the force of its detonation rather than by the fragmentation of its casing.
  • condensation trail — contrail.
  • conservation grade — relating to food produced using traditional methods where possible, and following strict specifications regarding animal feeds and welfare, the use of chemical fertilizers, wildlife conservation, and land management
  • considered harmful — (programming, humour)   A type of phrase based on the title of Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM, "Goto Statement Considered Harmful", which fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print articles taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies bore titles of the form "X considered Y". The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realisation that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke.
  • contact dermatitis — dermatitis caused by direct contact with an irritating substance, as an allergen or chemical
  • contradistinctions — Plural form of contradistinction.
  • corridors of power — the higher echelons of government, the Civil Service, etc, considered as the location of power and influence
  • countryside agency — (in England) a government agency that promotes the conservation and enjoyment of the countryside and aims to stimulate employment in rural areas
  • cracked distillate — A cracked distillate is a clear yellow liquid, mostly containing hydrocarbons, which is produced by steam cracking without a catalyst.
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