17-letter words containing l, e, s, i
- pull one's weight — the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.
- pulsejet (engine) — a jet engine without a compressor or turbine, in which intermittent combustion provides the thrust
- purely and simply — You use purely and simply to emphasize that the thing you are mentioning is the only thing involved.
- purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
- pyroligneous acid — a yellowish, acidic, water-soluble liquid, containing about 10 percent acetic acid, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood: used for smoking meats.
- qualified success — If you describe something as a qualified success, you mean that it is only partly successful.
- quality assurance — a system for ensuring a desired level of quality in the development, production, or delivery of products and services: Quality assurance for nursing homes begins with a set of standards. Abbreviation: QA.
- quality newspaper — a more serious newspaper which gives detailed accounts of world events, as well as reports on business, culture, and society
- quasi-legislative — having the function of making laws: a legislative body.
- quasiexperimental — (medicine) Describing a trial in which the assignment to a group is based upon an experimental condition.
- quasquicentennial — pertaining to or marking a period of 125 years.
- racial harassment — persecution on the basis of race
- radioluminescence — luminescence induced by nuclear radiation.
- recoil escapement — anchor escapement.
- recreationalist's — recreationist.
- recrystallization — to become crystallized again.
- rectangle slinger — polygon pusher
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- reduce to silence — If someone or something reduces you to silence, they make you feel so upset or confused that you cannot speak.
- reformed spelling — a revised orthography intended to simplify the spelling of English words, especially to eliminate unpronounced letters, as by substituting thru for through, tho for though, slo for slow, etc.
- refuse collection — the collection of rubbish and waste, usually in a rubbish or refuse truck, before final disposal
- register of wills — (in some states of the U.S.) the official charged with the probate of wills or with the keeping of the records of the probate court.
- register spilling — (programming, compiler) (By analogy with spilling the contents of an overfull container) When a compiler is performing the register allocation phase of generating machine code and there are more live variables than the machine has registers and it has to transfer or "spill" some variables from registers to memory.
- rehospitalization — the act, process, or state of being hospitalized.
- relativistic mass — the mass of a body in motion relative to the observer: it is equal to the rest mass multiplied by a factor that is greater than 1 and that increases as the magnitude of the velocity increases.
- res ipsa loquitur — the rule that an injury is due to the defendant's negligence when that which caused it was under his or her control or management and the injury would not have happened had proper management been observed.
- revascularization — the restoration of the blood circulation of an organ or area, achieved by unblocking obstructed or disrupted blood vessels or by surgically implanting replacements.
- reverse lightning — a faint discharge of blue light from the top of a thunderstorm cloud that propagates upward: extends approximately from the bottom to the top of the stratosphere and is not detectable from the ground.
- reza shah pahlavi — Muhammad Riza (or Reza) [ri-zah] /rɪˈzɑ/ (Show IPA), 1919–80, shah of Iran 1941–79; in exile after 1979 (son of Riza Shah Pahlavi).
- rhetorical stress — stress required by the meaning of a line, as distinguished from that required by the meter.
- rhinoceros beetle — any of several scarabaeid beetles, especially of the genus Dynastes, which comprises the largest beetles, characterized by one or more horns on the head and prothorax.
- rhode island bent — a European pasture grass, Agrostis tenuis, naturalized in North America, having red flower clusters.
- ringer's solution — an aqueous solution of the chlorides of sodium, potassium, and calcium in the same concentrations as normal body fluids, used chiefly in the laboratory for sustaining tissue.
- rio grande do sul — a state in S Brazil. 107,923 sq. mi. (279,520 sq. km). Capital: Pôrto Alegre.
- rocket propulsion — propulsion of an object by thrust developed by a rocket.
- roseate spoonbill — a tropical New World spoonbill, Ajaia ajaja, having rose-colored plumage and a bare head.
- sable island pony — a variety of wild pony found on Sable Island, Nova Scotia
- sacrificial anode — Chemistry. an anode that is attached to a metal object subject to electrolysis and is decomposed instead of the object.
- saint elmo's fire — corona discharge.
- salt negotiations — international diplomatic discussions carried out in connection with SALT
- salt-rising bread — a kind of bread leavened with a fermented mixture of salted milk, cornmeal, flour, sugar, and soda.
- san quentin quail — jailbait.
- sandro botticelli — Sandro [san-droh,, sahn-;; Italian sahn-draw] /ˈsæn droʊ,, ˈsɑn-;; Italian ˈsɑn drɔ/ (Show IPA), (Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi) 1444?–1510, Italian painter.
- satellite station — a radio or television station that receives programs from another station and rebroadcasts at a different wavelength.
- scarlet firethorn — a Eurasian evergreen, thorny shrub, Pyracantha coccinea, of the rose family, having white, hairy flower clusters and bright red berries.
- scarlet lightning — scarlet lychnis.
- scarlet pimpernel — a plant belonging to the genus Anagallis, of the primrose family, especially A. arvensis (scarlet pimpernel) having scarlet or white flowers that close at the approach of bad weather.
- schmidt telescope — a wide-angle reflecting telescope used primarily for astronomical photography, in which spherical aberration and coma are reduced to a minimum by means of a spherical mirror with a corrector plate near its focus.
- scrophulariaceous — belonging to the Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family of plants.
- sea-island cotton — a long-staple cotton, Gossypium barbadense, raised originally in the Sea Islands and now grown chiefly in the West Indies.