17-letter words containing n, a, f, o

newfoundland time — a form of civil time observed on the island of Newfoundland, one and one-half hours later than Eastern time and a half hour later than Atlantic time.
niger-kordofanian — a language family comprising Niger-Congo and Kordofanian.
nitrogen fixation — any process of combining atmospheric nitrogen with other elements, either by chemical means or by bacterial action: used chiefly in the preparation of fertilizers, industrial products, etc.
non-certification — the act of certifying.
non-confrontation — an act of confronting.
non-profit-making — A non-profit-making organization or charity is not run with the intention of making a profit.
non-proliferation — Non-proliferation is the limiting of the production and spread of something such as nuclear or chemical weapons.
noninertial frame — a frame of reference that moves with the object, so that the moving object appears to violate Newton's laws of motion since it accelerates despite having no horizontal forces on it.
nonteaching staff — employees within an academic or vocational environment whose jobs do not involve teaching
not lift a finger — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
not one's idea of — not what one regards as (hard work, a holiday, etc)
not spare oneself — to exert oneself to the full
nuclear-free zone — any area in which nuclear weapons, power plants, or materials are not allowed.
odds-on favourite — a person, team, horse, etc that is regarded as the most likely to win a competition
odour of sanctity — sanctimoniousness
of its own accord — If something happens of its own accord, it seems to happen by itself, without anyone making it happen.
off one's own bat — If someone does something off their own bat, they do it without anyone else suggesting it.
off-year election — (in the US) an election held in a year when a presidential election does not take place
office automation — a method or system of using automated or electronic equipment, as word processors and computers, in the operations of an office.
old norman french — Norman French (sense 1)
on the face of it — the front part of the head, from the forehead to the chin.
on the foundation — an endowment or legacy for the perpetual support of an institution such as a school or hospital
on the half shell — served raw, with seasonings, on a half shell
on the off chance — the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled: often personified or treated as a positive agency: Chance governs all.
on the off-chance — If you do something on the off-chance, you do it because you hope that it will succeed, although you think that this is unlikely.
one of these days — at some future time
one size fits all — (of clothing) designed to fit people of a wide range of sizes.
one-parent family — A one-parent family is a family that consists of one parent and his or her children living together.
one-size-fits-all — (of clothing) designed to fit people of a wide range of sizes.
open-channel flow — Open-channel flow is a liquid flow in a channel, which has a free liquid surface.
orange flower oil — neroli oil.
orange free state — a province in central Republic of South Africa: a Boer republic 1854–1900; a British colony (Orange River Colony, ) 1900–10. 49,647 sq. mi. (128,586 sq. km). Capital: Bloemfontein.
organized ferment — ferment (def 1).
out of all reason — unreasonable
out of one's head — the upper part of the body in humans, joined to the trunk by the neck, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
overreach oneself — to fail because of trying to do more than one can
pacific northwest — the region of North America lying north of the Columbia River and west of the Rockies
palette of narmer — a king of Egypt identified by modern scholars as the Menes of tradition and depicted as the unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt on an ancient slate tablet (Narmer Palette or Palette of Narmer) c3200 b.c. with relief carvings on both sides.
parts of kesteven — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
perforation gauge — a marked ruler used to measure the number of perforations per unit length along the borders of a stamp.
performance bonus — a monetary bonus paid to staff who have performed well in their job
performance drugs — the drugs that are taken illegally by athletes to enhance their sporting performance
phase of the moon — Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon." See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a Lisp program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter "corrected" it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug.
phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
plains of abraham — a high plain adjoining the city of Quebec, Canada: battlefield where the English under Wolfe defeated the French under Montcalm in 1759.
play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
point of purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
point-of-purchase — designating or in use at a retail outlet where an item can be purchased; point-of-sale: point-of-purchase displays to entice the buyer.
poison-arrow frog — a small, bright-colored terrestrial frog of the family Dendrobatidae, of Central and South American rain forests, that secretes a virulent poison from its skin, once used on the tips of Indian hunting arrows.
polarizing filter — a camera lens filter used to control the plane of polarization of light entering the lens.

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