17-letter words containing n, o, b, s
- high-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent carbon
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- hold one's breath — If you say that someone is holding their breath, you mean that they are waiting anxiously or excitedly for something to happen.
- hold sb to ransom — If you say that someone is holding you to ransom in British English, or holding you for ransom in American English, you mean that they are using their power to try to force you to do something which you do not want to do.
- hornblende schist — a variety of schist containing needles of hornblende that lie in parallel planes.
- hot on sb's heels — If you say that someone is hot on your heels, you are emphasizing that they are chasing you and are not very far behind you.
- hottentot's bread — elephant's-foot.
- hubble's constant — the ratio of the recessional velocity of galaxies to their distance from the sun, with current measurements of its value ranging from 50 to 100 km/sec per megaparsec.
- hung up on sb/sth — obsessively or exclusively interested in
- hyperbolic cosine — one of a group of functions of an angle expressed as a relationship between the distances of a point on a hyperbola to the origin and to the coordinate axes; cosh
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- i am bound to say — You can say 'I am bound to say' to introduce a statement expressing something that you find undesirable or unexpected.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- in double figures — An amount or number that is in single figures is between zero and nine. An amount or number that is in double figures is between ten and ninety-nine. You can also say, for example, that an amount or number is in three figures when it is between one hundred and nine hundred and ninety-nine.
- in double harness — in a harness for two animals pulling the same carriage, plow, etc.
- incompatibilities — not compatible; unable to exist together in harmony: She asked for a divorce because they were utterly incompatible.
- incompressibility — The quality of being incompressible, of not compressing under pressure.
- inconceivableness — The quality of being inconceivable.
- inertial observer — a hypothetical observer who is not accelerated with respect to an inertial system. Newton's laws of motion and the special theory of relativity apply to the measurements which would be made by such observers
- insectivorous bat — any bat of the suborder Microchiroptera, typically having large ears and feeding on insects. The group includes common bats (Myotis species), vampire bats, etc
- insupportableness — The state of being insupportable; insufferableness.
- insurmountability — incapable of being surmounted, passed over, or overcome; insuperable: an insurmountable obstacle.
- into one's barrow — suited to one's interests or desires
- inverted snobbery — the attitude of an inverted snob
- invisible exports — services sold to a foreign country or countries
- invisible imports — imports of services rather than goods
- irrecoverableness — The quality of being irrecoverable.
- job advertisement — an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on a poster about a post of employment
- job specification — a detailed description of the qualifications, skills, and experience required for a particular post of employment
- job-order costing — a method of cost accounting by which the total cost of a given unit or quantity is determined by computing the costs that go into making a product as it moves through the manufacturing process.
- john of salisbury — c1115–80, English prelate and scholar.
- john wilkes booth — Ballington [bal-ing-tuh n] /ˈbæl ɪŋ tən/ (Show IPA), 1859–1940, founder of the Volunteers of America 1896 (son of William Booth).
- knowledgeableness — The state, quality, or measure of being knowledgeable; wisdom.
- lambda expression — (mathematics) A term in the lambda-calculus denoting an unnamed function (a "lambda abstraction"), a variable or a constant. The pure lambda-calculus has only functions and no constants.
- least upper bound — an upper bound that is less than or equal to all the upper bounds of a particular set. 3 is the least upper bound of the set consisting of 1, 2, 3. Abbr.: lub.
- lebanon mountains — a mountain range extending the length of Lebanon, in the central part. Highest peak, 10,049 feet (3063 meters).
- leibniz mountains — a mountain range on the SW limb of the moon, containing the highest peaks (10 000 metres) on the moon
- light dawns on sb — If light dawns on you, you begin to understand something after a period of not being able to understand it.
- limousine liberal — a wealthy left-wing person
- lombrosian school — a school of criminology, promulgating the theories and employing the methods developed by Lombroso.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- make noises about — to give indications of one's intentions
- microdermabrasion — A cosmetic treatment in which the face is sprayed with exfoliant crystals to remove dead epidermal cells.
- mis en bouteilles — (of a wine) bottled by a specified château, shipper, etc.
- mount robson park — a national park in the Rocky Mountains of E British Columbia, Canada.
- move one's bowels — to pass waste matter from the large intestine; defecate
- national assembly — the body constituted by the French Third Estate in June 1789 after the calling of the Estates General. It was dissolved in Sept 1791 to be replaced by the new Legislative Assembly
- naval observatory — an astronomical observatory located in Washington, D.C., operated by the U.S. government, and responsible for the U.S. time service.
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- neurofibromatosis — a dominantly inherited genetic disorder characterized by flat brown patches on the skin, neurofibromas of the skin and internal organs, and in some cases skeletal deformity.