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

not spare oneself — to exert oneself to the full
not the full quid — mentally subnormal
noun pre-modifier — a noun that occurs before and modifies another noun, as toy in toy store or tour in tour group.
nuclear-free zone — any area in which nuclear weapons, power plants, or materials are not allowed.
object identifier — (programming) (OID) Generally an implementation-specific integer or pointer that uniquely identifies an object.
odds-on favourite — a person, team, horse, etc that is regarded as the most likely to win a competition
off one's own bat — If someone does something off their own bat, they do it without anyone else suggesting it.
off one's trolley — trolley car.
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.
oil of turpentine — a colorless, flammable, volatile essential oil having a penetrating odor and a pungent, bitter taste, obtained from turpentine oleoresin by distillation: used in paints and varnishes, and in medicine as a carminative, vermifuge, expectorant, rubefacient, and, formerly, as a diuretic.
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 front foot — at an advantage, outclassing and outmanoeuvring one's opponents
on the half shell — served raw, with seasonings, on a half shell
on the home front — domestically
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.
on the right foot — in an auspicious manner
on the wrong foot — in an inauspicious manner
one for the books — a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
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.
order of business — a task assigned or to be dealt with: Our first order of business is to reduce expenses.
organized ferment — ferment (def 1).
origin of species — (On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) a treatise (1859) by Charles Darwin setting forth his theory of evolution.
out for the count — If someone is out for the count, they are unconscious or very deeply asleep.
out in left field — Baseball. the area of the outfield to the left of center field, as viewed from home plate. the position of the player covering this area.
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.
out of one's mind — (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
out of the window — dispensed with; disregarded
out on one's feet — dazed or stunned, but still standing
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
peridot of ceylon — a honey-colored tourmaline, used as a gem: not a true peridot.
periodic function — a function of a real or complex variable that is periodic.
personnel officer — a worker responsible for recruiting employees and dealing with matters relating to them
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.

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