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18-letter words containing n, o, s, t, r, i

  • bioinstrumentation — the use of instruments, as sensors, to detect and measure certain body functions, as of persons in spaceflight, and transmit the data to a point where it is evaluated
  • biological parents — the biological mother and father of a child
  • bipolar transistor — (electronics)   A transistor made from a sandwich of n- and p-type semiconductor material: either npn or pnp. The middle section is known as the "base" and the other two as the "collector" and "emitter". When used as an amplifying element, the base to emitter junction is in a "forward-biased" (conducting) condition, and the base to collector junction is "reverse-biased" or non-conducting. Small changes in the base to emitter current (the input signal) cause either holes (for pnp devices) or free electrons (for npn) to enter the base from the emitter. The attracting voltage of the collector causes the majority of these charges to cross into and be collected by the collector, resulting in amplification. Contrast field effect transistor.
  • bird's-nest orchid — a brown parasitic Eurasian orchid, Neottia nidus-avis, whose thick fleshy roots resemble a bird's nest and contain a fungus on which the orchid feeds
  • board of elections — a bipartisan board appointed usually by local authorities and charged with control of elections and voting procedure.
  • branch instruction — a machine-language or assembly-language instruction that causes the computer to branch to another instruction
  • branch to fishkill — (IBM: from the location of one of the corporation's facilities) Any unexpected jump in a program that produces catastrophic or just plain weird results. See jump off into never-never land, hyperspace.
  • brightness control — a control that enables the brightness of the image on a television screen, computer monitor, etc to be adjusted
  • bring to its knees — If a country or organization is brought to its knees, it is almost completely destroyed by someone or something.
  • 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
  • cabernet sauvignon — a black grape originally grown in the Bordeaux area of France, and now throughout the wine-producing world
  • cambrian mountains — a mountain range in Wales, extending from Carmarthenshire in the S to Denbighshire in the N. Highest peak: Aran Fawddwy, 891 m (2970 ft)
  • 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)
  • cartilaginous fish — any fish of the class Chondrichthyes, including the sharks, skates, and rays, having a skeleton composed entirely of cartilage
  • cash-for-questions — of, involved in, or relating to a scandal in which some MPs were accused of accepting bribes to ask particular questions in Parliament
  • castration complex — an unconscious fear of having one's genitals removed, as a punishment for wishing to have sex with a parent
  • catalogue raisonne — a descriptive catalogue, esp one covering works of art in an exhibition or collection
  • catherine of siena — Saint. 1347–80, Italian mystic and ascetic; patron saint of the Dominican order. Feast day: April 29
  • centralized school — a public school formed from the pupils and teachers of a number of discontinued smaller schools, especially in a rural district.
  • cesarean (section) — a surgical operation for delivering a baby by cutting through the mother's abdominal and uterine walls
  • chinese revolution — the overthrow of the last Manchu emperor and the establishment of a republic in China (1911–12)
  • chinese watermelon — a tropical Asian vine, Benincasa hispida, of the gourd family, having a brown, hairy stem, large, solitary, yellow flowers, and white, melonlike fruit.
  • 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 brothers — a religious congregation of laymen founded in France in 1684 for the education of the poor
  • 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.
  • christmas shopping — shopping especially for Christmas presents, but also for Christmas food and drink, and all the other things required over the Christmas period.
  • christmas stocking — A Christmas stocking is a long sock which children hang up on Christmas Eve. During the night, parents fill the stocking with small presents.
  • chromatic semitone — the pitch difference between one note and its sharpened or flattened equivalent
  • chronic bronchitis — persistent respiratory disease
  • chronostratigraphy — The branch of geology concerned with establishing the absolute ages of strata.
  • cigar-store indian — a wooden statue of an American Indian, traditionally displayed at the entrance of cigar stores.
  • citizen journalism — the involvement of non-professionals in reporting news, esp in blogs and other websites
  • closed corporation — a corporation the stock of which is owned by a small number of persons and is rarely traded on the open market
  • coastguard station — the headquarters or local offices of a coastguard
  • coitus interruptus — the deliberate withdrawal of the penis from the vagina before ejaculation
  • collection charges — the charges levied to cover expenses for the collection of debt
  • collision diameter — the distance between the centers of two colliding molecules when at their closest point of approach.
  • combination square — an adjustable device for carpenters, used as a try square, miter square, level, etc.
  • combustion chamber — an enclosed space in which combustion takes place, such as the space above the piston in the cylinder head of an internal-combustion engine or the chambers in a gas turbine or rocket engine in which fuel and oxidant burn
  • combustion furnace — a furnace used in the laboratory to carry out elemental analysis of organic compounds
  • 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
  • complementarianism — The doctrine that genders in a society should have complementary roles.
  • composition rubber — manufactured rubber
  • composition series — a normal series of subgroups in which no additional subgroups can be inserted.
  • compression stroke — The compression stroke is the stroke in an engine in which the air or air/fuel mixture is compressed before ignition.
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