17-letter words containing o, a, r, f
- axis-of-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- balance of nature — the stable state in which natural communities of animals and plants exist, maintained by adaptation, competition, and other interactions between members of the communit ies and their nonliving environment
- balance of terror — military deterrence based on the possession of weapons of mass destruction by opponents in a conflict
- bald-faced hornet — any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America.
- barber of seville — Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia. a comic opera (1816) by Gioacchino Rossini based on a comedy (1775) by Beaumarchais.
- barrow-in-furness — an industrial town in NW England, in S Cumbria. Pop: 47 194 (2001)
- bathroom fittings — plumbing fixtures or accessories suitable for use in a bathroom
- battle of britain — (in World War II) the series of aerial combats that took place between British and German aircraft during the autumn of 1940 and that included the severe bombardment of British cities.
- be a box of birds — to be very well indeed
- beat the drum for — to attempt to arouse interest in
- bellflower family — the plant family Campanulaceae, characterized by chiefly herbaceous plants having simple, alternate leaves and solitary or clustered flowers with a bell-shaped, five-lobed, often blue or purple corolla, and including the harebell, Canterbury bells, and balloon flower.
- bill of adventure — a certificate made out by a merchant to show that goods handled by him and his agents are the property of another party at whose risk the dealing is done
- bill of attainder — (formerly) a legislative act finding a person guilty without trial of treason or felony and declaring him attainted
- biological father — the man whose semen fertilized the ovum from which a child was born
- biotransformation — the metabolizing of some substance, esp. a drug, in the body
- birth of a nation — an American film (1915), directed by D. W. Griffith.
- black forest cake — a torte consisting typically of thin layers of chocolate cake spread with alternating layers of chocolate, cherry, and whipped-cream filling and covered with whipped cream
- blood transfusion — A blood transfusion is a process in which blood is injected into the body of a person who is badly injured or ill.
- blue sky software — eHelp Corporation
- board of estimate — a special organ of a municipal government, as of New York City, composed of the mayor, the president of the city council, and the controller, and charged with approving the city's budget and fiscal matters.
- board of managers — a group of people responsible for managing an organization
- board of trustees — a governing board which directs the policies of an educational institution
- bradford spinning — a wool-spinning method in which the fibers are oiled prior to combing and subsequently spun into worsted yarn.
- breach of promise — (formerly) failure to carry out one's promise to marry
- break the back of — to complete the greatest or hardest part of (a task)
- breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
- bureau of customs — former name of the United States Customs Service.
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- california condor — either of two large, New World vultures of the family Cathartidae, Gymnogyps californianus (California condor) or Vultur gryphus (Andean condor) the largest flying birds in the Western Hemisphere: the California condor is almost extinct; the Andean condor is greatly reduced in number and rare in many areas.
- california laurel — a Pacific coast shrub or tree (Umbellularia californica) of the laurel family, having aromatic evergreen leaves and hard wood; Oregon myrtle: a source of bay leaves
- california nutmeg — a tall, pungently aromatic California evergreen tree, Torreya californica, of the yew family, having a fissured, gray-brown bark and small, purple-streaked, green fruit.
- california privet — a privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium, of the olive family, native to Japan, having glossy, oval leaves and long clusters of white flowers, widely used for hedges in the U.S.
- canarybird flower — a nasturtium, Tropaeolum peregrinum, of Peru, having round, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
- capital formation — the net additions to a capital stock in an accounting period
- carbon offsetting — a program in which a company, country, etc., reduces or offsets its carbon emissions through the funding of activities and projects that improve the environment: Carbon offsetting does not always have a quantifiable impact on the planet.
- carry a torch for — If you say that someone is carrying a torch for someone else, you mean that they secretly admire them or love them.
- center of gravity — The center of gravity of an object is a point in it. If this point is above the base of the object, it stays stable, rather than falling over.
- centre of gravity — The centre of gravity of an object is a point in it. If this point is above the base of the object, it stays stable, rather than falling over.
- centrifugal force — In physics, centrifugal force is the force that makes objects move outwards when they are spinning around something or travelling in a curve.
- centripetal force — a force that acts inwards on any body that rotates or moves along a curved path and is directed towards the centre of curvature of the path or the axis of rotation
- chart of accounts — A chart of accounts is a list of all the accounts used in a business to classify transactions or report balances.
- charter of rights — a section of the Canadian Constitution containing a statement of the basic rights of citizens of Canada.
- church of england — The Church of England is the main church in England. It has the Queen as its head and it does not recognize the authority of the Pope.
- circular function — trigonometric function (def 1).
- city of gibraltar — a city on the Rock of Gibraltar, a limestone promontory at the tip of S Spain: settled by Moors in 711 and taken by Spain in 1462; ceded to Britain in 1713; a British crown colony (1830–1969), still politically associated with Britain; a naval and air base of strategic importance. Pop: 29 111 (2013 est). Area: 6.5 sq km (2.5 sq miles)
- clifden nonpareil — a handsome nocturnal moth, Catocala fraxini, that is brown with bluish patches on the hindwings: related to the red underwing
- cloverleaf aerial — a type of aerial, having three or four similar coplanar loops arranged symmetrically around an axis, to which in-phase signals are fed
- code of behaviour — the generally accepted rules governing how people behave
- code of hammurabi — a Babylonian legal code of the 18th century b.c. or earlier, instituted by Hammurabi and dealing with criminal and civil matters.
- coin of the realm — legal tender.