17-letter words containing o, b, t, a
- fulgencio batista — Fulgencio [fool-hen-syaw] /fulˈhɛn syɔ/ (Show IPA), (Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar) 1901–73, Cuban military leader: dictator of Cuba 1934–40; president 1940–44, 1952–59.
- garbage collector — refuse collector, dustman
- garboard (strake) — the strake adjoining the keel
- get a bang out of — to experience a thrill or excitement from
- get above oneself — If you say that someone is getting above themself, you disapprove of them because they think they are better than everyone else.
- get one's back up — the rear part of the human body, extending from the neck to the lower end of the spine.
- get to first base — Baseball. the first in counterclockwise order of the bases from home plate. the position of the player covering the area of the infield near first base.
- glass box testing — white box testing
- glastonbury chair — a folding chair having legs crossed front-to-back and having arms connected to the back and to the front seat rail.
- go back to the pa — to abandon city life in favour of rural life
- go by the wayside — to be put aside on account of something more urgent
- goldbeater's skin — the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used by goldbeaters to lay between the leaves of the metal while they beat it into gold leaf.
- golf ball printer — IBM 2741
- great willow herb — either of two tall, large-flowered willow herbs, Epilobium angustifolium or E. hirsutum.
- greater forkbeard — a fish of the Phycidae family
- gunboat diplomacy — diplomatic relations involving the use or threat of military force, especially by a powerful nation against a weaker one.
- haemoglobinometer — an instrument used to determine the haemoglobin content of blood
- haemoglobinopathy — (medicine) Any of a group of inherited disorders in which haemoglobin does not function properly.
- hasbrouck heights — a borough in NE New Jersey.
- have it both ways — to try to get the best of a situation, argument, etc, by chopping and changing between alternatives or opposites
- have it in for sb — If someone has it in for you, they dislike you and try to cause problems for you.
- have on the brain — If someone has something on the brain, they keep thinking about it.
- henry cabot lodge — Henry Cabot, 1850–1924, U.S. public servant and author: senator 1893–1924.
- 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.
- honorable mention — a citation conferred on a contestant, exhibit, etc., having exceptional merit though not winning a top honor or prize.
- 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.
- 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.
- imitation doublet — a doublet formed entirely of glass.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- in broad daylight — openly, in full public view
- in the background — behind the focus of attention
- incommunicability — incapable of being communicated, imparted, shared, etc.
- incompatibilities — not compatible; unable to exist together in harmony: She asked for a divorce because they were utterly incompatible.
- incubation period — the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.
- 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.
- interlibrary loan — a system by which one library obtains a work for a user by borrowing it from another library.
- internet backbone — (communications, networking) High-speed networks that carry Internet traffic. These communications networks are provided by companies such as AT&T, GTE, IBM, MCI, Netcom, Sprint, UUNET and consist of high-speed links in the T1, T3, OC1 and OC3 ranges. The backbones carry Internet traffic around the world and meet at Network Access Points (NAPs). The topology of the "backbone" and its interconnections may once have resembled a spine with ribs connected along its length but is now almost certainly more like a fishing net wrapped around the world with many circular paths.
- into one's barrow — suited to one's interests or desires
- irrational number — a number that cannot be exactly expressed as a ratio of two integers.
- irreconcilability — incapable of being brought into harmony or adjustment; incompatible: irreconcilable differences.
- 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