17-letter words containing o, c, u, r
- to run its course — If something runs its course or takes its course, it develops naturally and comes to a natural end.
- to show your face — If you show your face somewhere, you go there and see people, although you are not welcome, are rather unwilling to go, or have not been there for some time.
- top-security wing — a wing of a prison, mental hospital, etc that has a very high level of precautions against escape
- topological group — a set that is a group and a topological space and for which the group operation and the map of an element to its inverse are continuous functions.
- torricellian tube — a vertical glass tube partly evacuated and partly filled with mercury, the height of which is used as a measure of atmospheric pressure
- touch a raw nerve — If you say that you have touched a nerve or touched a raw nerve, you mean that you have accidentally upset someone by talking about something that they feel strongly about or are very sensitive about.
- transfer function — The transfer function of a circuit is the ratio of the response to the input.
- trapdoor function — a function defined from data by means of a mathematical procedure in such a way that it is easy to obtain the function when the data are known, but when the procedure and data are not known it becomes very difficult to determine the original data: used in cryptography, where the data are the characters of the plain text, or message, and the trapdoor function is the cryptogram.
- triboluminescence — luminescence produced by friction, usually within a crystalline substance.
- tropical aquarium — an aquarium designed for the maintenance and breeding of tropical fish and kept at a suitably warm temperature.
- trouble came back — (jargon) (TCB) An IBM term for an intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or shotgun debugging. Compare heisenbug.
- trucial sheikdoms — an independent federation in E Arabia, formed in 1971, now comprising seven emirates on the S coast (formerly, Pirate Coast or Trucial Coast) of the Persian Gulf, formerly under British protection: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah (joined 1972), and Fujairah. About 32,300 sq. mi. (83,657 sq. km). Capital: Abu Dhabi. Abbreviation: U.A.E.
- turbosupercharger — (formerly) a turbocharger.
- turn of the screw — a short novel (1898) by Henry James.
- turn on the charm — If someone turns on the charm, they behave in a way that seems very friendly but which you think is insincere, often in order to obtain something or deceive someone.
- turn-down service — In a hotel, a turn-down service is the preparation of a room for a guest to sleep in by slightly turning back the comforter on the bed, turning down the lights, and so on.
- ultraconservative — extremely conservative, especially in politics.
- ultramicrobalance — a balance for weighing precisely, to a hundredth of a microgram or less, minute quantities of material.
- unclassified road — a road that has not been given a grade because it is of a basic standard
- uncomfortableness — causing discomfort or distress; painful; irritating.
- uncomprehendingly — to understand the nature or meaning of; grasp with the mind; perceive: He did not comprehend the significance of the ambassador's remark.
- unconformity trap — An unconformity trap is a hydrocarbon trap where the closure is made by an unconformity (= a formation of rock layers which represents a gap in the geological record).
- uncooperativeness — working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.
- under the counter — (of merchandise) sold clandestinely.
- under-the-counter — (of merchandise) sold clandestinely.
- undercompensation — to compensate or pay less than is fair, customary, or expected.
- unify corporation — (company) Developers of the Unify relational database. At one time, before Sybase, they were a competitor of Oracle, et al.
- unipalm group plc — (company) A company floated in March 1994.
- unofficial strike — a strike that is not approved by the strikers' trade union
- unreconstructible — not capable of being reconstructed.
- upper paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- vacuum aspiration — menstrual extraction.
- vacuum extraction — applying suction to a baby's head during birth to help it emerge
- vernacularization — to translate into the natural speech peculiar to a people.
- victor emmanuel i — 1759–1824, king of Sardinia 1802–21.
- victoriano huerta — Victoriano [beek-taw-ryah-naw] /ˌbik tɔˈryɑ nɔ/ (Show IPA), 1854–1916, Mexican general: provisional president of Mexico 1913–14.
- warehouse receipt — a receipt for goods placed in a warehouse.
- warehousing costs — the costs involved in storing goods in a warehouse
- wave-cut platform — a flat surface at the base of a cliff formed by erosion by waves
- wearable computer — a small computer that is worn or carried on the body; a wearable computing device: a wrist-worn wearable computer with a head-mounted display.
- without prejudice — fairly
- working substance — a substance, usually a fluid, that undergoes changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or form as part of a process for accomplishing work.
- writ of execution — a writ ordering that a judgment be enforced
- year of confusion — (in ancient Rome) the year of 445 days preceding the introduction, in 46 b.c., of the Julian calendar: lengthened to compensate for the cumulative errors of the Roman calendar.
- your day in court — Your day in court is your chance to give your side of an argument or other matter.
- zero-coupon bonds — Zero-coupon bonds are bonds with no coupons that do not pay interest, and are sold at a large discount from their face value.