17-letter words containing r, a, k
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- flickertail state — North Dakota (used as a nickname).
- floating dry dock — a dock that floats and can be lowered in the water for the entrance of a ship, and then raised for use as a dry dock
- for heaven's sake — expressing frustration
- frankenstein food — any foodstuff that has been genetically modified
- frederick william — 1795–1861, king of Prussia 1840–61 (brother of William I of Prussia).
- garboard (strake) — the strake adjoining the keel
- general knowledge — commonly known facts
- 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.
- grandfather clock — a pendulum floor clock having a case as tall as or taller than a person; tall-case clock; long-case clock.
- grandmother clock — a pendulum clock similar to a grandfather's clock but shorter.
- great awakening's — the series of religious revivals among Protestants in the American colonies, especially in New England, lasting from about 1725 to 1770.
- great grey shrike — the bird Lanius excubitor
- great white shark — a large shark, Carcharodon carcharias, of tropical and temperate seas, known to occasionally attack swimmers.
- greater forkbeard — a fish of the Phycidae family
- hammer and sickle — the emblem of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1923 and consisting of an insignia of a hammer with its handle across the blade of a sickle and a star above.
- hard nut to crack — a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel or meat enclosed in a woody or leathery shell.
- hard rock geology — (loosely) of or relating to igneous or metamorphic rocks, as in mining (hard-rock mining) and geology (hard-rock geology)
- hasbrouck heights — a borough in NE New Jersey.
- hawking radiation — the emission of particles by a black hole. Pairs of virtual particles in the intense gravitational field around a black hole may live long enough for one to move outward when the other is pulled into the black hole, making it appear that the black hole is emitting radiation
- heart of darkness — a short novel (1902) by Joseph Conrad.
- heartbreakingness — The state or quality of being heartbreaking.
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- horatio kitchener — Horatio Herbert (1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and of Broome) 1850–1916, English field marshal and statesman.
- housekeeping cart — A housekeeping cart is a large metal basket on wheels which is used by a cleaner in a hotel to move clean bed linen, towels, and cleaning equipment.
- human trafficking — the illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation.
- humpbacked bridge — A humpbacked bridge or humpback bridge is a short and very curved bridge with a shape similar to a semi-circle.
- immigrant workers — people who work in a country they arrived to in order to settle there
- in the background — behind the focus of attention
- in the market for — an open place or a covered building where buyers and sellers convene for the sale of goods; a marketplace: a farmers' market.
- indian rope-trick — the supposed Indian feat of climbing an unsupported rope
- infinitive marker — a word or affix occurring with the verb stem in the infinitive, such as to in to make
- 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.
- investment banker — an executive in an investment bank
- jack-in-the-green — (in England, formerly) a man who wore or supported a leaf-covered wooden framework while dancing in May-Day celebrations
- jammu and kashmir — official name of Kashmir (def 2).
- jerusalem cricket — a large, nocturnal, wingless, long-horned grasshopper, Stenopelmatus fuscus, occuring chiefly in loose soil and sand along the Pacific coast of the U.S.
- karelian republic — a constituent republic of NW Russia between the White Sea and Lakes Onega and Ladoga. Capital: Petrozavodsk. Pop: 716 700 (2002). Area: 172 400 sq km (66 560 sq miles)
- karitane hospital — a hospital for young babies and their mothers
- kastor and pollux — Castor and Pollux.
- kawasaki syndrome — a syndrome, usually afflicting children, characterized by high fever, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, rashes, irritated eyes and mucous membranes, etc. with possible damage to the cardiovascular system
- keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- kerguelen islands — an archipelago in the S Indian Ocean: a possession of France. 2394 sq. mi. (6200 sq. km).
- key man insurance — Key man insurance is an insurance policy taken out by a small company on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss.
- key-man assurance — an assurance policy taken out, esp by a small company, on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss
- keyboard commando — (messaging) A bulletin board user who posts authoritatively on military or combat topics, but who has never served in uniform or heard a shot fired in anger. A poseur.
- kidney transplant — surgery to replace a kidney
- king george's war — a war (1744–48) waged by England and its colonies against France, constituting the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession.
- king philip's war — the war (1675–76) between New England colonists and a confederation of Indians under their leader, King Philip.
- klerer-may system — Early system from Columbia University with special mathematics symbols. Its reference manual was two pages long!