17-letter words containing r, a, l, e, s
- dynamics analyzer — (language) (DYANA) An early language specialised for vibrational and other dynamic physical systems.
- early closing day — a day on which most shops in a town or area close after lunch
- early renaissance — a style of art developed principally in Florence, Italy, during the 15th century and characterized chiefly by the development of linear perspective, chiaroscuro, and geometrically based compositions.
- eastern transvaal — Mpumalanga
- electric constant — the permittivity of free space, which has the value 8.854 187 × 10–12 farad per metre
- electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
- electrostatically — In an electrostatic manner, by electrostatic means.
- elementary school — primary school
- elliptical spring — An elliptical spring is a spring that is made from two springs in the shape of elongated ovals laid cut in half and back-to-back.
- english breakfast — An English breakfast is a breakfast consisting of cooked food such as bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatoes. It also includes toast and tea or coffee.
- enlarged prostate — disorder of male reproductive gland
- environmentalists — Plural form of environmentalist.
- esprit d'escalier — clever repartee one thinks of too late
- ethinyloestradiol — Alternative form of ethinylestradiol.
- exclusionary rule — a legal rule that evidence obtained illegally, as from a search without a warrant, may not be introduced at trial
- exemplary damages — law: fine imposed as a deterrent
- experimental lisp — (language) (xlisp) An experimental programming language combining a subset of Common Lisp with an object-oriented extension capability (Class and Object types). It was implemented by David Micheal Betz at Apple to allow experimentation with object-oriented programming on small computers. The C source code has been ported to Unix, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari, and MS-DOS. Version 2.1 of the interpreter, by Tom Almy is closer to Common Lisp. E-mail: Tom Almy <[email protected]>.
- extrasolar planet — any other celestial body revolving around a star, illuminated by light from that star
- extraterrestrials — Plural form of extraterrestrial.
- falkland islander — a person from the Falkland Islands
- fall on deaf ears — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
- fall over oneself — to do everything within one's power
- false bread-fruit — ceriman.
- farmers' alliance — an informal name for various regional political organizations that farmers established in the 1880s and that led to the formation of the Peoples' party in 1891–92.
- fiddleback spider — brown recluse spider.
- field sales force — a team of people selling a product or service in the field as opposed to over the telephone, etc
- financial adviser — A financial adviser is someone whose job it is to advise people about financial products and services.
- financial futures — futures in a stock-exchange index, currency exchange rate, or interest rate enabling banks, building societies, brokers, and speculators to hedge their involvement in these markets
- first-aid classes — classes which teach people how to give immediate medical help in an emergency
- flea in one's ear — a sharp rebuke
- flickertail state — North Dakota (used as a nickname).
- flog a dead horse — a large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped, Equus caballus, domesticated since prehistoric times, bred in a number of varieties, and used for carrying or pulling loads, for riding, and for racing.
- fluvioterrestrial — (of animals) able to live in rivers and on land
- footmen's gallery — the rearmost section of seats in the balcony of an English theater, especially in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
- fore-and-aft sail — any of various sails, as jib-headed sails, gaff sails, lugsails, lateen sails, spritsails, staysails, and jibs, that do not set on yards and whose normal position, when not trimmed, is in a fore-and-aft direction amidships.
- foreign relations — (used with a singular verb) the field of foreign affairs: an expert in foreign relations.
- four-star general — high-ranking military officer
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- frostbite sailing — the sport of sailing in temperate latitudes during the winter despite cold weather.
- functional isomer — any of several structural isomers that have the same molecular formula but with the atoms connected in different ways and therefore falling into different functional groups.
- gamblers' fallacy — the fallacy that in a series of chance events the probability of one event occurring increases with the number of times another event has occurred in succession
- garlic mayonnaise — mayonnaise flavoured with garlic
- gause's principle — the principle that similar species cannot coexist for long in the same ecological niche
- general admission — an admission charge for unreserved seats at a theatrical performance, sports event, etc.
- general discharge — a discharge from military service of a person who has served honorably but who has not met all the conditions of an honorable discharge.
- general insurance — insurance (such as house insurance and car insurance) that does not insure someone's life
- general paralysis — a syphilitic brain disorder characterized by chronic inflammation and degeneration of cerebral tissue resulting in mental and physical deterioration.