17-letter words containing r, e, c, l
- arsenic disulfide — an orange-red, water-insoluble, poisonous powder, As 4 S 4 , As 2 S 2 , or AsS, used chiefly in the manufacture of fireworks.
- articulated joint — Anatomy. a flexible joint.
- articulated lorry — a lorry made in two separate sections, a tractor and a trailer, connected by a pivoted bar
- artificial kidney — a mechanical apparatus for performing haemodialysis
- artificial person — a human being, whether an adult or child: The table seats four persons.
- arunachal pradesh — a state in NE India, formed in 1986 from the former Union Territory. Capital: Itanagar. Pop: 1 091 117 (2001). Area: 83 743 sq km (32 648 sq miles)
- as the crow flies — If you say that a place is a particular distance away as the crow flies, you mean that it is that distance away measured in a straight line.
- assembly district — one of a fixed number of districts into which a state is divided, each district electing one member to the lower house of the state legislature.
- astral projection — the departure of the astral body from the physical body, in order to travel to the astral plane
- astronomical year — year (def 4b).
- asymmetrical bars — a set of parallel bars, having one bar fixed at 230 cm (7 ft, 6 in) and the other at 150 cm (4 ft, 11 in), used by women gymnasts
- at close quarters — If you do something at close quarters, you do it very near to a particular person or thing.
- australia current — a branch of the South Equatorial Current flowing SW from around Fiji to the E coast of Australia and then S along the coast.
- australopithecine — any of various extinct apelike primates of the genus Australopithecus and related genera, remains of which have been discovered in southern and E Africa. Some species are estimated to be over 4.5 million years old
- autocorrelational — Of or pertaining to autocorrelation.
- bachelor's button — any of several plants of a genus (Centaurea) of the composite family, that have scaly, vase-shaped bracts below the white, pink, or blue flowers; esp., the cornflower and knapweed
- bachelor's degree — A bachelor's degree is a first degree awarded by universities.
- bachelor's-button — any of various plants with round flower heads, especially the cornflower.
- back on the rails — If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed.
- bacon's rebellion — an unsuccessful uprising by frontiersmen in Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon against the colonial government in Jamestown.
- bacteriologically — In a bacteriological manner; with respect to bacteriology.
- 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
- balanced literacy — a method of teaching reading in which phonics and whole language approaches are both used to maximize student learning.
- 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.
- baltimore clipper — a small, fast American sailing vessel of the early 19th century, having a sharp hull form and two masts with a pronounced rake and carrying a brig or schooner rig.
- banking principle — the principle that bank notes are a form of credit and should be issued freely in order to maintain an elastic currency.
- base rate fallacy — the tendency, when making judgments of the probability with which an event will occur, to ignore the base rate and to concentrate on other information
- battle-ax culture — a late Neolithic to Copper Age culture of northern Europe marked especially by the production of pottery bearing the imprint of cord and by the use of battle-axes as burial accouterments.
- beardmore glacier — one of the largest glaciers, in central Antarctica. About 125 miles (200 km) long.
- bell-shaped curve — bell curve
- benefit of clergy — sanction by the church
- bergisch gladbach — city in W Germany, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia: pop. 105,000
- bergisch-gladbach — an industrial city in W Germany, near Cologne.
- bicycle motocross — a bicycle race over a rough cross-country course, usually consisting of jumps, obstacles, and turns. Abbreviation: BMX.
- billeting officer — an officer who is responsible for billeting
- bioelectrogenesis — the production of electricity by organisms.
- biological father — the man whose semen fertilized the ovum from which a child was born
- biological marker — a substance, physiological characteristic, gene, etc that indicates, or may indicate, the presence of disease, a physiological abnormality or a psychological condition
- biological mother — the mother who gave birth to a child
- biological parent — a parent who has conceived (biological mother) or sired (biological father) rather than adopted a child and whose genes are therefore transmitted to the child.
- biopharmaceutical — of or relating to drugs produced using biotechnology
- bird's-eye chilli — a small red hot-tasting chilli
- 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
- black huckleberry — a low eastern North American shrub, Gaylussacia baccata, of the heath family, having yellowish-green leaves with resinous dots on the underside, clustered orange-red flowers, and shiny, black, edible fruit.
- black renaissance — a renewal and flourishing of black literary and musical culture during the years after World War I in the Harlem section of New York City.
- black-tailed deer — a variety of mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus, of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, having a tail that is black above.
- black-water fever — a form of babesiosis seen in cattle, deer, bison, water buffalo, African buffalo, and reindeer; characterized by fever, depression, jaundice, dark red-black discolouration of the urine, anaemia, and death
- blackboard jungle — a school or school system characterized by lack of discipline and by juvenile delinquency.
- blackpoll warbler — a North American warbler, Dendroica striata, the adult male of which has the top of the head black.