17-letter words containing r, i, t, l
- gold export point — an exchange rate at which it is as cheap to settle international accounts by exporting gold bullion as by buying bills of exchange
- gold import point — an exchange rate at which it is as cheap to settle international accounts by importing gold bullion as by selling bills of exchange
- 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
- good-time charlie — an affable, sociable, pleasure-loving man.
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grapefruit league — a series of training games played by major-league teams before the opening of the season (so named because they take place in the citrus-growing South, as in Florida).
- great rift valley — a series of rift valleys running from N to S, from the Jordan Valley in SW Asia to Mozambique in SE Africa.
- great vowel shift — a series of changes in the quality of the long vowels between Middle and Modern English as a result of which all were raised, while the high vowels (ē) and (o̅o̅), already at the upper limit, underwent breaking to become the diphthongs (ī) and (ou).
- great willow herb — either of two tall, large-flowered willow herbs, Epilobium angustifolium or E. hirsutum.
- greater celandine — celandine (def 1).
- green-winged teal — a small freshwater duck, Anas crecca, of Eurasia and North America, having an iridescent green speculum in the wing.
- greenland halibut — a flatfish, Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, similar and related to the halibut
- grist to the mill — If you say that something is grist to the mill, you mean that it is useful for a particular purpose or helps support someone's point of view.
- guardian ad litem — a person appointed by a court as guardian of an infant or other person to act on his or her behalf in a particular action or proceeding.
- guerrilla theater — the presentation of short propaganda plays or skits, usually on sociopolitical themes, as war or repression, often on the streets or in other nontheater locations.
- haematocrystallin — Alternative form of hematocrystallin.
- haemoglobinometer — an instrument used to determine the haemoglobin content of blood
- hairline fracture — a very fine crack in a bone
- hairy-tailed mole — a blackish North American mole, Parascalops breweri, having a short, hairy tail.
- harmonic interval — an intervening period of time: an interval of 50 years.
- helicopter parent — a style of child rearing in which an overprotective mother or father discourages a child's independence by being too involved in the child's life: In typical helicopter parenting, a mother or father swoops in at any sign of challenge or discomfort.
- high-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent carbon
- high-tensile wire — wire which can withstand great strain without breaking or becoming deformed
- hillcrest heights — a city in central Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
- histamine blocker — any of various substances that act at a specific receptor site to block certain actions of histamine.
- historical method — the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.
- historical school — a school of economists that arose in Germany in the 19th century in reaction to the principles of the classical economists, and that maintained that the factors making up an economy are variable and develop out of social institutions.
- historiographical — the body of literature dealing with historical matters; histories collectively.
- hit for the cycle — any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.
- ho chi minh trail — a network of jungle paths winding from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam, used as a military route by North Vietnam to supply the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.
- holding operation — a plan or procedure devised to prolong the existing situation
- hole in the heart — a defect of the heart in which there is an abnormal opening in any of the walls dividing the four heart chambers
- hollerith, herman — Herman Hollerith
- homeland security — national defence
- honorable mention — a citation conferred on a contestant, exhibit, etc., having exceptional merit though not winning a top honor or prize.
- hornblende schist — a variety of schist containing needles of hornblende that lie in parallel planes.
- horticulturalists — Plural form of horticulturalist.
- hospital gangrene — Pathology. a contagious, often fatal gangrene, especially involving amputation stumps and war wounds, occurring usually in crowded, ill-kept hospitals, and caused by putrefactive bacteria.
- hotel limo driver — A hotel limo driver is the person whose job it is to drive the hotel limo.
- hyaline cartilage — the typical, translucent form of cartilage, containing little fibrous tissue.
- hydraulic circuit — a circuit through which water or another liquid, instead of electric current, flows, but which otherwise operates in the same way as an electric circuit
- hydroelectrically — Using hydroelectric power.
- hyper-intelligent — having good understanding or a high mental capacity; quick to comprehend, as persons or animals: an intelligent student.
- hyper-peristalsis — the progressive wave of contraction and relaxation of a tubular muscular system, especially the alimentary canal, by which the contents are forced through the system.
- hyperalimentation — overfeeding.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperchlorination — Chemistry. to combine or treat with chlorine. to introduce chlorine atoms into an organic compound by an addition or substitution reaction.
- hyperexcitability — an excessive reaction to stimuli.
- hyperinflationary — (economics) Having very high levels of inflation.