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16-letter words containing r, u, c

  • bronchopneumonia — inflammation of the lungs, originating in the bronchioles
  • buckthorn family — the plant family Rhamnaceae, characterized by shrubs and trees having alternate, simple leaves, clusters of small flowers, and fruit in the form of a drupe or capsule, and including the buckthorn, cascara, and New Jersey tea.
  • bullock's oriole — a common oriole, Icterus galbula bullockii, of western North America: a subspecies of the northern oriole.
  • buoyancy chamber — an enclosed section of a canoe, float, ship or other object that contains air, foam, or another buoyant substance in order to help maintain buoyancy
  • bureau de change — a place where foreign currencies can be exchanged
  • bureaucratically — of, relating to, or characteristic of a bureaucrat or a bureaucracy; arbitrary and routine.
  • burnt-tip orchid — a small orchid, Orchis ustulata, resembling the lady orchid, having dark reddish-brown hoods that give a burnt look to the tip of the flower spike
  • bury the hatchet — to cease hostilities and become reconciled
  • bush huckleberry — a huckleberry shrub, Gaylussacia dumosa, having sticky, hairy twigs, white or pink flowers, and tasteless but edible black fruit.
  • buttercup family — the plant family Ranunculaceae, typified by mostly herbaceous plants having usually alternate leaves, multistaminate flowers sometimes lacking petals but with colorful sepals, and including the anemone, buttercup, clematis, columbine, delphinium, and monkshood.
  • buttercup squash — a small, usually dark-green squash that is a variety of Cucurbita maxima, having sweet orange flesh.
  • butterfly effect — the idea, used in chaos theory, that a very small difference in the initial state of a physical system can make a significant difference to the state at some later time
  • butterfly orchid — an orchid (Oncidium papilio) with reddish flowers, native to South America
  • butterfly scheme — A parallel version of Scheme for the BBN Butterfly computer.
  • byzantine church — Orthodox Church (def 1).
  • caducibranchiate — (of many amphibians, such as frogs) having gills during one stage of the life cycle only
  • calcium arsenate — a toxic, white powder, Ca3(AsO4)2, used as an insecticide in the form of a spray or dust
  • calcium chloride — a white deliquescent salt occurring naturally in seawater and used in the de-icing of roads and as a drying agent. Formula: CaCl2
  • calcium fluoride — a white, crystalline compound, CaF 2 , insoluble in water, occurring in nature as the mineral fluorite: used as a flux in metallurgy and as a decay preventive in dentifrices.
  • calculate a risk — If you calculate a risk, you decide how likely an event is, whether the insurer should underwrite the risk, and at what cost.
  • california quail — a quail, Callipepla californica, of the western coast of the U.S., having grayish-brown plumage with black, white, and chestnut markings.
  • call to quarters — a bugle call shortly before taps, notifying soldiers to retire to their quarters
  • camborne-redruth — a former (until 1974) urban district in SW England, in Cornwall: formed in 1934 by the amalgamation of the neighbouring towns of Camborne and Redruth. Pop: 39 936 (2001)
  • canada bluegrass — a Eurasian grass, Poa compressa, naturalized in North America, having creeping rootstocks and bluish-green leaves.
  • canaries current — an ocean current of the North Atlantic flowing southward past Spain and North Africa.
  • cantankerousness — disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: a cantankerous, argumentative man.
  • canterbury bells — a cultivated bellflower (Campanula medium) with white, pink, or blue cuplike flowers
  • canterbury tales — an unfinished literary work by Chaucer, largely in verse, consisting of stories told by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury
  • capsule wardrobe — a collection of clothes and accessories that includes only items considered essential
  • carbon bisulfide — carbon disulfide
  • carbon disulfide — a heavy, volatile, colorless liquid, CS2, highly flammable and poisonous, used as a solvent, insecticide, etc.
  • cardiac neurosis — an anxiety reaction characterized by quick fatigue, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, and other cardiac symptoms, but not caused by disease of the heart.
  • cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
  • cardinal virtues — the most important moral qualities, traditionally justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude
  • careers guidance — advice and information about careers that helps individuals, esp young people, decide on a career and also teaches them how to pursue their chosen career
  • caricature plant — a tropical Old World shrub, Graptophyllum pictum, of the acanthus family, characterized by purple or red tubular flowers and leaf markings resembling the profile of a human face.
  • carolus linnaeus — Carolus [kar-uh-luh s] /ˈkær ə ləs/ (Show IPA), (Carl von Linné) 1707–78, Swedish botanist.
  • carpatho-ukraine — a region in W Ukraine: ceded by Czechoslovakia in 1945.
  • carry-on luggage — luggage that is taken inside an aircraft by hand personally by a passenger
  • caryophyllaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Caryophyllaceae, a family of flowering plants including the pink, carnation, sweet william, and chickweed
  • cathedral church — the principal church in a diocese
  • cathode ray tube — (hardware)   (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer VDUs and monitors, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a vacuum tube. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a raster. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "pixel") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "persistence" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their dot pitch, which determines their spatial resolution, and in whether they use interlace or not.
  • cathode-ray tube — A cathode-ray tube is a device in televisions and computer terminals which sends an image onto the screen.
  • cedar revolution — the popular protests in 2005 that brought down the Lebanese cabinet and prompted Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon
  • celebrity status — the prominence of film star, footballer, musician etc who is constantly photographed and written about in tabloids and magazines
  • central european — involving or denoting the people, countries, cultures, or languages of Central Europe
  • centrifugal pump — a pump having a high-speed rotating impeller whose blades throw the water outwards
  • century meltdown — Year 2000
  • cerulean warbler — a North American wood warbler, Dendroica cerulea, the male of which is blue above and white below.
  • chalon-sur-saône — an industrial city in E central France, on the Saône River. Pop: 50 124 (1999)
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