17-letter words containing s, h, r
- electric strength — the maximum voltage sustainable by an insulating material, after which it loses its insulating properties
- electroanesthesia — Anesthesia induced by cranial electrotherapy stimulation.
- electrophysiology — The branch of physiology that deals with the electrical phenomena associated with nervous and other bodily activity.
- elementary school — primary school
- ends of the earth — remote regions
- 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.
- ethinyloestradiol — Alternative form of ethinylestradiol.
- faint-heartedness — lack of courage
- father substitute — a male who replaces an absent father and becomes an object of attachment.
- feathered friends — Birds are sometimes referred to as our feathered friends.
- fire extinguisher — a portable container, usually filled with special chemicals for putting out a fire.
- fire-extinguisher — a portable container, usually filled with special chemicals for putting out a fire.
- firehose syndrome — (networking, jargon) An absence, failure or inadequacy of flow control mechanisms causing the sender to overwhelm the receiver. The implication is that, like trying to drink from a firehose, the consequenses are worse than just loss of data, e.g. the receiver may crash. See ping-flood.
- first call on sth — If you have first call on something, you will be asked before anyone else whether you want to buy or use it.
- fish out of water — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- flash photography — photography using a momentary flash of artificial light as a source of illumination.
- flight instrument — any instrument used to indicate the altitude, attitude, airspeed, drift, or direction of an aircraft.
- 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.
- florentine stitch — a straight stitch worked in a high and low relief pattern to form a variety of zigzag or oblique designs.
- fluorescent light — a fluorescent lamp in domestic or commercial use; a fluorescent strip
- for heaven's sake — expressing frustration
- for the most part — a portion or division of a whole that is separate or distinct; piece, fragment, fraction, or section; constituent: the rear part of the house; to glue the two parts together.
- 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).
- freedom of speech — the right of people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference, subject to the laws against libel, incitement to violence or rebellion, etc.
- freight insurance — insurance paid on goods in transport
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- from the rooftops — If you shout something from the rooftops, you say it or announce it in a very public way.
- furbish lousewort — any plant belonging to the genus Pedicularis, of the figwort family, as the wood betony, formerly supposed to cause lice in sheep feeding on it: one species, P. furbishiae (Furbish lousewort) of parts of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, having finely toothed leaves and a cluster of yellow flowers, is endangered and was thought to be extinct until specimens were discovered in 1946 and again in 1976.
- fuss and feathers — an excessively elaborate or pretentious display; ostentation.
- gas chromatograph — a chromatograph used for the separation of volatile substances.
- gaucher's disease — a rare inherited disorder of fat metabolism that causes spleen and liver enlargement, abnormal fragility and pain of the bones, and progressive neurologic disturbances, leading to early death.
- 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.
- george washington — Booker T(aliaferro) [boo k-er tol-uh-ver] /ˈbʊk ər ˈtɒl ə vər/ (Show IPA), 1856–1915, U.S. reformer, educator, author, and lecturer.
- gestatorial chair — a ceremonial chair on which the pope is carried
- get in one's hair — to annoy one
- get off the grass — an exclamation of disbelief
- gi bill of rights — any of various Congressional bills enacted to provide funds for college educations, home-buying loans, and other benefits for armed-services veterans.
- glastonbury chair — a folding chair having legs crossed front-to-back and having arms connected to the back and to the front seat rail.
- globus hystericus — the sensation of having a lump in the throat or difficulty in swallowing for which no medical cause can be found.
- glory-of-the-snow — any of several plants belonging to the genus Chionodoxa, of the lily family, native to the Old World, having showy, blue, white, or pink flowers that bloom early in the spring.
- grande chartreuse — the Carthusian monastery at Grenoble, France: the chief monastery of the Carthusians until 1903.
- grandstand finish — a close or exciting ending to a sports match or competition
- great grey shrike — the bird Lanius excubitor
- 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 white shark — a large shark, Carcharodon carcharias, of tropical and temperate seas, known to occasionally attack swimmers.
- greenhouse effect — an atmospheric heating phenomenon, caused by short-wave solar radiation being readily transmitted inward through the earth's atmosphere but longer-wavelength heat radiation less readily transmitted outward, owing to its absorption by atmospheric carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and other gases; thus, the rising level of carbon dioxide is viewed with concern.
- grid merchandiser — A grid merchandiser is a lightweight, free-standing, flexible fixture made up of moveable grids of wire and used by retailers can display large volumes of merchandise in a small space.
- 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.
- ground angle shot — a photograph or film shot in which the lens is near the ground, usually pointing up somewhat
- guardhouse lawyer — a person in military service, especially an inmate of a guardhouse or brig, who is or claims to be an authority on military law, regulations, and soldiers' rights.