17-letter words containing s, i, l, e, n
- 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.
- barrel distortion — distortion of an image produced by an optical system that causes straight lines at image margins to bulge outwards
- basal anaesthesia — preliminary and incomplete anaesthesia induced to prepare a surgical patient for total anaesthesia with another agent
- base lending rate — a minimum interest rate on which financial institutions base the rates they use for lending
- beer and skittles — enjoyment or pleasure
- bell-hanger's bit — a bit for drilling small holes through studs or the like.
- belleville spring — a spring having the form of a washer or dished disk with an open center, used for cushioning heavy loads with short motion.
- belted kingfisher — a grayish-blue, North American kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon, having a white breast marked with a grayish-blue band.
- benevolent sexism — a theory that sexism toward women is multidimensional, one form (hostile sexism) reflecting negative views of women who challenge traditional gender roles, and the other form (benevolent sexism) reflecting positive views of women who conform to these roles.
- binet-simon scale — a test comprising questions and tasks, used to determine the mental age of subjects, usually children
- bioelectrogenesis — the production of electricity by organisms.
- 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-box testing — functional testing
- blackwells island — a former name of Roosevelt Island.
- blowpipe analysis — a type of chemical analysis in which the intensely hot flame of a blowpipe vaporizes a mineral or other substance with a characteristically colored flame and a unique odor, so as to identify chemical elements in a substance
- blue false indigo — a North American plant, Baptisia australis, of the legume family, having wedge-shaped leaflets and blue, clustered flowers.
- blue-sky thinking — Blue-sky thinking is the activity of trying to find completely new ideas.
- board-and-shingle — a small dwelling with wooden walls and a shingle roof
- boothia peninsula — a peninsula of N Canada: the northernmost part of the mainland of North America, lying west of the Gulf of Boothia, an arm of the Arctic Ocean
- bowel obstruction — a blockage in the bowel
- broderie anglaise — open embroidery on white cotton, fine linen, etc
- browserconfig.xml — (web) A Microsoft configuration file used to customise the appearance and behaviour of website links pinned to the Windows start screen or desktop taskbar. browserconfig.xml allows the site owner to specify things like badges and tile images.
- budget resolution — a resolution adopted by both houses of the U.S. Congress setting forth, reaffirming, or revising the budget for the U.S. government for a fiscal year.
- bull's-eye window — bull's-eye (def 7).
- bushman's singlet — a sleeveless heavy black woollen singlet, used as working clothing by timber fellers
- business as usual — In a difficult situation, if you say it is business as usual, you mean that people will continue doing what they normally do.
- business envelope — an envelope into which standard-size (81⁄2″ × 11″) letterhead stationery can be put with only two folds
- butacaine sulfate — a colorless, crystalline substance, (C18H30N2O2)2·H2SO4, used as a local anesthetic, esp. on mucous membranes
- buttonhole stitch — a reinforcing looped stitch for the edge of material, such as around a buttonhole
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- calorie-conscious — aware of the calorie content of one's diet
- cancer specialist — a medical professional who specializes in the treatment or study of malignant growths or tumours
- capital-intensive — Capital-intensive industries and businesses need the investment of large sums of money. Compare labour-intensive.
- carbon disulphide — a colourless slightly soluble volatile flammable poisonous liquid commonly having a disagreeable odour due to the presence of impurities: used as an organic solvent and in the manufacture of rayon and carbon tetrachloride. Formula: CS2
- cardinal grosbeak — any of various mostly tropical American buntings, such as the cardinal and pyrrhuloxia, the males of which have brightly coloured plumage
- carolina allspice — any of a genus (Calycanthus) of hardy shrubs (family Calycanthaceae) of a dicotyledonous order (Laurales) of plants, bearing reddish-brown, sweet-smelling flowers
- carolina moonseed — a twining woody vine, Cocculus carolinus, of the southeastern U.S., having inconspicuous flowers and showy, red fruit.
- castilla la nueva — Spanish name of New Castile.
- castle in the air — a hope or desire unlikely to be realized; daydream
- cat-o'-nine-tails — a rope whip consisting of nine knotted thongs, used formerly to flog prisoners
- caudal anesthesia — anesthesia below the pelvis, induced by injecting an anesthetic into the sacral portion of the spinal canal.
- cavalier servente — a lover; suitor.
- celestial horizon — the line or circle that forms the apparent boundary between earth and sky.
- cellulose nitrate — a compound made by treating cellulose with nitric and sulphuric acids, used in plastics, lacquers, and explosives: a nitrogen-containing ester of cellulose
- cellulose varnish — a varnish made from cellulose nitrate, used as a protective sealing film
- centi-call second — (spelling) No, it's centum call second.
- charles lindbergh — Anne (Spencer) Morrow, 1906–2001, U.S. writer (wife of Charles Augustus Lindbergh).
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chemiluminescence — the phenomenon in which a chemical reaction leads to the emission of light without incandescence