17-letter words containing s, y, b, a
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperbolic spiral — rθ = a, (where a is a constant)
- i am bound to say — You can say 'I am bound to say' to introduce a statement expressing something that you find undesirable or unexpected.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- indian strawberry — a plant, Duchesnea indica, of the rose family, native to India, having yellow flowers and inedible fruit resembling strawberries.
- indistinguishably — In an indistinguishable manner; so that separate components or differences cannot be discerned.
- insurmountability — incapable of being surmounted, passed over, or overcome; insuperable: an insurmountable obstacle.
- intestinal bypass — the surgical circumvention, by anastomosis, of a diseased portion of the intestine; also sometimes used to reduce nutrient absorption in morbidly obese patients.
- japanese barberry — a thorny barberry, Berberis thunbergii, of Japan, having yellow flowers and bearing bright-red fruit, grown as a hedge plant.
- john of salisbury — c1115–80, English prelate and scholar.
- laboratory school — a school maintained by a college or university for the training of student teachers.
- malagasy republic — former name of Madagascar.
- massachusetts bay — an inlet of the Atlantic, off the E coast of Massachusetts.
- mental disability — a general or specific intellectual handicap, resulting directly or indirectly from injury to the brain or from abnormal neurological development
- mesembryanthemums — Plural form of mesembryanthemum.
- movable-do system — a system of solmization in which the syllable do can be transposed to the tonic of any key.
- national assembly — the body constituted by the French Third Estate in June 1789 after the calling of the Estates General. It was dissolved in Sept 1791 to be replaced by the new Legislative Assembly
- naval observatory — an astronomical observatory located in Washington, D.C., operated by the U.S. government, and responsible for the U.S. time service.
- non-assignability — capable of being specified: The word has no assignable meaning in our language.
- nonsense syllable — any of numerous letter combinations without meaning, used in learning experiments.
- northeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of northeast. Abbreviation: NEbE.
- paleobiochemistry — the study of biochemical processes that occurred in fossil life forms.
- passamaquoddy bay — an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between Maine and New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River.
- sable island pony — a variety of wild pony found on Sable Island, Nova Scotia
- safety in numbers — If you say that there is safety in numbers, you mean that you are safer doing something if there are a lot of people doing it rather than doing it alone.
- san francisco bay — a bay in W California: the harbor of San Francisco; connected with the Pacific by the Golden Gate strait. 50 miles (80 km) long; 3–12 miles (5–19 km) wide.
- saved by the bell — a hollow instrument of cast metal, typically cup-shaped with a flaring mouth, suspended from the vertex and rung by the strokes of a clapper, hammer, or the like.
- say the unsayable — to express an opinion thought to be too controversial to mention
- secondary battery — storage battery.
- secondary boycott — a boycott by union members against their employer in order to induce the employer to bring pressure on another company involved in a labor dispute with the union.
- secondary rainbow — a faint rainbow formed by light rays that undergo two internal reflections in drops of rain, appearing above the primary rainbow and having its colors in the opposite order.
- self-belay device — (in climbing) a device used to pay out a safety rope as required
- semi-permeability — permeable only to certain small molecules: a semipermeable membrane.
- shake one's booty — to dance
- shopping bag lady — bag lady (def 1).
- shopping-bag lady — bag lady (def 1).
- shubra al khaymah — a city in NE Egypt, a Cairo suburb.
- sodium pyroborate — borax1 .
- sorolla y bastida — Joaquín [hwah-keen] /ʰwɑˈkin/ (Show IPA), 1863–1923, Spanish painter.
- southeast by east — a point on the compass 11°15′ east of southeast. Abbreviation: SEbE.
- split keyboarding — the act or practice of editing data from one terminal on another terminal
- squaw huckleberry — deerberry.
- statue of liberty — a large copper statue, on Liberty Island, in New York harbor, depicting a woman holding a burning torch: designed by F. A. Bartholdi and presented to the U.S. by France; unveiled 1886.
- strawberry blonde — woman: with reddish fair hair
- strawberry tomato — the small, edible, tomato-like fruit of the plant Physalis pruinosa, of the nightshade family.
- stymphalian birds — a flock of predacious birds of Arcadia that were driven away and killed by Hercules as one of his labors.
- subclavian artery — either of a pair of arteries, one on each side of the body, that carry the main supply of blood to the arms.
- subsidiary ledger — (in accounting) a ledger containing a group of detailed and related accounts the total of which is summarized in the control account.
- sunbury-on-thames — a town in SE England, in N Surrey. Pop: 27 415 (2001)
- sunday observance — the fact of keeping Sunday as a special day when people go to church