17-letter words containing u, f, o
- purple of cassius — a purple pigment precipitated as a sol by the interaction of gold chloride and a solution of stannic acid and stannous chloride: used chiefly in the manufacture of ruby glass, ceramic glazes, and enamels.
- put in a word for — to make favourable mention of (someone); recommend
- put one's feet up — relax
- put the finger on — to inform on or identify, esp for the police
- pyrosulfuric acid — a strong, crystalline acid, H2S2O7, prepared commercially as a heavy, oily, fuming liquid: used in making explosives and dyes, as a sulfating agent, etc.
- quadratic formula — the formula for determining theroots of a quadratic equation from its coefficients: .
- queen of puddings — a pudding made of moist but firm breadcrumb and custard mixture topped with jam and meringue
- rational function — a function that can be written as the quotient of two polynomials with integral coefficients.
- recruiting office — an office where staff are recruited, esp by the military
- recursion formula — a formula for determining the next term of a sequence from one or more of the preceding terms.
- reduction formula — a formula, such as sin (90° ± A) = cos A, expressing the values of a trigonometric function of any angle greater than 90° in terms of a function of an acute angle
- reflection nebula — a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that reflects the light of neighboring stars.
- reflexive pronoun — A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun such as 'myself' which refers back to the subject of a sentence or clause. For example, in the sentence 'He made himself a cup of tea', the reflexive pronoun 'himself' refers back to 'he'.
- refuse a proposal — If an insurer refuses a proposal, it does not agree to underwrite a risk proposed by a potential client.
- refuse collection — the collection of rubbish and waste, usually in a rubbish or refuse truck, before final disposal
- refuse destructor — someone responsible for or something that destructs or destroys rubbish and waste
- republic of china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
- republic of korea — a former country in E Asia, on a peninsula SE of Manchuria and between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea: a kingdom prior to 1910; under Japanese rule 1910–45; now divided at 38° N into North Korea and South Korea. Compare Korean War.
- republic of palau — a republic comprising a group of islands in the W Pacific, in the W Caroline Islands; administratively part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1947–87; entered into an agreement of free association with the US (1980); became fully independent in 1994. Chief island: Babelthuap. Capital: Ngerulmud on Babelthuap (functions moved from Koror in 2006). Pop: 21 108 (2013 est). Area: 476 sq km (184 sq miles)
- republic of yemen — Republic of, a country in S Arabia, formed in 1990 by the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. 207,000 sq. mi. (536,130 sq. km). Capital: Aden.
- republic-of-china — People's Republic of, a country in E Asia. 3,691,502 sq. mi. (9,560,990 sq. km). Capital: Beijing.
- resurrection fern — a drought-resistant, evergreen, epiphytic fern, Polypodium polypodioides, of subtropical to tropical America, appearing to be a ball of coiled, dead leaves in the dry season but reviving with moisture.
- return of capital — A return of capital is a situation in which you receive back money that was previously invested.
- returning officer — a public official appointed to conduct and preside at an election.
- rheumatoid factor — an antibody that is found in the blood of many persons afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis and that reacts against globulins in the blood.
- road-fund licence — a licence showing that the tax payable in respect of a motor vehicle has been paid
- rough puff pastry — a rich flaky pastry made with butter and used for pie-crusts, flans, etc
- rush one's fences — to proceed with precipitate haste
- rush-hour traffic — the large number of vehicles that move along roads, travelling to or from work at the beginning and end of the working day
- russian wolfhound — borzoi.
- safety precaution — a precaution that is taken in order to ensure that something is safe and not dangerous
- sawed-off shotgun — rifle with a short barrel
- self-constituting — to compose; form: mortar constituted of lime and sand.
- self-introduction — the act of introducing or the state of being introduced.
- self-purification — a natural process of purifying, as the ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants.
- self-renunciation — renunciation of one's own will, interests, etc.
- self-reproduction — the act or process of reproducing.
- self-rising flour — Self-rising flour is flour that makes cakes rise when they are cooked because it has chemicals added to it.
- shoot one's cuffs — to expose one's shirt cuffs beyond the coat sleeves
- sinus of valsalva — any of the pouches of the aorta and the pulmonary artery opposite the flaps of the semilunar valves into which blood returning to the heart flows, closing the valves.
- sixty-fourth note — a note having one sixty-fourth of the time value of a whole note; hemidemisemiquaver.
- sixty-fourth rest — a rest equal in time value to a sixty-fourth note.
- skin of our teeth — a play (1942) by Thornton Wilder.
- sound effects man — a man who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
- south farmingdale — a town on central Long Island, in SE New York.
- south frigid zone — the part of the earth's surface between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole.
- south west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- south-west africa — a former name of Namibia.
- southern studfish — See under studfish.
- standard function — a subprogram provided by a translator that carries out a task, for example the computation of a mathematical function, such as sine, square root, etc