17-letter words containing u, t, r, n
- authoritativeness — having due authority; having the sanction or weight of authority: an authoritative opinion.
- authority control — the establishment and maintainance of consistent forms of terms, as of names, subjects, and titles, to be used as headings in bibliographic records.
- autocorrelational — Of or pertaining to autocorrelation.
- automatic writing — writing performed without apparent intent or conscious control, especially to achieve spontaneity or uncensored expression.
- aviation industry — a collective term for the companies involved in air transport
- bachelor's button — any of several plants of a genus (Centaurea) of the composite family, that have scaly, vase-shaped bracts below the white, pink, or blue flowers; esp., the cornflower and knapweed
- bachelor's-button — any of various plants with round flower heads, especially the cornflower.
- background report — a report on someone or something that sheds light on their background, esp a report on the background of a person convicted of a crime before they are sentenced by a judge
- baden-wurttemberg — a state of SW Germany. Capital: Stuttgart. Pop: 53 938 (2003 est). Area: 35 742 sq km (13 800 sq miles)
- balance of nature — the stable state in which natural communities of animals and plants exist, maintained by adaptation, competition, and other interactions between members of the communit ies and their nonliving environment
- bankruptcy estate — all of the interests that a debtor has at the start of a bankruptcy case
- barkhausen effect — the phenomenon of short, sudden changes in the magnetism of a ferromagnetic substance occurring when the intensity of the magnetizing field is continuously altered.
- be on the rebound — If you say that someone is on the rebound, you mean that they have just ended a relationship with a girlfriend or boyfriend. This often makes them do things they would not normally do.
- between ourselves — in confidence; as a secret
- bighorn mountains — range of the Rocky Mountains in N Wyo. and S Mont.: highest peak, 13,165 ft (4,013 m)
- bill of adventure — a certificate made out by a merchant to show that goods handled by him and his agents are the property of another party at whose risk the dealing is done
- bjarne stroustrup — (person) The father of C++ and author of the C++ bible.
- blackcurrant bush — a bush of the blackcurrant plant
- blackout curtains — thick, lined curtains designed to shut out all daylight and keep a room in complete darkness
- blood and thunder — A blood and thunder performer or performance is very loud and emotional.
- blood transfusion — A blood transfusion is a process in which blood is injected into the body of a person who is badly injured or ill.
- blood-and-thunder — sensationalism, violence, or exaggerated melodrama: a movie full of blood and thunder.
- blowout preventer — A blowout preventer is a valve that can be closed when there is uncontrolled flow of fluids.
- blue dot syndrome — (graphics, jargon) The inability to display an image file or text embedded in an image file on your monitor.
- bluegrass country — region in central Ky. where there is much bluegrass
- bow street runner — (in Britain from 1749 to 1829) an officer at Bow Street magistrates' court, London, whose duty was to pursue and arrest criminals
- bowel obstruction — a blockage in the bowel
- bring up the rear — to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
- british columbian — of or relating to British Columbia or its inhabitants
- brokerage account — A brokerage account is an account with a broker where an investor can buy and sell and hold securities.
- 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.
- budgetary control — a system of managing a business by applying a financial value to each forecast activity. Actual performance is subsequently compared with the estimates
- building industry — the economic sector comprising all companies involved in construction
- buncher resonator — See under Klystron.
- bureaucratization — to divide an administrative agency or office into bureaus.
- bursting strength — the capacity of a thing or substance to resist change when under pressure.
- burton-upon-trent — a town in W central England, in E Staffordshire: famous for brewing. Pop: 43 784 (2001)
- butterfly bandage — a butterfly-shaped strip of adhesive medical tape used, when stitches are not required, to keep a deep cut or incision tightly closed while it heals
- butternut pumpkin — a variety of pumpkin, eaten as vegetable
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- by return of post — by the next mail in the opposite direction
- calcium carbonate — a white crystalline salt occurring in limestone, chalk, marble, calcite, coral, and pearl: used in the production of lime and cement. Formula: CaCO3
- california nutmeg — a tall, pungently aromatic California evergreen tree, Torreya californica, of the yew family, having a fissured, gray-brown bark and small, purple-streaked, green fruit.
- campus university — a university in which the buildings, often including shops and cafés, are all on one site
- cape horn current — the part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flowing E at Cape Horn.
- caribbean current — an ocean current flowing westward through the Caribbean Sea.
- cariboo mountains — a mountain range in SW Canada, in SE British Columbia. Highest peak: Mount Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 3520 m (11 549 ft)
- cartesian product — the set of all ordered pairs of members of two given sets. The product A × B is the set of all pairs <a, b> where a is a member of A and b is a member of B
- cast/run your eye — If you cast your eye or run your eye over something, you look at it or read it quickly.
- casting the runes — (jargon) What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program because it never works for anyone else; especially used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. Compare incantation, runes, examining the entrails; also see the AI koan about Tom Knight.