17-letter words containing an
- japanese chestnut — any of the several deciduous trees constituting the genus Castanea, of the beech family, having toothed, oblong leaves and bearing edible nuts enclosed in a prickly bur, and including C. dentata (American chestnut) which has been virtually destroyed by the chestnut blight, C. sativa (European chestnut) C. mollissima (Chinese chestnut) and C. crenata (Japanese chestnut)
- japanese clematis — a Japanese woody vine, Clematis paniculata, of the buttercup family, having dense clusters of fragrant, white flowers and plumed fruit.
- japanese knotweed — Mexican bamboo.
- japanese slippers — (in Malaysia) casual sandals; flip-flops
- japanese wisteria — a wisteria, Wisteria floribunda, of Japan, having violet, violet-blue, pink, red, or white flowers, grown in the U.S. as an ornamental.
- john of lancaster — Duke of Bedford, 1389–1435, Bedford, John of Lancaster, Duke of.
- journeyman joiner — a joiner who is qualified to work in the employment of another
- julian of norwich — ?1342–?1413, English mystic and anchoress: best known for the Revelations of Divine Love describing her visions
- junior technician — a rank in the RAF senior to aircraftman: comparable to that of private in the army
- kansas city steak — strip steak.
- kansas city style — a style of jazz developed in Kansas City, Mo., in the early 1930s, marked by a strong blues influence, the use of riffs as a characteristic formal device, and a less pronounced beat than that of the New Orleans or Chicago style of jazz.
- karelian republic — a constituent republic of NW Russia between the White Sea and Lakes Onega and Ladoga. Capital: Petrozavodsk. Pop: 716 700 (2002). Area: 172 400 sq km (66 560 sq miles)
- karitane hospital — a hospital for young babies and their mothers
- kastor and pollux — Castor and Pollux.
- keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- kerguelen islands — an archipelago in the S Indian Ocean: a possession of France. 2394 sq. mi. (6200 sq. km).
- key man insurance — Key man insurance is an insurance policy taken out by a small company on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss.
- key-man assurance — an assurance policy taken out, esp by a small company, on the life of a senior executive whose death would create a serious loss
- keyboard commando — (messaging) A bulletin board user who posts authoritatively on military or combat topics, but who has never served in uniform or heard a shot fired in anger. A poseur.
- khingan mountains — a mountain system of NE China, in W Manchuria. Highest peak: 2034 m (6673 ft)
- kick in the pants — a reprimand or scolding designed to produce greater effort, enthusiasm, etc, in the person receiving it
- kidney transplant — surgery to replace a kidney
- kitchen appliance — a machine intended for use in the kitchen, such as a fridge or a food processor
- laccadive islands — group of islands in the Arabian Sea, off the SW coast of India: part of Lakshadweep territory
- lagrange's method — a procedure for finding maximum and minimum values of a function of several variables when the variables are restricted by additional conditions.
- lake waikaremoana — a lake in the North Island of New Zealand in a dense bush setting. Area: about 55 sq km (21 sq miles)
- lan administrator — (job) A person who installs and maintains LAN hardware and software. A LAN administrator troubleshoots network usage and computer peripherals. He installs new users, performs system backups and data recovery, and resolves LAN communications problems.
- lan kanal adapter — (networking) (LKA) A sort of external LAN interface for a BS200 computer.
- lancashire heeler — a small sturdy dog of a breed with a short thick black or liver-coloured coat with tan markings, often used for herding cattle
- lance of courtesy — a lance having a blunt head to prevent serious injury by a jouster to an opponent.
- landlocked salmon — a variety of the Atlantic Ocean salmon, Salmo salar, confined to the freshwater lakes of New England and adjacent areas of Canada.
- landscape painter — artist who depicts natural scenery
- landscaped garden — a garden that has been artistically designed
- langerhans islets — islets of Langerhans
- langmuir isotherm — A Langmuir isotherm is a classical relationship between the concentrations of a solid and a fluid, used to describe a state of no change in the sorption process.
- language planning — the development of policies or programs designed to direct or change language use, as through the establishment of an official language, the standardization or modernization of a language, or the development or alteration of a writing system.
- language transfer — transfer (def 20).
- lanthanide series — the series of rare-earth elements of atomic numbers 57 through 71 (lanthanum through lutetium).
- laplace transform — a map of a function, as a signal, defined especially for positive real values, as time greater than zero, into another domain where the function is represented as a sum of exponentials.
- lares and penates — household gods
- latitudinarianism — Tolerance of other people's views, particularly in religious context.
- lebanon mountains — a mountain range extending the length of Lebanon, in the central part. Highest peak, 10,049 feet (3063 meters).
- lettre de creance — letter of credit.
- life and/or death — If you say that something is a matter of life and death, you are emphasizing that it is extremely important, often because someone may die or suffer great harm if people do not act immediately.
- ligurian republic — the republic in NW Italy set up by Napoleon in 1797, incorporated into France in 1805, and united with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814.
- linking consonant — a consonant inserted between two vowels in speech
- liquid propellant — a rocket propellant in liquid form.
- live and let live — be tolerant of others
- local anaesthesia — the use of anaesthetics that affect a particular area of the body
- local anaesthetic — sth injected to numb a body part for pain relief