17-letter words containing s, p, r
- bell-shaped curve — bell curve
- 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.
- beyond comparison — outstanding, without equal
- binary opposition — a relation between the members of a pair of linguistic items, as a pair of distinctive features, such that one is the absence of the other, as voicelessness and voice, or that one is at the opposite pole from the other, as stridency and mellowness.
- bjarne stroustrup — (person) The father of C++ and author of the C++ bible.
- blood-drop emlets — a Chilean scrophulariaceous plant, Mimulus luteus, naturalized in Europe, having red-spotted yellow flowers
- boileau-despreaux — Nicolas [nee-kaw-lah] /ni kɔˈlɑ/ (Show IPA), 1636–1711, French critic and poet.
- boiler horsepower — a unit of measurement of the ability of a boiler to evaporate water, usually given as the ability to evaporate 34½ pounds (15.6 kg) of water an hour, into dry saturated steam from and at 212°F (100°C).
- boulder raspberry — a shrub, Rubus deliciosus, of Colorado, having large white flowers and purple fruit.
- bradford spinning — a wool-spinning method in which the fibers are oiled prior to combing and subsequently spun into worsted yarn.
- breach of promise — (formerly) failure to carry out one's promise to marry
- brocot escapement — a type of anchor escapement.
- bulbous buttercup — a European buttercup, Ranunculus bulbosus, having yellow flowers in irregular branching clusters: a common weed in North America.
- by return of post — by the next mail in the opposite direction
- call-and-response — a form of interaction between a speaker and one or more listeners, in which every utterance of the speaker elicits a verbal or non-verbal response from the listener or listeners
- camp-fire-members — a U.S. organization for girls and boys that emphasizes the building of character and good citizenship through work, health, and love; originally founded for girls (Camp Fire girls) in 1910, it is now open to both boys and girls (Camp Fire members)
- campus university — a university in which the buildings, often including shops and cafés, are all on one site
- cancer specialist — a medical professional who specializes in the treatment or study of malignant growths or tumours
- canine parvovirus — a highly contagious viral disease of dogs characterized by vomiting, haemorrhagic diarrhoea, depression, and, in severe cases, death
- cape barren goose — a greyish Australian goose, Cereopsis novaehollandiae, having a black bill with a greenish cere
- capital structure — the way that a company finances its assets through a combination of equity, debt etc
- 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
- cardio striptease — a form of keep-fit exercise in which people move their bodies in the manner of striptease artists
- cardiorespiratory — of, relating to, or affecting the heart and respiratory system.
- 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
- 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
- castor and pollux — the twin sons of Leda: Pollux was fathered by Zeus, Castor by the mortal Tyndareus. After Castor's death, Pollux spent half his days with his half-brother in Hades and half with the gods in Olympus
- catastrophization — The act or process of catastrophizing.
- causality paradox — the hypothetical cause-and-effect of time travel and making changes in the past that would affect current actions.
- chapter and verse — If you say that someone gives you chapter and verse on a particular subject, you are emphasizing that they tell you every detail about it.
- chelsea pensioner — an old ex-soldier resident in the Chelsea Royal Hospital
- chemotherapeutics — chemotherapy.
- chest compression — Chest compression is the act of applying pressure to someone's chest in order to help blood flow through the heart in an emergency situation.
- chord progression — movement from chord to chord
- christmas present — a present given at Christmas time, typically on Christmas Day
- christmas pudding — Christmas pudding is a special pudding that is eaten at Christmas.
- chromolithographs — Plural form of chromolithograph.
- circumscriptively — In a circumscriptive manner.
- civil partnership — A civil partnership is a legal relationship between two people of the same sex that is similar to marriage.
- class-a amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for the whole of the input signal cycle
- class-b amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output flows for half of the input signal cycle
- class-c amplifier — an electronic amplifier in which the output current flows for less than half of the input cycle
- clipperton island — an uninhabited atoll in the E Pacific SW of Mexico, under French administration. Area: 6 sq km (2.3 sq miles)
- close corporation — a small private limited company
- close parenthesis — right parenthesis
- club subscription — an amount of money that someone pays regularly in order to belong to a club
- clumber (spaniel) — a short-legged spaniel with a heavy body and a thick coat of straight, white hair marked with yellow or orange
- college professor — a lecturer or researcher who works in a college
- collodion process — wet plate process.
- colour separation — the division of a coloured original into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black so that plates may be made for print reproduction. Separation may be achieved by electronic scanning or by photographic techniques using filters to isolate each colour