18-letter words containing a, d, i, r
- dry-powder inhaler — A dry-powder inhaler is a device that delivers medication to the lungs in the form of a dry powder.
- dwarf storage unit — (humour) (DSU) An IBM term for a cupboard.
- eau de vie de marc — marc (def 2).
- economic indicator — business statistic
- electoral district — an area that is considered as unit for the purposes of an election
- electric discharge — electricity emitted
- electrocardiograms — Plural form of electrocardiogram.
- electrocardiograph — A machine used for electrocardiography.
- electrodesiccation — The drying of tissue, and the prevention of bleeding, using a high-frequency electric current.
- endangered species — animal, plant becoming extinct
- eraser stains code — (humour, programming) Code that has been refactored many times, leaving swaths of legacy code and design; like paper that has been written on and erased so many times that the pencil marks are no longer the problem - the large greasy stain is.
- established church — a Church that is officially recognized as a national institution, esp the Church of England
- euclid's algorithm — (algorithm) (Or "Euclidean Algorithm") An algorithm for finding the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two numbers. It relies on the identity gcd(a, b) = gcd(a-b, b) To find the GCD of two numbers by this algorithm, repeatedly replace the larger by subtracting the smaller from it until the two numbers are equal. E.g. 132, 168 -> 132, 36 -> 96, 36 -> 60, 36 -> 24, 36 -> 24, 12 -> 12, 12 so the GCD of 132 and 168 is 12. This algorithm requires only subtraction and comparison operations but can take a number of steps proportional to the difference between the initial numbers (e.g. gcd(1, 1001) will take 1000 steps).
- fabric conditioner — a product used when washing clothes to make them feel softer
- farmer in the dell — a game, accompanied by a song with several verses, in which one person, designated as the farmer, occupies the center of a circle of persons and is joined in the circle by other players designated as wife, child, nurse, cat, rat, and cheese, these then leaving the circle in order except for the one designated as cheese, who is left standing alone in the circle at the end.
- fast-food industry — the industry surrounding fast-food restaurants
- fatty degeneration — deterioration of the cells of the body, accompanied by the formation of fat globules within the diseased cells.
- feldenkrais method — a system of gentle movements that promote flexibility, coordination, and self-awareness
- ferdinand magellan — Ferdinand, c1480–1521, Portuguese navigator: discoverer of the Straits of Magellan 1520 and the Philippines 1521.
- ferdinand schiller — Ferdinand Canning Scott [kan-ing] /ˈkæn ɪŋ/ (Show IPA), 1864–1937, English philosopher in the U.S.
- ferrite-rod aerial — a type of aerial, normally used in radio reception, consisting of a small coil of wire mounted on a ferrite core, the coil serving as a tuning inductance
- fettuccine alfredo — fettuccine in cream sauce with grated Parmesan cheese.
- fire and brimstone — When people talk about fire and brimstone, they are referring to hell and how they think people are punished there after death.
- fire-and-brimstone — threatening punishment in the hereafter: a fire-and-brimstone sermon.
- first and foremost — primarily
- first class module — (programming) A module that is a first class data object of the programming language, e.g. a record containing functions. In a functional language, it is standard to have first class programs, so program building blocks can have the same status.
- fissure of rolando — central sulcus.
- fixed-focus camera — a camera with an unadjustable focal length and with a relatively large depth of field.
- fixed-radio access — Wireless Local Loop
- fixed-term tenancy — a tenancy arrangement for a particular and fixed period
- flat-bottomed rail — a rail having a cross section like an inverted T, with the top extremity enlarged slightly to form the head
- floating underflow — underflow
- fore-edge painting — a technique of painting a picture on the fore edge of a book, often in such a manner that only when the pages are slightly fanned the picture is revealed.
- foreign-trade zone — free port (def 1).
- forgive and forget — be reconciled
- forward compatible — forward compatibility
- forwarding address — address for mail to be sent on
- foundation garment — an undergarment, as a girdle or corset, worn by women to support or give shape to the contours of the body.
- fragile x syndrome — a widespread form of mental retardation caused by a faulty gene on the X chromosome.
- fragile-x syndrome — an inherited condition characterized by learning disability: affected individuals have an X-chromosome that is easily damaged under certain conditions
- francisco coronado — Francisco Vásquez de [frahn-thees-kaw bahs-keth th e,, frahn-sees-kaw bahs-kes] /frɑnˈθis kɔ ˈbɑs kɛθ ðɛ,, frɑnˈsis kɔ ˈbɑs kɛs/ (Show IPA), 1510–54? Spanish explorer in North America.
- frederick douglass — Frederick, 1817–95, U.S. ex-slave, abolitionist, and orator.
- fringe-toed lizard — an iguanid lizard, Uma notata, of sandy deserts of the western U.S. and Mexico, having a wedge-shaped snout and toes fringed with long, pointed scales.
- fulminating powder — powder that explodes by percussion.
- fuming nitric acid — a colorless, yellowish, or brownish fuming corrosive liquid, usually prepared from nitric acid by the addition of excess nitrogen dioxide: used in organic synthesis for nitration, and as an oxidizer in liquid propellants for rockets.
- funding operations — the conversion of government floating stock or short-term debt into holdings of long-term bonds
- gabriele dannunzio — Gabriele [Italian gah-bree-e-le] /Italian ˌgɑ briˈɛ lɛ/ (Show IPA), (Duca Minimo) 1863–1938, Italian soldier, novelist, and poet.
- gamma distribution — a continuous two-parameter distribution from which the chi-square and exponential distributions are derived, written Gamma (α. β), where α and β are greater than zero, and defined in terms of the gamma function
- garden loosestrife — any of various plants belonging to the genus Lysimachia, of the primrose family, having clusters of usually yellow flowers, as L. vulgaris (garden loosestrife) or L. quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife)
- gas-discharge tube — any tube in which an electric discharge takes place through a gas