18-letter words containing a, f, y
- quarry-tiled floor — a floor covered with square or diamond-shaped unglazed floor tiles
- radiant efficiency — the ratio of the power emitted by a source of radiation to the power consumed by it
- radius of gyration — the distance from an axis at which the mass of a body may be assumed to be concentrated and at which the moment of inertia will be equal to the moment of inertia of the actual mass about the axis, equal to the square root of the quotient of the moment of inertia and the mass.
- raffinate recovery — Raffinate recovery is the use of a substance which is left after a process is complete and the desired substances have been removed.
- range of stability — the angle to the perpendicular through which a vessel may be heeled without losing the ability to right itself.
- refrigerated lorry — a lorry which is chilled in the back as for storing food
- relative frequency — the ratio of the number of times an event occurs to the number of occasions on which it might occur in the same period.
- rhondda cynon taff — a county borough in S Wales, created from part of Mid Glamorgan in 1996. Pop: 231 600 (2003 est). Area: 558 sq km (215 sq miles)
- richard p. feynman — (person, computing, architecture) /fayn'mn/ 1918-1988. A US physicist, computer scientist and author who graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton. Feynmane was a key figure in helping Oppenheimer and team develop atomic bomb. In 1950 he became a professor at Caltech and in 1965 became Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics for QED (quantum electrodynamics). He was a primary figure in "solving" the Challenger disaster O-ring problem. He "rediscovered" the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Tuva. The 2001 film "Infinity" about Feynman's early life featured Matthew Broderick and Patricia Arquette. In 2001, "QED", a play about Feynman's life featuring Alan Alda opened.
- run in sb's family — If a characteristic runs in someone's family, it often occurs in members of that family, in different generations.
- safety regulations — regulations or rules that are put in place to ensure a product, event, etc, is safe and not dangerous
- safety-deposit box — a lockable metal box or drawer, especially in a bank vault, used for safely storing valuable papers, jewelry, etc.
- sampling frequency — sample rate
- secondary offering — the sale of a large block of outstanding stock off the floor of an exchange, usually by a major stockholder.
- secretary of state — the head and chief administrator of the U.S. Department of State. Compare foreign minister.
- self-contradictory — an act or instance of contradicting oneself or itself.
- self-deprecatingly — in a self-deprecating manner
- significant symbol — a verbal or nonverbal gesture, as a word or smile, that has acquired a conventionalized meaning.
- sound and the fury — a novel (1929) by William Faulkner.
- speak for yourself — If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.
- spotted flycatcher — a European woodland songbird, Muscicapa striata, with a greyish-brown streaked plumage: family Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers)
- state of emergency — If a government or other authority declares a state of emergency in an area, it introduces special measures such as increased powers for the police or army, usually because of civil disorder or because of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.
- sulfuric anhydride — sulfur trioxide.
- territory of papua — a former territory of Australia, consisting of SE New Guinea and adjacent islands: now part of Papua New Guinea
- the back of beyond — a very remote place
- the family compact — the ruling oligarchy in Upper Canada in the early 19th century
- theater of cruelty — a form of surrealist theater originated by Antonin Artaud and emphasizing the cruelty of human existence by portraying sadistic acts and intense suffering.
- theatre of cruelty — a type of theatre advocated by Antonin Artaud in Le Théâtre et son double that seeks to communicate to its audience a sense of pain, suffering, and evil, using gesture, movement, sound, and symbolism rather than language
- thermal efficiency — the ratio of the work output of a heat engine to the heat input expressed in the same units of energy.
- to feast your eyes — If you feast your eyes on something, you look at it for a long time with great attention because you find it very attractive.
- to play favourites — to display favouritism
- too clever by half — If someone is too clever by half, they are very clever and they show their cleverness in a way that annoys other people.
- treasury of merits — the superabundant store of merits and satisfactions, comprising those of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.
- treaty of rijswijk — a treaty signed at Rijswijk in the Netherlands in 1697, ending the War of the Grand Alliance
- treaty of waitangi — a treaty signed in 1840 by Māori chiefs and a representative of the British Government, providing the basis for the British annexation of New Zealand
- ultralow frequency — an electromagnetic wave with a frequency between 300 and 3000 hertz. Abbreviation: ULF, ulf.
- university faculty — a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas
- vitamin deficiency — a lack of a vitamin or vitamins needed for good health
- water of hydration — the portion of a hydrate that is represented as, or can be expelled as, water: now usually regarded as being in true molecular combination with the other atoms of the compound, and not existing in the compound as water.
- wildlife sanctuary — an area where wild animals and plants are protected
- witch hazel family — the plant family Hamamelidaceae, characterized by trees and shrubs having alternate, simple leaves, flowers in clusters or heads, and fruit in the form of a double-beaked woody capsule, and including the sweet gum, witch alder, and witch hazel.