17-letter words containing a, l, o, c
- electrometallurgy — metallurgy involving the use of electric-arc furnaces, electrolysis, and other electrical operations
- electromyographic — Using electromyography.
- electron affinity — a measure of the ability of an atom or molecule to form a negative ion, expressed as the energy released when an electron is attached
- electronegativity — The tendency, or a measure of the ability, of an atom or molecule to attract electrons and thus form bonds.
- electroretinogram — A record of the electrical activity of the retina, used in medical diagnosis and research.
- electrostatically — In an electrostatic manner, by electrostatic means.
- elementary school — primary school
- emotional capital — When people refer to the emotional capital of a company, they mean all the psychological assets and resources of the company, such as how the employees feel about the company.
- emotional cripple — someone who is unable to feel or show true emotion and so cannot form relationships with other people
- empirical formula — a chemical formula indicating the proportion of each element present in a molecule
- employment agency — company: finds jobs
- encephalomyelitic — Relating to encephalomyelitis.
- encephalomyelitis — Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, typically due to acute viral infection.
- epicycloidal gear — a gear of an epicyclic train
- epidemiologically — With regard to epidemiology.
- epistemologically — In a manner that pertains to epistemology.
- equinoctial point — either of the two points at which the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic
- ethnopharmacology — The scientific study correlating ethnic groups, their health, and how it relates to their physical habits and methodology in creating and using medicines.
- exception handler — Special code which is called when an exception occurs during the execution of a program. If the programmer does not provide a handler for a given exception, a built-in system exception handler will usually be called resulting in abortion of the program run and some kind of error indication being returned to the user. Examples of exception handler mechanisms are Unix's signal calls and Lisp's catch and throw.
- exceptional child — a gifted child
- exclamation point — exclamation mark
- exclusionary rule — a legal rule that evidence obtained illegally, as from a search without a warrant, may not be introduced at trial
- exfoliating cream — a granular cosmetic preparation that removes dead cells from the skin's surface
- facsimile catalog — a catalog that includes small reproductions of the items listed, as paintings, slides, designs, or the like.
- fee-paying school — a school which charges fees to parents of pupils
- fellow countryman — sb of same nationality
- fendalton tractor — a four-wheel drive recreational vehicle
- fermentation lock — a valve placed on the top of bottles of fermenting wine to allow bubbles to escape
- ferroelectric ram — Ferroelectric Random Access Memory
- field sales force — a team of people selling a product or service in the field as opposed to over the telephone, etc
- first call on sth — If you have first call on something, you will be asked before anyone else whether you want to buy or use it.
- flagrante delicto — Law. in the very act of committing the offense.
- flight of capital — When people lose confidence in a particular economy or market and withdraw their investment from it, you can refer to a flight of capital from that economy or market.
- floating currency — a currency that is free to fluctuate against other currencies in accordance with market forces
- floating dry dock — a dock that floats and can be lowered in the water for the entrance of a ship, and then raised for use as a dry dock
- flowering currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes sanguineum, growing to 2 to 3 metres (6 to 9ft) in height, with red, crimson, yellow, or white flowers: family Saxifragaceae
- flowering tobacco — any plant belonging to the genus Nicotiana, of the nightshade family, as N. alata and N. sylvestris, having clusters of fragrant flowers that usually bloom at night, grown as an ornamental.
- fluid lubrication — lubrication in which bearing surfaces are separated by an oil film sustained by the motion of the parts
- foolscap envelope — an envelope of dimensions suitable to hold an unfolded sheet of foolscap paper
- fort walton beach — a city in NW Florida.
- foucault pendulum — a pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the earth by exhibiting an apparent change in its plane of oscillation.
- fourfold purchase — a tackle that is composed of a rope passed through two fourfold blocks in such a way as to provide mechanical power in the ratio of 1 to 5 or 1 to 4, depending on whether hauling is done on the running or the standing block and without considering friction. Compare tackle (def 2).
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- fractionalization — Separation into parts by fractionalizing.
- fraternal society — a club or other association, usually of men, having a limited membership and devoted to professional, religious, charitable, or social activities.
- french provincial — noting, pertaining to, or resembling a style of furnishings and decoration originating in the provinces of France in the 18th century, derived from but less ornate than styles then current in Paris and featuring simply carved wood furniture, often with decorative curved moldings.
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- fulgencio batista — Fulgencio [fool-hen-syaw] /fulˈhɛn syɔ/ (Show IPA), (Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar) 1901–73, Cuban military leader: dictator of Cuba 1934–40; president 1940–44, 1952–59.
- full load current — A full load current is the largest current that a motor or other device is designed to carry under particular conditions.
- functional change — a change in the grammatical function of a word, as in the use of the noun input as a verb or the noun fun as an adjective.