12-letter words containing a, l, u
- lacquer tree — any of several trees yielding a resin used as lacquer, as Rhus verniciflua, of Japan.
- lactalbumins — Plural form of lactalbumin.
- ladder truck — hook and ladder.
- lady's-thumb — a smartweed, Polygonum persicaria, of the buckwheat family, having pink or purplish flowers and lance-shaped leaves with a spot resembling a thumbprint.
- laffer curve — a relationship postulated between tax rates and tax receipts indicating that rates above a certain level actually produce less revenue because they discourage taxable endeavors and vice versa.
- laguna beach — a town in S California.
- laguna hills — a city in SW California.
- lake lucerne — a lake in central Switzerland: fed and drained chiefly by the River Reuss. Area: 115 sq km (44 sq miles)
- lake managua — a lake in W Nicaragua: drains into Lake Nicaragua by the Tipitapa River. Length: 61 km (38 miles). Width: about 26 km (16 miles)
- lake success — a town on Long Island, in SE New York: temporary United Nations headquarters 1946–51.
- lake turkana — a long narrow lake in E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. Area: 7104 sq km (2743 sq miles)
- land measure — any system of measurement for measuring land.
- landlubberly — Like a landlubber.
- lane closure — the closing of a lane on a motorway
- langoustines — Plural form of langoustine.
- languageless — without language or a language
- langue d'oil — the Romance language of medieval northern France: developed into modern French.
- languishment — the act or state of languishing.
- languorously — characterized by languor; languid.
- lapidicolous — living under stones
- lapis lazuli — a deep-blue mineral composed mainly of lazurite with smaller quantities of other minerals, used mainly as a gem or as a pigment.
- lark bunting — a finch, Calamospiza melanocorys, of the western U.S., the male of which is black with a large, white patch on each wing.
- lascaux cave — a cave in Lascaux, France, discovered in 1940 and containing exceptionally fine Paleolithic wall paintings and engravings thought to date to Magdalenian times (c13,000–8500 b.c.).
- lasciviously — inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd: a lascivious, girl-chasing old man.
- laser tuning — a technique for adjusting a laser's output frequency to within a specific range, especially in semiconductors.
- laser-guided — (of a missile, etc) guided with the use of a laser beam
- last but one — next to last
- last honours — observances of respect at a funeral
- last quarter — the instant, approximately one week after a full moon, when half of the moon's disk is illuminated by the sun.
- latex rubber — rubber used to make many products such as gloves, condoms, etc, and which is made from latex, a whitish milky fluid containing protein, starch, alkaloids, etc, that is produced by many plants
- laticiferous — bearing or containing latex.
- latifundista — the owner of a latifundio in Latin America or Spain.
- latin church — the Roman Catholic Church.
- latin square — a square array of numbers, letters, etc., in which each item appears exactly once in each row and column: used in statistical analysis.
- latitudinous — having latitude, scope, range, breadth, etc., especially of ideas, interests, interpretations, or the like: a Renaissance man of latitudinous outlook.
- latus rectum — the chord perpendicular to the principal axis and passing through a focus of an ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola.
- laudableness — The quality of being laudable; praiseworthiness; commendableness.
- laue diagram — a diffraction pattern used to study crystal structure, consisting of symmetrically arranged spots obtained when a beam of x-rays, electrons, or neutrons is passed through a thin crystal and exposes a photographic plate.
- laughing gas — nitrous oxide.
- launch party — a party that celebrates the launch of a new magazine, product, etc
- launderettes — Plural form of launderette.
- laundry list — a lengthy, especially random list of items: a laundry list of hoped-for presents; a laundry list of someone's crimes.
- laundry mark — a symbol on a label on an article of clothing, bed-linen, etc, which specifies how the item should be washed and cared for, for example, at which temperature it should be washed at, whether it should be ironed, dry-cleaned, etc
- laundry room — utility room
- laundrywoman — laundress.
- laundrywomen — Plural form of laundrywoman.
- lauraldehyde — lauric aldehyde.
- laureateship — a person who has been honored for achieving distinction in a particular field or with a particular award: a Nobel laureate.
- lawrenceburg — a town in S Tennessee.
- lay a course — to sail on a planned course without tacking