15-letter words containing a, n, l, y
- island grey fox — a similar and related animal, U. littoralis, inhabiting islands off North America
- italian cypress — a tall Eurasian cypress, cupressus sempervirens, native to the eastern Mediterranean region
- jekyll and hyde — a person marked by dual personality, one aspect of which is good and the other bad.
- john barleycorn — a personification of barley as used in malt liquor, of malt liquor itself, or of any intoxicating liquor.
- jubilate-sunday — Also called Jubilate Sunday. the third Sunday after Easter: so called from the first word of the 65th Psalm in the Vulgate, which is used as the introit.
- kinesthetically — In a kinesthetic way, or in terms of kinesthetics.
- labyrinthodonts — Plural form of labyrinthodont.
- lady's-earrings — any of several plants having pendent flowers thought to resemble earrings, as the jewelweed or the fuchsia.
- lady-in-waiting — a lady who is in attendance upon a queen or princess.
- lake tanganyika — a lake in central Africa between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering also on Burundi and Zambia, in the Great Rift Valley: the longest freshwater lake in the world. Area: 32 893 sq km (12 700 sq miles). Length: 676 km (420 miles)
- lambda-b baryon — a protonlike baryon containing a b quark; a neutral baryon with a mass 11,000 times that of the electron and a mean lifetime of approximately 1.1 X 10 -12 seconds.
- lambda-c baryon — a positively charged baryon with a mean lifetime of approximately 2.1 X 10 -13 seconds.
- language lawyer — A person, usually an experienced or senior software engineer, who is intimately familiar with many or most of the numerous restrictions and features (both useful and esoteric) applicable to one or more computer programming languages. A language lawyer is distinguished by the ability to show you the five sentences scattered through a 200-page manual that together imply the answer to your question "if only you had thought to look there". Compare wizard, legal, legalese.
- large cranberry — See under cranberry (def 1).
- laryngectomized — having had one's larynx surgically removed by undergoing a laryngectomy
- laryngotracheal — of, relating to, or involving the larynx and trachea.
- laser ring gyro — a system of aerial navigation in which rotation is sensed by the measuring of the frequency shift of laser light in a closed circuit in a horizontal plane
- late in the day — in the evening
- laundry service — clothes-washing business
- law of identity — the law that any proposition implies itself.
- lay a finger on — to harm
- lay it on thick — to put or place in a horizontal position or position of rest; set down: to lay a book on a desk.
- lay of the land — the general state or condition of affairs under consideration; the facts of a situation: We asked a few questions to get the lay of the land.
- lay on the line — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- lay oneself out — to put or place in a horizontal position or position of rest; set down: to lay a book on a desk.
- lazy evaluation — (reduction) An evaluation strategy combining normal order evaluation with updating. Under normal order evaluation (outermost or call-by-name evaluation) an expression is evaluated only when its value is needed in order for the program to return (the next part of) its result. Updating means that if an expression's value is needed more than once (i.e. it is shared), the result of the first evaluation is remembered and subsequent requests for it will return the remembered value immediately without further evaluation. This is often implemented by graph reduction. An unevaluated expression is represented as a closure - a data structure containing all the information required to evaluate the expression. Lazy evaluation is one evaluation strategy used to implement non-strict functions. Function arguments may be infinite data structures (especially lists) of values, the components of which are evaluated as needed. According to Phil Wadler the term was invented by Jim Morris. Opposite: eager evaluation. A partial kind of lazy evaluation implements lazy data structures or especially lazy lists where function arguments are passed evaluated but the arguments of data constructors are not evaluated.
- learned society — an organization devoted to the scholarly study of a particular field or discipline, as modern languages, psychology, or history.
- lending library — Also called circulating library, rental library. a small library that is maintained by a commercial establishment, as a drugstore, and is composed largely of current books that are lent to customers for a fee.
- leonid andreyev — Leonid Nikolaevich [lee-uh-nid nik-uh-lahy-uh-vich;; Russian lyi-uh-nyeet nyi-kuh-lah-yi-vyich] /ˈli ə nɪd ˌnɪk əˈlaɪ ə vɪtʃ;; Russian lyɪ ʌˈnyit nyɪ kʌˈlɑ yɪ vyɪtʃ/ (Show IPA), 1871–1919, Russian novelist, short-story writer, and playwright.
- lesser dionysia — (in ancient Attica) the wine feasts, processions, and dramatic performances composing one of the festivals honoring Dionysus, held in the middle of December.
- leyland cypress — a fast-growing cypress, Cupressocyparis leylandii, that is a hybrid produced by crossing the macrocarpa with the Nootka cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis): widely grown for hedging
- library binding — a tough, durable cloth binding for books. Compare edition binding.
- library edition — an edition of a book prepared for library use, especially with a library binding.
- library science — the study of the organization and administration of a library and of its technical, informational, and reference services.
- life expectancy — the probable number of years remaining in the life of an individual or class of persons determined statistically, affected by such factors as heredity, physical condition, nutrition, and occupation.
- limited company — a company in which the shareholders cannot be assessed for debts of the company beyond the sum they still have invested in the company.
- linalyl acetate — a colorless, water-insoluble liquid, C 12 H 20 O 2 , having a pleasant odor: used chiefly in perfumes, cosmetics, toilet water, and soap.
- linear topology — (theory) A linear topology on a left A-module M is a topology on M that is invariant under translations and admits a fundamental system of neighborhood of 0 that consists of submodules of M. If there is such a topology, M is said to be linearly topologized. If A is given a discrete topology, then M becomes a topological A-module with respect to a linear topology.
- lleyn peninsula — a peninsula in NW Wales between Cardigan Bay and Caernarfon Bay
- locutionary act — the act of uttering a sentence considered only as such
- logging company — a company that fells trees and sells timber
- loyalty islands — a group of coral islands in the S Pacific belonging to the French territory of New Caledonia. 761 sq. mi. (1970 sq. km).
- lymphadenectomy — the excision of one or more lymph nodes, usually as a procedure in the surgical removal or destruction of a cancer.
- lymphadenopathy — chronically swollen lymph nodes.
- lymphocytopenia — (pathology) An abnormally low level of lymphocytes in the blood.
- lymphogranuloma — any of certain diseases characterized by granulomatous lesions of lymph nodes.
- machinery steel — low-carbon steel that can be easily machined.
- magnetic pulley — a magnetic device for separating metal from sand, refuse, etc.
- magnetorheology — the study of the relationships between the particle and fluid properties of magnetic suspensions.
- magnolia family — the plant family Magnoliaceae, characterized by evergreen or deciduous trees and shrubs having simple, alternate leaves, often showy flowers with a spiral arrangement of their floral parts, and conelike fruit, and including the cucumber tree, magnolia, tulip tree, and umbrella tree.