13-letter words containing a, s, l, o
- fat electrons — (electronics, humour) Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the cause of computer glitches. Your typical electricity company draws its line current out of the big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of the dynamo. When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line to clean them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the *bottom* of the coil. Now, this is a problem, because when they do that they get not ordinary or "thin" electrons, but the fat sloppy electrons that are heavier and so settle to the bottom of the generator. These flow down ordinary wires just fine, but when they have to turn a sharp corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt to get stuck. This is what causes computer glitches. Compare bogon, magic smoke.
- favorableness — Alternative spelling of favourableness.
- feast of lots — Purim.
- feldspathoids — Plural form of feldspathoid.
- felicitations — an expression of good wishes; congratulation.
- fertilisation — (chiefly, British) alternative spelling of 'fertilization'.
- festivalgoers — Plural form of festivalgoer.
- fibromuscular — (anatomy) Of or pertaining to both fibrous and muscular tissue.
- fibrovascular — composed of fibrous and conductive tissue, as in the vascular systems of higher plants: a fibrovascular bundle.
- fictionalised — Simple past tense and past participle of fictionalise.
- fictionalizes — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of fictionalize.
- field sparrow — a common North American finch, Spizella pusilla, found in brushy pasturelands.
- filmographies — Plural form of filmography.
- flamethrowers — Plural form of flamethrower.
- flaming sword — a cultivated bromeliad, Vriesea splendens, native to French Guiana, having long, red bracts and yellow flowers.
- flash fiction — very short works of fiction that are typically no longer than a couple of pages and may be as short as one paragraph.
- flash-forward — a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which a future event or scene is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.
- flavoproteins — Plural form of flavoprotein.
- flirtatiously — given or inclined to flirtation.
- floating ribs — the eleventh and twelfth pairs of ribs, not attached to the breastbone or to other ribs but only to the vertebrae
- florianopolis — a state in S Brazil. 36,856 sq. mi. (95,455 sq. km). Capital: Florianópolis.
- floristically — In a floristic manner.
- flowering ash — a variety of ash tree that produces conspicuous flowers
- fluophosphate — fluorophosphate.
- fluorocarbons — Plural form of fluorocarbon.
- fluoroplastic — any of the plastics, as Teflon, in which hydrogen atoms of the hydrocarbon chains are replaced by fluorine atoms.
- flutterboards — Plural form of flutterboard.
- focal seizure — an epileptic manifestation arising from a localized anomaly in the brain, as a small tumor or scar, and usually involving a single motor or sensory mechanism but occasionally spreading to other areas and causing convulsions and loss of consciousness.
- fool's errand — a completely absurd, pointless, or useless errand.
- foolhardiness — recklessly or thoughtlessly bold; foolishly rash or venturesome.
- for values of — (jargon) A common rhetorical maneuver at MIT is to use any of the canonical random numbers as placeholders for variables. "The max function takes 42 arguments, for arbitrary values of 42". "There are 69 ways to leave your lover, for 69 = 50". This is especially likely when the speaker has uttered a random number and realises that it was not recognised as such, but even "non-random" numbers are occasionally used in this fashion. A related joke is that pi equals 3 - for small values of pi and large values of 3. This usage probably derives from the programming language MAD (Michigan Algorithm Decoder), an ALGOL-like language that was the most common choice among mainstream (non-hacker) users at MIT in the mid-1960s. It had a control structure FOR VALUES OF X = 3, 7, 99 DO ... that would repeat the indicated instructions for each value in the list (unlike the usual FOR that generates an arithmetic sequence of values). MAD is long extinct, but similar for-constructs still flourish (e.g. in Unix's shell languages).
- force a smile — to make oneself smile
- formal system — an uninterpreted symbolic system whose syntax is precisely defined, and on which a relation of deducibility is defined in purely syntactic terms; a logistic system
- formalisation — Alternative spelling of formalization.
- formularising — Present participle of formularise.
- formularistic — relating to formularization
- forward slash — a short oblique stroke (/), or slash, especially one used in computer programming or to specify an Internet address or computer filename.
- fossilisation — Alternative spelling of fossilization.
- fossilization — Geology. to convert into a fossil; replace organic with mineral substances in the remains of an organism.
- fowler's toad — an eastern U.S. toad, Bufo woodhousii fowleri, having an almost patternless white belly.
- fractionalise — Alt form fractionalize.
- fractionalism — the state of being separate or inharmonious
- fractionalist — an advocate or supporter of fractionalism
- fractocumulus — low ragged slightly bulbous cloud, often appearing below nimbostratus clouds during rain
- frise aileron — an aircraft wing control surface designed with its leading edge extending forward of its axis of rotation so that when the aileron's trailing edge is raised the leading edge extends below the bottom surface of the wing.
- frontal gyrus — any of several convolutions on the outer surface of the frontal lobe of the cerebrum.
- frosted glass — etched glass with a translucent surface
- full of beans — the edible nutritious seed of various plants of the legume family, especially of the genus Phaseolus.
- functionalise — to make functional.
- functionalism — (usually initial capital letter) Chiefly Architecture, Furniture. a design movement evolved from several previous movements or schools in Europe in the early 20th century, advocating the design of buildings, furnishings, etc., as direct fulfillments of material requirements, as for shelter, repose, or the serving of food, with the construction, materials, and purpose clearly expressed or at least not denied, and with aesthetic effect derived chiefly from proportions and finish, purely decorative effects being excluded or greatly subordinated. the doctrines and practices associated with this movement. Compare rationalism (def 4).