9-letter words containing d, a, l, e
- lace card — (Obsolete) A punched card with all holes punched (also called a "whoopee card" or "ventilator card"). Card readers tended to jam when they got to one of these, as the resulting card had too little structural strength to avoid buckling inside the mechanism. Card punches could also jam trying to produce these things owing to power-supply problems. When some practical joker fed a lace card through the reader, you needed to clear the jam with a "card knife" - which you used on the joker first.
- lacerated — lacerated.
- lacertids — Plural form of lacertid.
- lacquered — a protective coating consisting of a resin, cellulose ester, or both, dissolved in a volatile solvent, sometimes with pigment added.
- laddering — Present participle of ladder.
- ladderman — a firefighter who is a member of a hook-and-ladder company.
- ladderway — a vertical passageway with ladders.
- ladle out — If you ladle out something such as money, information, or advice, you give it freely and in large quantities.
- lady fern — a fern, Athyrium filix-femina, having delicate, feathery fronds.
- ladyloves — Plural form of ladylove.
- lagerfeld — Karl (Otto). born 1938, German fashion designer working mainly in Paris
- laid deck — a wooden deck having planking laid parallel to the sides of the hull so as to follow the curves toward the ends of the vessel.
- lake chad — a lake in N central Africa: fed chiefly by the Shari River, it has no apparent outlet. Area: at fullest extent 10 000 to 26 000 sq km (4000 to 10 000 sq miles), varying seasonally; it has shrunk considerably in recent years
- lake mead — a reservoir in NW Arizona and SE Nevada, formed by the Hoover Dam across the Colorado River: one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Area: 588 sq km (227 sq miles)
- lambasted — to beat or whip severely.
- lame duck — an elected official or group of officials, as a legislator, continuing in office during the period between an election defeat and a successor's assumption of office.
- laminated — Also, laminous. composed of or having laminae.
- lampedusa — Giuseppe (Tomasi) di [joo-zep-pe taw-mah-zee-dee] /dʒuˈzɛp pɛ tɔˈmɑ zi di/ (Show IPA), 1896–1957, Italian novelist.
- lampooned — a sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution; a work of literature, art, or the like, ridiculing severely the character or behavior of a person, society, etc.
- lampshade — a shade, usually translucent or opaque, for shielding the glare of a light source in a lamp or for directing the light to a particular area.
- lancewood — the tough, elastic wood of any of various trees, especially Oxandra lanceolata, of tropical America, used for carriage shafts, cabinetwork, etc.
- land lane — (in an ice floe) an opening that leads toward a shore.
- land line — a circuit of wire or cable connecting two ground locations.
- land mine — an explosive charge concealed just under the surface of the ground or of a roadway, designed to be detonated by pressure, proximity of a vehicle or person, etc.
- landaulet — an automobile having a convertible top for the back seat, with the front seat either roofed or open.
- landforce — a body of people trained for land warfare
- landgrave — (in medieval Germany) a count having jurisdiction over a large territory.
- landlines — Plural form of landline.
- landloper — a wanderer, vagrant, or adventurer.
- landmines — Plural form of landmine.
- landowner — an owner or proprietor of land.
- landscape — a section or expanse of rural scenery, usually extensive, that can be seen from a single viewpoint.
- landsleit — fellow Jews; sometimes, specif., those from the same town or village in Europe as oneself
- landslide — the downward falling or sliding of a mass of soil, detritus, or rock on or from a steep slope.
- languaged — Having a specified type or number of languages.
- languedoc — a former province in S France. Capital: Toulouse.
- langwidge — Eye dialect of language.
- lansdowne — Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice [pet-ee-fits-mawr-is,, -mor-] /ˈpɛt i fɪtsˈmɔr ɪs,, -ˈmɒr-/ (Show IPA), 5th Marquis of, 1845–1927, British statesman: viceroy of India 1888–94, foreign secretary 1900–05.
- lanterned — Simple past tense and past participle of lantern.
- laodicean — lukewarm or indifferent, especially in religion, as were the early Christians of Laodicea.
- lap dance — an erotic dance by a stripteaser performed mostly in the lap of a customer.
- lap-dance — an erotic dance by a stripteaser performed mostly in the lap of a customer.
- lapidated — to pelt with stones.
- lapideous — (obsolete) Of the nature of stone.
- laplander — Also called Laplander [lap-lan-der, -luh n-] /ˈlæpˌlæn dər, -lən-/ (Show IPA). a member of a Finnic people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and adjacent regions.
- lardasses — Plural form of lardass.
- larvacide — Alternative spelling of larvicide.
- larvicide — an agent for killing larvae.
- laserdisc — A disk resembling a larger CD but able to store video, now generally replaced by the DVD.
- lassitude — weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.