16-letter words containing d, e, f
- dehumidification — Dehumidification is the removal of vapor from a gas-vapor mixture.
- dentist's office — A dentist's office is the room or house where a dentist works.
- depart this life — to die
- descent function — If a recursive function is of the form f x = ... f (d x) ... then d is known as the descent function.
- dictionary flame — [Usenet] An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame.
- dimethyl sulfate — a colorless or yellow, slightly water-soluble, poisonous liquid, (CH 3) 2 SO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- direct free kick — a free kick awarded to a team as the result of a foul by an opposing player and from which a goal can be scored directly, without the ball being touched by another player.
- direction finder — a receiver with a loop antenna rotating on a vertical axis, used to ascertain the direction of incoming radio waves.
- disenfranchising — Present participle of disenfranchise.
- disfranchisement — to deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote.
- distrito federal — Federal District. Abbreviation: D.F.
- diversifications — Plural form of diversification.
- do oneself proud — to do extremely well
- do-it-yourselfer — an advocate or enthusiast of do-it-yourself
- documentary film — factual, informative film
- dolce far niente — pleasing inactivity.
- dome of the rock — a shrine in Jerusalem at the site from which Muhammad ascended through the seven heavens to the throne of God: built on the site of the Jewish Temple.
- dorothy canfield — Dorothy, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield.
- drag coefficient — a measure of the drag of an object in a moving fluid, esp air
- droves of people — large numbers of people
- duchess of malfi — a tragedy (1614?) by John Webster.
- edsel ford range — a mountain range in Antarctica, E of the Ross Sea.
- elected official — person voted into office
- embroidery frame — a frame in the form of a pair of (usually circular) rings, designed to keep the fabric taut while an embroiderer works on it
- exhaust manifold — An exhaust manifold is a heat-resistant tube that connects an engine to an exhaust pipe.
- fade-in fade-out — an optical effect in which a shot appears gradually out of darkness and then gradually disappears
- faintheartedness — The quality or state of being fainthearted.
- fair-trade price — the price set for a commodity by the Fairtrade Foundation
- false beechdrops — either of two parasitic or saprophytic plants of the genus Monotropa, especially the tawny or reddish M. hypopithys (false beechdrops) of eastern North America.
- false dragonhead — a North American plant, Physostegia virginiana, of the mint family, having a spike of tubular, two-lipped, pink or white flowers.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fandango on core — (jargon, programming) (Unix/C, from the Mexican dance) In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a core dump, or corrupts the malloc arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have "done a fandango on core". On low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can corrupt the operating system itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi, may be substituted. See aliasing bug, precedence lossage, smash the stack, memory leak, memory smash, overrun screw, core.
- farewell address — (initial capital letters) U.S. History. a statement that President George Washington published in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1796 to announce that he would not run for a third term and to give his views on foreign and domestic policy.
- farmer's reducer — a solution of ferricyanide and hypo for reducing density and increasing contrast in a negative.
- fashion designer — creator of clothing designs
- fast of gedaliah — Tzom Gedaliah.
- fat-tailed sheep — one of a class of sheep with much fat along the sides of the tail bones, raised for their meat and widely distributed in southeast Europe, northern Africa, and Asia.
- federal district — a district in which the national government of a country is located, especially one in Latin America.
- federal register — a bulletin, published daily by the U.S. federal government, containing the schedule of hearings before Congressional and federal agency committees, together with orders, proclamations, etc., released by the executive branch of the government.
- federalist party — a political group that favored the adoption by the states of the Constitution.
- federated church — a church whose membership includes two or more congregations of different denominational affiliation.
- federation wheat — an early-maturing drought-resistant variety of wheat developed by William Farrar in 1902
- feeblemindedness — Quality of being feeble-minded; weak intellect.
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- feel constrained — If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.
- feel the draught — to be short of money
- feel-good factor — When journalists refer to the feel-good factor, they mean that people are feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future.
- feira de santana — a city in BahÍa state, E Brazil.
- feline distemper — distemper1 (def 1c).
- feme-sole trader — a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband.