17-letter words containing d, i, s, a, l
- lazy daisy stitch — an embroidery stitch consisting of a long chain stitch, usually used in making flower patterns
- lead a dog's life — a domesticated canid, Canis familiaris, bred in many varieties.
- learning-disabled — pertaining to or having a learning disability: a learning-disabled child.
- least fixed point — (mathematics) A function f may have many fixed points (x such that f x = x). For example, any value is a fixed point of the identity function, (\ x . x). If f is recursive, we can represent it as f = fix F where F is some higher-order function and fix F = F (fix F). The standard denotational semantics of f is then given by the least fixed point of F. This is the least upper bound of the infinite sequence (the ascending Kleene chain) obtained by repeatedly applying F to the totally undefined value, bottom. I.e. fix F = LUB {bottom, F bottom, F (F bottom), ...}. The least fixed point is guaranteed to exist for a continuous function over a cpo.
- legal aid society — an organization providing free legal guidance and service to persons who cannot afford a lawyer.
- legal proceedings — court case
- liberal democrats — (in Britain) a political party with centrist policies; established in 1988 as the Social and Liberal Democrats when the Liberal Party merged with the Social Democratic Party; renamed Liberal Democrats in 1989
- lifestyle disease — a disease that potentially can be prevented by changes in diet, environment, and lifestyle, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, and osteoporosis
- light dawns on sb — If light dawns on you, you begin to understand something after a period of not being able to understand it.
- lipopolysaccaride — a molecule, consisting of lipid and polysaccharide components, that is the main constituent of the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria
- livingstone daisy — a gardener's name for various species of Mesembryanthemum, esp M. criniflorum, grown as garden annuals (though several are perennial) for their brightly coloured showy flowers: family Aizoaceae
- load displacement — the weight, in long tons, of a cargo vessel loaded so that the summer load line touches the surface of the water.
- loggerhead shrike — a common, North American shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, gray above and white below with black wings, tail, and facial mask.
- long island sound — an arm of the Atlantic between Connecticut and Long Island. 90 miles (145 km) long.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- lymphadenopathies — Plural form of lymphadenopathy.
- magellanic clouds — either of two irregular galactic clusters in the southern heavens that are the nearest independent star system to the Milky Way.
- maintained school — a school financially supported by the state
- maison de moliere — Comédie Française.
- maladministration — to administer or manage badly or inefficiently: The mayor was a bungler who maladministered the city budget.
- manitoulin island — an island in N Lake Huron belonging to Canada. 80 miles (130 km) long.
- marquesas islands — a group of volcanic islands in the S Pacific, in French Polynesia. Pop: 8712 (2002). Area: 1287 sq km (497 sq miles)
- mascarene islands — a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, E of Madagascar, including Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues.
- medical insurance — a type of insurance intended to cover possible future medical expenses
- mental disability — a general or specific intellectual handicap, resulting directly or indirectly from injury to the brain or from abnormal neurological development
- microdistillation — the distillation of minute quantities of material.
- microencapsulated — Encapsulated using microencapsulation.
- middle-age spread — an increase in bulk, especially in the waist and buttocks, associated with the onset of middle age and the body's decreasing ability to metabolize calories efficiently.
- midsagittal plane — a plane passing through the nasion when the skull is oriented in the Frankfurt horizontal.
- mississippi delta — an area between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers in the northwest of the state of Mississippi; it is very flat and fertile
- misunderstandable — Capable of being misunderstood.
- multidisciplinary — composed of or combining several usually separate branches of learning or fields of expertise: a multidisciplinary study of the 18th century.
- multimedia system — multimedia
- muscle dysmorphia — a mental disorder primarily affecting males, characterized by obsessions about a perceived lack of muscularity, leading to compulsive exercising, use of anabolic steroids, etc. Compare body dysmorphic disorder.
- musical interlude — an interval in a play, event or occasion during which music is played
- naked singularity — an infinitely dense point mass without a surrounding black hole
- nasolacrimal duct — a membranous canal extending from the lacrimal sac to the nasal cavity, through which tears are discharged into the nose.
- newcastle disease — a rapidly spreading virus-induced disease of birds and domestic fowl, as chickens, marked by respiratory difficulty, reduced egg production and, in chicks, paralysis.
- nial systems ltd. — Distributors of Q'NIAL. Address: Ottawa Canada. Telephone: Canada (613) 234 4188.
- nightshade family — the plant family Solanaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, trees, shrubs, and vines having alternate, simple or pinnate leaves, conspicuous flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including belladonna, eggplant, nightshade, peppers of the genus Capsicum, petunia, potato, tobacco, and tomato.
- old age pensioner — An old age pensioner is a person who is old enough to receive an pension from their employer or the government.
- old south arabian — a group of four closely related Semitic languages, having a writing system and used from about the eighth to the fifth centuries b.c. in the southern part of Arabia.
- old spanish trail — an overland route from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to Los Angeles, Calif., first marked out in 1776 by Spanish explorers and missionaries.
- paradoxical sleep — REM sleep.
- partially sighted — unable to see properly so that even with corrective aids normal activities are prevented or seriously hindered
- personal distance — personal space.
- physical handicap — loss of or failure to develop a specific bodily function or functions, whether of movement, sensation, coordination, or speech, but excluding mental impairments or disabilities
- physical medicine — the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury by means of physical agents, as manipulation, massage, exercise, heat, or water.
- physical pendulum — any apparatus consisting of a body of possibly irregular shape allowed to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on which it is pivoted (distinguished from simple pendulum).
- piccadilly circus — a traffic circle and open square in W London, England: theater and amusement center.