18-letter words containing f, a, l, t
- forward compatible — forward compatibility
- foundling hospital — an institutional home for foundlings.
- fourth normal form — database normalisation
- free-range poultry — poultry kept in natural nonintensive conditions
- fringe-toed lizard — an iguanid lizard, Uma notata, of sandy deserts of the western U.S. and Mexico, having a wedge-shaped snout and toes fringed with long, pointed scales.
- from first to last — all the way through
- fulminating powder — powder that explodes by percussion.
- functional disease — a disease in which there is an abnormal change in the function of an organ, but no structural alteration in the tissues involved (opposed to organic disease).
- functional program — (language) A program employing the functional programming approach or written in a functional language.
- functional testing — (testing) (Or "black-box testing", "closed-box testing") The application of test data derived from functional requirements without regard to how the system is implemented.
- gainful employment — an occupation that pays an income
- garden loosestrife — any of various plants belonging to the genus Lysimachia, of the primrose family, having clusters of usually yellow flowers, as L. vulgaris (garden loosestrife) or L. quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife)
- gene amplification — an increase in the frequency of replication of a DNA segment.
- go for the jugular — Anatomy. of or relating to the throat or neck. noting or pertaining to any of certain large veins of the neck, especially one (external jugular vein) collecting blood from the superficial parts of the head or one (internal jugular vein) collecting blood from within the skull.
- grandfather clause — U.S. History. a clause in the constitutions of some Southern states after 1890 intended to permit whites to vote while disfranchising blacks: it exempted from new literacy and property qualifications for voting those men entitled to vote before 1867 and their lineal descendants.
- granulated surface — a roughened surface
- grease the palm of — to influence by giving money to; bribe
- gulf saint vincent — a shallow inlet of SE South Australia, to the east of the Yorke Peninsula: salt industry
- gulf stream system — a major ocean-current system consisting of the Gulf Stream and the Florida and North Atlantic currents.
- half-open interval — a set of numbers between two given numbers but including only one endpoint.
- handkerchief table — corner table.
- have two left feet — to be very clumsy
- hearts and flowers — maudlin sentimentality: The play is a period piece, full of innocence abused and hearts and flowers.
- highlight halftone — dropout (def 7).
- hilary of poitiers — Saint, a.d. c300–368, French bishop and theologian.
- historical fiction — the genre of literature, film, etc., comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages.
- house of delegates — the lower house of the General Assembly in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
- hydroflumethiazide — A diuretic drug.
- hyperproliferation — (biology) An abnormally high rate of proliferation of cells by rapid division.
- i'll eat my hat if — I will be greatly surprised if (something happens that proves me wrong)
- ignatius of loyola — Loyola, Saint Ignatius.
- in the belief that — If you do one thing in the belief that another thing is true or will happen, you do it because you think, usually wrongly, that it is true or will happen.
- in the first place — firstly
- indefinite article — an article, as English a, an, that denotes class membership of the noun it modifies without particularizing it.
- information island — (jargon) A body of information (i.e. electronic files) that needs to be shared but has no network connection.
- informatory double — a double intended to inform one's partner that one has a strong hand and to urge a bid regardless of the strength of his or her hand.
- interface analysis — (testing) A software test which checks the interfaces between program elements for consistency and adherence to predefined rules or axioms.
- invalidity benefit — (formerly, in the British National Insurance scheme) a weekly payment to a person who had been off work through illness for more than six months: replaced by incapacity benefit in 1995
- jack of all trades — a person who is adept at many different kinds of work.
- jack-of-all-trades — a person who is adept at many different kinds of work.
- job classification — an arrangement of different types of employment within a company or industry, according to the skill, experience, or training required.
- joint life annuity — an annuity, the payments of which cease at the death of the first of two or more specified persons.
- just (plain) folks — simple and unassuming; not snobbish
- king of the castle — most powerful figure
- king-of-the-salmon — a ribbonfish, Trachypterus altivelis, of northern parts of the Pacific Ocean.
- lambeth conference — a convention of the bishops of the Anglican communion, held about every 10 years at Lambeth Palace to confer but not to define doctrine or to legislate on ecclesiastical matters.
- last in, first out — The expression last in, first out is used to say that the last person who started work in an organization should be the first person to leave it, if fewer people are needed.
- last-in, first-out — an inventory plan based on the assumption that materials constituting manufacturing costs should be carried on the books at the market price of the last lot received. Abbreviation: LIFO. Compare first-in, first-out.
- laugh out of court — to express mirth, pleasure, derision, or nervousness with an audible, vocal expulsion of air from the lungs that can range from a loud burst of sound to a series of quiet chuckles and is usually accompanied by characteristic facial and bodily movements.
- law of gravitation — a law stating that any two masses attract each other with a force equal to a constant (constant of gravitation) multiplied by the product of the two masses and divided by the square of the distance between them.