16-letter words containing f, e, b, l
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fantasy baseball — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- 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.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- fill one's boots — to take or do as much of something as one wants
- filterable virus — a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.
- fire-tube boiler — any boiler for generating steam by passing hot gases and other combustible products through tubes (fire tubes) immersed in water to a chimney or uptake.
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
- flamborough head — a chalk promontory in NE England, on the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- flashbulb memory — the clear recollections that a person may have of the circumstances associated with a dramatic event
- flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
- flibbertigibbets — Plural form of flibbertigibbet.
- flibbertigibbety — Like a flibbertigibbet; flighty; scatterbrained.
- flying ambulance — an aircraft used to take sick or injured people to hospital
- football special — a train service provided specially to transport football supporters to and from a match
- for all sb cares — You can use for all I care to emphasize that it does not matter at all to you what someone does.
- four-deal bridge — a version of bridge in which four hands only are played, the players then cutting for new partners
- freeboard length — the length of a vessel, measured on the summer load line from the fore side of the stem to some part of the stern, usually the after side of the rudderpost.
- frontier orbital — the highest-energy occupied orbital or lowest-energy unoccupied orbital in a molecule. Such orbitals have a large influence on chemical properties
- full to the brim — If something, especially a container, is filled to the brim or full to the brim with something, it is filled right up to the top.
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- gas blowoff line — A gas blowoff line is a safety device to control sudden increases in pressure.
- hold a brief for — to argue for; champion
- huckleberry finn — (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) a novel (1884) by Mark Twain.
- hyperflexibility — capable of being bent, usually without breaking; easily bent: a flexible ruler.
- imperfectability — The quality of not being perfectable; of being forever imperfect.
- imperfectibility — The state or quality of being imperfectible.
- indefatigability — incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
- insufferableness — The state of being insufferable.
- irrefragableness — The quality or degree of being irrefragable.
- leaf-cutting bee — any of the bees of the family Megachilidae that cut circular pieces from leaves or flowers to line their nests.
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- line of business — profession, trade: field
- lobe-finned fish — any fish that has rounded scales and lobed fins, as the coelacanth.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- medal of bravery — a Canadian award for courage
- modacrylic fiber — any of various synthetic copolymer textile fibers, as Dynel, containing less than 85 percent but more than 35 percent of acrylonitrile.
- non-quantifiable — to determine, indicate, or express the quantity of.
- non-transferable — to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another: He transferred the package from one hand to the other.
- north battleford — a city in W central Saskatchewan, in central Canada.
- outboard profile — an exterior side elevation of a vessel, showing all deck structures, rigging, fittings, etc.
- pass-band filter — band-pass filter
- permafrost table — the variable surface constituting the upper limit of permafrost. Compare frostline (def 2).
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- powerfully built — (of a person, esp a man) big and physically strong, with large muscles
- prisoner of bill — (humour) (PoB) A derisory term, in use generally among Unix users, for anyone who uses Microsoft products either because they don't know there is anything better (i.e. Unix) or because they would be incapable of working anything more complex (i.e. Unix). The interesting and widespread presumption among users of the term is that (at least at the time of writing, 1998) using anything other than Unix or a Microsoft OS (whether VMS, Macintosh, Amiga) is so eccentric a choice as to be at least somewhat praiseworthy.