17-letter words containing f, e, i
- lady-of-the-night — a tropical American shrub, Brunfelsia americana, of the nightshade family, having berrylike yellow fruit and fragrant white flowers.
- law of reflection — the principle that when a ray of light, radar pulse, or the like, is reflected from a smooth surface the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of refraction — the principle that for a ray, radar pulse, or the like, that is incident on the interface of two media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the ray in the first medium to the velocity in the second medium and the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- lead a dog's life — a domesticated canid, Canis familiaris, bred in many varieties.
- league of nations — an international organization to promote world peace and cooperation that was created by the Treaty of Versailles (1919): dissolved April 1946.
- 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.
- leg before wicket — a manner of dismissal on the grounds that a batsman has been struck on the leg by a bowled ball that otherwise would have hit the wicket
- liberty of speech — freedom of speech.
- lick the boots of — to be servile, obsequious, or flattering towards
- lie in wait (for) — to wait so as to catch after planning an ambush or trap (for)
- life and/or death — If you say that something is a matter of life and death, you are emphasizing that it is extremely important, often because someone may die or suffer great harm if people do not act immediately.
- life imprisonment — long-term prison sentence
- life of the party — most lively, outgoing person
- lifelong learning — the provision or use of both formal and informal learning opportunities throughout people's lives in order to foster the continuous development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment
- lifestyle disease — a disease that potentially can be prevented by changes in diet, environment, and lifestyle, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, and osteoporosis
- line of induction — (formerly) a line of force in a magnetic field.
- line of longitude — an imaginary line on a globe, map, etc, indicating longitude
- line of scrimmage — an imaginary line parallel to the goal lines that passes from one sideline to the other through the point of the football closest to the goal line of each team.
- litigation friend — a person acting on behalf of an infant or other person under legal disability
- little fork river — a river in N Minnesota, flowing N to the Rainy River on the Canadian border. 132 miles (212 km) long.
- live free or die! — 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's automobile licence plates. 2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic days when Unix aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground tilting against the windmills of industry. The "free" referred specifically to freedom from the fascist design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common on commercial operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early Unix developers, used to give out fake licence plates bearing this motto under a large Unix, all in New Hampshire colours of green and white. These are now valued collector's items.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- lord of the flies — a novel (1954) by William Golding.
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- luminous efficacy — the quotient of the luminous flux of a radiation and its corresponding radiant flux
- magnesium sulfate — a white, water-soluble salt, MgSO 4 , used chiefly in medicine and in the processing of leather and textiles.
- magnetizing force — that part of the magnetic induction that is determined at any point in space by the current density and displacement current at that point independently of the magnetic or other physical properties of the surrounding medium. Symbol: H.
- make a difference — have a significant impact
- make light of sth — If you make light of something, you treat it as though it is not serious or important, when in fact it is.
- make mincemeat of — a mixture composed of minced apples, suet, and sometimes meat, together with raisins, currants, candied citron, etc., for filling a pie.
- make something of — to find a use for
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- manifest function — any function of an institution or other social phenomenon that is planned and intentional.
- mare fecunditatis — (Sea of Fertility) a dark plain in the fourth quadrant and extending into the first quadrant of the face of the moon: about 160,000 sq. mi. (415,000 sq. km).
- master of science — a master's degree given usually in a specific branch of the natural sciences, mathematics, or technology.
- maternity benefit — government allowance
- matter of opinion — a point open to question; a debatable statement
- maurice of nassau — Prince of Orange 1567-1625; Du. statesman & military leader
- memoised function — memo function
- memoized function — memo function
- mental deficiency — mental retardation
- mexican stand-off — A Mexican stand-off is a situation in which neither of the people or groups in a conflict or dispute can win and neither wants to give in first.
- microfiche reader — a machine that displays on a screen a magnified image of a microfiche
- microfilm plotter — a type of incremental plotter that has a film rather than a paper output
- microsoft network — The Microsoft Network
- microsoft project — (product) A Microsoft Windows program offering various project management tools.
- middle of nowhere — a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place
- mill on the floss — a novel (1860) by George Eliot.
- minimal free form — the smallest unit of language that can make sense on its own
- minion of the law — a policeman.