18-letter words containing f, i, r, l
- half-open interval — a set of numbers between two given numbers but including only one endpoint.
- handkerchief table — corner table.
- 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.
- home of the hirsel — Baron, title of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, formerly 14th Earl of Home. 1903–95, British Conservative statesman: he renounced his earldom to become prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1963–64); foreign secretary (1970–74)
- hydroflumethiazide — A diuretic drug.
- hyperproliferation — (biology) An abnormally high rate of proliferation of cells by rapid division.
- hyposulfurous acid — an acid, H 2 S 2 O 4 , next in a series below sulfurous acid, known only in solution or in the form of its salts.
- immunofluorescence — any of various techniques for detecting an antigen or antibody in a sample by coupling its specifically interactive antibody or antigen to a fluorescent compound, mixing with the sample, and observing the reaction under an ultraviolet-light microscope.
- in complete flower — a flower without one or more of the normal parts, as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
- in praise of folly — Latin Moriae Encomium. a prose satire (1509) by Erasmus, written in Latin and directed against theologians and church dignitaries.
- 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.
- infertility clinic — a clinic which helps people who are having problems conceiving
- 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.
- isabella of france — 1292–1358, wife (1308–27) of Edward II of England, whom, aided by her lover, Roger de Mortimer, she deposed; mother of Edward III
- isidore of seville — Saint (Isidorus Hispalensis) a.d. c570–636, Spanish archbishop, historian, and encyclopedist.
- 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.
- 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.
- law of segregation — the principle, originated by Gregor Mendel, stating that during the production of gametes the two copies of each hereditary factor segregate so that offspring acquire one factor from each parent.
- lawrence of arabia — D(avid) H(erbert) 1885–1930, English novelist.
- lean manufacturing — efficiency in the production of goods
- learned profession — any of the three vocations of theology, law, and medicine, commonly held to require highly advanced learning. Compare profession (def 1).
- let oneself in for — If you say that you did not know what you were letting yourself in for when you decided to do something, you mean you did not realize how difficult, unpleasant, or expensive it was going to be.
- lifesaving service — a private organization or government agency for general marine rescue operations.
- like a house afire — a building in which people live; residence for human beings.
- lone-parent family — a family in which there is only one parent
- loosestrife family — the plant family Lythraceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees having usually opposite or whorled, simple leaves, clusters of flowers, and fruit in the form of a capsule, and including the crape myrtle, loosestrifes of the genus Lythrum, and the henna shrub.
- lord chief justice — the presiding judge of Britain's High Court of Justice, the superior court of record for both criminal and civil cases.
- magnetic amplifier — an amplifier that applies the input signal to a primary winding and feeds an alternating current to a secondary winding where this current is modulated by the variations in the primary winding.
- make a beeline for — head directly towards
- margaret of valois — ("Queen Margot") 1533–1615, 1st wife of Henry IV of France: queen of Navarre; patron of science and literature (daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici).
- marsilius of padua — c1280–1343? Italian scholar and political theorist.
- medical profession — the body of people who work as doctors of medicine
- mendel's first law — the principle, originated by Gregor Mendel, stating that during the production of gametes the two copies of each hereditary factor segregate so that offspring acquire one factor from each parent.
- mexican fire-plant — a showy plant, Euphorbia heterophylla, of the spurge family, growing in the central U.S. to central South America, having red or mottled red and white bracts.
- middle-of-the-road — favoring, following, or characterized by an intermediate position between two extremes, especially in politics; moderate.
- milkweed butterfly — monarch butterfly.
- minister of health — a person appointed to head the government department of health
- misplaced modifier — Grammar. a word, phrase, or clause that seems to refer to or modify an unintended word because of its placement in a sentence, as when young in When young, circuses appeal to all of us.
- mixed-flow turbine — a water turbine in which water flows radially and axially through the rotating vanes
- modulus of torsion — a coefficient of elasticity of a substance, expressing the ratio between the force per unit area (shearing stress) that laterally deforms the substance and the shear (shearing strain) that is produced by this force.
- mop the floor with — that part of a room, hallway, or the like, that forms its lower enclosing surface and upon which one walks.
- morning-after pill — a contraceptive pill containing only an estrogen and used by women within a few hours after sexual intercourse.
- multiflow computer — (company) A now-defunct computer company, best known for its work in Very Long Instruction Word processors. Address: New Haven, Conn. USA.
- myeloproliferative — (medicine) of or pertaining to the presence of an abnormal proliferation of myelopoietic cells (from bone marrow).
- no-fault insurance — Also called no-fault insurance. a form of automobile insurance designed to enable the policyholder in case of an accident to collect a certain basic compensation promptly for economic loss from his or her own insurance company without determination of liability.