23-letter words containing f, l, a, t
- mediterranean fruit fly — a small, black and white, irregularly banded two-winged fly, Ceratitis capitata, of many warm regions, that damages citrus and other succulent fruit crops by implanting eggs that hatch into maggots within the fruit.
- mexican free-tailed bat — any of several small, insect-eating bats of the genus Tadarida, of Mexico and the southwestern U.S., inhabiting limestone caves: residual DDT has reduced most populations.
- national safety council — a non profit organization that promotes and ensures health and safety standards
- newton's laws of motion — three laws of mechanics describing the motion of a body. The first law states that a body remains at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. The second law states that a body's rate of change of momentum is proportional to the force causing it. The third law states that when a force acts on a body due to another body, then an equal and opposite force acts simultaneously on that body
- not a hair out of place — If you say that someone has not a hair out of place, you are emphasizing that they are extremely smart and neatly dressed.
- off the back of a lorry — If someone says that something has fallen off the back of a lorry, or that they got something off the back of a lorry, they mean that they bought something that they knew was stolen.
- order of military merit — an order awarded to members of the Canadian Forces for conspicuous merit; established in 1972
- out of a clear blue sky — the region of the clouds or the upper air; the upper atmosphere of the earth: airplanes in the sky; cloudy skies.
- parkinson's law of data — "Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.
- partial differentiation — the process of finding one of the partial derivatives of a function of several variables.
- patient confidentiality — the law that a doctor or medical practitioner cannot reveal anything said to them by their patients during consultation or treatment
- performance-related pay — salary based on individual assessment
- phyletic classification — classification of organisms based on their assumed evolutionary histories and relationships.
- polytetrafluoroethylene — any polymer, plastic, or resin having the formula (C 2 F 4) n , prepared from tetrafluoroethylene, noted for its slippery, nonsticking properties, and used in the manufacture of gaskets, electrical insulation, tubing, candy molds, container linings, frying-pan coatings, etc.
- portable tool interface — (programming, standard) (PTI) A standard such as PCTE, allowing interworking between different software tools via defined interfaces to the user and to the repository or object management system.
- preclinical safety data — Preclinical safety data is information about the safety of a medication that is assessed before clinical trials.
- print services facility — (printer) (PSF) IBM's system software which generates native IBM printer language, IPDS and, depending on the version, PostScript and LaserJet PCL. See also: Advanced Function Presentation.
- professional misconduct — a violation of the rules or boundaries set by the governing body of a profession
- profit and loss account — income account (def 2).
- put in a false position — to cause misunderstanding of the intentions, opinions, etc. of
- quantum flavourdynamics — a gauge theory of the electromagnetic and weak interactions
- quay financial software — CSK Software
- rate-of-climb indicator — a flight instrument that indicates the rate of climb or descent of an aircraft.
- refinery waste disposal — Refinery waste disposal is the system for dealing with waste materials, especially hazardous ones, in a refinery.
- reincarnation, cycle of — cycle of reincarnation
- relativity of knowledge — the theory that all knowledge is relative to the mind, or that things can be known only through their effects on the mind, and that consequently there can be no knowledge of reality as it is in itself
- retrolental fibroplasia — an unusual eye disease occurring in premature infants, usually from being given high concentrations of oxygen, which causes abnormal formation of fibrous tissue behind the lens and often results in blindness.
- right, left, and centre — on all sides; from every direction
- self extracting archive — (file format) (SEA) An archive format used on the Apple Macintosh. Double-clicking a file of this type should extract its contents.
- seneca falls convention — a women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.
- separation of variables — a grouping of the terms of an ordinary differential equation so that associated with each differential is a factor consisting entirely of functions of the independent variable appearing in the differential.
- small-saver certificate — a savings certificate issued in a small denomination.
- software developers kit — (jargon, product) (SDK, or "Software Development Kit") Software provided by a software vendor to allow their products to be used with those of other software vendors.
- soviet of nationalities — the legislature of the former Soviet Union and its successor states, consisting of an upper house (Soviet of the Union or Council of the Union) whose delegates are elected on the basis of population, and a lower house (Soviet of Nationalities or Council of Nationalities) whose delegates are elected to represent the various nationalities.
- split-fingered fastball — a pitch, similar to the forkball but thrown with the same arm speed as a fastball, that drops suddenly as it nears the batter.
- statement of cash flows — A statement of cash flows is a financial statement that shows the amounts of cash that came into and went out of a company over a particular period of time.
- stereospecific catalyst — a catalyst for stereospecific chemical reactions
- sterling software, inc. — (company) A software company which was bought out by Computer Associates International, Inc.
- straight bill of lading — a bill of lading that is issued to a specified consignee for the delivery of the goods and that cannot be endorsed to another party.
- survival of the fittest — (not in technical use) natural selection.
- talk someone's head off — to communicate or exchange ideas, information, etc., by speaking: to talk about poetry.
- talk/speak of the devil — People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.
- tangible user interface — (interface) An attempt to give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible by people. Tangible Interfaces will make bits accessible through augmented physical surfaces (e.g. walls, desktops, ceilings, windows), graspable objects (e.g. building blocks, models, instruments) and ambient media (e.g. light, sound, airflow, water-flow, kinetic sculpture) within physical environments.
- terminal user interface — Textual User Interface
- the kingdom of lorraine — an early medieval kingdom on the Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine rivers: later a duchy
- the library of congress — the official library of the United States in Washington, DC. It houses extensive collections in all subject areas and formats, important historical documents, and is also a depository for copyrighted materials.
- the thrill of the chase — If you talk about the thrill of the chase, you are referring to the excitement that people feel when they are trying hard to get something.
- to call someone's bluff — If you call someone's bluff, you tell them to do what they have been threatening to do, because you are sure that they will not really do it.
- to carry all before you — If a person or team carries all before them, they succeed very easily.
- to fight tooth and nail — If you fight tooth and nail to do something, you do everything you can in order to achieve it. If you fight something tooth and nail, you do everything you can in order to prevent it.