16-letter words containing f, l, a, y, e
- ivyleaf geranium — a geranium plant, pelargonium peltatum, with trailing leaves and white, pink, red, or violet flowers
- lady of pleasure — a prostitute.
- lady of the lake — a narrative poem (1810) by Sir Walter Scott.
- lay oneself open — to make oneself vulnerable (to criticism, attack, etc)
- least flycatcher — a small flycatcher, Empidonax minimus, of eastern North America.
- lleu llaw gyffes — the son of Gwydion and Arianhrod, provided with a name, weapons, and a wife through the magic and trickery of Gwydion in spite of the curses of Arianhrod.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- make the fur fly — the fine, soft, thick, hairy coat of the skin of a mammal.
- matter-of-factly — adhering strictly to fact; not imaginative; prosaic; dry; commonplace: a matter-of-fact account of the political rally.
- mayfield heights — a city in N Ohio, near Cleveland.
- medal of bravery — a Canadian award for courage
- mexican fruitfly — a brightly colored fly, Anastrepha ludens, whose larvae are a serious pest chiefly of citrus fruits and mangoes in Mexico, Central America, and southern Texas.
- modacrylic fiber — any of various synthetic copolymer textile fibers, as Dynel, containing less than 85 percent but more than 35 percent of acrylonitrile.
- monkey-faced owl — barn owl.
- over-familiarity — thorough knowledge or mastery of a thing, subject, etc.
- paraformaldehyde — a white, crystalline polymer of formaldehyde, (HCOH) n , from which it is obtained by evaporation of the aqueous solution: used chiefly as an antiseptic.
- parts of lindsey — an area in E England constituting a former administrative division of Lincolnshire
- pathetic fallacy — the endowment of nature, inanimate objects, etc., with human traits and feelings, as in the smiling skies; the angry sea.
- pearly razorfish — See under razorfish.
- physical fitness — good physical condition
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.
- saxifrage family — the plant family Saxifragaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and small trees having alternate or opposite leaves, clustered or solitary flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including the astilbe, currant, deutzia, gooseberry, hydrangea, mock orange, piggy-back plant, saxifrage, and strawberry geranium.
- self-complacency — pleased with oneself; self-satisfied; smug.
- self-deprecatory — belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest.
- self-exculpatory — intended to excuse oneself from blame or guilt
- self-explanatory — explaining itself; needing no explanation; obvious.
- silky flycatcher — any of several passerine birds of the family Ptilogonatidae, of the southwestern U.S. to Panama, related to the waxwings.
- soapberry family — the plant family Sapindaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, or herbaceous vines having compound leaves, clustered flowers, and berrylike, fleshy, or capsular fruit, and including the balloon vine, golden rain tree, litchi, and soapberry.
- software library — a collection of programs that are used to develop software
- sole beneficiary — the only beneficiary
- stonecrop family — the plant family Crassulaceae, characterized by succulent herbaceous plants and shrubs with simple, fleshy leaves, clusters of small flowers, and dry, dehiscent fruit, and including hen-and-chickens, houseleek, kalanchoe, live-forever, orpine, sedum, and stonecrop.
- taft-hartley act — an act of the U.S. Congress (1947) that supersedes but continues most of the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and that, in addition, provides for an eighty-day injunction against strikes that endanger public health and safety and bans closed shops, featherbedding, secondary boycotts, jurisdictional strikes, and certain other union practices.
- the first family — a President's family
- to play for time — If you play for time, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens.
- to play the fool — If you play the fool or act the fool, you behave in a playful, childish, and foolish way, usually in order to make other people laugh.
- two-family house — a house designed for occupation by two families in contiguous apartments, as on separate floors.
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- waterleaf family — the plant family Hydrophyllaceae, characterized by usually hairy herbaceous plants having lobed, divided, or compound leaves, five-parted blue or white flowers, and capsular fruit, and including baby-blue-eyes, phacelia, and waterleaf.
- way of all flesh — a novel (1903) by Samuel Butler.
- way of the world — a comedy of manners (1700) by William Congreve.
- welfare payments — government benefits
- yellowfin (tuna) — a tuna (Thunnus albacares) with yellow fins and a yellow stripe on each side, important as a game and food fish and found worldwide in warm seas
- your better half — If you talk about your better half or your other half you mean your wife, your husband, or the person of the opposite sex that you live with.