16-letter words containing f, l, a, y
- flash photolysis — the study of photochemical reaction mechanisms in gases by analyzing spectroscopically the reaction products in a gas mixture irradiated with a powerful light flash.
- flashbulb memory — the clear recollections that a person may have of the circumstances associated with a dramatic event
- flat-track bully — a sportsperson who dominates inferior opposition, but who cannot beat top-level opponents
- flying ambulance — an aircraft used to take sick or injured people to hospital
- flying phalanger — any of various small phalangers of Australia and New Guinea, having a parachutelike fold of skin on each side of the body to give gliding assistance in leaping.
- flynn's taxonomy — (architecture) A classification of computer architectures based on the number of streams of instructions and data: Multiple instruction/single data stream (MISD) - unusual.
- follow-my-leader — a game in which the players must repeat the actions of the leader
- formation flying — a formal arrangement of flying aircraft acting as a unit
- forward analysis — An analysis which determines properties of the output of a program from properties of the inputs.
- forward delivery — delivery at a future date.
- fourier analysis — the expression of any periodic function as a sum of sine and cosine functions, as in an electromagnetic wave function. Compare Fourier series.
- french polynesia — a French overseas territory in the S Pacific, including the Society Islands, Marquesas Islands, and other scattered island groups. 1544 sq. mi. (4000 sq. km). Capital: Papeete.
- friendly islands — Tonga
- fringed polygala — a North American milkwort, Polygala paucifolia, having flowers with purplish-pink, winglike petals and a fringed tube.
- frontal lobotomy — Surgery. a psychosurgical procedure in which the frontal lobes are separated from the rest of the brain by cutting the connecting nerve fibers.
- goosefoot family — formerly, the plant family Chenopodiaceae, characterized by often weedy herbaceous plants and shrubs having simple, usually alternate leaves, small and inconspicuous flowers, and tiny, dry fruit, and including the beet, glasswort, goosefoot, Russian thistle, saltbush, and spinach; now part of the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae.
- gravity platform — (in the oil industry) a drilling platform that rests directly on the sea bed and is kept in position by its own weight; it is usually made of reinforced concrete
- have a field day — If someone is having a field day, they are very busy doing something that they enjoy, even though it may be hurtful for other people.
- hydroformylation — the addition of a hydrogen atom and the formyl group to a double bond of a hydrocarbon by reaction with a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst.
- immediate family — parents, siblings, children
- imperfectability — The quality of not being perfectable; of being forever imperfect.
- indefatigability — incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
- infant mortality — death during infancy
- inflationary gap — the excess of total spending in an economy over the value, at current prices, of the output it can produce
- 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.
- law of parsimony — a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions.
- 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.
- magnifying glass — a lens that produces an enlarged image of an object.
- 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.
- non-inflammatory — tending to arouse anger, hostility, passion, etc.: inflammatory speeches.
- 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
- play off against — If you play people off against each other, you make them compete or argue, so that you gain some advantage.
- polyvinyl formal — a colorless, water-insoluble, polyvinyl acetal produced from partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate and formaldehyde, used chiefly in the manufacture of lacquers.
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.