17-letter words containing f, l, i, e
- 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.
- 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.
- mental deficiency — mental retardation
- microfilm plotter — a type of incremental plotter that has a film rather than a paper output
- 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.
- multiplier effect — the effect of government spending on national income
- new lease on life — a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation.
- newfoundland time — a form of civil time observed on the island of Newfoundland, one and one-half hours later than Eastern time and a half hour later than Atlantic time.
- nightshade family — the plant family Solanaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, trees, shrubs, and vines having alternate, simple or pinnate leaves, conspicuous flowers, and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including belladonna, eggplant, nightshade, peppers of the genus Capsicum, petunia, potato, tobacco, and tomato.
- non-proliferation — Non-proliferation is the limiting of the production and spread of something such as nuclear or chemical weapons.
- noninertial frame — a frame of reference that moves with the object, so that the moving object appears to violate Newton's laws of motion since it accelerates despite having no horizontal forces on it.
- not lift a finger — any of the terminal members of the hand, especially one other than the thumb.
- not the full quid — mentally subnormal
- off-site facility — An off-site facility is a facility which is not at the main industrial or commercial site.
- off-year election — (in the US) an election held in a year when a presidential election does not take place
- office by example — (language) (OBE) A sequel to QBE, described in publications by Moshe Zloof of IBM in the early 1980s but apparently never implemented.
- official receiver — an officer appointed by the Insolvency Service to receive the income and manage the estate of a bankrupt pending the appointment of a trustee in bankruptcy
- oil of turpentine — a colorless, flammable, volatile essential oil having a penetrating odor and a pungent, bitter taste, obtained from turpentine oleoresin by distillation: used in paints and varnishes, and in medicine as a carminative, vermifuge, expectorant, rubefacient, and, formerly, as a diuretic.
- one size fits all — (of clothing) designed to fit people of a wide range of sizes.
- one-parent family — A one-parent family is a family that consists of one parent and his or her children living together.
- one-size-fits-all — (of clothing) designed to fit people of a wide range of sizes.
- orange flower oil — neroli oil.
- out in left field — Baseball. the area of the outfield to the left of center field, as viewed from home plate. the position of the player covering this area.
- past life therapy — a form of hypnosis or meditation based on the belief that an individual's present problems are rooted in events that occurred before birth in this life
- peridot of ceylon — a honey-colored tourmaline, used as a gem: not a true peridot.
- personnel officer — a worker responsible for recruiting employees and dealing with matters relating to them
- petrol filler cap — a small cover that goes over the hole in a vehicle into which you put petrol
- phenylformic acid — benzoic acid.
- pincushion flower — scabious2 (def 1).
- play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- plumbing fixtures — things such as pipes, sinks, toilets that are fixed in position in a building
- polarizing filter — a camera lens filter used to control the plane of polarization of light entering the lens.
- political refugee — a person who has fled from a homeland because of political persecution.
- portfolio manager — a person employed by others to make investments for them
- potassium sulfate — a crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 2 SO 4 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, alums, and mineral water, and as a reagent in analytical chemistry.
- pre-qualification — a quality, accomplishment, etc., that fits a person for some function, office, or the like.
- prefect apostolic — the administrator, usually below the rank of bishop, in charge of a prefecture apostolic.
- preferential shop — a shop in which union members are preferred, usually by agreement of an employer with a union.
- prelingually deaf — deaf from birth or having acquired deafness before learning to speak
- professional army — an army of trained soldiers
- professional foul — In football, if a player commits a professional foul, they deliberately do something which is against the rules in order to prevent another player from scoring a goal.
- profile component — attainment targets in different subjects brought together for the general assessment of a pupil