16-letter words containing f, o, s, t
- first-generation — being the first generation of a family to be born in a particular country.
- fish or cut bait — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- fisherman's knot — a knot for joining two ropes of equal thickness consisting of an overhand knot or double overhand knot by each rope round the other, so that the two knots jam when pulled tight
- fissure eruption — the emergence of lava from a fissure in the ground rather than from a volcanic cone or vent
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- flash eliminator — a device fitted to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the flash made by the ignited propellant gases
- 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.
- flight simulator — a device used in pilot and crew training that provides a cockpit environment and sensations of flight under actual conditions.
- floridean starch — the storage polysaccharide of red algae.
- fluorescent lamp — a tubular electric discharge lamp in which light is produced by the fluorescence of phosphors coating the inside of the tube.
- 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.
- focused strategy — a business strategy in which an organization divests itself of all but its core activities, using the funds raised to enhance the distinctive abilities that give it an advantage over its rivals
- folk linguistics — speculation and popular views about language.
- football special — a train service provided specially to transport football supporters to and from a match
- footsteps editor — the technician who adds sound effects, such as doors closing, rain falling, etc, during the postproduction sound-dubbing process
- for external use — If medicine is for external use, it is intended to be used only on the outside of your body, and not to be eaten or drunk.
- for pete's sake! — an expression of frustration, exasperation or annoyance
- forbes-robertson — Sir Johnston, 1853–1937, English actor and theatrical manager.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- forefathers' day — the anniversary of the day (December 21, 1620, in Old Style December 11) on which the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Mass. Owing to an error in changing the date from the Old Style to the New, it is generally observed on December 22.
- foreign minister — (in countries other than the U.S.) a cabinet minister who conducts and supervises foreign and diplomatic relations with other states. Also called, especially British, foreign secretary. Compare secretary of state (def 1).
- fort sam houston — a military reservation and U.S. Army training center in San Antonio, Tex.
- foundation stone — any of the stones composing the foundation of a building.
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- four-star petrol — petrol containing lead, formerly sold in the UK
- fourth dimension — Physics, Mathematics. a dimension in addition to length, width, and depth, used so as to be able to employ geometrical language in discussing phenomena that depend on four variables: Time is considered a fourth dimension for locating points in space-time.
- francis townsend — Francis Everett, 1867–1960, U.S. physician and proposer of the Townsend plan.
- frankfurt school — a school of thought, founded at the University of Frankfurt in 1923 by Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and others, derived from Marxist, Freudian, and Hegelian theory
- fraternity house — a house occupied by a college or university fraternity.
- free association — the uncensored expression of the ideas, impressions, etc., passing through the mind of the analysand, a technique used to facilitate access to the unconscious.
- friendly society — law: mutual group providing benefits
- from one's heart — very sincerely or deeply
- frontier dispute — a conflict concerning a frontier between countries and which usually involves those countries
- fuel consumption — use of a material to generate power
- full court press — Basketball. a tactic of harassing, close-guarding defense in which the team without the ball pressures the opponent man-to-man the entire length of the court in order to disrupt dribbling or passing and force a turnover: Suddenly behind by eighteen points, they went to a full-court press.
- full-court press — Basketball. a tactic of harassing, close-guarding defense in which the team without the ball pressures the opponent man-to-man the entire length of the court in order to disrupt dribbling or passing and force a turnover: Suddenly behind by eighteen points, they went to a full-court press.
- fullness of time — the proper or destined time.
- functional shift — a change in the grammatical function of a word, as in the use of the noun input as a verb or the noun fun as an adjective.
- functionlessness — The quality or state of being functionless.
- furniture polish — product: shines wood
- gas liquefaction — Gas liquefaction is the process of refrigerating a gas to a temperature that is below its critical temperature in order to form a liquid.
- glory-of-the-sun — a bulbous, Chilean plant, Leucocoryne ixioides, of the amaryllis family, having fragrant, white or blue flowers.
- go off the rails — If someone goes off the rails, they start to behave in a way that other people think is unacceptable or very strange, for example they start taking drugs or breaking the law.
- go-faster stripe — a decorative line, intended to be suggestive of high speed, on the bodywork of a car
- 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.
- gregory of tours — Saint, a.d. 538?–594, Frankish bishop and historian.
- hare's-foot fern — a fern, Polypodium aureum, of tropical America, having a brown, scaly rootstock and green or deep bluish-green fronds.
- harvey firestone — Harvey Samuel, 1868–1938, U.S. industrialist and rubber manufacturer.
- head post office — the main post office in a town
- health food shop — a shop which sells health foods