20-letter words containing f, r, a, t
- master of ceremonies — a person who directs the entertainment at a party, dinner, nightclub, radio or television broadcast, or the like, acting as host and introducing the speakers or performers. Abbreviation: M.C., MC.
- master of the revels — an English court official from the late 15th to early 18th centuries responsible to the Lord Chamberlain for overseeing and paying for court entertainments.
- member of parliament — A Member of Parliament is a person who has been elected by the people in a particular area to represent them in a country's parliament. The abbreviation MP is often used.
- methyl chloroformate — a colorless liquid, C 2 H 3 ClO 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.
- mitral insufficiency — abnormal closure of the mitral valve resulting in regurgitation of blood into the atrium and leading to reduced heart function or heart failure.
- modify a reservation — If you modify a reservation, you change a detail of a booking because someone who has booked a room has asked you to.
- most general unifier — (logic) If U is the most general unifier of a set of expressions then any other unifier, V, can be expressed as V = UW, where W is another substitution. See also unification.
- mother of the chapel — (in British trade unions in the publishing and printing industries) a woman shop steward
- mother-of-pearl moth — a pyralid moth, Pleuroptya ruralis, having a pale sheen, that is often seen around nettles, on which its green larvae feed
- naturalistic fallacy — the supposed fallacy of inferring evaluative conclusions from purely factual premises
- normal magnification — the magnification produced by a telescope or microscope such that the diameter of the exit pupil of the instrument is equal to the diameter of the pupil of the eye.
- normal zeeman effect — the dividing of a spectral line or lines as a result of placing a radiation source in a magnetic field. The division consists of three equally spaced lines (normal Zeeman effect) in systems for which the spin quantum number is zero, or of three or more unequally spaced lines (anomalous Zeeman effect) in systems for which the spin quantum number is not zero.
- north atlantic drift — an ocean current flowing NE toward the British Isles, formed by the convergence of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current SE of Newfoundland.
- northern leaf blight — a disease of corn caused by the fungus Exsherohilum turcicum, characterized by elongate tan-gray elliptical spots with subsequent blighting and necrosis of leaves.
- norwegian forest cat — a breed of long-haired cat with a long bushy tail and a long mane
- not put a foot wrong — If you never put a foot wrong, you never make any mistakes.
- occupation franchise — the right of a tenant to vote in national and local elections
- off the beaten track — formed or shaped by blows; hammered: a dish of beaten brass.
- off-the-job training — training which is carried out away from your normal place of work
- officer of the guard — an officer, acting under the officer of the day, who is responsible for the instruction, discipline, and performance of duty of the guard in a post, camp, or station. Abbreviation: OG, O.G.
- officer of the watch — the officer primarily responsible for the navigation of a ship, in the absence of the captain, during a certain watch.
- official secrets act — law: legislation protecting state secret
- olfactory anesthesia — absence or loss of the sense of smell.
- on (or off) the air — that is (or is not) broadcasting or being broadcast
- on the factory floor — in a factory; as a factory worker
- ousterhout's fallacy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- paper qualifications — qualifications gained through official examinations, etc, rather than through experience
- parallel of altitude — almucantar.
- parallel of latitude — parallel (def 9).
- parametric amplifier — a device, as an electron tube or transistor, that amplifies a high-frequency input signal by sinusoidally varying the reactance of the circuit.
- partial differential — an expression obtained from a given function of several variables by taking the partial derivative with respect to one of the variables and multiplying by the increment in that variable.
- particulars of claim — (in England) the first reading made by the claimant in a county court action, showing the facts upon which he or she relies in support of a claim and the relief asked for
- patent foramen ovale — a congenital heart defect resulting from failure of the foramen ovale to close shortly after birth.
- paternal grandfather — the father of someone's father
- pave the way for sth — If one thing paves the way for another, it creates a situation in which it is possible or more likely that the other thing will happen.
- person of no account — (University of California at Santa Cruz) Used when referring to a person with no network address, frequently to forestall confusion. Most often as part of an introduction: "This is Bill, a person of no account, but he used to be [email protected]". Compare return from the dead.
- potential difference — voltage
- power of appointment — the authority granted by a donor to a donee to select the person or persons who are to enjoy property rights or income upon the death of the donor or of the donee or after the termination of existing rights or interests.
- powhatan confederacy — a network of Algonquian-speaking Indian settlements in Virginia that was ruled by Powhatan.
- prefecture apostolic — a territory in the early stage of missionary development.
- probability function — the function the values of which are probabilities of the distinct outcomes of a discrete random variable
- quantum field theory — any theory in which fields are treated by the methods of quantum mechanics; each field can then be regarded as consisting of particles of a particular kind, which may be created and annihilated.
- queen of the prairie — a tall plant, Filipendula rubra, of the rose family, having branching clusters of pink flowers, growing in meadows and prairies.
- radio interferometer — any of several different types of instrumentation designed to observe interference patterns of electromagnetic radiation at radio wavelengths: used in the discovery and measurement of radio sources in the atmosphere.
- rapid reaction force — a force that can be deployed swiftly to a site of conflict or potential conflict
- recuperative furnace — a furnace having its incoming air heated by exhaust gases, the passage of air and gases through the furnace being always in the same direction.
- refracting telescope — an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms (refracting telescope) consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope) has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed. Compare radio telescope.
- refrigerator-freezer — a large appliance housing one compartment for refrigerating food and another for freezing.
- refuse disposal unit — a unit or part of a sink that disposes of waste food, etc, by grinding
- regenerative furnace — a furnace in which the incoming air is heated by regenerators.