15-letter words containing f
- brownfield site — a disused site envisaged for redevelopment
- buffalo currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes odoratum, of the central U.S., having showy, drooping clusters of fragrant yellow flowers and edible black fruit.
- buffalo soldier — (formerly, especially among American Indians) a black soldier.
- buffer overflow — (programming) What happens when you try to store more data in a buffer than it can handle. This may be due to a mismatch in the processing rates of the producing and consuming processes (see overrun and firehose syndrome), or because the buffer is simply too small to hold all the data that must accumulate before a piece of it can be processed. For example, in a text-processing tool that crunches a line at a time, a short line buffer can result in lossage as input from a long line overflows the buffer and overwrites data beyond it. Good defensive programming would check for overflow on each character and stop accepting data when the buffer is full. See also spam, overrun screw.
- buffer solution — a solution to which a salt of a weak acid or base has been added
- bug fix release — (programming) A release which introduces no new features, but which merely aims to fix bugs in previous releases. All too commonly new bugs are introduced at the same time.
- bum someone off — to disappoint, annoy, or upset someone
- burden of proof — The burden of proof is the task of proving that you are correct, for example when you have accused someone of a crime.
- bureau of mines — a division of the Department of the Interior, created in 1910, that studies the nation's mineral resources and inspects mines.
- business office — the office where the financial transactions, bookkeeping, etc. for a firm or institution are carried on
- butter-fingered — a person who frequently drops things; clumsy person.
- butterfly chair — a lightweight chair consisting of a piece of canvas, leather, etc. slung from a framework of metal bars
- butterfly table — a small occasional table, usually having a round or oval top, with drop leaves supported by swinging brackets pivoted to the stretchers and to the underside of the top.
- butterfly valve — a disc that acts as a valve by turning about a diameter, esp one used as the throttle valve in a carburettor
- butterfly wedge — a wooden fastening in the form of a double dovetail for joining two boards at their edges.
- cadmium sulfate — a water-soluble compound, CdSO 4 , of colorless crystals, used as an antiseptic.
- cadmium sulfide — a toxic pigment, CdS, varying from lemon yellow (cadmium yellow) to yellowish orange (cadmium orange) and used in paints, photocells, semiconductors, etc.
- cafeteria-style — set up to allow a variety of choices.
- caffe macchiato — a hot beverage consisting of espresso and a small amount of foamed milk.
- calcareous tufa — tufa
- calcium sulfate — Calcium sulfate is a white crystalline salt, used as a tablet diluent.
- calcium sulfide — a yellow to light-gray, slightly water-soluble powder, CaS, having the odor of rotten eggs when moist: used chiefly in the preparation of luminous paint, hydrogen sulfide, and as a depilatory in cosmetics.
- calf diphtheria — a disease of the throat in young calves caused by Fusobacterium necrophorum, resulting in breathing difficulty and a painful cough
- california gull — a large gull, Larus californicus, of the western U.S.
- california mink — cacomistle.
- california roll — a sushi roll containing avocado, cucumber, and crabmeat, or imitation crabmeat, wrapped in vinegared rice and seaweed.
- california rose — a cultivated variety of a bindweed, Calystegia hederacea, having showy, double, rose-colored flowers.
- call for margin — a demand made by a stockbroker for partial payment of a client's debt due to decreasing value of the collateral
- call forwarding — a telephone service that allows incoming calls to be transferred automatically to another number or extension
- calorific value — the quantity of heat produced by the complete combustion of a given mass of a fuel, usually expressed in joules per kilogram
- canadian forces — the official name for the military forces of Canada
- canadian french — the French language as spoken in Canada, esp in Quebec
- canning factory — a building or group of buildings containing a plant assembly where food is sealed in cans or tins to preserve it
- cape finisterre — a headland in NW Spain: the westernmost point of the Spanish mainland
- cape horn fever — illness feigned by malingerers.
- capital offence — a crime for which the death penalty is used
- caprifoliaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Caprifoliaceae, a family of N temperate shrubs, small trees, and climbers including honeysuckle, elder, and guelder-rose
- carbon fixation — the process by which plants assimilate carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form metabolically active compounds
- cardinal flower — a campanulaceous plant, Lobelia cardinalis of E North America, that has brilliant scarlet, pink, or white flowers
- careers officer — a person trained in giving vocational advice, esp to school leavers
- carl xvi gustaf — born 1946, king of Sweden from 1973
- case conference — a meeting at which all the parties involved in a medical, legal, or social work case come together to discuss it
- cast around for — If you cast around for something or cast about for it, you try to find it or think of it.
- castel gandolfo — a village in central Italy, 15 miles (24 km) SE of Rome: papal palace serving as the summer residence of the pope.
- catarrhal fever — bluetongue.
- catch (on) fire — to begin burning; ignite
- cauliflower ear — permanent swelling and distortion of the external ear as the result of ruptures of the blood vessels: usually caused by blows received in boxing
- cauliflowerette — a single floret from the head of a cauliflower.
- cause of action — the facts alleged in a complaint, upon which is based the plaintiff's right to a legal remedy in a court of law
- caustic surface — a surface that envelopes the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface