20-letter words containing h, a, i, l, f
- life-support machine — A life-support machine is the equipment that is used to keep a person alive when they are very ill and cannot breathe without help.
- lifetime achievement — the notable successes that someone achieves during their life
- like a house on fire — If two people get on like a house on fire, they quickly become close friends, for example because they have many interests in common.
- logarithmic function — a function defined by y = log bx, especially when the base, b, is equal to e, the base of natural logarithms.
- madwoman of chaillot — a satirical comedy (1945) by Jean Giraudoux.
- make head or tail of — to attempt to understand (a problem, etc)
- no lack of something — If you say there is no lack of something, you are emphasizing that there is a great deal of it.
- 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.
- olfactory anesthesia — absence or loss of the sense of smell.
- pleased with oneself — If someone seems very satisfied with something they have done, you can say that they are pleased with themselves, especially if you think they are more satisfied than they should be.
- 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.
- see the light of day — come into being
- see with half an eye — the organ of sight, in vertebrates typically one of a pair of spherical bodies contained in an orbit of the skull and in humans appearing externally as a dense, white, curved membrane, or sclera, surrounding a circular, colored portion, or iris, that is covered by a clear, curved membrane, or cornea, and in the center of which is an opening, or pupil, through which light passes to the retina.
- shifting cultivation — a land-use system, esp in tropical Africa, in which a tract of land is cultivated until its fertility diminishes, when it is abandoned until this is restored naturally
- spiral of archimedes — a curve that is the locus of a point that moves outward with uniform speed along a vector, beginning at the origin, while the vector rotates about the origin with uniform angular velocity. Equation (in polar coordinates): r = aθ.
- the beautiful people — rich, fashionable people in international high society
- the legal profession — the profession of law
- theory of relativity — relativity (def 2).
- there is no call for — If you say that there is no call for someone to behave in a particular way, you are criticizing their behaviour, usually because you think it is rude.
- theresa of avila, st — Saint. Also, Teresa. Also called Theresa of Avila [ah-vee-lah] /ˈɑ viˌlɑ/ (Show IPA), 1515–82, Spanish Carmelite nun, mystic, and writer.
- to shake like a leaf — If you say that someone is shaking like a leaf, you mean that their body is shaking a lot, for instance because they are very cold or frightened.
- uranium hexafluoride — a colorless, water-insoluble, crystalline, volatile solid, UF 6 , used in its gaseous state in separating uranium 235 from uranium.
- war of the rebellion — American Civil War.
- warehouse facilities — places for storing goods
- whole-life insurance — a type of insurance with a savings element that is guaranteed to pay out on death provided premiums have been paid as required by the policy
- whyte classification — a system for classifying steam locomotives according to the total number of wheels on the front trucks, drivers, and rear trucks, in that order. For example, a Pacific locomotive is designated as 4-6-2.
- with a grain of salt — to season with salt.
- with a pinch of salt — without wholly believing; sceptically
- yu-shiang whole fish — /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ An obsolete name for the Greek character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII code 9, Unicode glyph 0x0263) which with a loop in its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked whole (not parsed) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang) sauce. Used primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display this character on the screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand.