14-letter words containing h, i, l
- interparochial — of, relating to, or financially supported by one or more church parishes: parochial churches in Great Britain.
- into the black — into a profitable condition financially
- invisible hand — (in the economics of Adam Smith) an unseen force or mechanism that guides individuals to unwittingly benefit society through the pursuit of their private interests.
- involute teeth — (in gears) teeth having a profile that is the involute of a circle.
- irreproachable — free from blame; not able to be reproached or censured.
- irreproachably — In an irreproachable manner; blamelessly.
- island-hopping — to travel from island to island, especially to visit a series of islands in the same chain or area.
- isle of thanet — an island in SE England, in NE Kent, separated from the mainland by two branches of the River Stour: scene of many Norse invasions. Area: 109 sq km (42 sq miles)
- isomorphically — In an isomorphic manner.
- john q. public — the average or typical U.S. citizen: an entertainment aimed at Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public.
- just like that — suddenly
- keep the field — to continue activity, as in games or military operations
- kelyphitic rim — a mineral shell enclosing another mineral in an igneous rock, formed by reaction of the interned mineral with the surrounding rock
- kenilworth ivy — a European climbing vine, Cymbalaria muralis, of the figwort family, having irregularly lobed leaves and small, lilac-blue flowers.
- kentish plover — Charadrius alexandrinus, a small wading bird belonging to the plover family, breeding in the tropics and subtropics; it is white and greyish-brown, with black legs and bill
- keratinophilic — (of a plant such as a fungus) growing on keratinous substances such as hair, hooves, nails, etc
- kettle of fish — an awkward, difficult, or bad situation; muddle; mess: He's managed to get himself into a fine kettle of fish!
- khaki election — a general election held during or immediately after a war, esp one in which the war has an effect on how people vote
- khmer republic — a former official name of Cambodia.
- kill the clock — an instrument for measuring and recording time, especially by mechanical means, usually with hands or changing numbers to indicate the hour and minute: not designed to be worn or carried about.
- kinetheodolite — a type of theodolite containing a cine camera instead of a telescope and giving continuous film of a moving target together with a record of its altitude and azimuth: used in tracking a missile, satellite, etc
- king's english — standard, educated, or correct English speech or usage, especially of England.
- kitchen police — soldiers detailed by roster or as punishment to assist in kitchen duties.
- kitchen scales — a set of scales used in cooking
- knight templar — Templar.
- kochel listing — the chronological number of a composition of Mozart as assigned in the catalog of the composer's works compiled in the 19th century by the Austrian musicologist Ludwig von Köchel (1800–1877) and since revised several times. Abbreviation: K.
- kyphoscoliosis — a condition in which the spinal column is convex both backward and sideways.
- labyrinth fish — any of several freshwater fishes of the order Labyrinthi, found in southeastern Asia and Africa, having a labyrinthine structure above each gill chamber enabling them to breathe air while out of water.
- labyrinthodont — any member of several orders of small to large lizardlike terrestrial and freshwater amphibians, some ancestral to land vertebrates, forming the extinct subclass Labyrinthodonta that flourished from the Devonian through the Triassic periods, characterized by a solid, flattened skull and conical teeth.
- lachrymatories — Plural form of lachrymatory.
- lady's-thistle — a composite plant, Silybum marianum, of the Mediterranean region, having glossy, spiny leaves and purplish-red flower heads.
- lake champlain — a lake in the northeastern US, between the Green Mountains and the Adirondack Mountains: linked by the Champlain Canal to the Hudson River and by the Richelieu River to the St Lawrence; a major communications route in colonial times
- lake whitefish — a whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis, found in the Great Lakes and north to Alaska, used for food.
- landing lights — aircraft lights used when landing
- landing wheels — wheels that a plane lowers when it is going to land
- lap microphone — a small microphone that may be clipped to the speaker's lapel, pocket, or the like.
- latchkey child — a child who must spend at least part of the day alone and unsupervised, as when the parents are away at work.
- lathing hammer — a hatchet having a small hammer face for trimming and nailing wooden lath.
- latin alphabet — the alphabetical script derived from the Greek alphabet through Etruscan, used from about the 6th century b.c. for the writing of Latin, and since adopted, with modifications and additions of letters such as w, by the languages of Western Europe, including English, as well as many other languages.
- laughing hyena — an African hyena, Crocuta crocuta, having a yellowish-gray coat with brown or black spots, noted for its distinctive howl.
- laughing stock — object of others' amusement
- laughingstocks — Plural form of laughingstock.
- laughter lines — Laughter lines are the same as laugh lines.
- launch vehicle — Aerospace. a rocket used to launch a spacecraft or satellite into orbit or a space probe into space.
- le misanthrope — a comedy (1666) by Molière.
- lead the field — If you say that someone leads the field in a particular activity, you mean that they are better, more active, or more successful than everyone else who is involved in it.
- lechatelierite — a mineral, an amorphous form of silica formed by the fusion by heat of silica and found in fulgurites.
- lecythidaceous — relating to the Lecythidaceae family of large trees, native to tropical South America and Madagascar
- lee's birthday — Jan. 19, Robert E. Lee's birthday, a legal holiday in several Southern states
- left-branching — (of a grammatical construction) characterized by greater structural complexity in the position preceding the head, as the phrase my brother's friend's house; having most of the constituents on the left in a tree diagram (opposed to right-branching).