16-letter words containing l, f, r
- the arabian gulf — the arm of the Arabian Sea between SW Iran and Arabia; important for the oilfields on its shores
- the black forest — a hilly wooded region of SW Germany, in Baden-Württemberg: a popular resort area
- the first couple — the US president and their spouse
- the first family — a President's family
- the gentle craft — fishing
- the hill of tara — the historic seat of the ancient Irish kings, in Co Meath near Dublin
- the silver ferns — the women's international netball team of New Zealand
- the story of mel — The story of Mel, a Real Programmer
- throw for a loop — a portion of a cord, ribbon, etc., folded or doubled upon itself so as to leave an opening between the parts.
- throw oneself at — to propel or cast in any way, especially to project or propel from the hand by a sudden forward motion or straightening of the arm and wrist: to throw a ball.
- throw oneself on — to rely entirely upon
- tierra del fuego — a group of islands at the S tip of South America, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan: jointly owned by Argentina and Chile; boundary disputed. 27,476 sq. mi. (71,165 sq. km).
- to hold the fort — If you hold the fort for someone, or, in American English, if you hold down the fort, you look after things for them while they are somewhere else or are busy doing something else.
- to lift a finger — If you say that a person does not lift a finger or raise a finger to do something, especially to help someone, you are critical of them because they do nothing.
- to lose track of — If you lose track of someone or something, you no longer know where they are or what is happening.
- to play for time — If you play for time, you try to make something happen more slowly, because you do not want it to happen or because you need time to think about what to do if it happens.
- to stand or fall — If an idea, claim, or attempt stands or falls on something, its truth or success depends on that thing.
- tower of silence — a circular stone platform, typically 30 feet (9.1 meter) in height, on which the Parsees of India leave their dead to be devoured by vultures.
- trailing fuchsia — a shrub, Fuchsia procumbens, of the evening primrose family, native to New Zealand, having long-stalked leaves and drooping, orange-and-purple flowers, used in hanging baskets.
- transfer molding — a method of molding thermosetting plastic in which the plastic enters a closed mold from an adjoining chamber in which it has been softened.
- transformational — the act or process of transforming.
- transverse flute — the normal orchestral flute, as opposed to the recorder (or fipple flute)
- twin-lens reflex — See under reflex camera. Abbreviation: TLR.
- twofold purchase — a purchase using a double standing block and a double running block so as to give a mechanical advantage of four or five, neglecting friction, depending on whether the hauling is on the standing block or the running block.
- ultra filtration — Physical Chemistry. a filter for purifying sols, having a membrane with pores sufficiently small to prevent the passage of the suspended particles.
- unconfirmability — to establish the truth, accuracy, validity, or genuineness of; corroborate; verify: This report confirms my suspicions.
- undifferentiable — capable of being differentiated.
- unenforceability — to put or keep in force; compel obedience to: to enforce a rule; Traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
- unfair dismissal — wrongful firing from a job
- utility software — system software that manages and optimizes the performance of hardware
- velcro fastening — a fastening made of Velcro
- vertical farming — a proposed system of growing crops in urban areas using specially designed skyscrapers
- visual interface — (tool, text) (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. vi became the de facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of MIT until the rise of Emacs after about 1984. It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/). Nevertheless it is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 Usenet poll preferred it), and even some Emacs fans resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs). See holy wars.
- vulcanized fiber — a leatherlike substance made by compression of layers of paper or cloth that have been treated with acids or zinc chloride, used chiefly for electric insulation.
- waterleaf family — the plant family Hydrophyllaceae, characterized by usually hairy herbaceous plants having lobed, divided, or compound leaves, five-parted blue or white flowers, and capsular fruit, and including baby-blue-eyes, phacelia, and waterleaf.
- way of the world — a comedy of manners (1700) by William Congreve.
- welfare benefits — financial assistance; social security payment
- welfare payments — government benefits
- welfare services — services that provide help with people's living conditions and financial problems
- well-diversified — distinguished by various forms or by a variety of objects: diversified activity.
- west springfield — a city in SW Massachusetts, near Springfield.
- wheel of fortune — wheel (def 9).
- william bradford — Gamaliel, 1863–1932, U.S. biographer and novelist.
- winchester rifle — a type of magazine rifle, first made in about 1866.
- windchill factor — an estimated measurement of the cooling effect of air and wind, esp. when applied to the loss of body heat from exposed skin; chill factor
- windfall profits — Windfall profits are excessive profits with a non-business cause such as a natural disaster.
- wolfenden report — a study produced in 1957 by the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Britain, which recommended that homosexual relations between consenting adults be legalized
- woman of letters — a woman engaged in literary pursuits, especially a professional writer.
- world federalism — federalism on a worldwide level.
- world federalist — a promoter or supporter of world federalism.