17-letter words containing r, a, d, i, l
- folie de grandeur — a delusion of grandeur; megalomania.
- fore-and-aft sail — any of various sails, as jib-headed sails, gaff sails, lugsails, lateen sails, spritsails, staysails, and jibs, that do not set on yards and whose normal position, when not trimmed, is in a fore-and-aft direction amidships.
- fractal dimension — (mathematics) A common type of fractal dimension is the Hausdorff-Besicovich Dimension, but there are several different ways of computing fractal dimension. Fractal dimension can be calculated by taking the limit of the quotient of the log change in object size and the log change in measurement scale, as the measurement scale approaches zero. The differences come in what is exactly meant by "object size" and what is meant by "measurement scale" and how to get an average number out of many different parts of a geometrical object. Fractal dimensions quantify the static *geometry* of an object. For example, consider a straight line. Now blow up the line by a factor of two. The line is now twice as long as before. Log 2 / Log 2 = 1, corresponding to dimension 1. Consider a square. Now blow up the square by a factor of two. The square is now 4 times as large as before (i.e. 4 original squares can be placed on the original square). Log 4 / log 2 = 2, corresponding to dimension 2 for the square. Consider a snowflake curve formed by repeatedly replacing ___ with _/\_, where each of the 4 new lines is 1/3 the length of the old line. Blowing up the snowflake curve by a factor of 3 results in a snowflake curve 4 times as large (one of the old snowflake curves can be placed on each of the 4 segments _/\_). Log 4 / log 3 = 1.261... Since the dimension 1.261 is larger than the dimension 1 of the lines making up the curve, the snowflake curve is a fractal. [sci.fractals FAQ].
- frederick william — 1795–1861, king of Prussia 1840–61 (brother of William I of Prussia).
- french somaliland — a former name of Djibouti (def 1).
- garden heliotrope — the common valerian, Valeriana officinalis, especially when cultivated as an ornamental.
- general admission — an admission charge for unreserved seats at a theatrical performance, sports event, etc.
- general discharge — a discharge from military service of a person who has served honorably but who has not met all the conditions of an honorable discharge.
- generalized other — an individual's internalized impression of societal norms and expectations.
- goldbeater's skin — the prepared outside membrane of the large intestine of the ox, used by goldbeaters to lay between the leaves of the metal while they beat it into gold leaf.
- good-time charlie — an affable, sociable, pleasure-loving man.
- grand climacteric — Physiology. a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
- grand union canal — a canal in S England linking London and the Midlands: opened in 1801
- greater celandine — celandine (def 1).
- green-winged teal — a small freshwater duck, Anas crecca, of Eurasia and North America, having an iridescent green speculum in the wing.
- greenland halibut — a flatfish, Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, similar and related to the halibut
- guardian ad litem — a person appointed by a court as guardian of an infant or other person to act on his or her behalf in a particular action or proceeding.
- hairy-tailed mole — a blackish North American mole, Parascalops breweri, having a short, hairy tail.
- half-round chisel — a cold chisel with a semicircular cutting edge used for making narrow channels
- hall of residence — Halls of residence are buildings with rooms or flats, usually built by universities or colleges, in which students live during the term.
- hammer and sickle — the emblem of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1923 and consisting of an insignia of a hammer with its handle across the blade of a sickle and a star above.
- hammered dulcimer — dulcimer (sense 1)
- haroun-al-raschid — Harun al-Rashid.
- headline-grabbing — A headline-grabbing statement or activity is one that is intended to attract a lot of attention, especially from the media.
- historical method — the process of establishing general facts and principles through attention to chronology and to the evolution or historical course of what is being studied.
- holding operation — a plan or procedure devised to prolong the existing situation
- homeland security — national defence
- hydraulic circuit — a circuit through which water or another liquid, instead of electric current, flows, but which otherwise operates in the same way as an electric circuit
- hydrochloric acid — a colorless or faintly yellow, corrosive, fuming liquid, HCl, used chiefly in chemical and industrial processes.
- hydroelectrically — Using hydroelectric power.
- hydrofluoric acid — a colorless, fuming, corrosive liquid, HF, an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride, used chiefly for etching glass.
- hypochlorous acid — a weak, unstable acid, HOCl, existing only in solution and in the form of its salts, used as a bleaching agent and disinfectant.
- hypochondriacally — In a hypochondriacal manner.
- ideogrammatically — In terms of, or by means of, ideograms.
- idiosyncratically — pertaining to the nature of idiosyncrasy, or something peculiar to an individual: The best minds are idiosyncratic and unpredictable as they follow the course of scientific discovery.
- illegal procedure — a penalty assessed against the offensive team for a technical rules violation, as in assuming an illegal formation.
- in broad daylight — openly, in full public view
- in double harness — in a harness for two animals pulling the same carriage, plow, etc.
- indecipherability — Quality of being indecipherable.
- indescribableness — The quality of being indescribable.
- industrial action — job action.
- industrial design — the art that deals with the design problems of manufactured objects, including problems of designing such objects with consideration for available materials and means of production, of designing packages, bottles, etc., for manufactured goods, and of graphic design for manufactured objects, packages, etc.
- industrial estate — industrial park.
- industrial injury — an injury sustained by an employee of an industrial company during the course of their work
- industrial school — a school for teaching one or more branches of industry; trade or vocational school.
- industrial unrest — business: among employees
- industrialisation — Alternative spelling of industrialization.
- industrialization — the large-scale introduction of manufacturing, advanced technical enterprises, and other productive economic activity into an area, society, country, etc.
- inertial guidance — a guidance system for an aerospace vehicle, in which self-contained devices determine the vehicle's course on the basis of the directions and magnitudes of the accelerations it undergoes in flight.
- integrated school — (in New Zealand) a private or church school that has joined the state school system