17-letter words containing r, f, e
- kolar gold fields — a city in S India, in SE Karnataka: a major gold-mining centre since 1881. Pop: 176 000 (2005 est)
- lance of courtesy — a lance having a blunt head to prevent serious injury by a jouster to an opponent.
- language transfer — transfer (def 20).
- laplace transform — a map of a function, as a signal, defined especially for positive real values, as time greater than zero, into another domain where the function is represented as a sum of exponentials.
- law of reflection — the principle that when a ray of light, radar pulse, or the like, is reflected from a smooth surface the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of refraction — the principle that for a ray, radar pulse, or the like, that is incident on the interface of two media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the ray in the first medium to the velocity in the second medium and the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- leg before wicket — a manner of dismissal on the grounds that a batsman has been struck on the leg by a bowled ball that otherwise would have hit the wicket
- letter of comfort — comfort letter.
- letter of request — a letter sent from a court to a foreign court requesting judicial assistance
- letters of marque — a former government document authorizing an individual to make reprisals on the subjects of an enemy nation, specif. to arm a ship and capture enemy merchant ships and cargo
- liberty of speech — freedom of speech.
- lie in wait (for) — to wait so as to catch after planning an ambush or trap (for)
- life and/or death — If you say that something is a matter of life and death, you are emphasizing that it is extremely important, often because someone may die or suffer great harm if people do not act immediately.
- life imprisonment — long-term prison sentence
- life of the party — most lively, outgoing person
- lifelong learning — the provision or use of both formal and informal learning opportunities throughout people's lives in order to foster the continuous development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment
- line of scrimmage — an imaginary line parallel to the goal lines that passes from one sideline to the other through the point of the football closest to the goal line of each team.
- litigation friend — a person acting on behalf of an infant or other person under legal disability
- little fork river — a river in N Minnesota, flowing N to the Rainy River on the Canadian border. 132 miles (212 km) long.
- live free or die! — 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's automobile licence plates. 2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic days when Unix aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground tilting against the windmills of industry. The "free" referred specifically to freedom from the fascist design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common on commercial operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early Unix developers, used to give out fake licence plates bearing this motto under a large Unix, all in New Hampshire colours of green and white. These are now valued collector's items.
- loose-leaf binder — a hard cover with metal rings inside which is used to hold loose pieces of paper
- lord of the flies — a novel (1954) by William Golding.
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- macfarlane burnet — Sir (Frank) Macfarlane [muh k-fahr-luh n] /məkˈfɑr lən/ (Show IPA), 1899–1985, Australian physician: Nobel Prize in Physiology 1960.
- magnetizing force — that part of the magnetic induction that is determined at any point in space by the current density and displacement current at that point independently of the magnetic or other physical properties of the surrounding medium. Symbol: H.
- make a difference — have a significant impact
- make reference to — mention, allude to
- make the worst of — to be pessimistic about
- man enough to/for — If you say that a man is man enough to do something, you mean that he has the necessary courage or ability to do it.
- man's best friend — a dog, especially as a pet.
- manna from heaven — Bible: food from heaven
- manufactured home — a prefabricated house, assembled in modular sections.
- mare fecunditatis — (Sea of Fertility) a dark plain in the fourth quadrant and extending into the first quadrant of the face of the moon: about 160,000 sq. mi. (415,000 sq. km).
- margaret of anjou — 1430–82, queen of Henry VI of England.
- mark of the beast — the mark put on the forehead of those who worship the beast, the symbol of opposition to God.
- master of science — a master's degree given usually in a specific branch of the natural sciences, mathematics, or technology.
- maternity benefit — government allowance
- matter of opinion — a point open to question; a debatable statement
- maurice of nassau — Prince of Orange 1567-1625; Du. statesman & military leader
- mayflower compact — an agreement to establish a government, entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620.
- merchant of death — a company, nation, or person that sells military arms on the international market, usually to the highest bidder and without scruple or regard for political ramifications.
- metallofullerenes — Plural form of metallofullerene.
- methyltransferase — any of a class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of methyl groups from one molecule to another.
- microfiche reader — a machine that displays on a screen a magnified image of a microfiche
- microfilm plotter — a type of incremental plotter that has a film rather than a paper output
- microsoft network — The Microsoft Network
- microsoft project — (product) A Microsoft Windows program offering various project management tools.
- middle of nowhere — a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place
- minimal free form — the smallest unit of language that can make sense on its own
- minister of state — (in the British Parliament) a minister, usually below cabinet rank, appointed to assist a senior minister with heavy responsibilities