18-letter words containing f, i, t

finite-dimensional — (of a vector space) having a basis consisting of a finite number of elements.
fire and brimstone — When people talk about fire and brimstone, they are referring to hell and how they think people are punished there after death.
fire-and-brimstone — threatening punishment in the hereafter: a fire-and-brimstone sermon.
first and foremost — primarily
first class module — (programming) A module that is a first class data object of the programming language, e.g. a record containing functions. In a functional language, it is standard to have first class programs, so program building blocks can have the same status.
first duke of york — a member of the royal house of England that ruled from 1461 to 1485.
first things first — You say 'first things first' when you are talking about something that should be done or dealt with before anything else because it is the most important.
first year infants — a class for young children who have just started school
first-in first-out — (algorithm) (FIFO, or "queue") A data structure or hardware buffer from which items are taken out in the same order they were put in. Also known as a "shelf" from the analogy with pushing items onto one end of a shelf so that they fall off the other. A FIFO is useful for buffering a stream of data between a sender and receiver which are not synchronised - i.e. not sending and receiving at exactly the same rate. Obviously if the rates differ by too much in one direction for too long then the FIFO will become either full (blocking the sender) or empty (blocking the receiver). A Unix pipe is a common example of a FIFO. A FIFO might be (but isn't ever?) called a LILO - last-in last-out. The opposite of a FIFO is a LIFO (last-in first-out) or "stack".
fishing expedition — a legal proceeding mainly for the purpose of interrogating an adversary, or of examining his or her property and documents, in order to gain useful information.
fitness instructor — physical trainer, exercise teacher
fitzwilliam museum — a museum, attached to Cambridge University and founded in 1816, noted esp for its paintings and collections devoted to the applied arts
fixed-term tenancy — a tenancy arrangement for a particular and fixed period
flash butt welding — a method of welding metal edge-to-edge with a powerful electric flash followed by the application of pressure.
flat file database — (database) A database containing a single table, stored in a single flat file, often in a human-readable format such as comma-separated values or fixed-width columns.
flat-bottomed rail — a rail having a cross section like an inverted T, with the top extremity enlarged slightly to form the head
flat-panel display — a type of thin, lightweight video display that uses liquid crystals or electroluminescence to reflect images.
floating partition — a partition running parallel to and between two joists and resting on blocking between them.
floating underflow — underflow
floating-rate note — a eurobond, often issued as a negotiable bearer bond, that has a floating rate of interest
fly in the face of — to move through the air using wings.
fob shipping point — FOB shipping point is a shipping term indicating that ownership of goods passes when they are transferred to the carrier.
for the hell of it — the place or state of punishment of the wicked after death; the abode of evil and condemned spirits; Gehenna or Tartarus.
for the life of me — If you say that you cannot for the life of you understand or remember something, you are emphasizing that you cannot understand or remember it, even if you try hard.
for the time being — the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.
forced perspective — the use of objects or images that are larger or smaller than they should be, to suggest that they are nearer or further away than they really are
fore-edge painting — a technique of painting a picture on the fore edge of a book, often in such a manner that only when the pages are slightly fanned the picture is revealed.
foreign investment — investment from foreign countries
foreign-trade zone — free port (def 1).
forensic chemistry — the application of facts concerning chemistry to questions of civil and criminal law.
forensic scientist — science expert: provides evidence
forgive and forget — be reconciled
forward compatible — forward compatibility
foundation garment — an undergarment, as a girdle or corset, worn by women to support or give shape to the contours of the body.
foundling hospital — an institutional home for foundlings.
fragmentation bomb — a bomb designed to break into many small, high-velocity fragments when detonated.
french west africa — a former French federation in W Africa, including Dahomey (now Benin), French Guinea, French Sudan (now Mali), Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Upper Volta (now Burkina Fasso).
french west indies — islands in the West Indies that belong to France, including two overseas departments (Martinique & Guadeloupe) & several former dependencies of Guadeloupe
frequency function — probability density function (def 2).
fringe-toed lizard — an iguanid lizard, Uma notata, of sandy deserts of the western U.S. and Mexico, having a wedge-shaped snout and toes fringed with long, pointed scales.
from first to last — all the way through
front organization — business: cover-up
ftp software, inc. — (company) Developers of the original PC/TCP Packet Driver specification. Address: 26 Princess St. Wakefield, MA 01880-3004. Telephone: +1 (617) 246 0900.
fulminating powder — powder that explodes by percussion.
fuming nitric acid — a colorless, yellowish, or brownish fuming corrosive liquid, usually prepared from nitric acid by the addition of excess nitrogen dioxide: used in organic synthesis for nitration, and as an oxidizer in liquid propellants for rockets.
functional disease — a disease in which there is an abnormal change in the function of an organ, but no structural alteration in the tissues involved (opposed to organic disease).
functional program — (language) A program employing the functional programming approach or written in a functional language.
functional testing — (testing) (Or "black-box testing", "closed-box testing") The application of test data derived from functional requirements without regard to how the system is implemented.
funding operations — the conversion of government floating stock or short-term debt into holdings of long-term bonds
gainful employment — an occupation that pays an income

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