Leyden jar
A glass jar or bottle used to accumulate static electricity between two electrodes.
Entries starting with L
303 entries.
LF
nounConstruction
Initialism of linear feet.
LFM
Initialism of live fuel moisture.
LFP
Initialism of lithium-iron-phosphate (Li-Fe-P ("phosphorus")).
LH
nounManufacturing
Initialism of left hand.
LHD
nounAutomotive
Abbreviation of left-hand drive.
Li-ion
Abbreviation of lithium ion battery.
liar
A swabber responsible for cleaning the outside parts of the ship rather than the cabins, a role traditionally assigned to a person caught telling a lie the previous week.
Lichtenberg figure
A branching pattern on the surface of an insulator that has been subject to an electric discharge
life
To replace components whose operational lifetime has expired.
lifeguard
nounRail equipment
A sturdy metal bracket fixed in front of each of the leading wheels of a train to deflect small objects away from the wheels to prevent derailment.
lift
A rope leading from the masthead to the extremity of a yard below, and used for raising or supporting the end of the yard.
liftback
nounAutomotive
A variation on the hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline.
liftgate
nounAutomotive
A closure at the rear of a vehicle, or rear door, that can be raised to access the back of a vehicle.
liftglass
nounAutomotive
A windshield panel at the rear of a vehicle that can be raised to provide space for protruding objects, intended for when opening the entire liftgate is not necessary.
lifting shop
nounRail equipment
A workshop where vehicles are lifted off their bogies for maintenance work to be carried out.
liftoff
The point in the launch of a rocket or an aircraft where it leaves contact with the ground.
LIGA
nounManufacturing
A manufacturing process involving lithography, electroplating, and molding, used microstructures with a very high aspect ratio.
light
adjectiveRail equipment
Without any piece of equipment attached or attached only to a caboose.
light clay
Straw-clay, a mixture of straw with a dressing of dilute liquid clay or clay slip. This natural material, making use of an agricultural by-product with an abundant component of soil, has good insulating qualities but is not suitable for load-bearing structural elements.
light engine
nounRail equipment
A locomotive running on its own, or with other powered locomotives, with no wagons or carriages attached.
light oil
The oily product, lighter than water, forming the chief fraction of the first distillate of coal tar, and consisting largely of benzene and toluene.
light pen
A pen-like device allowing a computer user to interact with the screen display.
light plough
A simple plough lacking a moldboard and that is symmetrical on both sides of its draft line.
light rail
nounRail equipment
A kind of passenger railway in urban and suburban settings typically characterized by a mixture of tram (or in North America streetcar) and metro features, crossing streets at grade crossings and normally powered by electricity.
light railway
nounRail equipment
A railway built at a lower cost, with a lighter track and to a lower standard than a main-line railway.
light vehicle
A vehicle designed to carry small loads or a small number of passengers up to an officially set weight or number, such as a car, van, motorbike, scooter, etc.
lighting-up time
nounAutomotive
A time period during which all motor vehicles on unlit public roads must have their headlights switched on.
lights-out
adjectiveManufacturing
Done or performed in the dark because of a fully automated working environment. Often describes night shift or third shift work.
ligne
A unit of length used for measuring the diameter of buttons.
LIGO
Acronym of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, a large-scale physics experiment that successfully detected gravitational waves in 2015.
LILO
adjectiveTransport and logistics
Acronym of left in, left out, a type of three-way road intersection.
Limerick lace
A kind of hybrid lace of embroidered needle lace or crocheted lace on a machine-made net base, originally made in Limerick, Ireland, and noted for its variety of delicate fillings.
limit switch
Originally, a device used to define the limit of travel of an object.
limited
nounRail equipment
An express train that only halts at a limited number of stops.
limited-slip differential
A type of differential that allows its output shafts to rotate at different speeds but can limit the maximum difference in angular velocity between the output shafts, allowing greater torque to be applied to the slower-spinning shaft(s) and generally resulting in better traction than older-design differentials.
limiter
A circuit that allows signals below a specified input threshold to pass unaffected while attenuating the peaks of stronger signals.
line
nounAutomotive
A particular path taken by a vehicle when driving a bend or corner in the road.
line art
Artwork to be reproduced with one solid color, contrasted with artwork having tone or shading (halftones), or full color (color separations).
line card
A modular electronic circuit designed to fit on a separate PCB and interface with a telecommunications access network.
line conductor
A wire or cable that transports electrical current from the power supply to the consumer, usually color-coded with a brown or black casing.
line drop
A drop in voltage between two points of a transmission line.
line lock
nounAutomotive
A device that allows the front brakes to lock independently of the rear brakes via a switch.
line printer
A high-speed impact printer, most often used by older mainframes, that prints an entire line in a single operation.
line speed
nounRail equipment
The maximum speed at which trains can run on a given railway line, or section of line.
line up
verbRail equipment
To have switches set so the train is capable of moving along its correct route.
linecasting
The use of a linecaster to cast entire lines of type in metal slugs.
lineman splice
A method of tightly joining two ends of metal wire by twisting each around the other.
link
nounSurveying
The length of one joint of Gunter's chain, being the hundredth part of it, or 7.92 inches, the chain being 66 feet in length.
linnet hole
A small flue connecting a furnace and a caulker, of about the diameter to admit a linnet.
linoblock
A linoleum block used in block printing.
linocut
A type of woodcut in which a block of linoleum is used for the relief surface; the design cut into the block.
LiPo
Abbreviation of lithium polymer, a type of battery.
liquate
verbMetallurgy
To separate by fusion, as a more fusible from a less fusible material.
liquation
nounMetallurgy
The partial melting of a mixture of metals or ores in order to separate components.
liquefied natural gas
Natural gas that has been cooled and compressed to liquid form for transport and storage.
LIR
Initialism of local interconnection region, an alternative to exchanged-based interconnection strategy for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs).
LISA
Initialism of Laser Interferometer Space Antenna; abbreviation, used in LISA Pathfinder, an ESA space probe that will test technologies needed a gravitational wave observatory.
list
nounCarpentry
A narrow strip of wood, especially sapwood, cut from the edge of a board or plank.
lithium ion battery
A type of rechargeable battery containing lithium compounds but not elemental lithium, used in many consumer electronics devices.