14-letter words containing a, b, d, e
- bascule bridge — a kind of drawbridge counterweighted so that it can be raised and lowered easily
- bascule-bridge — a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
- basidiomycetes — Mycology. any of a group of fungi constituting the phylum Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi (or, in older classification schemes, the class Basidiomycetes of the kingdom Plantae), characterized by bearing the spores on a basidium, including the smuts, rust, mushrooms, and puffballs.
- basket-of-gold — a yellow-flowered perennial plant (Alyssum saxatile, now more properly Aurinia saxatilis) of the crucifer family, often used in rock gardens
- bastard ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastard turtle — ridley (def 1).
- bastard-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastard-turtle — ridley (def 1).
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- batten disease — a rare hereditary disease in which lipids accumulate in the nervous system, leading to mental deterioration, loss of mobility, and blindness that start in early childhood
- battered woman — See under battered woman syndrome.
- battered-women — the array of physical and psychological injuries exhibited by women (battered women or battered wives) who have been beaten repeatedly or otherwise abused by their partners or spouses.
- battle-scarred — adversely affected from the experience of battle, or some other traumatic experience
- be in bad odor — to be in ill repute
- beach wormwood — a composite plant, Artemisia stellerana, having yellow flowers and deeply lobed leaves covered with dense white fuzz.
- bead lightning — lightning in which the intensity appears to vary along the path and which thus resembles a string of beads.
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- bearded collie — a medium-sized breed of dog having a profuse long straight coat, usually grey or fawn and often with white on the head, legs, and chest, a long tail, and a distinctive beard
- bearded darnel — a grass, Lolium tementulum, related to rye, having bristles on the seed head and bearing seeds that yield a narcotic poison.
- bearded dragon — a large Australian lizard, Amphibolurus barbatus, with an erectile frill around the neck
- bearded lizard — a large Australian lizard, Amphibolurus barbatus, with an erectile frill around the neck
- bedraggledness — The state or condition of being bedraggled.
- bedside manner — A doctor's bedside manner is the way in which they talk to their patients.
- belgian endive — endive (def 2).
- belgian-endive — endive (def 2).
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- benzodiazepine — any of a group of chemical compounds that are used as minor tranquillizers, such as diazepam (Valium) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
- berberidaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Berberidaceae, a mainly N temperate family of flowering plants (mostly shrubs), including barberry and barrenwort
- berkner island — an island in Antarctica, in the S Weddell Sea, between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
- bermuda collar — a narrow, pointed collar on a woman's dress or blouse
- bermuda cutter — a marconi-rigged cutter.
- bermuda shorts — close-fitting shorts that come down to the knees
- bertrand meyer — The author of the Eiffel Language and many articles on object-oriented software techniques.
- beta reduction — [lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g. (\ x . x+1) 4 --> 4+1 Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion. See also name capture.
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beta-oxidation — a process by which fatty acids are degraded, involving oxidation of the beta carbons and removal of successive two-carbon fragments from the fatty acid.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- beyond a doubt — to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
- beyond compare — If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great.
- beyond measure — If you say that something has changed or that it has affected you beyond measure, you are emphasizing that it has done this to a great extent.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bicuspid valve — mitral valve
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- binding handle — (networking) An identifier representing the connection between a client and server. An association between client/server end-points and protocols.
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.