14-letter words containing a, b, e, r, d
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- 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.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- 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)
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- 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 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.
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- birdcage clock — lantern clock.
- birds and bees — any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
- black redstart — a small, Passerine bird, Phoenicurus ochruros, found in Central and S Europe
- bladder cancer — any cancer of the bladder
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- block calendar — a calendar in the form of a block of sheets each printed with the date of one day
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blue-arsed fly — a blowfly; bluebottle
- blue-eyed mary — a blue-flowered boraginaceous plant, Omphalodes verna, native to S Europe and cultivated in Britain
- board of trade — (in the United Kingdom) a ministry within the Department of Trade: responsible for the supervision of commerce and the promotion of export trade
- boarding house — A boarding house is a house which people pay to stay in for a short time.
- body corporate — a group of persons incorporated to carry out a specific enterprise
- bomber command — a former unit of the Royal Air Force dedicated to tactical and strategic bombing, esp during WWII
- border disease — a congenital infectious disease of sheep and goats caused by a Togavirus and characterized by abortion, infertility, and deformity of lambs
- bored to death — very weary and lack stimulation
- born yesterday — brought forth by birth.
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- boulder canyon — a canyon of the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, above Boulder Dam.
- bound variable — (in the functional calculus) a variable occurring in a quantifier and in a sentential function within the scope of the quantifier.
- boundary fence — a fence between properties
- boundary layer — the layer of fluid closest to the surface of a solid past which the fluid flows: it has a lower rate of flow than the bulk of the fluid because of its adhesion to the solid
- boundary rider — an employee on a sheep or cattle station whose job is to maintain fences in good repair and to prevent stock from straying
- boundary value — boundary value analysis
- boundary-stone — a stone marking a boundary, sometimes giving information such as the initials of the local authority in whose jurisdiction the boundary is
- bow and scrape — to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way