14-letter words containing a, b, c, t
- beauty contest — A beauty contest is a competition in which young women are judged to decide which one is the most beautiful.
- beauty culture — the skill or occupation of a beautician
- beclomethasone — a potent synthetic corticosteroid, C 28 H 37 ClO 7 , prepared as an inhalant in the treatment of bronchial asthma.
- beggar's-ticks — tick trefoil
- belaying cleat — a cleat used for belaying
- belletristical — relating to the fine arts
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- bengal catechu — catechu.
- benzanthracene — a carcinogenic hydrocarbon
- benzyl acetate — a colorless liquid, C 9 H 10 O 2 , having a flowerlike odor: used chiefly for flavoring tobacco and in soaps and cosmetics.
- bermuda cutter — a marconi-rigged cutter.
- 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 structure — a secondary structure occurring in many proteins, consisting of several polypeptide chains running in parallel or alternating directions and joined by intermolecular hydrogen bonds, creating a flexible, strong arrangement.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- biblical latin — the form of Latin used in versions of the Bible, esp the form used in the Vulgate
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- bilious attack — a group of symptoms consisting of headache, abdominal pain, and constipation
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- bioclimatology — the study of the effects of climatic conditions on living organisms
- biocontainment — the confinement, as by sealed-off chambers, of materials that are harmful or potentially harmful to life.
- bioinformatics — the branch of information science concerned with large databases of biochemical or pharmaceutical information
- biomathematics — the study of the application of mathematics to biology
- biostatistical — relating to biostatistics
- biosystematics — the study of the variation and evolution of a population of organisms in relation to their taxonomic classification
- bird sanctuary — an area of land in which birds are protected and encouraged to breed
- birthing chair — a chair constructed to allow a woman in labour to give birth in a sitting position
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- bitter cassava — a species of cassava (Manihot esculenta) whose poisonous roots when processed yield tapioca starch
- black and tans — Usually, Black and Tans. an armed force of about 6000 soldiers sent by the British government to Ireland in June, 1920, to suppress revolutionary activity: so called from the colors of their uniform.
- black as night — totally dark
- black basaltes — basaltware.
- black panthers — (in the US) a militant Black political party founded in 1965 to end the political dominance of White people
- black redstart — a small, Passerine bird, Phoenicurus ochruros, found in Central and S Europe
- black root rot — any of several diseases of plants characterized by black or brown lesions on the root.
- blacktip shark — a widely distributed sand shark, Charcharinus limbatus, having fins that appear to have been dipped in ink, inhabiting shallow waters of warm seas.
- blanket stitch — a strong reinforcing stitch for the edges of blankets and other thick material
- blanket-stitch — a basic sewing stitch in which widely spaced, interlocking loops, or purls, are formed, used for cutwork, as a decorative finish for edges, etc.
- bletchley park — the Buckinghamshire estate which was the centre of British code-breaking operations during World War II
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- block capitals — Block capitals are simple capital letters that are not decorated in any way.
- block faulting — the process by which tensional forces in the earth's crust cause large bodies of rock to founder.
- block mountain — a mountain produced by faulting and the uplifting of large blocks of rock
- body corporate — a group of persons incorporated to carry out a specific enterprise
- body snatching — the act or practice of robbing a grave to obtain a cadaver for dissection.
- booster cables — jumper cables
- bornyl acetate — a colorless liquid, C 12 H 20 O 2 , having a piny, camphorlike odor, used chiefly as a scent in the manufacture of perfume, and as a plasticizer.
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- brachydactylia — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- brachydactylic — having abnormally short fingers or toes