16-letter words containing a, b, e, d
- duplicate bridge — a form of contract bridge used in tournaments in which contestants play the identical series of deals, with each deal being scored independently, permitting individual scores to be compared.
- eastern kingbird — any of several American tyrant flycatchers of the genus Tyrannus, especially T. tyrannus (eastern kingbird) of North America, known for their pugnacious disposition toward predators.
- eastern whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus
- embarkation card — an official document that allows travellers to leave a country by boarding a ship or plane
- embroidery frame — a frame in the form of a pair of (usually circular) rings, designed to keep the fabric taut while an embroiderer works on it
- endocannabinoids — Plural form of endocannabinoid.
- false beechdrops — either of two parasitic or saprophytic plants of the genus Monotropa, especially the tawny or reddish M. hypopithys (false beechdrops) of eastern North America.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- femme de chambre — a chambermaid
- fisherman's bend — a knot made by taking a round turn on the object to which the rope is to be fastened, passing the end of the rope around the standing part and under the round turn, and securing the end.
- flamborough head — a chalk promontory in NE England, on the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- forbush decrease — the sudden decrease in the intensity of cosmic rays after an increase in solar activity.
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- four-deal bridge — a version of bridge in which four hands only are played, the players then cutting for new partners
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- fraises des bois — wild strawberries
- freeboard length — the length of a vessel, measured on the summer load line from the fore side of the stem to some part of the stern, usually the after side of the rudderpost.
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- gabriel, richard — Richard Gabriel
- garbage disposal — A garbage disposal or a garbage disposal unit is a small machine in the kitchen sink that breaks down waste matter so that it does not block the sink.
- gibberellic acid — a gibberellin C 18 H 21 O 4 COOH, produced as a metabolite by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, used as a stimulator of plant growth.
- gingerbread palm — doom palm.
- gingerbread plum — a tree, Neocarya macrophylla, of western Africa, bearing a large, edible, starchy fruit.
- gingerbread tree — a W African tree, Parinari macrophyllum, with large mealy edible fruits (gingerbread plums): family Chrysobalanaceae
- grin and bear it — to suffer trouble or hardship without complaint
- ground substance — Also called matrix. the homogeneous substance in which the fibers and cells of connective tissue are embedded.
- hanging wardrobe — a wardrobe containing a rail with a large amount of space underneath, so that clothes can be hung on hangers placed onto the rail
- have been around — be experienced
- hendecasyllables — Plural form of hendecasyllable.
- hexahydrobenzene — cyclohexane.
- hold a brief for — to argue for; champion
- horseback riding — activity: riding a horse
- horsehead nebula — a dark nebula in the constellation Orion, composed of opaque cosmic dust and resembling the head of a horse.
- hot and bothered — having or giving off heat; having a high temperature: a hot fire; hot coffee.
- hot-cathode tube — thermionic tube.
- hyaloid membrane — the delicate, pellucid, and nearly structureless membrane enclosing the vitreous humor of the eye.
- hybrid perpetual — a type of cultivated rose bred from varieties having vigorous growth and more or less recurrent bloom.
- hydration number — the number of molecules of water with which an ion can combine in an aqueous solution of given concentration.
- incorporated bar — (in some states) a system of bar associations to which all lawyers are required to belong.
- indefatigability — incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
- indescribability — (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being indescribable.
- indian breadroot — breadroot.
- indispensability — absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite: an indispensable member of the staff.
- indisputableness — The property of being indisputable.
- invisible shadow — (in architectural shades and shadows) a three-dimensional space occupied by the shadow projected by a solid and within which a surface is in shadow.