12-letter words containing a, b, i, n
- bearing rein — a rein from the bit to the saddle, designed to keep the horse's head in the desired position
- bearing wall — any of the walls supporting a floor or the roof of a building.
- bearskin rug — the pelt of a bear, used as a rug
- bed of nails — a situation or position of extreme difficulty
- beefheartian — of or recalling the music of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, an avant-garde rock/blues band (1966–1982); incorporating strange rhythms, free jazz elements, bizarre lyrics, and growling vocals
- behenic acid — a crystalline, saturated fatty acid, C 22 H 44 O 2 , obtained from plant sources, used chiefly in the manufacture of cosmetics, waxes, and plasticizers.
- belaying pin — a cylindrical, sometimes tapered pin, usually of metal or wood, that fits into a hole in a pin or fife rail: used for belaying
- beleaguering — to surround with military forces.
- belgian hare — a large red breed of domestic rabbit
- bell captain — a person in charge of a group of bellhops
- belly-aching — Informal. a pain in the abdomen or bowels.
- ben franklin — Aretha [uh-ree-thuh] /əˈri θə/ (Show IPA), born 1942, U.S. singer.
- benchmarking — In business, benchmarking is a process in which a company compares its products and methods with those of the most successful companies in its field, in order to try to improve its own performance.
- beneficially — conferring benefit; advantageous; helpful: the beneficial effect of sunshine.
- beneficiated — to treat (ore) to make more suitable for smelting.
- bengal light — a firework or flare that burns with a steady bright blue light, formerly used as a signal
- bengal tiger — a large tiger found in S. Asia
- benzoic acid — a white crystalline solid occurring in many natural resins, used in the manufacture of benzoates, plasticizers, and dyes and as a food preservative (E210). Formula: C6H5COOH
- bernina alps — a mountain group in SE Switzerland, extending from the Rhateian Alps on the Italian border. Highest peak, Piz Bernina, 13,304 feet (4055 meters).
- bernina pass — a pass in the Alps between SE Switzerland and N Italy, east of Piz Bernina. Height: 2323 m (7622 ft)
- beta orionis — Rigel
- beta testing — (programming) Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software (or possibly hardware) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution. Beta testign aims to discover bugs that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes. Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and usability. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers. Some companies such as Google or Degree Jungle stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users. The term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. "Alpha test" was the unit test, module test or component test phase; "Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design.
- beta version — beta testing
- betweenbrain — the posterior part of the forebrain
- beurre manie — butterpaste.
- bias binding — a strip of material cut on the bias for extra stretch and often doubled, used for binding hems, interfacings, etc, or for decoration
- bible banger — Bible-thumper.
- bible-banger — Bible-thumper.
- bibliomaniac — excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books.
- bicentennial — A bicentennial is the same as a bicentenary.
- bid defiance — to resist boldly
- bien pensant — a right-thinking person
- bifunctional — having two functions
- bilingualism — Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages equally well.
- bilinguality — the ability to speak two languages fluently.
- bill and coo — the parts of a bird's jaws that are covered with a horny or leathery sheath; beak.
- billingsgate — the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices
- bimillennial — relating to a bimillennium
- binary color — secondary color.
- binary digit — either of the two digits 0 or 1, used in binary notation
- binge eating — the practice of eating excessive amounts of food over a short period of time
- bingo caller — the person who shouts out the numbers to bingo players
- binocularity — binocular characteristics
- bio-organism — a dangerous fast-proliferating organism that could be used as the basis of a biological weapon
- bioastronomy — the branch of biology which deals with the study or the discovery of life forms on other planets or in space
- bioflavonoid — any of a group of biologically active flavone compounds that may help maintain the blood's capillary walls, reducing the likelihood of hemorrhaging: widely found in plants, esp. citrus fruits
- bioinorganic — pertaining to the biological activity of metal complexes and nonmetal compounds based on elements other than carbon (contrasted with bioorganic).
- biomagnetics — the study of magnetic fields as a form of therapy
- biomagnetism — animal magnetism.
- biomechanics — the study of the mechanics of the movement of living organisms