12-letter words containing a, b, i
- 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
- beat the air — to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly.
- beatifically — bestowing bliss, blessings, happiness, or the like: beatific peace.
- beaumarchais — Pierre Augustin Caron de (pjɛr oɡystɛ̃ karɔ̃ də). 1732–99, French dramatist, noted for his comedies The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro (1784)
- beautifulest — (dated) Most beautiful; more beautiful than anyone or anything else.
- beautifuller — (obsolete) Comparative form of beautiful.
- beauty strip — a narrow forest corridor left uncut alongside a road or body of water.
- bed of nails — a situation or position of extreme difficulty
- bedside lamp — a lamp beside a bed
- 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
- beggar-ticks — any of various plants, such as the bur marigold and tick trefoil, having fruits or seeds that cling to clothing, fur, etc
- behaviorally — manner of behaving or acting.
- behaviourism — Behaviourism is the belief held by some psychologists that the only valid method of studying the psychology of people or animals is to observe how they behave.
- 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
- bella figura — a good impression; fine appearance
- belly-aching — Informal. a pain in the abdomen or bowels.
- below stairs — People sometimes use below stairs to refer to the servants in a rich household and the things that are connected with them.
- belt highway — beltway (def 1).
- 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
- bermuda high — a subtropical high centered near Bermuda.
- bermuda lily — a lily, Lilium longiflorum eximium, having white, funnel-shaped flowers, cultivated especially as an Easter lily.
- 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 emitter — a radioactive element, either natural or artificial, which changes into another element by emitting a beta particle
- 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
- beth midrash — a place where Jews gather to study the Talmud and other religious writings; a small synagogue.
- beth shammai — the school of Jewish legal thought and hermeneutics founded in Jerusalem in the 1st century b.c. by the Jewish teacher Shammai and characterized by an austere or rigid interpretation of Jewish law and tradition.
- betweenbrain — the posterior part of the forebrain
- beurre manie — butterpaste.
- bhakti-marga — any of the three ways to salvation, which are those of devotion to certain gods (bhakti-marga) of study (jnana-marga) and of actions (karma-marga)
- bi-quarterly — occurring twice in each quarter of a year.
- biarticulate — having two joints, as the antennae of certain insects.
- 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
- biauriculate — having two auricles or earlike parts
- bib overalls — overall (def 3a).
- bible banger — Bible-thumper.