11-letter words containing a, b
- bisectional — relating to division into two equal parts
- bisexuality — Biology. of both sexes. combining male and female organs in one individual; hermaphroditic.
- bismarckian — of, relating to, or resembling Otto von Bismarck, especially in respect to his aggressiveness in politics and diplomacy.
- bisociation — the association of one idea with two different contexts
- bisociative — relating to bisociation
- bit bashing — (Also "bit diddling" or bit twiddling). Any of several kinds of low-level programming characterised by manipulation of bit, flag, nibble, and other smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data. These include low-level device control, encryption algorithms, checksum and error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavours of graphics programming (see bitblt), and assembler/compiler code generation. May connote either tedium or a real technical challenge (more usually the former). "The command decoding for the new tape driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the control registers still has bugs." See also bit bang, mode bit.
- bit pattern — (data) A sequence of bits, in a memory, a communications channel or some other device. The term is used to contrast this with some higher level interpretation of the bits such as an integer or an image. A bit string is similar but suggests an arbitrary, as opposed to predetermined, length.
- bitmap font — a font format in which letters and symbols are stored as a pattern of dots
- bitter lake — a salt lake containing in solution a high concentration of sulfates, carbonates, and chlorides.
- bivouacking — a military encampment made with tents or improvised shelters, usually without shelter or protection from enemy fire.
- black alder — a deciduous shrub (Ilex verticillata) of the holly family, native to E North America, with glossy leaves that turn black in the fall and bright-red berries
- black angus — Aberdeen Angus
- black birch — sweet birch.
- black bread — a kind of very dark coarse rye bread
- black bream — a dark-coloured food and game fish, Acanthopagrus australis, of E Australian seas
- black chaff — a disease of wheat, characterized by dark, elongated stripes on the chaff, caused by a bacterium, Xanthomonas translucens undulosum.
- black cumin — a Eurasian herb, Nigella sativa, having pungent aromatic seeds used as a spice, but unrelated to cumin.
- black death — a deadly disease, probably bubonic plague, which devastated Europe and Asia in the 14th cent.
- black dwarf — a cold, dark dwarf star
- black friar — a Dominican friar
- black frost — a frost without snow or rime that is severe enough to blacken vegetation
- black goods — electronic goods which are housed in black or dark casings, such as televisions, CD players, etc
- black hills — a group of mountains in W South Dakota and NE Wyoming: famous for the gigantic sculptures of US presidents on the side of Mount Rushmore. Highest peak: Harney Peak, 2207 m (7242 ft)
- black house — a type of thatched house, usually made of turf, formerly found in the highlands and islands of Scotland
- black humor — a form of humor that regards human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic.
- black ivory — Black slaves collectively
- black japan — a black bituminous varnish
- black light — the invisible electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the spectrum
- black magic — magic used for evil purposes by invoking the power of the devil
- black maple — a tree, Acer saccharum nigrum, of eastern and central North America, having furrowed, blackish bark and yellow-green flowers.
- black maria — a police van for transporting prisoners
- black medic — a widespread weedy annual plant (Medicago lupulina) of the pea family, with small yellow flowers and black seed pods, sometimes grown for forage
- black metal — a type of heavy-metal music characterized by extremely nihilistic and satanic lyrics, a repetitive drum beat rapidly alternating betweeen the snare and bass drum (a blast beat), and the ghoulish make-up worn by performers (corpse paint)
- black molly — a jet-black molly, a color form especially of Poecilia latipinna or P. sphenops, popular as an aquarium fish.
- black money — that part of a nation's income that relates to its black economy
- black olive — a tropical American tree, Bucida buceras, having leathery leaves and greenish-yellow flowers.
- black perch — a livebearing surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni, occurring in abundance along the coast of California, having brownish-black scales often tinged with blue or yellow and a thick, reddish mouth.
- black power — a social, economic, and political movement of Black people, esp in the US, to obtain equality with White people
- black racer — blacksnake (def 1).
- black shank — a disease of tobacco, characterized by wilting and by decayed, blackened roots and stems, caused by a fungus, Phytophthora parasitica nicotianae.
- black sheep — If you describe someone as the black sheep of their family or of a group that they are a member of, you mean that they are considered bad or worthless by other people in that family or group.
- black shirt — a member of any fascist organization (specif., the former Italian Fascist party) with a black-shirted uniform
- black stump — a long way off
- black volta — a river in W Africa, rising in SW Burkina Faso and flowing northeast, then south into Lake Volta: forms part of the border of Ghana with Burkina-Faso and with Côte d'Ivoire. Length: about 800 km (500 miles)
- black vomit — vomit containing blood, often a manifestation of disease, such as yellow fever
- black watch — a regiment of Scottish infantry in the British army (so called from the dark colors in their tartan).
- black water — household waste water that cannot be reused without purification
- black whale — a black, dolphinlike whale, Globicephala melaena, of the North Atlantic.
- black widow — an American spider, Latrodectus mactans, the female of which is black with red markings, highly venomous, and commonly eats its mate
- black witch — any of several large noctuid moths of the genus Erebus, especially the blackish E. odora (black witch) of Central and North America.