15-letter words containing a, d, i, b
- distributor cap — the cap of an engine's distributor that holds in place the wires from the distributor to the sparking plugs
- dithiocarbamate — any salt or ester of dithiocarbamic acid, commonly used as fungicides
- dithyrambically — In dithyrambic fashion.
- dolomite marble — coarse-grained dolomite.
- donnybrook fair — a fair which until 1855 was held annually at Donnybrook, County Dublin, Ireland, and which was famous for rioting and dissipation.
- dorsibranchiate — having branchiae or gills along the back
- double in brass — twice as large, heavy, strong, etc.; twofold in size, amount, number, extent, etc.: a double portion; a new house double the size of the old one.
- double integral — an integral in which the integrand involves a function of two variables and that requires two applications of the integration process to evaluate.
- double negation — the principle that a statement is equivalent to the denial of its negation, as it is not the case that John is not here meaning John is here
- double negative — a syntactic construction in which two negative words are used in the same clause to express a single negation.
- doubting thomas — a person who refuses to believe without proof; skeptic. John 20:24–29.
- dribs and drabs — small sporadic amounts
- dynamic binding — The property of object-oriented programming languages where the code executed to perform a given operation is determined at run time from the class of the operand(s) (the receiver of the message). There may be several different classes of objects which can receive a given message. An expression may denote an object which may have more than one possible class and that class can only be determined at run time. New classes may be created that can receive a particular message, without changing (or recompiling) the code which sends the message. An class may be created that can receive any set of existing messages. One important reason for having dynamic binding is that it provides a mechanism for selecting between alternatives which is arguably more robust than explicit selection by conditionals or pattern matching. When a new subclass is added, or an existing subclass changes, the necessary modifications are localised: you don't have incomplete conditionals and broken patterns scattered all over the program. See overloading.
- dysmorphophobia — an obsessive fear that one's body, or any part of it, is repulsive or may become so
- eat like a bird — any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
- elastic rebound — a theory of earthquakes that envisages gradual deformation of the fault zone without fault slippage until friction is overcome, when the fault suddenly slips to produce the earthquake
- embalming fluid — a liquid used to treat a dead body, which contains preservatives to retard putrefaction
- endocannabinoid — An endogenous cannabinoid, that is one produced by the body.
- endocannibalism — A form of cannibalism, the eating of dead members of one's own social group, often associated with spiritual beliefs.
- examining board — an organization that sets and corrects exams
- executive board — administrative committee
- fair-haired boy — having light-colored hair.
- feather banding — decorative banding of veneer or inlay having the grain laid diagonally to the grain of the principal surface.
- field ambulance — a mobile medical unit that accepts casualties from forward units, treating the lightly wounded and stabilizing the condition of the seriously wounded before evacuating them to a hospital
- fish and brewis — a Newfoundland dish of cooked salt cod and soaked hard bread
- fixed liability — a liability, as a mortgage or debenture, that will not mature for a relatively long time.
- fob destination — FOB destination is a shipping term indicating that ownership of goods passes at delivery to their destination, and the seller has total responsibility until then.
- free-tailed bat — any of various small, swift, insect-eating bats of the family Molossidae, common in warm climates, having thick, leathery ears and a tail that projects well beyond the tail membrane.
- gambier islands — a group of islands in the S Pacific Ocean, in French Polynesia. Chief settlement: Rikitéa. Pop: 1097 (2002). Area: 30 sq km (11 sq miles)
- gaudier-brzeska — Henri (ɑ̃ri), original name Henri Gaudier. 1891–1915, French vorticist sculptor
- gibraltar board — a type of lining board with a cardboard surface and a gypsum core
- gilbert islands — a group of islands in the W Pacific: with Banaba, the Phoenix Islands, and three of the Line Islands they constitute the independent state of Kiribati; until 1975 they formed part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands; achieved full independence in 1979. Pop: 82 902 (2005). Area: 295 sq km (114 sq miles)
- gingerbread man — biscuit in the shape of a man
- globus pallidus — anatomy: part of the brain
- ground-breaking — the act or ceremony of breaking ground for a new construction project.
- groundbreakings — Plural form of groundbreaking.
- hard-boiled egg — egg boiled until the yolk is set
- have got it bad — to be infatuated
- hendecasyllabic — having 11 syllables.
- herbal medicine — the use of herbs to treat illness
- humpback bridge — arched bridge
- hybrid antibody — a synthetic antibody that is able to combine with two different antigens
- hydraulic brake — a brake operated by fluid pressures in cylinders and connecting tubular lines.
- hydrobiological — of or relating to hydrobiology
- identifiability — to recognize or establish as being a particular person or thing; verify the identity of: to identify handwriting; to identify the bearer of a check.
- immunoadsorbent — immunosorbent.
- imponderability — The state or characteristic of being imponderable.
- in a (bad) spot — in a bad situation; in trouble
- in-and-out bond — a stonework or brickwork bond having headers and stretchers alternating vertically.
- in-visible hand — (in the economics of Adam Smith) an unseen force or mechanism that guides individuals to unwittingly benefit society through the pursuit of their private interests.