14-letter words containing a, d, i, t
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- beta reduction — [lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g. (\ x . x+1) 4 --> 4+1 Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion. See also name capture.
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beta-oxidation — a process by which fatty acids are degraded, involving oxidation of the beta carbons and removal of successive two-carbon fragments from the fatty acid.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- bird sanctuary — an area of land in which birds are protected and encouraged to breed
- birthday party — a party to celebrate someone's birthday
- bitmap display — (hardware) A computer output device where each pixel displayed on the monitor screen corresponds directly to one or more bits in the computer's video memory. Such a display can be updated extremely rapidly since changing a pixel involves only a single processor write to memory compared with a terminal or VDU connected via a serial line where the speed of the serial line limits the speed at which the display can be changed. Most modern personal computers and workstations have bitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of graphical user interfaces, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screen fonts. Some more expensive systems still delegate graphics operations to dedicated hardware such as graphics accelerators. The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest days of computing when the Manchester University Mark I(?) computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortly after the Second World War. This used a storage tube as its working memory. Phosphor dots were used to store single bits of data which could be read by the user and interpreted as binary numbers.
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- blind as a bat — having extremely poor eyesight
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
- boatswain bird — tropic bird.
- body beautiful — a beautiful body
- body snatching — the act or practice of robbing a grave to obtain a cadaver for dissection.
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- brachydactylia — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- brachydactylic — having abnormally short fingers or toes
- brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
- bread poultice — a poultice made from breadcrumbs
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- british dollar — any of several coins formerly issued by the British Empire for use in certain territories, as the Straits dollar or the Hong Kong dollar.
- broad daylight — of great breadth: The river was too broad to swim across.
- bronchodilator — any drug or other agent that causes dilation of the bronchial tubes by relaxing bronchial muscle: used, esp in the form of aerosol sprays, for the relief of asthma
- brood parasite — a young bird hatched and reared by birds of a different species as a result of brood parasitism.
- bucket brigade — a line of persons passing buckets of water along in trying to put out a fire
- budget heading — a heading in a budget under which an expenditure is listed
- building trade — the economic sector comprising all companies and workers involved in construction
- bulletin board — A bulletin board is a board which is usually attached to a wall in order to display notices giving information about something.
- canada thistle — a prickly European weed (Cirsium arvense) of the composite family, with heads of purplish flowers and wavy leaves: now common as a fast-spreading, injurious weed throughout the N U.S.
- capacity crowd — a situation when the maximum number of people possible are watching an event such as a sports game or pop concert
- capital budget — a budget for major capital or investment expenditures
- carbon trading — Carbon trading is the practice of buying and selling the right to produce carbon dioxide emissions, so that people, countries or companies who use a lot of fuel and electricity can buy rights from those that do not use so much.
- cardboard city — an area of a city in which homeless people sleep rough, often in cardboard boxes
- cardiac arrest — A cardiac arrest is a heart attack.
- cardiac output — blood volume in liters pumped by the left ventricle of the heart per minute.
- cardinal point — The cardinal points are the four main points of the compass, north, south, east, and west.
- cardinal tetra — a small, brilliantly colored red and blue characin fish, Paracheirodon axelrodi, native to tropical forest streams in Brazil and Colombia: a popular aquarium fish.
- cardinal trait — a basic and dominant characteristic, as greed or ambition, that, according to a theory developed by psychologist Gordon Allport (1936), controls the behavior of many people.