16-letter words containing a, e, m, i
- blind man's rule — a carpenter's rule having large numbers to permit its reading in dim light.
- blind salamander — any of several North American salamanders, especially of the genera Typhlotriton, Typhlomolge, and Haideotriton, that inhabit underground streams or deep wells and have undeveloped eyes and scant pigmentation.
- boatswain's mate — a job classification in the US navy
- bohemian waxwing — any of several songbirds of the family Bombycillidae, having a showy crest and certain feathers tipped with a red, waxy material, as Bombycilla garrulus (Bohemian waxwing) of the Northern Hemisphere.
- bomb calorimeter — a device for determining heats of combustion by igniting a sample in a high pressure of oxygen in a sealed vessel and measuring the resulting rise in temperature: used for measuring the calorific value of foods
- bonhomme richard — the flagship of John Paul Jones.
- bordeaux mixture — a fungicide consisting of a solution of equal quantities of copper sulphate and quicklime
- bornholm disease — an epidemic virus infection characterized by pain round the base of the chest
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- braille embosser — Braille printer
- brass instrument — a musical wind instrument of brass or other metal with a cup-shaped mouthpiece, as the trombone, tuba, French horn, trumpet, or cornet.
- breeding plumage — the plumage assumed by a male bird during the courtship period, especially in those species that are more colorful at this period.
- bronchopneumonia — inflammation of the lungs, originating in the bronchioles
- broomrape family — the plant family Orobanchaceae, characterized by scaly, leafless herbaceous plants that are parasitic on the roots of other plants and have irregular flowers and many-seeded capsular fruit, and including beechdrops, broomrape, and squawroot.
- buckwheat family — the plant family Polygonaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, vines, shrubs, and trees having stems with swollen joints, simple leaves, small, petalless flowers, and fruit in the form of an achene, and including the buckwheat, dock, knotweed, rhubarb, sea grape, and smartweed.
- bunker mentality — a defensive attitude in which others are seen as hostile or potentially hostile
- business machine — a machine for expediting clerical work, as a tabulator or adding machine.
- business manager — a person who ensures the running of a business by managing the work of relevant staff
- buttercup family — the plant family Ranunculaceae, typified by mostly herbaceous plants having usually alternate leaves, multistaminate flowers sometimes lacking petals but with colorful sepals, and including the anemone, buttercup, clematis, columbine, delphinium, and monkshood.
- byzantine empire — the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East, esp after the deposition of the last emperor in Rome (476 ad). It was finally extinguished by the fall of Constantinople, its capital, in 1453
- cabinet minister — a minister who is a member of the cabinet
- cadmium sulphide — an orange or yellow insoluble solid used as a pigment in paints, etc (cadmium yellow). Formula: CdS
- calcium arsenate — a toxic, white powder, Ca3(AsO4)2, used as an insecticide in the form of a spray or dust
- calcium chloride — a white deliquescent salt occurring naturally in seawater and used in the de-icing of roads and as a drying agent. Formula: CaCl2
- calcium fluoride — a white, crystalline compound, CaF 2 , insoluble in water, occurring in nature as the mineral fluorite: used as a flux in metallurgy and as a decay preventive in dentifrices.
- calcium silicate — any of the silicates of calcium: calcium metasilicate, dicalcium silicate, and tricalcium silicate.
- calorimetrically — In a calorimetric manner.
- camomile shampoo — a liquid or cream preparation of soap or detergent with camomile extract to wash the hair
- canadian hemlock — eastern hemlock.
- canine distemper — distemper1 (def 1a).
- capital employed — the money used by a business for buying land, buildings, equipment etc
- capital movement — the payments that flow between countries
- capsizing moment — the moment of an upsetting couple.
- cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
- cardiotachometer — a device for counting heartbeats, usually displaying the number of beats per minute
- careers mistress — a female teacher who gives pupils advice and information about careers
- category mistake — a sentence that says of something in one category what can only intelligibly be said of something in another, as when speaking of the mind located in space
- catering manager — the person in charge of the catering in a place or at an event
- celestial empire — Chinese Empire
- central american — of or relating to Central America or its inhabitants
- centrifugal pump — a pump having a high-speed rotating impeller whose blades throw the water outwards
- champ at the bit — If someone is champing at the bit or is chomping at the bit, they are very impatient to do something, but they are prevented from doing it, usually by circumstances that they have no control over.
- charlotte amalie — the capital of the Virgin Islands of the United States, a port on St Thomas Island. Pop: 18 914 (2000)
- charmed particle — See at charmed (def 2).
- chemical element — chemistry: substance
- chemical peeling — a cosmetic process in which a substance containing a chemical (esp alpha-hydroxy acids) is applied to the skin of the face and peeled away to remove a layer of dead cells
- chemical warfare — warfare in which chemicals other than explosives are used as weapons, esp warfare using asphyxiating or nerve gases, poisons, defoliants, etc
- chemical weapons — toxic chemicals used as weapons
- chemoautotrophic — producing organic matter by the use of energy obtained by oxidation of certain chemicals with carbon dioxide as the carbon source
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs