14-letter words containing a, f
- axis of diesel — a name given to a bloc of countries (Russia, Iran, and Venezuela) whose reserves of oil enhance their political importance
- back and forth — If someone moves back and forth, they repeatedly move in one direction and then in the opposite direction.
- back formation — the invention of a new word on the assumption that a familiar word is derived from it. The verbs edit and burgle were so created from editor and burglar
- back of beyond — a very remote place
- back of bourke — a remote area or place.
- back-and-forth — backward and forward; side to side; to and fro: a back-and-forth shuttling of buses to the stadium; the back-and-forth movement of a clock's pendulum.
- back-formation — the analogical creation of one word from another word that appears to be a derived or inflected form of the first by dropping the apparent affix or by modification.
- backflap hinge — Building Trades. flap (def 20a).
- backflow valve — a valve for preventing flowing liquid, as sewage, from reversing its direction.
- backside-front — backend-to.
- ball of muscle — a very strong, fit, or forceful person
- balm of gilead — any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora, esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin
- balm-of-gilead — any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.
- balsam of peru — an aromatic balsam that is obtained from the tropical South American leguminous tree Myroxylon pereirae and is similar to balsam of Tolu
- balsam of tolu — tolu
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- banker's draft — A banker's draft is the same as a bank draft.
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- barium sulfate — an odorless, tasteless, white powder, BaSO4, insoluble in water: it is used as a paint pigment, as a filler for paper, textiles , etc., and as an opaque substance that is ingested to aid in making diagnostic X-rays of the stomach and intestine
- barium sulfide — a gray or yellowish-green, water-soluble, poisonous powder, BaS, used chiefly as a depilatory and as an intermediate in the synthesis of pigments, especially lithopone.
- barrel shifter — (hardware) A hardware device that can shift or rotate a data word by any number of bits in a single operation. It is implemented like a multiplexor, each output can be connected to any input depending on the shift distance.
- basket-of-gold — a yellow-flowered perennial plant (Alyssum saxatile, now more properly Aurinia saxatilis) of the crucifer family, often used in rock gardens
- basso profundo — (esp in operatic solo singing) a singer with a very deep bass voice
- battle fatigue — Battle fatigue is a mental condition of anxiety and depression caused by the stress of fighting in a war.
- battle of wits — If you refer to a situation as a battle of wits, you mean that it involves people with opposing aims who compete with each other using their intelligence, rather than force.
- be gagging for — to be very eager to have or do something
- beaufort scale — an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used
- beautification — Making beautiful, beautifying, improving the appearance of something.
- beneficialness — the state of being beneficial
- betake oneself — to go; move
- betray oneself — to reveal one's true character, intentions, etc
- bezier surface — (graphics) A surface defined by mathematical formulae, used in computer graphics. A surface P(u, v), where u and v vary orthogonally from 0 to 1 from one edge of the surface to the other, is defined by a set of (n+1)*(m+1) "control points" (X(i, j), Y(i, j), Z(i, j)) for i = 0 to n, j = 0 to m.
- bill of health — a certificate, issued by a port officer, that attests to the health of a ship's company
- bill of lading — (in foreign trade) a document containing full particulars of goods shipped or for shipment
- binary fission — asexual reproduction in unicellular organisms by division into two daughter cells
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- bioinformatics — the branch of information science concerned with large databases of biochemical or pharmaceutical information
- blanco-fombona — Rufino [roo-fee-naw] /ruˈfi nɔ/ (Show IPA), 1874–1944, Venezuelan author.
- blanket finish — a finish so close that a blanket would cover all the contestants involved
- blanket-flower — any composite plant of the genus Gaillardia, having showy heads of yellow or red flowers.
- blended family — a social unit consisting of two previously married parents and the children of their former marriages
- block faulting — the process by which tensional forces in the earth's crust cause large bodies of rock to founder.
- blow off steam — water in the form of an invisible gas or vapor.
- blue-arsed fly — a blowfly; bluebottle
- board of trade — (in the United Kingdom) a ministry within the Department of Trade: responsible for the supervision of commerce and the promotion of export trade
- body beautiful — a beautiful body
- bornyl formate — a liquid, C 11 H 18 O 2 , having a piny odor, used chiefly as a scent in the manufacture of soaps and disinfectants.
- boundary fence — a fence between properties
- bracket fungus — any saprotroph or parasitic fungus of the basidiomycetous family Polyporaceae, growing as a shelflike mass (bracket) from tree trunks and producing spores in vertical tubes in the bracket