16-letter words containing a, l, b, r, i, c
- celebrity status — the prominence of film star, footballer, musician etc who is constantly photographed and written about in tabloids and magazines
- cepheid variable — any of a class of variable stars with regular cycles of variations in luminosity (most ranging from three to fifty days). There is a relationship between the periods of variation and the absolute magnitudes, which is used for measuring the distance of such stars
- charitable trust — a trust set up for the benefit of a charity that complies with the regulations of the Charity Commissioners to enable it to be exempt from paying income tax
- chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse) A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
- chilean firebush — South American shrub with scarlet flowers
- christmas beetle — any of various greenish-gold Australian scarab beetles of the genus Anoplognathus, which are common in summer
- chuvash republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga valley: generally low-lying with undulating plains and large areas of forest. Capital: Cheboksary. Pop: 1 313 900 (2002). Area: 18 300 sq km (7064 sq miles)
- cigarette beetle — a small cylindrical beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, that is a pest, especially of dried tobacco.
- circumambulating — Present participle of circumambulate.
- circumambulation — The act of walking around something in a circle, especially for a ritual purpose.
- clarified butter — butter with the water and milk solids removed, used for cooking at high temperatures without burning
- cluster variable — RR Lyrae star.
- collaborationism — The act of collaborating, especially with an enemy.
- collaborationist — A collaborationist government or individual is one that helps or gives support to the enemy during the war.
- come/bring alive — If a story or description comes alive, it becomes interesting, lively, or realistic. If someone or something brings it alive, they make it seem more interesting, lively, or realistic.
- commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
- commercial break — A commercial break is the interval during a commercial television programme, or between programmes, during which advertisements are shown.
- complex variable — a variable to which complex numbers may be assigned as value.
- concertina table — an extensible table having a hinged double top falling onto a hinged frame that unfolds like an accordion when pulled out.
- congeliturbation — the churning, heaving, and thrusting of soil material due to the action of frost.
- constructability — Alternative form of constructibility.
- control variable — Also called control. Statistics. a person, group, event, etc., that is used as a constant and unchanging standard of comparison in scientific experimentation. Compare dependent variable (def 2), independent variable (def 2).
- conversion table — a diagram which shows equivalent amounts in different measuring systems
- counterbalancing — Present participle of counterbalance.
- cray instability — A shortcoming of a program or algorithm that manifests itself only when a large problem is being run on a powerful machine such as a Cray. Generally more subtle than bugs that can be detected in smaller problems running on a workstation or minicomputer.
- diethyl carbinol — a colorless, liquid isomer of amyl alcohol, (CH3CH2)2CHOH, used in drugs and as a solvent
- dimethylcarbinol — isopropyl alcohol.
- discriminability — The condition of being discriminable.
- duplicate bridge — a form of contract bridge used in tournaments in which contestants play the identical series of deals, with each deal being scored independently, permitting individual scores to be compared.
- eclipsing binary — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- electric blanket — electrically-heated bedcover
- experience table — an actuarial table, esp a mortality table based on past statistics
- gabriel, richard — Richard Gabriel
- galvanic battery — battery (def 1a).
- gibberellic acid — a gibberellin C 18 H 21 O 4 COOH, produced as a metabolite by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, used as a stimulator of plant growth.
- hit a brick wall — unable to continue or make progress because of a hindrance
- icterine warbler — a European variety of tree warbler (Hippolais icterina )
- imperfectability — The quality of not being perfectable; of being forever imperfect.
- impracticability — The quality or condition of being impracticable.
- incommensurables — Plural form of incommensurable.
- incontravertable — Misspelling of incontrovertible.
- indescribability — (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being indescribable.
- intercalibration — to determine, check, or rectify the graduation of (any instrument giving quantitative measurements).
- irreplaceability — The quality of being irreplaceable; inability to be replaced; (frequently) uniqueness.
- khakass republic — a constituent republic of S central Russia, formerly in Krasnoyarsk Territory: formed in 1930. Capital: Abakan. Pop: 546 100 (2002). Area: 61 900 sq km (23 855 sq miles)
- liberal democrat — In Britain, a Liberal Democrat is a member of the Liberal Democrat Party.
- library pictures — a caption used to alert viewers that footage being broadcast is from an earlier time and is not happening now
- lick observatory — the astronomical observatory of the University of California, situated on Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, and having a 120-inch (3-meter) reflecting telescope and a 36-inch (91-cm) refracting telescope.
- lord chamberlain — (in Britain) the chief official of the royal household
- lumberjack shirt — a thick checked shirt, as worn by lumberjacks