16-letter words containing a, n, t, b
- database manager — a person in charge of designing, maintaining, and controlling a database
- dearborn heights — city in SE Mich.: suburb of Detroit: pop. 58,000
- debating chamber — a room where a legislative assembly holds debates
- debating society — a club, e.g. at a school or university, which regularly holds debates
- deboursification — (jargon) Removal of irrelevant newsgroups from the Newsgroups header of a followup. The term applies particularly to the removal of frivolous groups added by one of the Kooks. See also: sneck.
- debut appearance — debut
- deliberativeness — The state or quality of being deliberative.
- demonstrableness — The quality of being demonstrable.
- destabilizations — Plural form of destabilization.
- determinableness — Capability of being determined; determinability.
- development bank — A development bank is a bank that provides money for projects in poor countries or areas.
- diamondback moth — a small moth Plutella xylostella that has diamond-shaped markings on the underside of its front wings that are visible when the wings are folded
- diethyl carbinol — a colorless, liquid isomer of amyl alcohol, (CH3CH2)2CHOH, used in drugs and as a solvent
- dimethylcarbinol — isopropyl alcohol.
- discombobulating — Present participle of discombobulate.
- discombobulation — to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.
- discriminability — The condition of being discriminable.
- disembarrassment — Freedom or relief from impediment or perplexity.
- disequilibration — to put out of equilibrium; unbalance: A period of high inflation could disequilibrate the monetary system.
- disestablishment — to deprive of the character of being established; cancel; abolish.
- disreputableness — The state or quality of being disreputable or disgraceful; disreputability.
- distributionally — In a distributional manner.
- double monastery — a religious community of both men and women who live in separate establishments under the same superior and who worship in a common church.
- double-breasting — the practice of employing nonunion workers, especially in a separate division, to supplement the work of higher-paid union workers.
- draw the longbow — to exaggerate in telling something
- eastern kingbird — any of several American tyrant flycatchers of the genus Tyrannus, especially T. tyrannus (eastern kingbird) of North America, known for their pugnacious disposition toward predators.
- eastern whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus
- elburz mountains — a mountain range in N Iran, parallel to the SW and S shores of the Caspian Sea. Highest peak: Mount Demavend, 5671 m (18 606 ft)
- electric blanket — electrically-heated bedcover
- embarkation card — an official document that allows travellers to leave a country by boarding a ship or plane
- emotional labour — work that requires good interpersonal skills
- erymanthian boar — a wild boar that ravaged the district around Mount Erymanthus: captured by Hercules as his fourth labour
- exhibition match — a sports match which is not part of a competition but instead serves the function of demonstrating the skills of the players
- expansion bottle — a tank collecting coolant from a radiator while an engine is heated, and from which the coolant returns to the radiator when the engine cools
- experience table — an actuarial table, esp a mortality table based on past statistics
- fantasy baseball — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- fantasy football — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- first balkan war — Balkan War (def 1).
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- fortin barometer — an adjustable cistern barometer, the most common of those employing mercury.
- freeboard length — the length of a vessel, measured on the summer load line from the fore side of the stem to some part of the stern, usually the after side of the rudderpost.
- frontal lobotomy — Surgery. a psychosurgical procedure in which the frontal lobes are separated from the rest of the brain by cutting the connecting nerve fibers.
- frontier orbital — the highest-energy occupied orbital or lowest-energy unoccupied orbital in a molecule. Such orbitals have a large influence on chemical properties
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- galvanic battery — battery (def 1a).