12-letter words containing a, n, t, i
- bat printing — ornamenting of ceramics by means of an adhesive substance, as linseed oil, transferred onto the ceramic surface from a sheet of glue or gelatin, dusted with color, and fired.
- bathing suit — A bathing suit is a piece of clothing which people wear when they go swimming.
- bathing wrap — a loose robe to wear after bathing, often made of towelling
- batting cage — a screen with three sides and a top, in which batters practice: it keeps missed and fouled pitches within its enclosure
- beacon light — a light signal for shipping
- bear witness — to give written or oral testimony
- bear-baiting — (formerly) an entertainment in which dogs attacked and enraged a chained bear
- beefheartian — of or recalling the music of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, an avant-garde rock/blues band (1966–1982); incorporating strange rhythms, free jazz elements, bizarre lyrics, and growling vocals
- bell captain — a person in charge of a group of bellhops
- beneficiated — to treat (ore) to make more suitable for smelting.
- bengal light — a firework or flare that burns with a steady bright blue light, formerly used as a signal
- bengal tiger — a large tiger found in S. Asia
- beta orionis — Rigel
- beta testing — (programming) Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software (or possibly hardware) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution. Beta testign aims to discover bugs that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes. Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and usability. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers. Some companies such as Google or Degree Jungle stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users. The term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. "Alpha test" was the unit test, module test or component test phase; "Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design.
- beta version — beta testing
- betweenbrain — the posterior part of the forebrain
- bicentennial — A bicentennial is the same as a bicentenary.
- bien pensant — a right-thinking person
- bifunctional — having two functions
- bilinguality — the ability to speak two languages fluently.
- billingsgate — the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices
- binary digit — either of the two digits 0 or 1, used in binary notation
- binge eating — the practice of eating excessive amounts of food over a short period of time
- binocularity — binocular characteristics
- bioastronomy — the branch of biology which deals with the study or the discovery of life forms on other planets or in space
- biomagnetics — the study of magnetic fields as a form of therapy
- biomagnetism — animal magnetism.
- biometrician — a person who is knowledgeable about biometry
- biotechnical — relating to biotechnology
- bioturbation — the stirring of sediment by organisms
- biparentally — from a biparental point of view
- bipropellant — a rocket propellant consisting of two substances, usually a fuel and an oxidizer
- birket karun — a lake in N Egypt. 25 miles (40 km) long; about 5 miles (8 km) wide; 90 sq. mi. (233 sq. km).
- birth parent — a biological mother (birth mother) or biological father (birth father) a biological parent.
- biting mania — an epidemic in which people have a compulsion to bite others, as in 15th-century Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.
- biting stage — the second part of the oral phase of psychosexual development, approximately 8 to18 months of age, during which a child has the urge to bite or chew objects.
- black knight — a person or firm that makes an unwelcome takeover bid for a company
- blandishment — the act of blandishing; cajolery
- blastulation — the process of blastula formation
- blazing star — a North American liliaceous plant, Chamaelirium luteum, with a long spike of small white flowers
- bletheration — nonsense!
- bloodstained — Someone or something that is bloodstained is covered with blood.
- blotting-pad — an object to one side of which a piece of blotting paper is attached for blotting text handwritten in ink
- bluefin tuna — the largest tuna (Thunnus thynnus): it has bright red flesh and is important as a game and food fish
- boar-hunting — the practice of hunting wild boars
- boarding out — the local-authority practice of placing a client in a foster family or voluntary establishment and paying for it
- boatbuilding — Boatbuilding is the craft or industry of making boats.
- boating lake — a lake in a park where rowing boats can be hired
- boating trip — a trip or holiday in a boat such as a sailing boat or canal boat
- boatsmanship — seamanship as applied to boats, especially rowboats and motorboats.