14-letter words containing b, a, l, d
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- bill of lading — (in foreign trade) a document containing full particulars of goods shipped or for shipment
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- binding handle — (networking) An identifier representing the connection between a client and server. An association between client/server end-points and protocols.
- birdcage clock — lantern clock.
- bitmap display — (hardware) A computer output device where each pixel displayed on the monitor screen corresponds directly to one or more bits in the computer's video memory. Such a display can be updated extremely rapidly since changing a pixel involves only a single processor write to memory compared with a terminal or VDU connected via a serial line where the speed of the serial line limits the speed at which the display can be changed. Most modern personal computers and workstations have bitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of graphical user interfaces, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screen fonts. Some more expensive systems still delegate graphics operations to dedicated hardware such as graphics accelerators. The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest days of computing when the Manchester University Mark I(?) computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortly after the Second World War. This used a storage tube as its working memory. Phosphor dots were used to store single bits of data which could be read by the user and interpreted as binary numbers.
- black and blue — discolored, as by bruising; exhibiting ecchymosis: a black-and-blue mark on my knee.
- black and tans — Usually, Black and Tans. an armed force of about 6000 soldiers sent by the British government to Ireland in June, 1920, to suppress revolutionary activity: so called from the colors of their uniform.
- black bindweed — a twining polygonaceous European plant, Polygonum convolvulus, with heart-shaped leaves and triangular black seed pods
- black blizzard — a dust storm.
- black bullhead — a common freshwater catfish, Ictalurus melas, of North America, considered by some to be a food delicacy.
- black diamonds — carbonado1 .
- black redstart — a small, Passerine bird, Phoenicurus ochruros, found in Central and S Europe
- black-and-blue — (of the skin) discoloured, as from a bruise
- black-eyed pea — Black-eyed peas are beige seeds with black marks that are eaten as a vegetable. They are from a plant called the cowpea.
- bladder cancer — any cancer of the bladder
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- blended family — a social unit consisting of two previously married parents and the children of their former marriages
- blind as a bat — having extremely poor eyesight
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- block calendar — a calendar in the form of a block of sheets each printed with the date of one day
- blood and guts — dealing with or depicting war or violence, especially in a lurid manner: a blood-and-guts movie.
- blood platelet — any of the minute, disklike, colorless elements of the blood that are essential for normal clotting
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blood-and-guts — dealing with or depicting war or violence, especially in a lurid manner: a blood-and-guts movie.
- blue dandelion — chicory (def 1).
- blue-arsed fly — a blowfly; bluebottle
- blue-eyed mary — a blue-flowered boraginaceous plant, Omphalodes verna, native to S Europe and cultivated in Britain
- bobo-dioulasso — a city in W Burkina Faso. Pop: 396 000 (2005 est)
- body beautiful — a beautiful body
- boulder canyon — a canyon of the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, above Boulder Dam.
- bound variable — (in the functional calculus) a variable occurring in a quantifier and in a sentential function within the scope of the quantifier.
- boundary layer — the layer of fluid closest to the surface of a solid past which the fluid flows: it has a lower rate of flow than the bulk of the fluid because of its adhesion to the solid
- boundary value — boundary value analysis
- brachydactylia — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- brachydactylic — having abnormally short fingers or toes
- brachydiagonal — the shorter lateral axis of a rhombic prism
- braddock hills — a town in SE Pennsylvania.
- bradley effect — the distortion of opinion polls caused by the reluctance of respondents to admit to a preference that is regarded as socially unacceptable
- bras d'or lake — an arm of the Atlantic Ocean in the center Cape Breton Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. 360 sq. mi. (930 sq. km).
- brazing solder — an alloy of copper and zinc for joining two metal surfaces by melting the alloy so that it forms a thin layer between the surfaces
- bread poultice — a poultice made from breadcrumbs
- break the mold — If you say that someone breaks the mold, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- breech-loading — (of a firearm) loaded at the breech