10-letter words containing b, a
- beta decay — the radioactive transformation of an atomic nucleus accompanying the emission of an electron. It involves unit change of atomic number but none in mass number
- beta fiber — a nonflammable glass fiber made into fabrics, insulation, etc.
- beta sheet — a secondary structure occurring in many proteins, consisting of several polypeptide chains running in parallel or alternating directions and joined by intermolecular hydrogen bonds, creating a flexible, strong arrangement.
- beta stock — any of the second rank of active securities on the Stock Exchange, of which there are about 500. Continuous display of prices by market makers is required but not immediate publication of transactions
- beta waves — a pattern of high-frequency brain waves (beta waves) observed in normal persons upon sensory stimulation, especially with light, or when they are engaging in purposeful mental activity.
- betacyanin — any one of a group of red nitrogenous pigments found in certain plants, such as beetroot
- betancourt — Rómulo [rom-yuh-loh;; Spanish raw-moo-law] /ˈrɒm yəˌloʊ;; Spanish ˈrɔ muˌlɔ/ (Show IPA), 1908–81, Venezuelan journalist and political leader: president of Venezuela 1945–48 and 1959–64.
- betel palm — a tropical Asian feather palm, Areca catechu, with scarlet or orange fruits
- beth-phage — a place in ancient Israel, at the foot of the Mount of Olives: starting point of Jesus' ride into Jerusalem. Matt. 21:1; Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29.
- betrothals — the act or state of being betrothed; engagement.
- betty lamp — an Early American lamp, consisting of a shallow, covered basin filled with oil, tallow, etc., providing fuel for a wick housed in a teapotlike spout, and often hung by a hook or suspended from a chain.
- betula oil — methyl salicylate.
- bevel gear — a gear having teeth cut into a conical surface known as the pitch zone. Two such gears mesh together to transmit power between two shafts at an angle to each other
- bez antler — bay antler
- bhavabhuti — flourished 8th century, Indian dramatist.
- bi-lingual — able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker.
- biannually — occurring twice a year; semiannual.
- biannulate — having two bands, esp of colour
- bible oath — an oath sworn with one's hand on the Christian Bible
- biblically — of or in the Bible: a Biblical name.
- bibliotaph — a person who caches or hoards books.
- biblioteca — a library.
- bicapsular — (of plants) having two capsules or one capsule with two chambers
- bichromate — dichromate
- bicornuate — Botany, Zoology. having two horns or hornlike parts.
- bicorporal — having two bodies, main divisions, symbols, etc.
- bicultural — having two cultures
- bide a wee — to stay a little
- biennially — happening every two years: biennial games.
- bienseance — good breeding; decorum
- bifacially — from a bifacial point of view
- bifurcated — divided into two branches.
- big bertha — any of three large German guns of World War I used to bombard Paris
- big casino — (in the game of casino) the ten of diamonds.
- big laurel — the rhododendron.
- big league — a major sports league
- big rapids — a town in central Michigan.
- big-endian — 1. (data, architecture) A computer architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numeric representation, the most significant byte has the lowest address (the word is stored "big-end-first"). Most processors, including the IBM 370 family, the PDP-10, the Motorola microprocessor families, and most of the various RISC designs current in mid-1993, are big-endian. See -endian. 2. (networking, standard) A backward electronic mail address. The world now follows the Internet hostname standard (see FQDN) and writes e-mail addresses starting with the name of the computer and ending up with the country code (e.g. [email protected]). In the United Kingdom the Joint Networking Team decided to do it the other way round (e.g. [email protected]) before the Internet domain standard was established. Most gateway sites required ad-hockery in their mailers to handle this. By July 1994 this parochial idiosyncracy was on the way out and mailers started to reject big-endian addresses. By about 1996, people would look at you strangely if you suggested such a bizarre thing might ever have existed.
- big-headed — If you describe someone as big-headed, you disapprove of them because they think they are very clever and know everything.
- big-league — Sports. of or belonging to a major league: a big-league pitcher.
- bigarreaux — a large, heart-shaped variety of sweet cherry, having firm flesh.
- bighearted — quick to give or forgive; generous or magnanimous
- bikini wax — a treatment to remove hair from the bikini line with hot wax
- bilharzial — relating to bilharzia
- biliterate — able to read and write in two languages.
- bill gates — (person) William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. He was a computer nerd who dropped out of Harvard and one of the first programmers to oppose software piracy ("Open Letter to Hobbyists," Computer Notes, February 3, 1976).
- billbergia — any bromeliad of the tropical American genus Billbergia, having stiff leaves and flowers with showy, variously colored bracts.
- billethead — a carved ornamental scroll or volute terminating a stem or cutwater at its upper end in place of a figurehead.
- billy goat — A billy goat is a male goat.
- bilocation — the existence of something in two places at the same time