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16-letter words containing b, e, c, r, u

  • butterfly effect — the idea, used in chaos theory, that a very small difference in the initial state of a physical system can make a significant difference to the state at some later time
  • butterfly orchid — an orchid (Oncidium papilio) with reddish flowers, native to South America
  • butterfly scheme — A parallel version of Scheme for the BBN Butterfly computer.
  • byzantine church — Orthodox Church (def 1).
  • caducibranchiate — (of many amphibians, such as frogs) having gills during one stage of the life cycle only
  • camborne-redruth — a former (until 1974) urban district in SW England, in Cornwall: formed in 1934 by the amalgamation of the neighbouring towns of Camborne and Redruth. Pop: 39 936 (2001)
  • canada bluegrass — a Eurasian grass, Poa compressa, naturalized in North America, having creeping rootstocks and bluish-green leaves.
  • canterbury bells — a cultivated bellflower (Campanula medium) with white, pink, or blue cuplike flowers
  • canterbury tales — an unfinished literary work by Chaucer, largely in verse, consisting of stories told by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury
  • capsule wardrobe — a collection of clothes and accessories that includes only items considered essential
  • carbon bisulfide — carbon disulfide
  • carbon disulfide — a heavy, volatile, colorless liquid, CS2, highly flammable and poisonous, used as a solvent, insecticide, etc.
  • cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
  • cathode ray tube — (hardware)   (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer VDUs and monitors, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a vacuum tube. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a raster. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "pixel") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "persistence" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their dot pitch, which determines their spatial resolution, and in whether they use interlace or not.
  • cathode-ray tube — A cathode-ray tube is a device in televisions and computer terminals which sends an image onto the screen.
  • celebrity status — the prominence of film star, footballer, musician etc who is constantly photographed and written about in tabloids and magazines
  • cerulean warbler — a North American wood warbler, Dendroica cerulea, the male of which is blue above and white below.
  • 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
  • chechen republic — a constituent republic of S Russia, on the N slopes of the Caucasus Mountains: major oil and natural gas resources; formed an Autonomous Republic with Ingushetia from 1936 until 1944 and from 1957 until 1991; declared independence from Ingushetia in 1992; fighting between Chechen separatists and Russian forces (1994–96) led to de facto independence: reoccupied by Russia in 1999–2000. Capital: Grozny. Pop: 1 100 300 (2002). Area: 15 700 sq km (6010 sq miles)
  • cherries jubilee — a dessert of dark sweet cherries served in a flaming brandy sauce over vanilla ice cream
  • chilean firebush — South American shrub with scarlet flowers
  • chromatic number — (mathematics)   The smallest number of colours necessary to colour the nodes of a graph so that no two adjacent nodes have the same colour. See also: four colour map theorem.
  • church invisible — the entire body of Christian believers on earth and in heaven.
  • 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)
  • circumscriptible — Capable of being circumscribed or limited by bounds.
  • clarified butter — butter with the water and milk solids removed, used for cooking at high temperatures without burning
  • cluster variable — RR Lyrae star.
  • combined honours — (in British education) a degree course that includes more than one subject
  • commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
  • composite number — a positive integer that can be factorized into two or more other positive integers
  • congeliturbation — the churning, heaving, and thrusting of soil material due to the action of frost.
  • consumer durable — Consumer durables are goods which are expected to last a long time, and are bought infrequently.
  • counterbalancing — Present participle of counterbalance.
  • cracked up to be — alleged or believed to be
  • cumberland sauce — a cold sauce made from orange and lemon juice, port, and redcurrant jelly, served with ham, game, or other meat
  • curbstone broker — a broker in the early American stockmarket who did business in the street
  • 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
  • defective number — a positive number that is greater than the sum of all positive integers that are submultiples of it, as 10, which is greater than the sum of 1, 2, and 5.
  • deoxyribonucleic — (genetics) Of or pertaining to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or its derivatives.
  • destructibleness — The quality of being destructible.
  • direction number — the component of a vector along a given line; any number proportional to the direction cosines of a given line.
  • double centering — a method of extending a survey line by taking the average of two foresights, one with the telescope direct and one with it inverted, made each time by transiting the telescope after a backsight.
  • double precision — using twice the normal amount of storage, as two words rather than one, to represent a number.
  • drugstore cowboy — a young man who loafs around drugstores or on street corners.
  • drumhead cabbage — acommon type of cabbage with tightly packed leaves and a rounded form with a slightly flattened top
  • 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.
  • executive member — a member of an executive committee
  • fibonacci number — a number in the Fibonacci sequence, each of which is the sum of the previous two
  • forbush decrease — the sudden decrease in the intensity of cosmic rays after an increase in solar activity.
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