16-letter words containing b, e, r, f
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- fraises des bois — wild strawberries
- 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.
- frontier orbital — the highest-energy occupied orbital or lowest-energy unoccupied orbital in a molecule. Such orbitals have a large influence on chemical properties
- full to the brim — If something, especially a container, is filled to the brim or full to the brim with something, it is filled right up to the top.
- grant of probate — a certificate stating that a will is valid
- hold a brief for — to argue for; champion
- huckleberry finn — (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) a novel (1884) by Mark Twain.
- hyperflexibility — capable of being bent, usually without breaking; easily bent: a flexible ruler.
- imperfectability — The quality of not being perfectable; of being forever imperfect.
- imperfectibility — The state or quality of being imperfectible.
- insufferableness — The state of being insufferable.
- intake of breath — When someone takes an intake of breath, they breathe in quickly and noisily, usually because they are shocked at something.
- irrefragableness — The quality or degree of being irrefragable.
- job's comforters — a person who unwittingly or maliciously depresses or discourages someone while attempting to be consoling.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- make a break for — run towards
- medal of bravery — a Canadian award for courage
- modacrylic fiber — any of various synthetic copolymer textile fibers, as Dynel, containing less than 85 percent but more than 35 percent of acrylonitrile.
- mossbauer effect — the phenomenon in which an atom in a crystal undergoes no recoil when emitting a gamma ray, giving all the emitted energy to the gamma ray, resulting in a sharply defined wavelength.
- non-transferable — to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another: He transferred the package from one hand to the other.
- north battleford — a city in W central Saskatchewan, in central Canada.
- off-by-one error — (programming) (Or "Obi-Wan error") An exceedingly common error induced in many ways, such as by starting at zero when you should have started at one or vice-versa, or by writing "< N" instead of "<= N" or vice-versa. Often confounded with fencepost error, which is properly a particular subtype of it. The term zeroth corrects the linguistic off-by-one error of, e.g., referring to the "1st" element of an array whose indexes start from zero.
- one for the book — a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
- outboard profile — an exterior side elevation of a vessel, showing all deck structures, rigging, fittings, etc.
- pass-band filter — band-pass filter
- performance bond — contract bond.
- permafrost table — the variable surface constituting the upper limit of permafrost. Compare frostline (def 2).
- platform-balance — a scale with a platform for holding the items to be weighed.
- powerfully built — (of a person, esp a man) big and physically strong, with large muscles
- prisoner of bill — (humour) (PoB) A derisory term, in use generally among Unix users, for anyone who uses Microsoft products either because they don't know there is anything better (i.e. Unix) or because they would be incapable of working anything more complex (i.e. Unix). The interesting and widespread presumption among users of the term is that (at least at the time of writing, 1998) using anything other than Unix or a Microsoft OS (whether VMS, Macintosh, Amiga) is so eccentric a choice as to be at least somewhat praiseworthy.
- ramen profitable — If a startup business is ramen profitable, it is barely profitable, just enough to allow the founder to live on the cheapest diet.
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.
- red flour beetle — a reddish-brown flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, that feeds on stored grain, dried fruit, etc.
- reference number — a unique number on an order, application, etc, used to designate and quickly locate that order, application, etc
- remember oneself — to recover one's good manners after a lapse; stop behaving badly
- right about face — Military. a command, given to a soldier or soldiers at attention, to turn the body about toward the right so as to face in the opposite direction. the act of so turning in a prescribed military manner.
- robin goodfellow — Puck (def 1).
- sabattier effect — the alteration of the image tones of a photographic print by briefly reexposing the negative after it has been partially developed.
- self-approbation — approval; commendation.
- self-elaboration — an act or instance of elaborating.
- self-lubricating — to apply some oily or greasy substance to (a machine, parts of a mechanism, etc.) in order to diminish friction; oil or grease (something).
- self-lubrication — the process of becoming lubricated without external factors
- self-observation — an act or instance of noticing or perceiving.
- soapberry family — the plant family Sapindaceae, characterized by chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, or herbaceous vines having compound leaves, clustered flowers, and berrylike, fleshy, or capsular fruit, and including the balloon vine, golden rain tree, litchi, and soapberry.
- software library — a collection of programs that are used to develop software
- sole beneficiary — the only beneficiary
- sulfocarbanilide — thiocarbanilide.
- sulfur butterfly — any of various yellow or orange butterflies of the family Pieridae.
- tabernacle frame — a frame, especially of the 18th century, around a doorway, niche, etc., that suggests a small building, characteristically one with a pediment and two pilasters on a base.