16-letter words containing b, e, t, d
- double-clutching — (of a bird) to produce a second clutch of eggs after the first has been removed, usually for hatching in an incubator.
- draw the longbow — to exaggerate in telling something
- drugstore cowboy — a young man who loafs around drugstores or on street corners.
- dry-cell battery — a dry battery
- 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.
- eastern kingbird — any of several American tyrant flycatchers of the genus Tyrannus, especially T. tyrannus (eastern kingbird) of North America, known for their pugnacious disposition toward predators.
- eastern whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus
- embarkation card — an official document that allows travellers to leave a country by boarding a ship or plane
- equidistribution — An equal distribution.
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- 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.
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- gingerbread tree — a W African tree, Parinari macrophyllum, with large mealy edible fruits (gingerbread plums): family Chrysobalanaceae
- goldsmith beetle — a brilliant golden scarabaeid beetle, Cetonia aurata, of Europe.
- grin and bear it — to suffer trouble or hardship without complaint
- ground substance — Also called matrix. the homogeneous substance in which the fibers and cells of connective tissue are embedded.
- hedge one's bets — If you hedge your bets, you reduce the risk of losing a lot by supporting more than one person or thing in a situation where they are opposed to each other.
- hot and bothered — having or giving off heat; having a high temperature: a hot fire; hot coffee.
- hot buttered rum — a drink made with rum, hot water, and sugar, served with a lump of butter in a mug.
- hot-cathode tube — thermionic tube.
- humboldt current — a cold Pacific Ocean current flowing N along the coasts of Chile and Peru.
- hybrid perpetual — a type of cultivated rose bred from varieties having vigorous growth and more or less recurrent bloom.
- hydration number — the number of molecules of water with which an ion can combine in an aqueous solution of given concentration.
- incorporated bar — (in some states) a system of bar associations to which all lawyers are required to belong.
- indefatigability — incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
- indescribability — (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being indescribable.
- indian breadroot — breadroot.
- indigestibleness — The quality of being indigestible.
- indiscernibility — The state or characteristic of being indiscernible; inability to be observed.
- indispensability — absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite: an indispensable member of the staff.
- indisputableness — The property of being indisputable.
- indivisibilities — not divisible; not separable into parts; incapable of being divided: one nation indivisible.
- jude the obscure — a novel (1895) by Thomas Hardy.
- kit and caboodle — a set or collection of tools, supplies, instructional matter, etc., for a specific purpose: a first-aid kit; a sales kit.
- knowledgeability — possessing or exhibiting knowledge, insight, or understanding; intelligent; well-informed; discerning; perceptive.
- labrador current — a cold ocean current flowing southwards off the coast of Labrador and meeting the warm Gulf Stream, causing dense fogs off the coast of Newfoundland
- lead by the nose — the part of the face or facial region in humans and certain animals that contains the nostrils and the organs of smell and functions as the usual passageway for air in respiration: in humans it is a prominence in the center of the face formed of bone and cartilage, serving also to modify or modulate the voice.
- leveraged buyout — the purchase of a company with borrowed money, using the company's assets as collateral, and often discharging the debt and realizing a profit by liquidating the company. Abbreviation: LBO.
- liberal democrat — In Britain, a Liberal Democrat is a member of the Liberal Democrat Party.
- limited-stop bus — a bus which only stops at a small number of predetermined stops, rather than on request
- long-established — having a long history; old
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- maitre de ballet — ballet master.
- margaret drabble — Margaret, born 1939, English novelist.