28-letter words containing b, e

knock the stuffing out of sb — If something knocks the stuffing out of you when you are feeling enthusiastic or confident about something, it causes you to lose your enthusiasm or confidence.
knowledge systems laboratory — (KSL) An artificial intelligence research laboratory within the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. Current work focuses on knowledge representation for sharable engineering knowledge bases and systems, computational environments for modelling physical devices, architectures for adaptive intelligent systems, and expert systems for science and engineering.
krupp von bohlen und halbach — Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. 1870–1950, German steel and armament manufacturer. He was the son-in-law of Friedrich Alfred Krupp
lambert conformal projection — a conformal projection in which meridians are represented as straight lines converging toward the nearest pole and parallels as arc segments of concentric circles.
liberte, egalite, fraternite — liberty, equality, fraternity
light the (blue) touch paper — If someone lights the touch paper or lights the blue touch paper, they do something which causes anger or excitement.
like a lamb to the slaughter — without resistance
like water off a duck's back — You say that criticism is like water off a duck's back or water off a duck's back to emphasize that it is not having any effect on the person being criticized.
maxwell-boltzmann statistics — statistics for classical physics, based on the assumption that in a given physical system consisting of indistinguishable particles and regions, all possible arrangements of the particles in the various regions have equal probability.
methylphenylcarbinyl acetate — a colorless, synthetic liquid, C 1 0 H 1 2 O 2 , having a strong floral odor and occurring in oil of gardenia: used chiefly in gardenia and lily perfumes.
munchausen syndrome by proxy — Psychiatry. a form of Munchausen syndrome in which a person induces or claims to observe a disease in another, usually a close relative, in order to attract the doctor's attention to herself or himself.
national bureau of standards — National Institute of Standards and Technology
national labor relations act — an act of Congress (1935) that forbade any interference by employers with the formation and operation of labor unions.
object data management group — (body, database) (ODMG, previously ".. Database ..") An independent consortium that specifies universal object storage standards. ODMG's members include object-oriented database management system (ODBMS) vendors and other interested parties. They aim to increase portability of customer software across products. On 1998-04-27 ODMG changed its name from the Object Database Management Group to reflect the expansion of its efforts beyond merely setting storage standards for object databases.
object linking and embedding — (operating system) (OLE) A distributed object system and protocol from Microsoft, also used on the Acorn Archimedes. OLE allows an editor to "farm out" part of a document to another editor and then reimport it. For example, a desk-top publishing system might send some text to a word processor or a picture to a bitmap editor using OLE.
object persistence framework — (programming) (OPF) Any system for storing objects so they can be reloaded into a future session. Typically this will use a relational database along with some kind of object relational mapping. Another typical solution would store objects in XML files (a form of serialisation). One of the trickier problems to solve is how to maintain references between objects, e.g. replacing memory pointers with unique names or identifiers. Virtually identical considerations apply to transferring objects, or indeed any kind of data structure, from one process to another via some communications channel, e.g. a TCP/IP connection.
object-oriented polymorphism — (programming) The kind of polymorphism found in object-oriented programming languages where a variable can refer to an object whose class is not known exactly until run time. A method can use a variable of a given class - call other methods on it, pass it as an argument, etc. - without needing to know to which subclass it refers, as long as its actual class is compatible with those uses.
online public access catalog — (library) (OPAC) A computerised system to catalogue and organise materials in a library (the kind that contains books). OPACs have replaced card-based catalogues in many libraries. An OPAC is available to library users (public access).
osborne computer corporation — (company) The unsucessful computer manufacturer founded by Adam Osborne that produced one of the first laptop computers, the Osborne 1.
personal liability insurance — Personal liability insurance protects the insured if they are sued for claims that are covered by the insurance policy.
phenylmethylcarbinyl acetate — methylphenylcarbinyl acetate.
playboy of the western world — a satiric comedy (1907) by John Millington Synge.
plug compatible manufacturer — (company) (PCM) A manufacturer of equipment that some other manufacturer's system can identify and work with. The PCM's device replaces the original manufacturer's. Most PCMs competed with IBM. PCM devices normally offer a cost-performance benefit over the original device. For example, several PCM versions of the Direct-Access Storage Device IBM 3350 offered twice the storage and improved data access (dual port). Plug compatible devices include replacement CPUs, such as the Hitachi 7/90 series (which could be substituted for IBM 3090 series processors), I/O subsystems, and dumb terminals like the IBM 3270.
probability density function — a function of a continuous variable whose integral over a region gives the probability that a random variable falls within the region.
put one's cards on the table — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
quite a few (or bit, etc. ) — more than a few (or bit, etc.)
revised version of the bible — a recension of the Authorized Version, prepared by British and American scholars, the Old Testament being published in 1885, and the New Testament in 1881.
rise/come back from the dead — If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.
robert william andrew feller — Robert William Andrew ("Bob"; "Bullet Bob") 1918–2010, U.S. baseball player.
roundheaded apple tree borer — apple tree borer (def 2).
second axiom of countability — the property satisfied by a topological space in which the neighborhood system of each point has a base consisting of a countable number of neighborhoods (first axiom of countability) or the property satisfied by a topological space that has a base for its topology consisting of a countable number of subsets of the space (second axiom of countability)
second-order lambda-calculus — (language) (SOL) A typed lambda-calculus.
sell someone a bill of goods — to persuade someone by deception or misrepresentation to accept, believe, or do something
single sideband transmission — a method of transmitting radio waves in which either the upper or the lower sideband is transmitted, the carrier being either wholly or partially suppressed. This reduces the required bandwidth and improves the signal-to-noise ratio
tannu tuva people's republic — former name of Tuva Autonomous Republic.
the obscene publications act — a group of obscenity laws that determines what can be published in Britain
to be in someone's bad books — If you are in someone's bad books, they are annoyed with you. If you are in their good books, they are pleased with you.
to be in the interests of sb — to be to the advantage of somebody
to be no let-up in something — if there is no let-up in something, usually something unpleasant, there is no reduction in the intensity of it
to be on your home territory — to be in a situation in which one is at ease
to beat someone's brains out — To beat someone's brains out or bash their brains in means to hit their head very hard, so that they are badly injured or killed.
to cut something to the bone — If something such as costs are cut to the bone, they are reduced to the minimum possible.
to give somebody a thick ear — to hit sb on the ear or head
to handle sb with kid gloves — to treat someone with great tact or caution
to have a bee in your bonnet — If you have a bee in your bonnet about something, you are so enthusiastic or worried about it that you keep mentioning it or thinking about it.
to leave a lot to be desired — If you say that something leaves a lot to be desired, you mean that it is not as good as it should be.
to make a clean breast of it — If you make a clean breast of something, you tell someone the truth about yourself or about something wrong that you have done.
to make someone's blood boil — If you say that something makes your blood boil, you are emphasizing that it makes you very angry.
to set/put sb's mind at rest — To put someone's mind at rest or set their mind at rest means to stop them worrying about something.
to throw the book at someone — If someone in authority throws the book at someone who has committed an offence, they give the offender the greatest punishment that they are allowed to.

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