12-letter words containing b, l, i, s
- ballet skirt — a full skirt, often made with several layers of fabric, typical of those worn by ballet dancers
- ballet suite — music written for a ballet but suitable or arranged for performance in an orchestral concert.
- balloon sail — a large light bellying sail used in light winds
- balto-slavic — the Baltic and Slavic languages, when considered as constituting a subfamily within the Indo-European family of languages: the Baltic and Slavic branches are now generally considered by scholars as independently derived from Indo-European
- banana split — A banana split is a kind of dessert. It consists of a banana cut in half along its length, with ice cream, nuts, and sauce on top.
- banks island — an island of N Canada, in the Northwest Territories: the westernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago. Area: about 67 340 sq km (26 000 sq miles)
- bargain sale — an event at which goods are sold at low prices, usually to clear old stocks
- barristerial — pertaining to a barrister
- bartlesville — a city in NE Oklahoma.
- base bullion — smelted lead containing impurities, as gold, silver, or zinc, that are later removed.
- basic jovial — (language) A subset of JOVIAL written ca. 1965.
- basic salary — base pay.
- basilic vein — a large vein situated on the inner side of the arm
- basse-taille — of or relating to an enameling technique in which transparent enamels are fused over a background carved in low relief, or to a piece, as of jewelry, so enameled.
- bastard file — a file of the commercial grade of coarseness between coarse and second-cut.
- bastille day — (in France) an annual holiday on July 14, commemorating the fall of the Bastille
- bathophilous — (of an organism) living in very deep water
- battlefields — Plural form of battlefield.
- beaconsfield — a town in SE England, in Buckinghamshire. Pop: 12 292 (2001)
- beamsplitter — Alternative spelling of beam splitter.
- beautifulest — (dated) Most beautiful; more beautiful than anyone or anything else.
- bed of nails — a situation or position of extreme difficulty
- bedside lamp — a lamp beside a bed
- bell housing — A bell housing is a bell-shaped extension of an engine crankcase, that contains the flywheel and the clutch.
- belligerents — warlike; given to waging war.
- bellows fish — snipefish.
- below stairs — People sometimes use below stairs to refer to the servants in a rich household and the things that are connected with them.
- bernina alps — a mountain group in SE Switzerland, extending from the Rhateian Alps on the Italian border. Highest peak, Piz Bernina, 13,304 feet (4055 meters).
- beseechingly — to implore urgently: They besought him to go at once.
- best-selling — A best-selling product such as a book is very popular and a large quantity of it has been sold.
- betting slip — a piece of paper used to place a bet
- bevel siding — siding composed of tapered pieces, as clapboards, laid with the thicker lower edge of any piece overlapping the thinner upper edge of the piece below it.
- bib overalls — overall (def 3a).
- bible school — a school or study program devoted to Bible study, esp at a church
- bibliologist — a student of bibliology
- bibliopegist — a bookbinder
- bicameralism — having two branches, chambers, or houses, as a legislative body.
- bicycle shed — a shed for bicycle storage
- bicycle shop — a shop that sells and usually repairs bicycles and bicycle parts
- bidialectism — proficient in or using two dialects of the same language.
- bilateralism — the practice of being bilateral
- bilharziasis — schistosomiasis
- bilingualism — Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages equally well.
- bill of sale — a deed transferring personal property, either outright or as security for a loan or debt
- billingsgate — the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices
- bindle stiff — a hobo.
- biosatellite — an artificial satellite for carrying living organisms
- biosociology — the study of the evolution of social forms and the development of social behavior in terms analogous to or correlated with biological studies.
- biting louse — any wingless insect of the order Mallophaga, such as the chicken louse: external parasites of birds and mammals with biting mouthparts
- bitter aloes — a bitter purgative drug made from the leaves of several species of aloe