18-letter words containing b, r, i, s
- metabolic syndrome — Pathology. a group of medical conditions present simultaneously in a patient, as high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol levels, and an excess of abdominal fat, that increases a person's risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Also called insulin resistance syndrome.
- microinvertebrates — Plural form of microinvertebrate.
- middleburg heights — a town in N Ohio.
- nebular hypothesis — the theory that the solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter: prominent in the 19th century following its precise formulation by Laplace.
- non-responsibility — the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
- north bedfordshire — a city in Bedfordshire, in central England.
- one's number is up — one is finished; one is ruined or about to die
- oriental alabaster — alabaster (def 2).
- passive vocabulary — all the words, collectively, that a person can understand
- petite bourgeoisie — the portion of the bourgeoisie having the least wealth and lowest social status; the lower middle class.
- play silly buggers — to fool around and waste time
- prepositional verb — a combination of verb and preposition, often with idiomatic meaning, differing from other phrasal verbs in that an object must always follow the preposition, as take after in The children take after their mother.
- price on sb's head — If there is a price on someone 's head, an amount of money has been offered for the capture or killing of that person.
- productivity bonus — an extra payment made to workers for being more productive or yielding more favourable results than normal
- protease inhibitor — a drug that inhibits the action of protease, especially any of a class of antiviral drugs that prevent the cleavage and replication of HIV proteins.
- pseudotuberculosis — an acute, sometimes fatal disease of rodents, birds, and other animals, including humans, caused by the bacterium Yersinia (Pasteurella) pseudotuberculosis, and characterized by the formation of nodules resembling those that result from tuberculosis.
- pulmonary embolism — the blockage of a pulmonary artery, often by a blood clot, that stops the flow of blood to the lungs and which can result in death if untreated
- pyramus and thisbe — (in Greek legend) two lovers of Babylon: Pyramus, wrongly supposing Thisbe to be dead, killed himself and she, encountering him in his death throes, did the same
- rabbit's-foot fern — hare's-foot fern.
- range of stability — the angle to the perpendicular through which a vessel may be heeled without losing the ability to right itself.
- remains to be seen — If you say that it remains to be seen whether something will happen, you mean that nobody knows whether it will happen.
- reversionary bonus — a bonus added to the sum payable on death or at the maturity of a with-profits assurance policy
- rheims-douay bible — Douay Bible.
- ride a hobby horse — an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.
- risk based testing — (testing) Testing based on identification of potential risks (or "candidate risks"), which should be analysed by the project stakeholder or which might appear during the project's development.
- rosebay willowherb — a perennial onagraceous plant, Chamerion (formerly Epilobium) angustifolium, that has spikes of deep pink flowers and is widespread in open places throughout N temperate regions
- rr lyrae variables — any of the very regular, short-period, pulsating variable stars having periods between 1.5 and 29 hours
- rub shoulders with — to mix with socially or associate with
- rubbish collection — the collection of domestic refuse for disposal
- rufous hummingbird — a reddish-brown hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus, of western North America.
- run in sb's family — If a characteristic runs in someone's family, it often occurs in members of that family, in different generations.
- saint bernard pass — either of two passes over the Alps: the Great St Bernard Pass 2472 m (8110 ft) high, east of Mont Blanc between Italy and Switzerland, or the Little St Bernard Pass 2157 m (7077 ft) high, south of Mont Blanc between Italy and France
- saint john's bread — carob (def 2).
- saturation bombing — intense area bombing intended to destroy everything in the target area.
- schofield barracks — a town on central Oahu, in central Hawaii.
- selective abortion — the aborting of particular embryos for medical or social reasons
- selective breeding — the raising of animals with particular genetic traits through careful choice of parents
- september holidays — a period of time in September when people do not have to go to school, college or work
- shrubby cinquefoil — a small shrub, Potentilla fruticosa, of the rose family, native to the Northern temperate region, having pinnate leaves and numerous, showy, bright-yellow flowers.
- sierra blanca peak — a mountain in S New Mexico: highest peak in the Sacramento Mountains. 11,997 feet (3651 meters).
- simone de beauvoir — Simone [see-mawn] /siˈmɔn/ (Show IPA), (Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand) 1908–86, French playwright, novelist, and essayist.
- sindbad the sailor — (in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments), a wealthy citizen of Baghdad who relates the adventures of his seven wonderful voyages.
- sir george gilbert — Barbara Ann, 1928–2012, Canadian figure skater.
- skinny-rib sweater — a tight-fitting ribbed woollen jumper or pullover
- social bookmarking — the practice of saving bookmarked Web pages to a public website as a way to share the links with other Internet users: Social bookmarking is a tool that allows you to add tags and comments to your bookmarks.
- sodium bicarbonate — a white, crystalline, water-soluble solid, in powder or granules, NaHCO 3 , usually prepared by the reaction of soda ash with carbon dioxide or obtained from the intermediate product of the Solvay process by purification: used chiefly in the manufacture of sodium salts, baking powder, and beverages, as a laboratory reagent, as a fire extinguisher, and in medicine as an antacid.
- sodium tetraborate — borax1 .
- solomon rabinowitz — Solomon, Aleichem, Sholom.
- solubility product — the maximum number of undissociated ions, of an electrolyte in a saturated solution, capable at a given temperature of remaining in equilibrium with the undissolved phase of the solution.
- squirting cucumber — a Mediterranean plant, Ecballium elaterium, of the gourd family, whose ripened fruit forcibly ejects the seeds and juice.