16-letter words containing b, y, e, l
- butterfly orchid — an orchid (Oncidium papilio) with reddish flowers, native to South America
- butterfly scheme — A parallel version of Scheme for the BBN Butterfly computer.
- butterfly stroke — a swimming stroke in which the arms are plunged forward together in large circular movements
- by the bucketful — If someone produces or gets something by the bucketful, they produce or get something in large quantities.
- cabbage root fly — a dipterous fly, Erioischia brassicae, whose larvae feed on the roots and stems of cabbages and other brassicas: family Muscidae (houseflies, etc)
- canterbury bells — a cultivated bellflower (Campanula medium) with white, pink, or blue cuplike flowers
- canterbury tales — an unfinished literary work by Chaucer, largely in verse, consisting of stories told by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury
- cape may warbler — a North American wood warbler, Dendroica tigrina, olive-green striped with black on the wings and back and yellow striped with black on the breast.
- carboxylesterase — (enzyme) Any enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of a carboxylic ester.
- celebrity status — the prominence of film star, footballer, musician etc who is constantly photographed and written about in tabloids and magazines
- chernobyl packet — (networking) /cher-noh'b*l pak'*t/ A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown, named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ethernet address and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet.
- chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse) A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
- chimney-climbing — the sport of climbing a vertical fissure large enough for a person's body to enter
- clinically obese — overweight to a degree which causes medical complications
- close by/at hand — Something that is close by or close at hand is near to you.
- commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
- cramp sb's style — If someone or something cramps your style, their presence or existence restricts your behavior in some way.
- database analyst — (job) A person who uses data modeling to analyse and specify data use within an application area. A database analyst defines both logical views and physical data structures. In a client/server environment, he defines the database part of the back end system.
- daylight robbery — If someone charges you a great deal of money for something and you think this is unfair or unreasonable, you can refer to this as daylight robbery.
- demolition derby — a competition in which contestants drive old cars into each other until there is only one car left running
- deoxyhaemoglobin — (biochemistry) The form of haemoglobin that has released its oxygen.
- deoxyribonucleic — (genetics) Of or pertaining to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or its derivatives.
- dichlorobiphenyl — (organic compound) Either of twelve isomers of the polychlorinated biphenyl containing two chlorine atoms.
- diethyl carbinol — a colorless, liquid isomer of amyl alcohol, (CH3CH2)2CHOH, used in drugs and as a solvent
- dimethylcarbinol — isopropyl alcohol.
- dimly-remembered — recalled in an unclear or vague way
- double indemnity — a clause in a life-insurance or accident-insurance policy providing for payment of twice the face value of the policy in the event of accidental death.
- double monastery — a religious community of both men and women who live in separate establishments under the same superior and who worship in a common church.
- double occupancy — a type of travel accommodation, as in a hotel, for two persons sharing the same room: The rate is $35 per person, double occupancy, or $65, single occupancy.
- dry-cell battery — a dry battery
- east gwillimbury — a town in S Ontario, in S Canada.
- ebony spleenwort — a fern, Asplenium platyneuron, of woody areas of North America, having ladderlike leaves and shiny, dark brown stems.
- eclipsing binary — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- erythroblastosis — A medical condition in which erythroblasts are abnormally found in the blood.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- fantasy baseball — imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
- flashbulb memory — the clear recollections that a person may have of the circumstances associated with a dramatic event
- flibbertigibbety — Like a flibbertigibbet; flighty; scatterbrained.
- flying ambulance — an aircraft used to take sick or injured people to hospital
- galvanic battery — battery (def 1a).
- gapless playback — audio or visual playback without any interruptions or silence between tracks or scenes
- general assembly — the legislature in some states of the U.S.
- generalisability — Non-Oxford British standard spelling of generalizability.
- generalizability — The quality of being generalizable.
- harleian library — a large library of manuscripts collected by the British statesman Robert Harley and his son and now housed in the British Museum.
- hayes-compatible — (communications) A description of a modem which understands the same set of commands as one made by Hayes.
- hendecasyllables — Plural form of hendecasyllable.
- huckleberry finn — (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) a novel (1884) by Mark Twain.