17-letter words containing b, y, l, e, a
- downwardly mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
- downwardly-mobile — See under vertical mobility (def 1).
- drive-by download — an incidence of an unwanted program being automatically downloaded to a computer, often without the user's knowledge
- dwarf huckleberry — tangleberry.
- electricity board — a company which supplies electricity
- feasibility study — (systems analysis) Part of the systems develpment life cycle which aims to determine whether it is sensible to develop some system. The most popular model of feasibility study is "TELOS", standing for Technical, Economic, Legal, Operational, Schedule. Technical Feasibility: does the technology exist to implement the proposed system? Is it a practical proposition? Economic Feasibility: is the system cost-effective? Do benefits outweigh costs? Legal Feasibility: is there any conflict between the proposed system and legal requirements, e.g. the Data Protection Act? Operational Feasibility: are the current work practices and procedures adequate to support the new system? Schedule Feasibility: can the system be developed in time? After the feasibility study, the requirements analysis should be carried out.
- four-rowed barley — a class of barley having, in each spike, six rows of grain, with two pairs of rows overlapping.
- gamblers' fallacy — the fallacy that in a series of chance events the probability of one event occurring increases with the number of times another event has occurred in succession
- haemoglobinopathy — (medicine) Any of a group of inherited disorders in which haemoglobin does not function properly.
- harvey wallbanger — a screwdriver cocktail topped with Galliano.
- henry cabot lodge — Henry Cabot, 1850–1924, U.S. public servant and author: senator 1893–1924.
- house of assembly — the legislature or the lower house of the legislature in certain countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- hyperbolic secant — a hyperbolic function that is the reciprocal of cosh; sech
- hyperbolic spiral — rθ = a, (where a is a constant)
- hyperexcitability — an excessive reaction to stimuli.
- hyperirritability — extreme irritability.
- impressionability — easily impressed or influenced; susceptible: an impressionable youngster.
- indecipherability — Quality of being indecipherable.
- interlibrary loan — a system by which one library obtains a work for a user by borrowing it from another library.
- intestinal bypass — the surgical circumvention, by anastomosis, of a diseased portion of the intestine; also sometimes used to reduce nutrient absorption in morbidly obese patients.
- irreconcilability — incapable of being brought into harmony or adjustment; incompatible: irreconcilable differences.
- joachim du bellay — Joachim [French zhaw-a-keem] /French ʒɔ aˈkim/ (Show IPA), Bellay, Joachim du.
- keep your balance — If you keep your balance, for example when standing in a moving vehicle, you remain steady and do not fall over. If you lose your balance, you become unsteady and fall over.
- know only by name — to be familiar with the name of but not know personally
- ladybird (beetle) — ladybug
- lautenclavicymbal — a harpsichord with strings of gut rather than metal.
- lead acid battery — A lead acid battery is a 12-volt battery for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles consisting of lead-acid cells in series.
- liberal democracy — a democracy based on the recognition of individual rights and freedoms, in which decisions from direct or representative processes prevail in many policy areas
- limited liability — a liability restricted by law or contract, as the liability of owners of shares in a corporation or limited company, or that of a special partner.
- magellan barberry — an evergreen shrub, Berberis buxifolia, of southern Chile, having prickle-tipped leaves, dark-purple fruit, and orange-yellow flowers, rarely flowering in cultivation.
- malagasy republic — former name of Madagascar.
- mental disability — a general or specific intellectual handicap, resulting directly or indirectly from injury to the brain or from abnormal neurological development
- metabolic pathway — biochemistry: sequence of reactions within a cell or organism
- molecular biology — the branch of biology that deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of DNA and RNA, proteins, and other macromolecules involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis.
- monarch butterfly — a large, deep-orange butterfly, Danaus plexippus, having black and white markings, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of milkweed.
- movable-do system — a system of solmization in which the syllable do can be transposed to the tonic of any key.
- national assembly — the body constituted by the French Third Estate in June 1789 after the calling of the Estates General. It was dissolved in Sept 1791 to be replaced by the new Legislative Assembly
- naval observatory — an astronomical observatory located in Washington, D.C., operated by the U.S. government, and responsible for the U.S. time service.
- neurobiologically — In terms of or by means of neurobiology.
- nonsense syllable — any of numerous letter combinations without meaning, used in learning experiments.
- not bat an eyelid — When something surprising or shocking happens, if someone doesn't bat an eyelid in British English, or doesn't bat an eye in American English, they remain calm and do not show any reaction.
- office by example — (language) (OBE) A sequel to QBE, described in publications by Moshe Zloof of IBM in the early 1980s but apparently never implemented.
- palaeoethnobotany — the study of fossil seeds and grains to further archaeological knowledge, esp of the domestication of cereals
- paleobiochemistry — the study of biochemical processes that occurred in fossil life forms.
- paleobiogeography — the study of the distribution of ancient plants and animals and their relation to ancient geographic features.
- pay-cable channel — a television channel that has to be paid for
- peacock butterfly — a European nymphalid butterfly, Inachis io, having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot
- political liberty — the right to express oneself freely and effectually regarding the conduct, makeup, and principles of the government under which one lives.
- probability curve — a curve that describes the distribution of probability over the values of a random variable.
- quality paperback — a softbound book that is usually larger and more expensive than a mass market paperback and is sold primarily in bookstores as a trade book.