17-letter words containing c, a, s, e
- attraction sphere — centrosphere (sense 1)
- audience research — research into the make-up and habits of the audience of a particular television or radio programme or network
- audio description — a facility provided for visually impaired people in which a film, television programme, or play is described through audio technology
- aurea mediocritas — the golden mean.
- australia current — a branch of the South Equatorial Current flowing SW from around Fiji to the E coast of Australia and then S along the coast.
- australopithecine — any of various extinct apelike primates of the genus Australopithecus and related genera, remains of which have been discovered in southern and E Africa. Some species are estimated to be over 4.5 million years old
- bachelor's button — any of several plants of a genus (Centaurea) of the composite family, that have scaly, vase-shaped bracts below the white, pink, or blue flowers; esp., the cornflower and knapweed
- bachelor's degree — A bachelor's degree is a first degree awarded by universities.
- bachelor's-button — any of various plants with round flower heads, especially the cornflower.
- back on the rails — If something is back on the rails, it is beginning to be successful again after a period when it almost failed.
- bacon's rebellion — an unsuccessful uprising by frontiersmen in Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon against the colonial government in Jamestown.
- bacteriorhodopsin — a purple protein containing retinal and found in the plasma membrane of certain bacteria (genus Halobacterium): it directly supplies electrochemical energy from sunlight
- baggage screening — the procedure whereby baggage is electronically screened at an airport before it is allowed on the plane
- bahia de cochinos — Spanish name of Bay of Pigs.
- balance the books — do accounting
- balanced sentence — a sentence consisting of two or more clauses that are parallel in structure.
- ballistic missile — a missile that has no wings or fins and that follows a ballistic trajectory when its propulsive power is discontinued
- bankruptcy estate — all of the interests that a debtor has at the start of a bankruptcy case
- barchester towers — a novel (1857) by Anthony Trollope.
- barkhausen effect — the phenomenon of short, sudden changes in the magnetism of a ferromagnetic substance occurring when the intensity of the magnetizing field is continuously altered.
- barmecide (feast) — a pretended feast with no food
- base rate fallacy — the tendency, when making judgments of the probability with which an event will occur, to ignore the base rate and to concentrate on other information
- basic service set — (networking) (BSS) A wireless local area network and all the wireless devices (e.g. PCs and laptops) that are associated with it. A BSS may or may not include an access point and is identified by a BSSID.
- be running scared — If you say that a person or group is running scared, you mean that they are frightened of what someone might do to them or what might happen.
- beauty specialist — a person who helps someone to improve their beauty, such as a make-up artist
- behind one's back — without one's knowledge; secretly or deceitfully
- bell-shaped curve — bell curve
- benjamin-constant — Henri Benjamin [ahn-ree ban-zha-man] /ɑ̃ˈri bɛ̃ ʒaˈmɛ̃/ (Show IPA), (Benjamin Constant) 1767–1830, French statesman and author, born in Switzerland.
- bergisch gladbach — city in W Germany, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia: pop. 105,000
- bergisch-gladbach — an industrial city in W Germany, near Cologne.
- best first search — (algorithm) A graph search algorithm which optimises breadth first search by ordering all current paths according to some heuristic. The heuristic attempts to predict how close the end of a path is to a solution. Paths which are judged to be closer to a solution are extended first. See also beam search, hill climbing.
- betagalactosidase — any of a family of enzymes capable of liberating galactose from carbohydrates.
- beyond comparison — outstanding, without equal
- binet-simon scale — a test comprising questions and tasks, used to determine the mental age of subjects, usually children
- biological shield — a protective shield impervious to radiation, esp the thick concrete wall surrounding the core of a nuclear reactor
- black forest cake — a torte consisting typically of thin layers of chocolate cake spread with alternating layers of chocolate, cherry, and whipped-cream filling and covered with whipped cream
- black renaissance — a renewal and flourishing of black literary and musical culture during the years after World War I in the Harlem section of New York City.
- black-box testing — functional testing
- blackwells island — a former name of Roosevelt Island.
- blessed sacrament — the consecrated elements of the Eucharist
- bluegrass country — region in central Ky. where there is much bluegrass
- branch delay slot — delayed control-transfer
- breach of promise — (formerly) failure to carry out one's promise to marry
- breakdown service — a service that provides assistance to motorists who break down
- british cameroons — a former British trust territory of West Africa
- british-cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- brocot escapement — a type of anchor escapement.
- brzesc nad bugiem — Polish name of Brest Litovsk.
- buncher resonator — See under Klystron.
- bureau of customs — former name of the United States Customs Service.