15-letter words containing c, i, r, e, n, s
- beginner's luck — the initial good fortune or success commonly supposed to come to a person who has recently taken up a new pursuit, as a sport or game: Catching a large trout the first time you go fishing is simply beginner's luck.
- berenice's hair — the constellation Coma Berenices
- beta conversion — (theory) A term from lambda-calculus for beta reduction or beta abstraction.
- big sandy creek — a river in central Colorado, flowing NE and SE to the Arkansas River near Lamar: site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. 200 miles (322 km) long.
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- borderline case — a person or thing that is not clearly classifiable as something
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- brachistochrone — the curve between two points through which a body moves under the force of gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve; the path of quickest descent
- branching rules — rules that are used to break down a complex problem into several smaller problems
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- breathing space — A breathing space is a short period of time between two activities in which you can recover from the first activity and prepare for the second one.
- bristol channel — an inlet of the Atlantic, between S Wales and SW England, merging into the Severn estuary. Length: about 137 km (85 miles)
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- buckinghamshire — a county in SE central England, containing the Vale of Aylesbury and parts of the Chiltern Hills: the geographic and ceremonial county includes Milton Keynes, which became an independent unitary authority in 1997. Administrative centre: Aylesbury. Pop (excluding Milton Keynes): 478 000 (2003 est). Area (excluding Milton Keynes): 1568 sq km (605 sq miles)
- business center — A business center is a room in a hotel with facilities such as computers and a fax machine, that allows guests to work while they are staying at the hotel.
- business centre — a place providing office facilities and services
- cabinet scraper — a scraper used in preparing a wood surface for sanding.
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- caernarvonshire — (until 1974) a county of NW Wales, now part of Gwynedd
- cairngorm-stone — smoky quartz.
- california rose — a cultivated variety of a bindweed, Calystegia hederacea, having showy, double, rose-colored flowers.
- calliper splint — a splint consisting of two metal rods with straps attached, for supporting or exerting tension on the leg
- canadian forces — the official name for the military forces of Canada
- canisterization — the process of putting (something) into a canister or canisters
- cape finisterre — a headland in NW Spain: the westernmost point of the Spanish mainland
- cardinal spider — a large house spider, Tegenaria parietina
- cardinal system — a system of coding navigational aids by shape, color, and number, according to their positions relative to navigational hazards.
- cardinal vowels — a set of theoretical vowel sounds, based on the shape of the mouth needed to articulate them, that can be used to classify the vowel sounds of any speaker in any language
- carmarthenshire — a county of S Wales, formerly part of Dyfed (1974–96): on Carmarthen Bay, with the Cambrian Mountains in the N: generally agricultural (esp dairying). Administrative centre: Carmarthen. Pop: 176 000 (2003 est). Area: 2398 sq km (926 sq miles)
- carnivorousness — flesh-eating: A dog is a carnivorous animal.
- carpentersville — a city in NE Illinois, near Chicago.
- carrier scanner — (security) (Or "wardialer") A program which uses a modem to dial a series of phone numbers (say, from 770-0000 to 770-9999), and keeps a log of what phone numbers answer with a modem carrier. The results of such a search were generally used by people looking to engage in random mischief in random machines. Since the 1980s, wardialers have generally fallen into disuse, partly because of easily available "caller ID" technology, partly because fax machines are now in wide use and would often be logged as a carrier by a wardialer, and partly because there are so many new and more interesting venues for computerised mischief these days.
- cartesian diver — a glass vessel partially filled with water and covered with an airtight membrane, containing a hollow object that is open at the bottom and contains just enough air to allow it to float. Pressing on the membrane compresses the air in the vessel and forces water into the object, causing it to sink; releasing the membrane causes it to rise.
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- cartesian plane — Usually, Cartesian coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point on a plane (Cartesian plane) by its distance from each of two intersecting lines, or in space by its distance from each of three planes intersecting at a point.
- cartesian space — ordinary two- or three-dimensional space.
- cartier-bresson — Henri (ɑ̃ri). 1908–2004, French photographer
- cast aspersions — If you cast aspersions on someone or something, you suggest that they are not very good in some way.
- castanospermine — a substance obtained from the Australian chestnut or black bean tree
- castrametations — Plural form of castrametation.
- categoricalness — The quality of being categorical, positive, or absolute.
- categorisations — Plural form of categorisation.
- categorizations — Plural form of categorization.
- catheterisation — Alternative spelling of catheterization.
- cell disruption — Cell disruption is when a biological material becomes smaller to release proteins and enzymes.
- centipede grass — a slow-growing grass, Eremochloa ophiuroides, introduced into the U.S. from China and used for lawns in warm areas.
- central casting — a nominal casting agency that delivers stereotypes to films or, figuratively, to real life situations
- central sudanic — a group of languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, and including Mangbetu.
- centrosymmetric — having symmetry with a central point