14-letter words containing c, r, a, n
- back-clearance — Machinery. the gradual termination of a groove on the body of an object not ending there, as the upper termination of a flute in a twist drill. Also called back clearance. a space in a depressed area of an object into which a machine tool or grinding wheel may safely enter at the end of a pass or operation.
- back-formation — the analogical creation of one word from another word that appears to be a derived or inflected form of the first by dropping the apparent affix or by modification.
- backbreakingly — In a backbreaking manner.
- backing singer — a singer providing a vocal accompaniment for a pop singer or pop number
- backscattering — the scattering of rays or particles at angles to the original direction of motion of greater than 90°
- backscratching — a long-handled device for scratching one's own back.
- backside-front — backend-to.
- bactrian camel — a two-humped camel, Camelus bactrianus, used as a beast of burden in the cold deserts of central Asia
- balance bridge — a bascule bridge
- balance spring — hairspring.
- ball indicator — a flight instrument that measures the angle of roll about an aircraft's horizontal axis, thereby indicating whether or not the aircraft is skidding or slipping.
- ballroom dance — a social dance, popular since the beginning of the 20th century, in conventional rhythms, such as the foxtrot and the quickstep
- bamboo curtain — (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China
- banach algebra — (mathematics) An algebra in which the vector space is a Banach space.
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- banker's check — cashier's check.
- bark chippings — small pieces of tree bark used chiefly for pathways in gardens or woodland
- barnacle goose — a N European goose, Branta leucopsis, that has a black-and-white head and body and grey wings
- basic industry — an industry which is highly important in a nation's economy
- basic training — Basic training is the training that someone receives when they first join the armed forces.
- basque country — Theregion comprising three provinces in N Spain, on the Bay of Biscay, inhabited by Basques: 2,803 sq mi (7,260 sq km); pop. 2,104,000
- bavarian cream — a cold dessert consisting of a rich custard set with gelatine and flavoured in various ways
- bayonet charge — a charge by riflemen with fixed bayonets
- bean bag chair — a small cloth bag filled with dried beans, as for tossing in various children's games.
- bean-bag chair — a small cloth bag filled with dried beans, as for tossing in various children's games.
- bearer channel — (communications) Originally, a channel suited for carrying one voice-grade connection. Typically a DS0 channel. Compare data channel. (1997-03-7)
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- benzanthracene — a carcinogenic hydrocarbon
- beta reduction — [lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g. (\ x . x+1) 4 --> 4+1 Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion. See also name capture.
- beyond compare — If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bicycle-racing — the act or sport of riding or traveling by bicycle, motorcycle, etc.
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- binary package — (software) An archive file that contains all files and directories that must be installed in order to make a working installation of the program(s) included in the package, and the maintainer scripts necessary for the installation. A binary package is usually specific to a certain platform, in contrast to a source package.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- bioinformatics — the branch of information science concerned with large databases of biochemical or pharmaceutical information
- bird sanctuary — an area of land in which birds are protected and encouraged to breed
- birthing chair — a chair constructed to allow a woman in labour to give birth in a sitting position
- black panthers — (in the US) a militant Black political party founded in 1965 to end the political dominance of White people
- bladder cancer — any cancer of the bladder
- block calendar — a calendar in the form of a block of sheets each printed with the date of one day
- board chairman — the chairman of the board of a company, etc
- bomber command — a former unit of the Royal Air Force dedicated to tactical and strategic bombing, esp during WWII
- bone porcelain — bone china.
- boolean search — (information science) (Or "Boolean query") A query using the Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT, and parentheses to construct a complex condition from simpler criteria. A typical example is searching for combinatons of keywords on a web search engine. Examples: car or automobile "New York" and not "New York state" The term is sometimes stretched to include searches using other operators, e.g. "near". Not to be confused with binary search. See also: weighted search.
- boring machine — a machine that bores holes, tunnels, etc
- bornyl acetate — a colorless liquid, C 12 H 20 O 2 , having a piny, camphorlike odor, used chiefly as a scent in the manufacture of perfume, and as a plasticizer.
- bornyl alcohol — white solid alcohol from a Malaysian tree
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- boulder canyon — a canyon of the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, above Boulder Dam.