14-letter words containing d, a, i, r
- atomic-powered — powered by atomic energy
- attitudinarian — a person who assumes an affected attitude
- auction bridge — a variety of bridge, now generally superseded by contract bridge, in which all the tricks made score towards the game
- audience share — the percentage of households with television sets in use or tuned to a particular station during a specific period of time.
- audio response — a computer response that is audible rather than textual or graphical
- auditory canal — the narrow passageway from the outer ear to the eardrum.
- auditory nerve — either of the eighth pair of cranial nerves, which connect the ear with the brain and carry impulses relating to sound and balance
- austrian blind — a window blind consisting of rows of vertically gathered fabric that may be drawn up to form a series of ruches
- austrian shade — a window shade in which the fabric falls in a series of puffy festoons created by vertical rows of shirring.
- automatic door — a self-opening door
- autoradiograph — a photograph showing the distribution of a radioactive substance in a specimen. The photographic plate is exposed by radiation from the specimen
- autotetraploid — an individual or strain whose chromosome complement consists of four copies of a single genome due to doubling of an ancestral chromosome complement
- axis-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- backside-front — backend-to.
- badger baiting — an illegal sport in which dogs are encouraged to draw a badger out of its burrow and attack it
- balance bridge — a bascule bridge
- ball cartridge — a cartridge containing a primer and a ball and a full charge of powder
- 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.
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- barbados pride — Also called bead tree. a tropical African and Asian tree, Adenanthera pavonina, of the legume family, having feathery foliage and bearing red seeds that are used in beadwork.
- barium sulfide — a gray or yellowish-green, water-soluble, poisonous powder, BaS, used chiefly as a depilatory and as an intermediate in the synthesis of pigments, especially lithopone.
- barium-hydrate — Also called calcined baryta, barium oxide, barium monoxide, barium protoxide. a white or yellowish-white poisonous solid, BaO, highly reactive with water: used chiefly as a dehydrating agent and in the manufacture of glass.
- barrier island — a long island, parallel to the coastline, formed from a ridge of sand (barrier beach) thrown up by the waves, that serves the shore as a protective barrier against tidal waves, storms, etc.
- barrier method — Barrier methods of contraception involve the use of condoms, diaphragms, or other devices that physically prevent the sperm from reaching the egg.
- bartered bride — a comic opera (1866) by Bedřich Smetana.
- bascule bridge — a kind of drawbridge counterweighted so that it can be raised and lowered easily
- bascule-bridge — a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
- basic industry — an industry which is highly important in a nation's economy
- bastard indigo — a bushy shrub, Amorpha fruticosa, of the legume family, native to North America, having elongated clusters of dull purplish or bluish flowers.
- bastard ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastard-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastardisation — Alternative form of bastardization.
- bastardization — the act of bastardizing
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- be in bad odor — to be in ill repute
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- bearded collie — a medium-sized breed of dog having a profuse long straight coat, usually grey or fawn and often with white on the head, legs, and chest, a long tail, and a distinctive beard
- bearded lizard — a large Australian lizard, Amphibolurus barbatus, with an erectile frill around the neck
- bedside manner — A doctor's bedside manner is the way in which they talk to their patients.
- berberidaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Berberidaceae, a mainly N temperate family of flowering plants (mostly shrubs), including barberry and barrenwort
- berkner island — an island in Antarctica, in the S Weddell Sea, between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
- 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.
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.