16-letter words containing d, a, l, b, e
- double solitaire — a game of solitaire for two persons, each player usually having a pack and layout but pooling foundations with the opponent.
- double-barrelled — A double-barrelled gun has two barrels.
- double-breasting — the practice of employing nonunion workers, especially in a separate division, to supplement the work of higher-paid union workers.
- draw the longbow — to exaggerate in telling something
- drop a bombshell — If someone drops a bombshell, they give you a sudden piece of bad or unexpected news.
- dry-cell battery — a dry battery
- duplicate bridge — a form of contract bridge used in tournaments in which contestants play the identical series of deals, with each deal being scored independently, permitting individual scores to be compared.
- false beechdrops — either of two parasitic or saprophytic plants of the genus Monotropa, especially the tawny or reddish M. hypopithys (false beechdrops) of eastern North America.
- fancy dress ball — a ball at which the guests wear fancy dress
- feedback control — (electronics) A control system which monitors its effect on the system it is controlling and modifies its output accordingly. For example, a thermostat has two inputs: the desired temperature and the current temperature (the latter is the feedback). The output of the thermostat changes so as to try to equalise the two inputs. Computer disk drives use feedback control to position the read/write heads accurately on a recording track. Complex systems such as the human body contain many feedback systems that interact with each other; the homeostasis mechanisms that control body temperature and acidity are good examples.
- flamborough head — a chalk promontory in NE England, on the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- flat-bed plotter — a mechanized drafting device, usually computer driven, incorporating a moving pen whose horizontal and vertical range in two dimensions is limited only by the size of the bed of the device.
- flat-bed scanner — a type of optical scanner having a flat, stationary surface on which a page is scanned by a moving head.
- flatheaded borer — the larva of a metallic wood-boring beetle, having an expanded and flattened anterior end.
- four-deal bridge — a version of bridge in which four hands only are played, the players then cutting for new partners
- freeboard length — the length of a vessel, measured on the summer load line from the fore side of the stem to some part of the stern, usually the after side of the rudderpost.
- fundamental bass — a bass consisting of the roots of the chords employed.
- gabriel, richard — Richard Gabriel
- garbage disposal — A garbage disposal or a garbage disposal unit is a small machine in the kitchen sink that breaks down waste matter so that it does not block the sink.
- gibberellic acid — a gibberellin C 18 H 21 O 4 COOH, produced as a metabolite by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, used as a stimulator of plant growth.
- gingerbread palm — doom palm.
- gingerbread plum — a tree, Neocarya macrophylla, of western Africa, bearing a large, edible, starchy fruit.
- hendecasyllables — Plural form of hendecasyllable.
- hold a brief for — to argue for; champion
- horsehead nebula — a dark nebula in the constellation Orion, composed of opaque cosmic dust and resembling the head of a horse.
- hyaloid membrane — the delicate, pellucid, and nearly structureless membrane enclosing the vitreous humor of the eye.
- hybrid perpetual — a type of cultivated rose bred from varieties having vigorous growth and more or less recurrent bloom.
- indefatigability — incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
- indescribability — (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being indescribable.
- indispensability — absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite: an indispensable member of the staff.
- indisputableness — The property of being indisputable.
- invisible shadow — (in architectural shades and shadows) a three-dimensional space occupied by the shadow projected by a solid and within which a surface is in shadow.
- irremediableness — The state or quality of being irremediable.
- kit and caboodle — a set or collection of tools, supplies, instructional matter, etc., for a specific purpose: a first-aid kit; a sales kit.
- knowledgeability — possessing or exhibiting knowledge, insight, or understanding; intelligent; well-informed; discerning; perceptive.
- labrador current — a cold ocean current flowing southwards off the coast of Labrador and meeting the warm Gulf Stream, causing dense fogs off the coast of Newfoundland
- lead by the nose — the part of the face or facial region in humans and certain animals that contains the nostrils and the organs of smell and functions as the usual passageway for air in respiration: in humans it is a prominence in the center of the face formed of bone and cartilage, serving also to modify or modulate the voice.
- leaps and bounds — You can use in leaps and bounds or by leaps and bounds to emphasize that someone or something is improving or increasing quickly and greatly.
- leveraged buyout — the purchase of a company with borrowed money, using the company's assets as collateral, and often discharging the debt and realizing a profit by liquidating the company. Abbreviation: LBO.
- liberal democrat — In Britain, a Liberal Democrat is a member of the Liberal Democrat Party.
- long-established — having a long history; old
- lord chamberlain — (in Britain) the chief official of the royal household
- machine readable — of or relating to data encoded on an appropriate medium and in a form suitable for processing by computer.
- machine-readable — of or relating to data encoded on an appropriate medium and in a form suitable for processing by computer.
- madame butterfly — an opera (1904) by Giacomo Puccini.
- maitre de ballet — ballet master.
- margaret drabble — Margaret, born 1939, English novelist.
- medal of bravery — a Canadian award for courage
- medulloblastomas — Plural form of medulloblastoma.
- modacrylic fiber — any of various synthetic copolymer textile fibers, as Dynel, containing less than 85 percent but more than 35 percent of acrylonitrile.