14-letter words containing d, a, l, i, n
- avoidance play — a play by the declarer designed to prevent a particular opponent from taking the lead.
- back-pedalling — a retreat from or a retraction of a previously held view
- balance bridge — a bascule bridge
- ball and chain — (formerly) a heavy iron ball attached to a chain and fastened to a prisoner
- 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.
- ball-and-chain — a heavy iron ball fastened by a chain to a prisoner's leg.
- ballistic wind — a single wind vector that would have the same net effect on the trajectory of a projectile as the varying winds encountered in flight.
- ballon d'essai — a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- 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.
- bead lightning — lightning in which the intensity appears to vary along the path and which thus resembles a string of beads.
- belgian endive — endive (def 2).
- belgian-endive — endive (def 2).
- berkner island — an island in Antarctica, in the S Weddell Sea, between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- bill of lading — (in foreign trade) a document containing full particulars of goods shipped or for shipment
- binding handle — (networking) An identifier representing the connection between a client and server. An association between client/server end-points and protocols.
- black bindweed — a twining polygonaceous European plant, Polygonum convolvulus, with heart-shaped leaves and triangular black seed pods
- black diamonds — carbonado1 .
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- blended family — a social unit consisting of two previously married parents and the children of their former marriages
- blind as a bat — having extremely poor eyesight
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blue dandelion — chicory (def 1).
- bound variable — (in the functional calculus) a variable occurring in a quantifier and in a sentential function within the scope of the quantifier.
- brachydiagonal — the shorter lateral axis of a rhombic prism
- brazing solder — an alloy of copper and zinc for joining two metal surfaces by melting the alloy so that it forms a thin layer between the surfaces
- breech-loading — (of a firearm) loaded at the breech
- bronchodilator — any drug or other agent that causes dilation of the bronchial tubes by relaxing bronchial muscle: used, esp in the form of aerosol sprays, for the relief of asthma
- buffalo indian — a member of any of the American Indian tribes, as those of the Algonquian, Athabascan, Caddoan, Kiowa, Siouan, or Uto-Aztecan linguistic families, that formerly inhabited the Great Plains. All were more or less nomadic, following the buffalo, and were often in touch with one another so that the development among them of common culture traits is noticeable.
- building paper — any of various types of heavy-duty paper that usually consist of bitumen reinforced with fibre sandwiched between two sheets of kraft paper: used in damp-proofing or as insulation between the soil and a road surface
- building trade — the economic sector comprising all companies and workers involved in construction
- bulletin board — A bulletin board is a board which is usually attached to a wall in order to display notices giving information about something.
- caicos islands — a group of islands in the Caribbean: part of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- campaign medal — a medal awarded for performance of specified service, usually in time of war or national emergency.
- can ill afford — If you say that someone can ill afford to do something, or can ill afford something, you mean that they must prevent it from happening because it would be harmful or embarrassing to them.
- canada thistle — a prickly European weed (Cirsium arvense) of the composite family, with heads of purplish flowers and wavy leaves: now common as a fast-spreading, injurious weed throughout the N U.S.
- canary islands — a group of mountainous islands in the Atlantic off the NW coast of Africa, forming an Autonomous Community of Spain. Capital: Las Palmas. Pop: 1 944 700 (2003 est)
- cardinal point — The cardinal points are the four main points of the compass, north, south, east, and west.
- cardinal tetra — a small, brilliantly colored red and blue characin fish, Paracheirodon axelrodi, native to tropical forest streams in Brazil and Colombia: a popular aquarium fish.
- cardinal trait — a basic and dominant characteristic, as greed or ambition, that, according to a theory developed by psychologist Gordon Allport (1936), controls the behavior of many people.
- cardinal vowel — any one of eight primary, purportedly invariant, sustained vowel sounds that constitute a reference set for describing the vowel inventory of a language.
- cayman islands — three coral islands in the Caribbean Sea northwest of Jamaica: a dependency of Jamaica until 1962, now a UK Overseas Territory. Capital: George Town. Pop: 53 737 (2013 est). Area: about 260 sq km (100 sq miles)
- cephalic index — the ratio of the greatest width of the human head to its greatest length, multiplied by 100
- charles darwin — Charles (Robert) 1809–82, English naturalist and author.
- chicken ladder — an inclined plank with transverse cleats.