20-letter words containing e, a, s, t
- beat the shit out of — to give a severe beating to
- beaverhead mountains — a mountain range on the border of E Idaho and SW Montana, in the Bitterroot Range. 10,961 feet (3343 meters).
- benztropine mesylate — a synthetic anticholinergic, C 21 H 25 NO⋅CH 4 O 3 S, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
- benzyl isoamyl ether — a colorless liquid, C 12 H 18 O, used in soap perfumes.
- bernese mountain dog — a strong sturdy dog of a breed with a bushy tail and a long silky black coat with reddish-brown and white markings, often used as a working farm dog
- biological diversity — Biological diversity is the same as biodiversity.
- bird-footed dinosaur — theropod.
- blast-furnace cement — a type of cement made from a blend of ordinary Portland cement and crushed slag from a blast furnace. It has lower setting properties than ordinary Portland cement
- blue ridge mountains — a mountain range in the eastern US, extending from West Virginia into Georgia: part of the Appalachian mountains. Highest peak: Mount Mitchell, 2038 m (6684 ft)
- blue screen of death — (humour) (BSOD) The infamous white-on-blue text screen which appears when Microsoft Windows crashes. BSOD is mostly seen on the 16-bit systems such as Windows 3.1, but also on Windows 95 and apparently even under Windows NT 4. It is most likely to be caused by a GPF, although Windows 95 can do it if you've removed a required CD-ROM from the drive. It is often impossible to recover cleanly from a BSOD. The acronym BSOD is sometimes used as a verb, e.g. "Windoze just keeps BSODing on me today".
- bomb disposal expert — an expert in bomb disposal
- bone mineral density — a measurement of the amount of calcium and other minerals in a segment of bone, a higher mineral content indicating a higher bone density and strength, used to detect osteoporosis or monitor its treatment.
- breadth-first search — (algorithm) A graph search algorithm which tries all one-step extensions of current paths before trying larger extensions. This requires all current paths to be kept in memory simultaneously, or at least their end points. Opposite of depth-first search. See also best first search.
- break the glass plan — a plan that is put into operation in an emergency when all other options have been exhausted
- breakerless ignition — electronic ignition.
- breakfast and dinner — Breakfast and dinner is a system of accommodations in a hotel or guest house, in which you pay for a room and breakfast and dinner the following day.
- breakfast television — Breakfast television refers to television programmes which are broadcast in the morning at the time when most people are having breakfast.
- british thermal unit — a unit of heat in the fps system equal to the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1°F. 1 British thermal unit is equivalent to 1055.06 joules or 251.997 calories
- brittle bone disease — bone disorder
- broaden o's/the mind — If an experience broadens your mind, it makes you more willing to accept other people's beliefs and customs.
- buoyancy compensator — an inflatable vest used to control one's buoyancy underwater or to rest at the surface, usually having a connecting hose for inflation or deflation by mouth and a CO 2 cartridge for rapid, emergency inflation.
- bureau of the census — the division of the Department of Commerce that gathers, tabulates, and correlates census statistics.
- butterfly-shell clam — coquina.
- caesar and cleopatra — a comedy (1898) by G. B. Shaw.
- calcium metasilicate — a white powder, CaSiO 3 , insoluble in water, used as an antacid and as a filler for paper.
- call-by-value-result — An argument passing convention where the actual argument is a variable V whose value is copied to a local variable L inside the called function or procedure. If the procedure modifies L, these changes will not affect V, which may also be in scope inside the procedure, until the procedure returns when the final value of L is copied to V. Under call-by-reference changes to L would affect V immediately. Used, for example, by BBC BASIC V on the Acorn Archimedes.
- cancel a reservation — If you cancel a reservation, you stop it because someone who has booked a room has informed you that they no longer wish to stay there.
- canine leptospirosis — an often fatal intestinal disease in dogs, caused by any of several spirochetes of the genus Leptospira.
- capacitive crosstalk — Capacitive crosstalk is a situation in which a signal on one line can cause a smaller version of the same signal on an adjacent line because of the capacitance between the lines.
- capital transfer tax — (in Britain) a tax payable from 1974 to 1986 at progressive rates on the cumulative total of gifts of money or property made during the donor's lifetime or after his death. It was replaced by inheritance tax
- carbon sequestration — the prevention of greenhouse gas build-up in the earth's atmosphere by methods such as planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide or pumping carbon dioxide into underground reservoirs
- carry off one's feet — to fill with enthusiasm
- cartesian coordinate — 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.
- cassegrain telescope — an astronomical reflecting telescope in which incident light is reflected from a large concave paraboloid mirror onto a smaller convex hyperboloid mirror and then back through a hole in the concave mirror to form the image
- cast a pall over sth — If something unpleasant casts a pall over an event or occasion, it makes it less enjoyable than it should be.
- cast the first stone — the hard substance, formed of mineral matter, of which rocks consist.
- cat's-tail speedwell — a widely cultivated Eurasian plant, Veronica spicata, of the figwort family, having blue flowers in long, spikelike clusters.
- catastrophic failure — Catastrophic failure is sudden and complete failure which cannot be put right.
- catastrophic illness — A catastrophic illness is a major health event that takes place during a particular period of time, such as a heart attack, stroke, or cancer.
- catherine de medicis — (Caterina de' Medici) 1518–89, queen of Henry II of France (mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III).
- cavalleria rusticana — an opera (1890) by Pietro Mascagni.
- cavendish experiment — the experiment, conducted by Henry Cavendish, that determined the constant of gravitation by using a torsion balance and measuring the torsion produced by two masses placed at given distances from the masses on the balance.
- celestial navigation — navigation by observation of the positions of the stars
- cellular respiration — the oxidation of organic compounds that occurs within cells, producing energy for cellular processes.
- cellulose triacetate — a triacetic ester of cellulose characterized by its resistance to most solvents, used chiefly in the manufacture of textile fibers.
- central bedfordshire — a unitary authority of S central England. Pop: 252 100 (2007 est). Area: 712 sq km (275 sq miles)
- centrifugal spinning — the spinning of rayon filaments in a centrifugal box.
- certificate of stock — stock certificate.
- change a reservation — If you change a reservation, you move a booking to a different date because someone who has booked a room has informed you that they wish to stay there on a different date.
- channel service unit — (communications) (CSU) A type of interface used to connect a terminal or computer to a digital medium in the same way that a modem is used for connection to an analogue medium. A CSU is provided by the communication carrier to customers who wish to use their own equipment to retime and regenerate the incoming signals. The customer must supply all of the transmit logic, receive logic and timing recovery in order to use the CSU, whereas a digital service unit DSU performs these functions.