10-letter words containing e, b, i
- bit bucket — (jargon) 1. (Or "write-only memory", "WOM") The universal data sink (originally, the mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a register during a shift instruction). Discarded, lost, or destroyed data is said to have "gone to the bit bucket". On Unix, often used for /dev/null. Sometimes amplified as "the Great Bit Bucket in the Sky". 2. The place where all lost mail and news messages eventually go. The selection is performed according to Finagle's Law; important mail is much more likely to end up in the bit bucket than junk mail, which has an almost 100% probability of getting delivered. Routing to the bit bucket is automatically performed by mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower layers of the network. 3. The ideal location for all unwanted mail responses: "Flames about this article to the bit bucket." Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's mailbox with flames. 4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent. "I mailed you those figures last week; they must have landed in the bit bucket." Compare black hole. This term is used purely in jest. It is based on the fanciful notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only misplaced. This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term "bit box", about which the same legend was current; old-time hackers also report that trainees used to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was actually pulling them "out of the bit box". Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the "parity preservation law", the number of 1 bits that go to the bit bucket must equal the number of 0 bits. Any imbalance results in bits filling up the bit bucket. A qualified computer technician can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance. In contrast, a "chad box" is a real container used to catch chad. This may be related to the origin of the term "bit bucket" [Comments ?].
- bit player — a person with a very small acting role with few lines to speak
- bit stream — a simple contiguous sequence of binary digits transmitted continuously over a communications path; a sequence of data in binary form.
- bitartrate — (not in technical usage) a salt or ester of tartaric acid containing the monovalent group -HC4H4O6 or the ion HC4H4O6–
- bitchiness — characteristic of a bitch; spiteful; malicious.
- bite-sized — Bite-sized pieces of food are small enough to fit easily in your mouth.
- bitter end — the end of a line, chain, or cable, esp the end secured in the chain locker of a vessel
- bitter rot — a disease of apples, grapes, and other fruit, characterized by cankers on the branches or twigs and bitter, rotted fruit, caused by any of several fungi.
- bitterbark — an Australian tree, Alstonia constricta, with bitter-tasting bark that is used in preparing tonic medicines
- bitterling — a small brightly coloured European freshwater cyprinid fish, Rhodeus sericeus: a popular aquarium fish
- bitterness — having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste, like that of aspirin, quinine, wormwood, or aloes.
- bitterroot — a pink flower with an edible root found growing in America
- bitterweed — any of various plants that contain a bitter-tasting substance
- bitterwood — any of several simaroubaceous trees of the genus Picrasma of S and SE Asia and the Caribbean, whose bitter bark and wood are used in medicine as a substitute for quassia
- bitterwort — yellow gentian.
- bittorrent — a file transfer protocol which enables users to upload and download large files on the internet in the form of software, games, film, video, music, etc, from other users rather than from a central server
- bituminize — to treat with or convert into bitumen
- bivouacked — a military encampment made with tents or improvised shelters, usually without shelter or protection from enemy fire.
- bizarrerie — the quality of being bizarre
- blabbering — to reveal indiscreetly and thoughtlessly: They blabbed my confidences to everyone.
- black bile — one of the four bodily humours; melancholy
- black diet — deprivation of all food and water as a punishment, often leading to death.
- black kite — a bird of prey, Milvus migrans, found in much of Eurasia
- black site — a secret facility used by a country's military as a prison and interrogation centre, whose existence is denied by the government
- blainville — a town in S Quebec, in E Canada, near Montreal.
- blanc fixe — barium sulfate
- blandisher — someone who blandishes
- blanketing — a large, rectangular piece of soft fabric, often with bound edges, used especially for warmth as a bed covering.
- blathering — foolish, voluble talk: His speech was full of the most amazing blather.
- blepharism — spasm of the eyelids, causing rapid involuntary blinking
- blind date — A blind date is an arrangement made for you to spend a romantic evening with someone you have never met before.
- blind hole — a hole whose green cannot be seen by the approaching golfer because of trees or other obstructions.
- blind seed — a disease of ryegrass, characterized by shriveled, soft seeds, caused by a fungus, Phialea temulenta.
- blind side — the side of the field between the scrum and the nearer touchline
- blind test — a test in which the participants cannot identify the products that they are testing
- blind-side — the part of one's field of vision, as to the side and rear, where one is unable to see approaching objects.
- blindsided — Sports. to tackle, hit, or attack (an opponent) from the blind side: The quarterback was blindsided and had the ball knocked out of his hand.
- blistering — Blistering heat is very great heat.
- blitheness — joyous, merry, or happy in disposition; glad; cheerful: Everyone loved her for her blithe spirit.
- blithering — talking foolishly; jabbering
- blithesome — cheery; merry
- blitzkrieg — A blitzkrieg is a fast and intense military attack that takes the enemy by surprise and is intended to achieve a very quick victory.
- blitzstein — Marc, 1905–64, U.S. composer.
- block line — a rope or cable used in a block and tackle
- bloggerati — those considered to be important or influential in the world of blogging
- bloodiness — the state of being bloody
- bloomfield — Leonard. 1887–1949, US linguist, influential for his strictly scientific and descriptive approach to comparative linguistics; author of Language (1933)
- blow-dried — dried using hairdryer
- blubbering — Zoology. the fat layer between the skin and muscle of whales and other cetaceans, from which oil is made.
- blue daisy — a bushy, composite shrub, Felicia amelloides, of southern Africa, having solitary, daisylike flowers with yellow disks and blue rays, grown as an ornamental.