14-letter words containing e, b, o, a, t
- bacteriophages — Plural form of bacteriophage.
- bacteriostasis — inhibition of the growth and reproduction of bacteria, esp by the action of a chemical agent
- bacteriostatic — the prevention of the further growth of bacteria.
- ballast pocket — a depression that is formed beneath the ballast layer by penetration of ballast particles into the subgrade and that tends to collect moisture.
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- bamboo network — a network of close-knit Chinese entrepreneurs with large corporate empires in southeast Asia
- ban-the-bomber — a person who vigorously advocates banning the development or use of nuclear weapons.
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- barbados earth — a diatomaceous marl found in Barbados
- barbour jacket — a hard-wearing waterproof waxed jacket
- barium bromate — colorless, slightly water-soluble, poisonous crystals, Ba(BrO 3) 2 ⋅H 2 O, used in the preparation of certain bromates.
- barometrically — By means of a barometer.
- barometrograph — barograph.
- barrier method — Barrier methods of contraception involve the use of condoms, diaphragms, or other devices that physically prevent the sperm from reaching the egg.
- base community — (especially in South America) a group of people taking part in religious devotions and Bible study, who seek to apply this in their socioeconomic and political situation.
- base component — the system of rules in a transformational grammar that specify the deep structure of the language
- basidiomycetes — Mycology. any of a group of fungi constituting the phylum Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi (or, in older classification schemes, the class Basidiomycetes of the kingdom Plantae), characterized by bearing the spores on a basidium, including the smuts, rust, mushrooms, and puffballs.
- basket-of-gold — a yellow-flowered perennial plant (Alyssum saxatile, now more properly Aurinia saxatilis) of the crucifer family, often used in rock gardens
- basque country — Theregion comprising three provinces in N Spain, on the Bay of Biscay, inhabited by Basques: 2,803 sq mi (7,260 sq km); pop. 2,104,000
- basso cantante — a bass voice with an upper range that is more developed than that of the basso profundo.
- battered woman — See under battered woman syndrome.
- battered-women — the array of physical and psychological injuries exhibited by women (battered women or battered wives) who have been beaten repeatedly or otherwise abused by their partners or spouses.
- battle of wits — If you refer to a situation as a battle of wits, you mean that it involves people with opposing aims who compete with each other using their intelligence, rather than force.
- battle station — the place or position that one is assigned to for battle or in an emergency.
- bayes' theorem — the fundamental result which expresses the conditional probability P(E/A) of an event E given an event A as P(A/E).P(E)/P(A); more generally, where En is one of a set of values Ei which partition the sample space, P(En/A) = P(A/En)P(En)/Σ P(A/Ei)P(Ei). This enables prior estimates of probability to be continually revised in the light of observations
- bayonet charge — a charge by riflemen with fixed bayonets
- bayonet socket — a socket for a bayonet fitting
- be on the ball — to be alert; be efficient
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- beaufort scale — an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used
- beautification — Making beautiful, beautifying, improving the appearance of something.
- beauty contest — A beauty contest is a competition in which young women are judged to decide which one is the most beautiful.
- beauty parlour — A beauty parlour is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example to have their hair, nails or make-up done.
- beclomethasone — a potent synthetic corticosteroid, C 28 H 37 ClO 7 , prepared as an inhalant in the treatment of bronchial asthma.
- belaya tserkov — city in WC Ukraine: pop. 204,000
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- bermuda shorts — close-fitting shorts that come down to the knees
- beta geminorum — Pollux
- 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.
- beta-oxidation — a process by which fatty acids are degraded, involving oxidation of the beta carbons and removal of successive two-carbon fragments from the fatty acid.
- betake oneself — to go; move
- betray oneself — to reveal one's true character, intentions, etc
- beyond a doubt — to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
- bill of health — a certificate, issued by a port officer, that attests to the health of a ship's company
- billy no-mates — a person with no friends
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- biocontainment — the confinement, as by sealed-off chambers, of materials that are harmful or potentially harmful to life.
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.