14-letter words containing e, i
- bedside manner — A doctor's bedside manner is the way in which they talk to their patients.
- beggar's-ticks — tick trefoil
- begging letter — A begging letter is a letter from a person or organization in which they ask you to send some money for a particular purpose.
- belaying cleat — a cleat used for belaying
- belgian endive — endive (def 2).
- belgian-endive — endive (def 2).
- believe you me — You can use believe you me to emphasize that what you are saying is true.
- belisha beacon — a flashing light in an orange globe mounted on a post, indicating a pedestrian crossing on a road
- belletristical — relating to the fine arts
- bellingshausen — Fabian Gottlieb von [fey-bee-uh n-got-leeb von] /ˈfeɪ bi ənˈgɒt lib vɒn/ (Show IPA), (Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshauzen) 1778–1852, Russian naval officer and explorer.
- belo horizonte — a city in SE Brazil, the capital of Minas Gerais state. Pop: 5 304 000 (2005 est)
- below the line — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- below-the-line — denoting the entries printed below the horizontal line on a company's profit-and-loss account that show how any profit is to be distributed
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- bending moment — the algebraic sum of all the moments to one side of a cross-section of a beam or other structural support
- beneficialness — the state of being beneficial
- benign neglect — If you describe someone's approach to a problem as one of benign neglect, you disapprove of the fact that they are doing nothing and hoping that the problem will solve itself.
- benzene series — a series of aromatic hydrocarbons derived from benzene by replacing one or more of the hydrogen atoms with one or more methyl groups. The first three members are benzene, toluene, and xylene.
- benzodiazepine — any of a group of chemical compounds that are used as minor tranquillizers, such as diazepam (Valium) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
- benzosulfimide — saccharin.
- berberidaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Berberidaceae, a mainly N temperate family of flowering plants (mostly shrubs), including barberry and barrenwort
- berkner island — an island in Antarctica, in the S Weddell Sea, between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
- bernicle goose — barnacle goose
- beseechingness — the quality or state of being beseeching
- beside oneself — If you are beside yourself with anger or excitement, you are extremely angry or excited.
- 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.
- betting office — a licensed bookmaker's premises not on a racecourse where bets can be placed on horses, teams, and other competitors
- between whiles — now and then; at intervals
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- bewilderedness — the state of being bewildered
- beyond dispute — not open to dispute or question; settled
- bezier surface — (graphics) A surface defined by mathematical formulae, used in computer graphics. A surface P(u, v), where u and v vary orthogonally from 0 to 1 from one edge of the surface to the other, is defined by a set of (n+1)*(m+1) "control points" (X(i, j), Y(i, j), Z(i, j)) for i = 0 to n, j = 0 to m.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bible-thumping — an evangelist or other person who quotes the Bible frequently, especially as a means of exhortation or rebuke.
- biceps brachii — See under biceps.
- biceps femoris — See under biceps.
- bicuspid valve — mitral valve
- bicycle-racing — the act or sport of riding or traveling by bicycle, motorcycle, etc.
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- bide sb's time — If you bide your time, you wait for a good opportunity before doing something.
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- big blue river — a river in SE Nebraska, flowing E and SE to the Kansas (Kaw) River. 300 miles (483 km) long.
- big brotherism — paternalistic authoritarianism that seeks to supply the needs and regulate the conduct of people.
- big government — a form of government characterized by high taxation and public spending and centralization of political power
- big house, the — a penitentiary
- big red switch — (jargon) (BRS) IBM jargon for the power switch on a computer, especially the "Emergency Pull" switch on an IBM mainframe or the power switch on an IBM PC where it really is large and red. "This [email protected]%$% bitty box is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch." It is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actually fired a non-conducting bolt into the main power feed; the BRSes on more recent mainframes physically drop a block into place so that they can't be pushed back in. People get fired for pulling them, especially inappropriately (see also molly-guard). Compare power cycle, three-finger salute, 120 reset; see also scram switch.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.