14-letter words containing e, n, t, d
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- bend the rules — to ignore rules or change them to suit one's own convenience
- bending moment — the algebraic sum of all the moments to one side of a cross-section of a beam or other structural support
- bertrand meyer — The author of the Eiffel Language and many articles on object-oriented software techniques.
- 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.
- beyond a doubt — to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
- beyond dispute — not open to dispute or question; settled
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- 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.
- blind register — (in the United Kingdom) a list of those who are blind and are therefore entitled to financial and other benefits
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- born yesterday — brought forth by birth.
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- bottom-feeding — the activities of a bottom feeder.
- bound moisture — Bound moisture is liquid in a solid, which exerts a vapor pressure that is less than the pure liquid would do at the same temperature.
- boundary-stone — a stone marking a boundary, sometimes giving information such as the initials of the local authority in whose jurisdiction the boundary is
- boxed comments — (programming) Comments that occupy several lines by themselves; so called because in assembler and C code they are often surrounded by a box in a style similar to this: /************************************************* * * This is a boxed comment in C style * *************************************************/ Common variants of this style omit the asterisks in column 2 or add a matching row of asterisks closing the right side of the box. The sparest variant omits all but the comment delimiters themselves; the "box" is implied. Opposite of winged comments.
- brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- breeding stock — animals specifically kept to breed from
- bridge fluting — (on the stem of a drinking glass) flutes or facets continuing onto the underside of the bowl.
- broken-hearted — Someone who is broken-hearted is very sad and upset because they have had a serious disappointment.
- brushed cotton — cotton fabric that is brushed to remove excess lint and fibres to leave a soft, smooth finish
- budget account — an account with a department store, etc, enabling a customer to make monthly payments to cover his or her past and future purchases
- budget heading — a heading in a budget under which an expenditure is listed
- builder's knot — clove hitch
- 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.
- butterfingered — a person who frequently drops things; clumsy person.
- by the vanload — in very large quantities
- cadogan teapot — a lidless teapot that is made from or in imitation of an inverted Chinese wine pot and is filled through the bottom.
- calculatedness — the state of being calculated
- calendar month — A calendar month is one of the twelve months of the year.
- calendar watch — a watch that indicates date of the month, day of the week, etc., as well as the time.
- camp pendleton — a U.S. Marine Corps base in SW California on the Gulf of Santa Catalina.
- 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.
- 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.
- cardiocentesis — surgical puncture of the heart
- care attendant — (in Britain) a person who is paid to look after one or more severely handicapped people by visiting them frequently and staying when needed, but who does not live in
- case and paste — (programming) (From "cut and paste") The addition of a new feature to an existing system by selecting the code from an existing feature and pasting it in with minor changes. This usually results in gross violation of the fundamental programming tenet, Don't Repeat Yourself. Common in telephony circles because most operations in a telephone switch are selected using "case" statements. Leads to software bloat. In some circles of Emacs users this is called "programming by Meta-W", because Meta-W is the Emacs command for copying a block of text to a kill buffer in preparation to pasting it in elsewhere. The term is condescending, implying that the programmer is acting mindlessly rather than thinking carefully about what is required to integrate the code for two similar cases. At DEC, this is sometimes called "clone-and-hack" coding.
- cater-cornered — diagonally placed; diagonal
- catty-cornered — cater-cornered
- celebratedness — the quality or condition of being celebrated