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16-letter words containing e, s

  • balance transfer — the act of transferring debt from one credit card to another, assuming that the second card has better terms or interest rates than the first
  • balearic islands — a group of islands in the W Mediterranean, consisting of Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera, and 11 islets: a province of Spain. Capital: Palma, on Majorca. Pop: 1 071 500 (2003 est). Area: 5012 sq km (1935 sq miles)
  • balkan peninsula — a large peninsula in SE Europe, between the Adriatic and Aegean Seas
  • ballast resistor — ballast (def 5a).
  • ballast-resistor — Nautical. any heavy material carried temporarily or permanently in a vessel to provide desired draft and stability.
  • ballistic camera — a camera for tracking missiles launched at night.
  • balsamic vinegar — Balsamic vinegar is a type of vinegar which tastes sweet and is made from grape juice.
  • baluster measure — an antique liquid measure usually made of pewter, having a concave top on a convex base.
  • banana republics — any of the small countries in the tropics, especially in the Western Hemisphere, whose economies are largely dependent on fruit exports, tourism, and foreign investors.
  • band-pass filter — a filter that transmits only those currents having a frequency lying within specified limits
  • banned substance — In sport, banned substances are drugs that competitors are not allowed to take because they could artificially improve their performance.
  • barbecue stopper — a controversial current-affairs issue
  • bare necessities — only the essentials
  • bargain basement — If you refer to something as a bargain basement thing, you mean that it is cheap and not very good quality.
  • bargain-basement — very low-priced.
  • bargaining scope — the range of topics within the scope of a particular set of negotiations leading to a collective agreement
  • baron tweedsmuir — the title of Scottish novelist John Buchan
  • barrier of ideas — the representations of objects which certain accounts of perception interpose between the objects themselves and our awareness of them, so that, as critics argue, we can never know whether there is in reality anything which resembles our perceptions
  • bartholomeu dias — Bartholomeu [bahr-too-loo-me-oo] /ˌbɑr tʊ lʊˈmɛ ʊ/ (Show IPA), c1450–1500, Portuguese navigator: discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope.
  • basal anesthesia — anesthesia induced as a preliminary to further and deeper anesthesia
  • basal metabolism — the amount of energy required by an individual in the resting state, for such functions as breathing and circulation of the blood
  • basement complex — the undifferentiated assemblage of rock (basement rock) underlying the oldest stratified rocks in any region: usually crystalline, metamorphosed, and mostly, but not necessarily, Precambrian in age.
  • bashkir republic — a constituent republic of E central Russia, in the S Urals: established as the first Soviet autonomous republic in 1919; rich mineral resources. Capital: Ufa. Pop: 4 012 900 (2002). Area: 143 600 sq km (55 430 sq miles)
  • basic dichromate — an orange-red, amorphous, water-insoluble powder, Bi 2 O 3 ⋅2CrO 3 , used chiefly as a pigment in paints.
  • basilar membrane — a membrane inside the cochlea that vibrates in response to sound
  • basque provinces — an autonomous region of N Spain, comprising the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya: inhabited mainly by Basques, who retained virtual autonomy from the 9th to the 19th century. Pop: 1 840 700 (2003 est). Area: about 7250 sq km (2800 sq miles)
  • bastard culverin — a 16th-century cannon, smaller than a culverin, firing a shot of between 5 and 8 pounds (11 and 17.6 kg).
  • bastard daughter — an illegitimate daughter
  • batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
  • batesian mimicry — mimicry in which a harmless species is protected from predators by means of its resemblance to a harmful or inedible species
  • bbn technologies — (company)   A company, originally known as Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. BBN were awarded the original contract to build the ARPANET and have been extensively involved in Internet development. They are responsible for managing NNSC, CSNET, and NEARnet. The language LOGO was developed at BBN, as was the BBN Butterfly supercomputer.
  • be as good as to — would you please
  • be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
  • be in sb's shoes — If you talk about being in someone's shoes, you talk about what you would do or how you would feel if you were in their situation.
  • be of assistance — Someone or something that is of assistance to you is helpful or useful to you.
  • be one's own man — to be independent or free
  • bear one's cross — a structure consisting essentially of an upright and a transverse piece, used to execute persons in ancient times.
  • bearing pedestal — an independent support for a bearing, usually incorporating a bearing housing
  • bearish tendency — a tendency for share prices to fall
  • beauty therapist — a person whose job is to carry out treatments to improve a person's appearance, such as facials, manicures, removal of unwanted hair, etc
  • beaux' stratagem — a comedy (1707) by George Farquhar.
  • bed-sitting room — a combined bedroom and sitting room serving as a one-room apartment
  • beefsteak fungus — an edible reddish bracket fungus, Fistulina hepatica, that grows esp on oak trees and oozes a bloodlike juice
  • beefsteak tomato — a very large fleshy variety of tomato
  • beg the question — If you say that something begs a particular question, you mean that it makes people want to ask that question; some people consider that this use is incorrect.
  • behavioural sink — a small area in which people or animals live in overcrowded conditions
  • behind the times — You can use the times to refer to the present time and to modern fashions, tastes, and developments. For example, if you say that someone keeps up with the times, you mean they are fashionable or aware of modern developments. If you say they are behind the times, you mean they are unfashionable or not aware of them.
  • belgian malinois — one of a Belgian breed of medium-sized dogs having a short coat, tan to dark brown in color, a black mask, and erect ears, bred originally as a sheepherding dog.
  • belgian sheepdog — any of a Belgian breed of large herding dog with a black coat, sometimes used as a guide dog
  • bells of ireland — an annual garden plant, Moluccella laevis, whose flowers have a green cup-shaped calyx: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
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