12-letter words containing g, a, b, i
- ball bearing — Ball bearings are small metal balls placed between the moving parts of a machine to make the parts move smoothly.
- ball turning — the turning of arms or legs on furniture to make them resemble a continuous row of balls.
- ballhandling — skill in handling the ball
- bantamweight — A bantamweight is a boxer who weighs between 51 and 53.5 kilograms, or a wrestler who weighs between 52 and 57 kilograms. A bantamweight is heavier than a flyweight but lighter than a featherweight.
- bargain away — to lose or renounce (freedom, rights, etc) in return for something valueless or of little value
- bargain sale — an event at which goods are sold at low prices, usually to clear old stocks
- barking deer — muntjac.
- barking frog — a robber frog, Hylactophryne augusti, of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, having a call like a dog's bark.
- barn dancing — the act of performing a progressive round country dance
- barn raising — (in rural areas) a party, usually providing food, drink, etc., for the purpose of assisting a neighbor to put up a new barn.
- barnstorming — A barnstorming performance is full of energy and very exciting to watch.
- base jumping — a sport in which a participant parachutes from any of a variety of fixed objects such as high buildings, cliffs, etc
- base pairing — the hydrogen bonding that occurs between complementary nitrogenous bases in the two polynucleotide chains of a DNA molecule
- base-pairing — the process of binding separate DNA sequences by base pairs.
- basic weight — basis weight.
- basing point — a geographical location from which freight charges are computed by the seller regardless of the point from which the goods are shipped.
- basis weight — the weight in pounds of a ream of paper of a basic size, usually 25 × 38 inches (63 × 96 cm) for book stock, 17 × 22 inches (43 × 55 cm) for writing stock, and 20 × 26 inches (50 × 66 cm) for cover stock.
- basketmaking — The construction of baskets, especially by traditional means.
- bastard wing — a tuft of feathers attached to the first digit of a bird, distinct from the wing feathers attached to the other digits and the ulna
- bastardizing — Present participle of bastardize.
- bastinadoing — Present participle of bastinado.
- bat printing — ornamenting of ceramics by means of an adhesive substance, as linseed oil, transferred onto the ceramic surface from a sheet of glue or gelatin, dusted with color, and fired.
- bathing suit — A bathing suit is a piece of clothing which people wear when they go swimming.
- bathing wrap — a loose robe to wear after bathing, often made of towelling
- bathygraphic — of or relating to the depths of the ocean
- bathypelagic — of, relating to, or inhabiting the lower depths of the ocean between approximately 1000 and 4000 metres
- batting cage — a screen with three sides and a top, in which batters practice: it keeps missed and fouled pitches within its enclosure
- battological — tending to repeat words unnecessarily
- beachcombing — The action of a beachcomber.
- beacon light — a light signal for shipping
- bead molding — bead (def 12).
- bear-baiting — (formerly) an entertainment in which dogs attacked and enraged a chained bear
- bearing down — to hold up; support: to bear the weight of the roof.
- bearing pile — a foundation pile that supports weight vertically
- bearing rail — a transverse rail carrying a drawer or drawers.
- bearing rein — a rein from the bit to the saddle, designed to keep the horse's head in the desired position
- bearing wall — any of the walls supporting a floor or the roof of a building.
- bearskin rug — the pelt of a bear, used as a rug
- beggar-ticks — any of various plants, such as the bur marigold and tick trefoil, having fruits or seeds that cling to clothing, fur, etc
- belaying pin — a cylindrical, sometimes tapered pin, usually of metal or wood, that fits into a hole in a pin or fife rail: used for belaying
- beleaguering — to surround with military forces.
- belgian hare — a large red breed of domestic rabbit
- bella figura — a good impression; fine appearance
- belly-aching — Informal. a pain in the abdomen or bowels.
- belt highway — beltway (def 1).
- benchmarking — In business, benchmarking is a process in which a company compares its products and methods with those of the most successful companies in its field, in order to try to improve its own performance.
- bengal light — a firework or flare that burns with a steady bright blue light, formerly used as a signal
- bengal tiger — a large tiger found in S. Asia
- bermuda high — a subtropical high centered near Bermuda.
- beta testing — (programming) Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software (or possibly hardware) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution. Beta testign aims to discover bugs that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes. Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and usability. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers. Some companies such as Google or Degree Jungle stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users. The term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. "Alpha test" was the unit test, module test or component test phase; "Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design.