14-letter words containing i, b, l, e
- 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.
- benzosulfimide — saccharin.
- 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
- beside oneself — If you are beside yourself with anger or excitement, you are extremely angry or excited.
- 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
- bible-thumping — an evangelist or other person who quotes the Bible frequently, especially as a means of exhortation or rebuke.
- bicuspid valve — mitral valve
- bicycle-racing — the act or sport of riding or traveling by bicycle, motorcycle, etc.
- 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.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- bill of health — a certificate, issued by a port officer, that attests to the health of a ship's company
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- billy no-mates — a person with no friends
- binding handle — (networking) An identifier representing the connection between a client and server. An association between client/server end-points and protocols.
- bioarchaeology — the branch of archaeology that deals with the remains of living things
- bioelectricity — electricity generated by a living organism
- bioelectronics — a branch of electronics that deals with electronic devices, implants, etc. used in medicine and biological research
- bioequivalence — the equality of strength, bioavailability, and dosage of various drug products
- biogeochemical — of or relating to biogeochemistry
- bioluminescent — the production of light by living organisms.
- biometeorology — the study of the effect of weather conditions on living organisms
- bioregionalism — the conviction that environmental and social policies should be determined by the bioregion rather than economics or politics
- bioregionalist — someone who believes in bioregionalism
- bircher muesli — a type of muesli containing softened oats, dried fruit, and apple
- birdcage clock — lantern clock.
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- bishops' bible — an English translation of the Bible made under the direction of Matthew Parker and published in 1568: the recognized translation of the Bible in England until the Authorized (King James) Version of 1611.
- bite one's lip — If you bite your lip or your tongue, you stop yourself from saying something that you want to say, because it would be the wrong thing to say in the circumstances.
- bits per pixel — (hardware, graphics) (bpp) The number of bits of information stored per pixel of an image or displayed by a graphics adapter. The more bits there are, the more colours can be represented, but the more memory is required to store or display the image. A colour can be described by the intensities of red, green and blue (RGB) components. Allowing 8 bits (1 byte) per component (24 bits per pixel) gives 256 levels for each component and over 16 million different colours - more than the human eye can distinguish. Microsoft Windows [and others?] calls this truecolour. An image of 1024x768 with 24 bpp requires over 2 MB of memory. "High colour" uses 16 bpp (or 15 bpp), 5 bits for blue, 5 bits for red and 6 bits for green. This reduced colour precision gives a slight loss of image quality at a 1/3 saving on memory. Standard VGA uses a palette of 16 colours (4 bpp), each colour in the palette is 24 bit. Standard SVGA uses a palette of 256 colours (8 bpp). Some graphics hardware and software support 32-bit colour depths, including an 8-bit "alpha channel" for transparency effects.
- black bindweed — a twining polygonaceous European plant, Polygonum convolvulus, with heart-shaped leaves and triangular black seed pods
- black selenium — an allotropic form of selenium occurring as a black, amorphous, water-insoluble, light-sensitive powder: used chiefly in photoelectric cells.
- black squirrel — a fox squirrel or gray squirrel in that color phase in which the fur is black.
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- blanket finish — a finish so close that a blanket would cover all the contestants involved
- blanket stitch — a strong reinforcing stitch for the edges of blankets and other thick material
- blanket-stitch — a basic sewing stitch in which widely spaced, interlocking loops, or purls, are formed, used for cutwork, as a decorative finish for edges, etc.
- blantyre-limbe — a city in S Malawi: largest city in the country; formed in 1956 from the adjoining towns of Blantyre and Limbe. Pop: 647 000 (2005 est)
- 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.
- blended family — a social unit consisting of two previously married parents and the children of their former marriages
- blessed virgin — the Virgin Mary
- 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
- blister beetle — any beetle of the family Meloidae, many of which produce a secretion that blisters the skin
- blister copper — an impure form of copper having a blister-like surface due to the release of gas during cooling