14-letter words containing i, n, e, r, t, a
- atomic veteran — a veteran of the armed forces who was exposed to radioactivity during the testing or use of nuclear (atomic) weapons in World War II or subsequent wars.
- attractiveness — providing pleasure or delight, especially in appearance or manner; pleasing; charming; alluring: an attractive personality.
- attrition rate — the rate at which customers or subscribers switch from one supplier to another
- auction bridge — a variety of bridge, now generally superseded by contract bridge, in which all the tricks made score towards the game
- auditory nerve — either of the eighth pair of cranial nerves, which connect the ear with the brain and carry impulses relating to sound and balance
- austrian shade — a window shade in which the fabric falls in a series of puffy festoons created by vertical rows of shirring.
- autocovariance — (statistics) The covariance of a signal with another part of the same signal.
- autoregression — (mathematics) An autoregressive process that is used to model many types of natural behaviour.
- autoregulation — the continual automatic adjustment or self-regulation of a biochemical, physiological, or ecological system to maintain a stable state.
- auxiliary note — a nonharmonic note occurring between two harmonic notes
- auxiliary tone — a melodic ornamental tone following a principal tone by a step above or below and returning to the principal tone; embellishment.
- axis-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- baby-battering — the physical abuse of a baby or young child
- backscattering — the scattering of rays or particles at angles to the original direction of motion of greater than 90°
- backside-front — backend-to.
- bactrian camel — a two-humped camel, Camelus bactrianus, used as a beast of burden in the cold deserts of central Asia
- badger baiting — an illegal sport in which dogs are encouraged to draw a badger out of its burrow and attack it
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bargain hunter — A bargain hunter is someone who is looking for goods that are value for money, usually because they are on sale at a lower price than normal.
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- be in the wars — If someone has been in the wars, they have been injured, for example in a fight or in an accident.
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- 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.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- 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.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.
- bioregionalist — someone who believes in bioregionalism
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- 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.
- 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.
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- borrowing rate — the interest rate at which money may be borrowed, esp an official rate set by a central bank
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- branchiostegal — of or relating to the operculum covering the gill slits of fish
- brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
- brazil current — a warm current in the Atlantic Ocean flowing SE along the E coast of Brazil.
- breaking point — If something or someone has reached breaking point, they have so many problems or difficulties that they can no longer cope with them, and may soon collapse or be unable to continue.
- breast implant — an object such as a sachet filled with gel introduced surgically into a woman's breast to enlarge it
- breast-beating — public or ostentatious expression of guilt, remorse, or sorrow
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- breathtakingly — thrillingly beautiful, remarkable, astonishing, exciting, or the like: a breathtaking performance.
- bring onstream — To bring onstream a plant, mine, oilfield, etc. is to start production there.
- britney spears — beers