16-letter words containing i, p, e, c
- autostereoscopic — Of or pertaining to autostereoscopy.
- auxiliary police — a part-time reserve attached to a regular police force
- axminster carpet — a type of patterned carpet with a cut pile
- bacterioplankton — (biology) The bacterial component of marine plankton.
- 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.
- bargaining scope — the range of topics within the scope of a particular set of negotiations leading to a collective agreement
- 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)
- 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)
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- bayonet practice — drill in the use of a bayonet
- be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
- beryllium copper — a copper alloy containing a small amount of beryllium and often some nickel or cobalt, having high strength, hardness, and electrical conductivity.
- bicyclic terpene — (originally) any of a class of monocyclic hydrocarbons of the formula C 10 H 16 , obtained from plants.
- big picture, the — a long-range or overall view or account of some complex matter
- bimetallic strip — a strip consisting of two metals of different coefficients of expansion welded together so that it buckles on heating: used in thermostats, etc
- biotic potential — the capacity of a population of organisms to increase in numbers under optimum environmental conditions.
- bitter principle — any of various bitter-tasting substances, such as aloin, usually extracted from plants
- black bottom pie — a rich pie with a rum- or whiskey-flavored chocolate filling, often with a crust of crushed gingersnaps, and topped with whipped cream.
- bleaching powder — a white powder with the odour of chlorine, consisting of chlorinated calcium hydroxide with an approximate formula CaCl(OCl).4H2O. It is used in solution as a bleaching agent and disinfectant
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- branchiopneustic — breathing by means of gills, as certain aquatic insect larvae.
- bristlecone pine — a coniferous tree, Pinus aristata, of the western US, bearing cones with bristle-like prickles: one of the longest-lived trees, useful in radiocarbon dating
- bronchopneumonia — inflammation of the lungs, originating in the bronchioles
- buttercup family — the plant family Ranunculaceae, typified by mostly herbaceous plants having usually alternate leaves, multistaminate flowers sometimes lacking petals but with colorful sepals, and including the anemone, buttercup, clematis, columbine, delphinium, and monkshood.
- cadmium sulphide — an orange or yellow insoluble solid used as a pigment in paints, etc (cadmium yellow). Formula: CdS
- camomile shampoo — a liquid or cream preparation of soap or detergent with camomile extract to wash the hair
- canine distemper — distemper1 (def 1a).
- cape cod lighter — a device for lighting a fire, as in a fireplace, consisting of a lump of nonflammable material on a metal rod, that is soaked in kerosene or the like and lighted with a match.
- capelli d'angelo — angel hair.
- capital employed — the money used by a business for buying land, buildings, equipment etc
- capital movement — the payments that flow between countries
- capital reserves — the money which a company holds in reserve
- capital sentence — the punishment of death for a crime
- capsizing moment — the moment of an upsetting couple.
- captive audience — a group of people who are unable by circumstances to avoid speeches, advertisements, etc
- captive breeding — Captive breeding is the breeding of wild animals in places such as zoos, especially animals which have become rare in the wild.
- carboxypeptidase — any of several digestive enzymes that catalyze the removal of an amino acid from the end of a peptide chain having a free carbonyl group.
- caregiver speech — baby talk (def 2).
- caricature plant — a tropical Old World shrub, Graptophyllum pictum, of the acanthus family, characterized by purple or red tubular flowers and leaf markings resembling the profile of a human face.
- carnot principle — the principle that no heat engine can be more efficient than one operating on a Carnot cycle of reversible changes
- carpatho-ukraine — a region in W Ukraine: ceded by Czechoslovakia in 1945.
- carpenter gothic — (sometimes initial capital letters) a style of Victorian Gothic architecture adapted to the resources of contemporary woodworking tools and machinery.
- cartridge player — an audio or video system that reads cartridges of magnetic tape
- cascade particle — the least massive member of the xi particle family.
- celestial empire — Chinese Empire
- celestial sphere — an imaginary sphere of infinitely large radius enclosing the universe so that all celestial bodies appear to be projected onto its surface
- centrifugal pump — a pump having a high-speed rotating impeller whose blades throw the water outwards
- cepheid variable — any of a class of variable stars with regular cycles of variations in luminosity (most ranging from three to fifty days). There is a relationship between the periods of variation and the absolute magnitudes, which is used for measuring the distance of such stars
- cerebellopontine — (anatomy) Relating to the cerebellum and pons.
- champ at the bit — If someone is champing at the bit or is chomping at the bit, they are very impatient to do something, but they are prevented from doing it, usually by circumstances that they have no control over.