14-letter words containing i, r, s, g
- bascule-bridge — a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
- basic training — Basic training is the training that someone receives when they first join the armed forces.
- bass guitarist — a player of the bass guitar
- bastard indigo — a bushy shrub, Amorpha fruticosa, of the legume family, native to North America, having elongated clusters of dull purplish or bluish flowers.
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- bathing trunks — Bathing trunks are shorts that a man wears when he goes swimming.
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- beggar's-ticks — tick trefoil
- bernicle goose — barnacle goose
- big brotherism — paternalistic authoritarianism that seeks to supply the needs and regulate the conduct of people.
- big red switch — (jargon) (BRS) IBM jargon for the power switch on a computer, especially the "Emergency Pull" switch on an IBM mainframe or the power switch on an IBM PC where it really is large and red. "This [email protected]%$% bitty box is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch." It is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actually fired a non-conducting bolt into the main power feed; the BRSes on more recent mainframes physically drop a block into place so that they can't be pushed back in. People get fired for pulling them, especially inappropriately (see also molly-guard). Compare power cycle, three-finger salute, 120 reset; see also scram switch.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- bill of rights — A Bill of Rights is a written list of citizens' rights which is usually part of the constitution of a country.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- bioprospecting — searching for plant or animal species for use as a source of commercially exploitable products, such as medicinal drugs
- 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
- birthing stool — a stool constructed to allow a woman in labour to give birth in a sitting position
- biscuit-firing — the first firing given to pottery, before it is glazed
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- 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
- boarding house — A boarding house is a house which people pay to stay in for a short time.
- borders region — a former local government region in S Scotland, formed in 1975 from Berwick, Peebles, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and part of Midlothian; replaced in 1996 by Scottish Borders council area
- bowling crease — a line marked at the wicket, over which a bowler must not advance fully before delivering the ball
- bowstring hemp — a hemplike fibre obtained from the sansevieria
- boy-meets-girl — conventionally or trivially romantic
- branchiostegal — of or relating to the operculum covering the gill slits of fish
- brass farthing — something of little or no value
- braunschweiger — a smoked liver sausage, named after the city of Braunschweig
- brazing solder — an alloy of copper and zinc for joining two metal surfaces by melting the alloy so that it forms a thin layer between the surfaces
- breast-beating — public or ostentatious expression of guilt, remorse, or sorrow
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- breeding stock — animals specifically kept to breed from
- brewer's grain — an exhausted malt occurring as a by-product of brewing and used as a feedstuff for cattle, pigs, and sheep
- bridge passage — bridge1 (def 7).
- bring onstream — To bring onstream a plant, mine, oilfield, etc. is to start production there.
- bring sth home — To bring something home to someone means to make them understand how important or serious it is.
- bring to terms — to reduce to submission; force to agree
- british guiana — Guyana
- british legion — (in Britain) a national social club for veterans of the armed forces.
- building works — construction projects
- bursting point — the point at which normal capacity is exceeded.
- cairngormstone — (mineral, rare) A yellow or smoky brown variety of rock crystal, found especially in the mountains of w Cairngorm in Scotland.
- call screening — a facility that plays an announcement and records messages, enabling the person called to decide whether or not to answer the call
- cambridge lisp — A flavour of Lisp using BCPL. Sources owned by Fitznorman partners.
- cambridgeshire — a county of E England, in East Anglia: includes the former counties of the Isle of Ely and Huntingdon and lies largely in the Fens: Peterborough became an independent unitary authority in 1998. Administrative centre: Cambridge. Pop (excluding Peterborough): 571 000 (2003 est). Area (excluding Peterborough): 3068 sq km (184 sq miles)
- cancer-causing — having the ability to induce the growth of a malignant tumour
- carcinogenesis — the development of cancerous cells from normal ones