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10-letter words containing k, e, t

  • big ticket — costing a great deal; expensive: fur coats and other big-ticket items.
  • big-ticket — If you describe something as a big-ticket item, you mean that it costs a lot of money.
  • bit bucket — (jargon)   1. (Or "write-only memory", "WOM") The universal data sink (originally, the mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a register during a shift instruction). Discarded, lost, or destroyed data is said to have "gone to the bit bucket". On Unix, often used for /dev/null. Sometimes amplified as "the Great Bit Bucket in the Sky". 2. The place where all lost mail and news messages eventually go. The selection is performed according to Finagle's Law; important mail is much more likely to end up in the bit bucket than junk mail, which has an almost 100% probability of getting delivered. Routing to the bit bucket is automatically performed by mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower layers of the network. 3. The ideal location for all unwanted mail responses: "Flames about this article to the bit bucket." Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's mailbox with flames. 4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent. "I mailed you those figures last week; they must have landed in the bit bucket." Compare black hole. This term is used purely in jest. It is based on the fanciful notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only misplaced. This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term "bit box", about which the same legend was current; old-time hackers also report that trainees used to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was actually pulling them "out of the bit box". Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the "parity preservation law", the number of 1 bits that go to the bit bucket must equal the number of 0 bits. Any imbalance results in bits filling up the bit bucket. A qualified computer technician can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance. In contrast, a "chad box" is a real container used to catch chad. This may be related to the origin of the term "bit bucket" [Comments ?].
  • bitterbark — an Australian tree, Alstonia constricta, with bitter-tasting bark that is used in preparing tonic medicines
  • black belt — A black belt is worn by someone who has reached a very high standard in a sport such as judo or karate.
  • black diet — deprivation of all food and water as a punishment, often leading to death.
  • black heat — heat emitted by an electric element made from low-resistance thick wire that does not glow red
  • black kite — a bird of prey, Milvus migrans, found in much of Eurasia
  • black site — a secret facility used by a country's military as a prison and interrogation centre, whose existence is denied by the government
  • black stem — a disease of plants, characterized by blackened stems and defoliation, caused by any of several fungi, as Ascochyta imperfecta or Mycosphaerella lethalis.
  • black tern — a small tern with a black head and body, Chlidonias niger, found on all continents except Australasia
  • blackheart — an abnormal darkening of the woody stems of some plants, thought to be caused by extreme cold
  • blackheath — a residential district in SE London, mainly in the boroughs of Lewisham and Greenwich: a large heath formerly notorious for highwaymen
  • blackplate — cold-rolled sheet steel before pickling or cleaning.
  • blackstone — Sir William. 1723–80, English jurist noted particularly for his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–69), which had a profound influence on jurisprudence in the US
  • blackwater — a stream stained dark with peat
  • blank tape — magnetic tape that has no recorded sound or image, as an unused or erased tape.
  • blanketing — a large, rectangular piece of soft fabric, often with bound edges, used especially for warmth as a bed covering.
  • blitzkrieg — A blitzkrieg is a fast and intense military attack that takes the enemy by surprise and is intended to achieve a very quick victory.
  • block vote — A block vote is a large number of votes that are all cast in the same way by one person on behalf of a group of people.
  • blockflote — a recorder.
  • bluejacket — a sailor in the Navy
  • bomb ketch — Nautical. a ketch-rigged vessel of the 17th and 18th centuries, carrying heavy mortars for firing bombs.
  • bonkbuster — a novel characterized by graphic descriptions of the heroine's frequent sexual encounters
  • book token — a gift token to be exchanged for books
  • bootlicker — to seek the favor or goodwill of in a servile, degraded way; toady to.
  • bottleneck — A bottleneck is a place where a road becomes narrow or where it meets another road so that the traffic slows down or stops, often causing traffic jams.
  • bracketing — a set of brackets
  • breadstick — bread baked in a long thin crisp stick
  • break into — If someone breaks into a building, they get into it by force.
  • break step — to cease to march in step
  • break with — to end a relationship or association with (someone or an organization or social group)
  • breakfront — (of a bookcase, bureau, etc) having a slightly projecting central section
  • breakpoint — an instruction inserted by a debug program causing a return to the debug program
  • breakwater — A breakwater is a wooden or stone wall that extends from the shore into the sea and is built in order to protect a harbour or beach from the force of the waves.
  • breastwork — a temporary defensive work, usually breast-high
  • brickearth — a clayey alluvium suitable for the making of bricks: specifically, such a deposit in southern England, yielding a fertile soil
  • bridgetalk — (language)   A visual language.
  • broken lot — an irregular quantity or lot of securities that is smaller than the amount normally traded
  • buck teeth — upper front teeth which stick out
  • bucket out — to empty out with or as if with a bucket
  • butt-naked — completely naked
  • buttermilk — Buttermilk is the liquid that remains when fat has been removed from cream when butter is being made. You can drink buttermilk or use it in cooking.
  • by mistake — accidentally, not on purpose
  • cable-knit — knitted using the cable stitch
  • cake eater — a ladies' man.
  • cake stand — a plate on a pedestal used for displaying cakes in a shop or café, or for special cakes such as wedding cakes
  • cankerroot — goldthread.
  • care-taker — a person who is in charge of the maintenance of a building, estate, etc.; superintendent.
  • caretakers — Plural form of caretaker.
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