16-letter words containing m, i, s, r
- axis of symmetry — Mathematics. a straight line for which every point on a given curve has corresponding to it another point such that the line connecting the two points is bisected by the given line.
- axminster carpet — a type of patterned carpet with a cut pile
- background music — music of any kind that is played while some other activity is going on, so that people do not actively attend to it
- ballistic camera — a camera for tracking missiles launched at night.
- balsamic vinegar — Balsamic vinegar is a type of vinegar which tastes sweet and is made from grape juice.
- bargain basement — If you refer to something as a bargain basement thing, you mean that it is cheap and not very good quality.
- bargain-basement — very low-priced.
- baron tweedsmuir — the title of Scottish novelist John Buchan
- bartholomeu dias — Bartholomeu [bahr-too-loo-me-oo] /ˌbɑr tʊ lʊˈmɛ ʊ/ (Show IPA), c1450–1500, Portuguese navigator: discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope.
- basic curriculum — in England and Wales, the National Curriculum plus religious education
- basic dichromate — an orange-red, amorphous, water-insoluble powder, Bi 2 O 3 ⋅2CrO 3 , used chiefly as a pigment in paints.
- basilar membrane — a membrane inside the cochlea that vibrates in response to sound
- batesian mimicry — mimicry in which a harmless species is protected from predators by means of its resemblance to a harmful or inedible species
- bed-sitting room — a combined bedroom and sitting room serving as a one-room apartment
- berners-lee, tim — Tim Berners-Lee
- bertillon system — a system formerly in use for identifying persons, esp criminals, by means of a detailed record of physical characteristics
- 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
- biometeorologist — the scientific study of the effects of natural or artificial atmospheric conditions, as temperature and humidity, on living organisms.
- bird's-eye maple — a cut of sugar maple wood used especially for veneers, having a wavy grain with many dark, circular markings.
- bismarck herring — marinaded herring, served cold
- blind man's rule — a carpenter's rule having large numbers to permit its reading in dim light.
- blind salamander — any of several North American salamanders, especially of the genera Typhlotriton, Typhlomolge, and Haideotriton, that inhabit underground streams or deep wells and have undeveloped eyes and scant pigmentation.
- blunt instrument — something such as a hammer, used as a weapon
- bornholm disease — an epidemic virus infection characterized by pain round the base of the chest
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- braille embosser — Braille printer
- brass instrument — a musical wind instrument of brass or other metal with a cup-shaped mouthpiece, as the trombone, tuba, French horn, trumpet, or cornet.
- british columbia — a province of W Canada, on the Pacific coast: largely mountainous with extensive forests, rich mineral resources, and important fisheries. Capital: Victoria. Pop: 4 400 057 (2011 est). Area: 930 532 sq km (359 279 sq miles)
- bronchial asthma — asthma.
- brood parasitism — a type of parasitism in which a bird (brood parasite), as a cowbird or European cuckoo, lays and abandons its eggs in the nest of another species
- broomstick skirt — a full, gathered or pleated skirt that has characteristic tiny creases obtained by wetting the skirt and winding it around a broomstick to dry.
- budgie smugglers — men's close-fitting swimming trunks
- business manager — a person who ensures the running of a business by managing the work of relevant staff
- cabinet minister — a minister who is a member of the cabinet
- calcium arsenate — a toxic, white powder, Ca3(AsO4)2, used as an insecticide in the form of a spray or dust
- canine distemper — distemper1 (def 1a).
- cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
- careers mistress — a female teacher who gives pupils advice and information about careers
- category mistake — a sentence that says of something in one category what can only intelligibly be said of something in another, as when speaking of the mind located in space
- celestial empire — Chinese Empire
- chemolithotrophs — Plural form of chemolithotroph.
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs
- chicken mushroom — an edible yellow-to-orange bracket fungus, Laetiporus sulphureus, common on tree trunks, in which it causes wood decay.
- chinese primrose — any plant of the genus Primula, as P. vulgaris (English primrose) of Europe, having yellow flowers, or P. sinensis (Chinese primrose) of China, having flowers in a variety of colors. Compare primrose family.
- cholesterolaemia — the presence of abnormally high levels of cholesterol in the blood
- chorioamnionitis — Inflammation of the fetal membranes (amnion and chorion) due to a bacterial infection, most often associated with prolonged labour.
- choriomeningitis — (medicine) A form of cerebral meningitis associated with inflammation of the choroid plexus.
- christmas beetle — any of various greenish-gold Australian scarab beetles of the genus Anoplognathus, which are common in summer
- christmas cactus — a Brazilian cactus, Schlumbergera (formerly Zygocactus) truncatus, widely cultivated as an ornamental for its showy red flowers
- christmas dinner — the main meal on Christmas day, eaten any time in the afternoon or evening