17-letter words containing n, a, b, e
- blood-and-thunder — sensationalism, violence, or exaggerated melodrama: a movie full of blood and thunder.
- blow someone away — to kill by shooting
- blowpipe analysis — a type of chemical analysis in which the intensely hot flame of a blowpipe vaporizes a mineral or other substance with a characteristically colored flame and a unique odor, so as to identify chemical elements in a substance
- blue false indigo — a North American plant, Baptisia australis, of the legume family, having wedge-shaped leaflets and blue, clustered flowers.
- bluegrass country — region in central Ky. where there is much bluegrass
- board of managers — a group of people responsible for managing an organization
- board-and-shingle — a small dwelling with wooden walls and a shingle roof
- boat-billed heron — a nocturnal, tropical American wading bird (Cochlearius cochlearius) with a large, broad bill: it is the only member of a family (Cochleariidae) of wading birds
- body center plate — one of a pair of plates that fit together and support the body of a car on a truck, while allowing the truck to rotate with respect to the body. One plate (body center plate) is attached to the underside of the car body and the other (truck center plate) is part of the car truck.
- bohemian brethren — a Protestant Christian sect formed in the 15th century from various Hussite groups, which rejected oaths and military service and advocated a pure and disciplined spiritual life. It was reorganized in 1722 as the Moravian Church
- bone marrow donor — a person who donates bone marrow
- book depreciation — Book depreciation is depreciation in a company's internal financial records that is different from the amount that is used for taxes.
- boolean operation — any operation in which each of the operands and the result take one of two values.
- boothia peninsula — a peninsula of N Canada: the northernmost part of the mainland of North America, lying west of the Gulf of Boothia, an arm of the Arctic Ocean
- boots and saddles — a bugle call formerly used in the US Cavalry to summon soldiers to mount
- bouncebackability — the ability to recover after a setback, esp in sport
- brain haemorrhage — bleeding into the brain
- branch delay slot — delayed control-transfer
- branch prediction — (processor, algorithm) A technique used in some processors with instruction prefetch to guess whether a conditional branch will be taken or not and prefetch code from the appropriate location. When a branch instruction is executed, its address and that of the next instruction executed (the chosen destination of the branch) are stored in the Branch Target Buffer. This information is used to predict which way the instruction will branch the next time it is executed so that instruction prefetch can continue. When the prediction is correct (and it is over 90% of the time), executing a branch does not cause a pipeline break. Some later CPUs simply prefetch both paths instead of trying to predict which way the branch will go. An extension of the idea of branch prediction is speculative execution.
- brazilian emerald — a green variety of tourmaline used as a gem: not a true emerald.
- brazilian peridot — a light yellowish-green tourmaline used as a gem: not a true peridot.
- break one's heart — to grieve or cause to grieve very deeply, esp through love
- breakdown service — a service that provides assistance to motorists who break down
- breakdown voltage — the minimum applied voltage that would cause a given insulator or electrode to break down.
- breathe life into — revive, rejuvenate
- brigadier general — In the United States, a brigadier general is a senior officer in the armed forces who is often in charge of a brigade and has a rank above colonel and below major general.
- brightening agent — a compound applied to a textile to increase its brightness by the conversion of ultraviolet radiation to visible (blue) light, used in detergents
- brighton and hove — a city and unitary authority in S England, in East Sussex. Pop: 251 500 (2003 est). Area: 72 sq km (28 sq miles)
- bring up the rear — to be at the back in a procession, race, etc
- british cameroons — a former British trust territory of West Africa
- british-cameroons — German Kamerun. a region in W Africa: a German protectorate 1884–1919; divided in 1919 into British and French mandates.
- broad-winged hawk — an American hawk, Buteo platypterus, dark brown above and white barred with rufous below.
- brocot escapement — a type of anchor escapement.
- broderie anglaise — open embroidery on white cotton, fine linen, etc
- brokerage account — A brokerage account is an account with a broker where an investor can buy and sell and hold securities.
- bronze star medal — a U.S. military decoration awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in combat not involving aerial flight
- brownian movement — random movement of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid, caused by bombardment of the particles by molecules of the fluid. First observed in 1827, it provided strong evidence in support of the kinetic theory of molecules
- brzesc nad bugiem — Polish name of Brest Litovsk.
- bubble and squeak — Bubble and squeak is a dish made from a mixture of cold cooked cabbage, potato, and sometimes meat. It can be grilled or fried.
- buckingham palace — the London residence of the British sovereign: built in 1703, rebuilt by John Nash in 1821–36 and partially redesigned in the early 20th century
- budgetary control — a system of managing a business by applying a financial value to each forecast activity. Actual performance is subsequently compared with the estimates
- building labourer — an unskilled worker on construction sites
- buncher resonator — See under Klystron.
- bureaucratization — to divide an administrative agency or office into bureaus.
- bushman's singlet — a sleeveless heavy black woollen singlet, used as working clothing by timber fellers
- business as usual — In a difficult situation, if you say it is business as usual, you mean that people will continue doing what they normally do.
- butacaine sulfate — a colorless, crystalline substance, (C18H30N2O2)2·H2SO4, used as a local anesthetic, esp. on mucous membranes
- butterfly bandage — a butterfly-shaped strip of adhesive medical tape used, when stitches are not required, to keep a deep cut or incision tightly closed while it heals
- buyers' inflation — inflation in which rising demand results in a rise in prices.
- by the same token — You use by the same token to introduce a statement that you think is true for the same reasons that were given for a previous statement.