14-letter words containing p, n, e
- attention span — the period of time during which someone's attention is held by something in particular
- audio response — a computer response that is audible rather than textual or graphical
- auspiciousness — The state or quality of being auspicious or successful.
- autoresponders — Plural form of autoresponder.
- avoidance play — a play by the declarer designed to prevent a particular opponent from taking the lead.
- back-pedalling — a retreat from or a retraction of a previously held view
- backflap hinge — Building Trades. flap (def 20a).
- balance spring — hairspring.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- baptismal name — Christian name (def 1).
- bare ownership — ownership of a piece of property without the right to use and derive profit from that property
- base component — the system of rules in a transformational grammar that specify the deep structure of the language
- bass saxophone — a large saxophone of low range, usually supported on a stand while being played.
- be in the loop — If someone is in the loop, they are part of a group of people who make decisions about important things, or they know about these decisions. If they are out of the loop, they do not make or know about important decisions.
- be in the pink — If you are in the pink, you are fit, healthy, and happy.
- beauty pageant — A beauty pageant is the same as a beauty contest.
- benday process — a process for adding tone or shading, as in reproducing drawings, by the overlay on the plate of patterns, as of dots
- benzodiazepine — any of a group of chemical compounds that are used as minor tranquillizers, such as diazepam (Valium) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beveridge plan — the plan for comprehensive social insurance, proposed by Sir William Beveridge in Great Britain in 1941.
- beyond compare — If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great.
- beyond dispute — not open to dispute or question; settled
- bible-thumping — an evangelist or other person who quotes the Bible frequently, especially as a means of exhortation or rebuke.
- bidding prayer — the formal petitionary prayer, said especially in the Anglican Church immediately before the sermon.
- binary package — (software) An archive file that contains all files and directories that must be installed in order to make a working installation of the program(s) included in the package, and the maintainer scripts necessary for the installation. A binary package is usually specific to a certain platform, in contrast to a source package.
- bioprospecting — searching for plant or animal species for use as a source of commercially exploitable products, such as medicinal drugs
- bisphosphonate — any drug of a class that inhibits the resorption of bone; used in treating certain bone disorders, esp osteoporosis
- bite one's lip — If you bite your lip or your tongue, you stop yourself from saying something that you want to say, because it would be the wrong thing to say in the circumstances.
- black panthers — (in the US) a militant Black political party founded in 1965 to end the political dominance of White people
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- blow one's top — to lose one's temper
- bodice-ripping — A bodice-ripping film or novel is one which is set in the past and which includes a lot of sex scenes. You use this word especially if you do not think it is very good and is just intended to entertain people.
- bomb explosion — an explosion caused by the detonation of a bomb
- bone porcelain — bone china.
- bow and scrape — to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way
- bowstring hemp — a hemplike fibre obtained from the sansevieria
- breaking point — If something or someone has reached breaking point, they have so many problems or difficulties that they can no longer cope with them, and may soon collapse or be unable to continue.
- breast implant — an object such as a sachet filled with gel introduced surgically into a woman's breast to enlarge it
- briefing paper — a document providing relevant facts and information
- britney spears — beers
- brownie points — a credit toward advancement or good standing gained especially by currying favor.
- bubble company — a company whose shares are highly valued and then plummet
- bubonic plague — Bubonic plague is a serious infectious disease spread by rats. It killed many people during the Middle Ages.
- building paper — any of various types of heavy-duty paper that usually consist of bitumen reinforced with fibre sandwiched between two sheets of kraft paper: used in damp-proofing or as insulation between the soil and a road surface
- bungee jumping — If someone goes bungee jumping, they jump from a high place such as a bridge or cliff with a long piece of strong elastic cord tied around their ankle connecting them to the bridge or cliff.
- bungee-jumping — the sport of jumping off a high structure to which one is attached by bungee cords, so that the body springs back just short of hitting the ground or water.
- burn-in period — 1. (testing) A factory soak test intended to increase the chance that components that fail early due to infant mortality will fail before the system leaves the factory. 2. (jargon) When one is so intensely involved in a new project that one forgets basic needs such as food, drink and sleep. Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out. See hack mode, larval stage.
- bush carpenter — a rough-and-ready unskilled workman
- business reply — a form of mail, as a postcard, letter, or envelope, usually sent as an enclosure, and which can be mailed back by respondents without their having to pay postage.