14-letter words containing r, i, b
- birthing chair — a chair constructed to allow a woman in labour to give birth in a sitting position
- birthing stool — a stool constructed to allow a woman in labour to give birth in a sitting position
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- biscuit-firing — the first firing given to pottery, before it is glazed
- bishop's mitre — a European heteropterous bug, Aelia acuminata, whose larvae are a pest of cereal grasses: family Pentatomidae
- bit error rate — A bit error rate is the measure of the number of incorrect bits that can be expected in a specified number of bits in a serial stream.
- bits per pixel — (hardware, graphics) (bpp) The number of bits of information stored per pixel of an image or displayed by a graphics adapter. The more bits there are, the more colours can be represented, but the more memory is required to store or display the image. A colour can be described by the intensities of red, green and blue (RGB) components. Allowing 8 bits (1 byte) per component (24 bits per pixel) gives 256 levels for each component and over 16 million different colours - more than the human eye can distinguish. Microsoft Windows [and others?] calls this truecolour. An image of 1024x768 with 24 bpp requires over 2 MB of memory. "High colour" uses 16 bpp (or 15 bpp), 5 bits for blue, 5 bits for red and 6 bits for green. This reduced colour precision gives a slight loss of image quality at a 1/3 saving on memory. Standard VGA uses a palette of 16 colours (4 bpp), each colour in the palette is 24 bit. Standard SVGA uses a palette of 256 colours (8 bpp). Some graphics hardware and software support 32-bit colour depths, including an 8-bit "alpha channel" for transparency effects.
- bitter cassava — a species of cassava (Manihot esculenta) whose poisonous roots when processed yield tapioca starch
- black blizzard — a dust storm.
- black squirrel — a fox squirrel or gray squirrel in that color phase in which the fur is black.
- blacktip shark — a widely distributed sand shark, Charcharinus limbatus, having fins that appear to have been dipped in ink, inhabiting shallow waters of warm seas.
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- blantyre-limbe — a city in S Malawi: largest city in the country; formed in 1956 from the adjoining towns of Blantyre and Limbe. Pop: 647 000 (2005 est)
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- 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
- blister beetle — any beetle of the family Meloidae, many of which produce a secretion that blisters the skin
- blister copper — an impure form of copper having a blister-like surface due to the release of gas during cooling
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- block printing — printing from hand engraved or carved blocks of wood or linoleum
- blood disorder — a medical condition affecting the blood
- blood grouping — the ascertainment of a person's blood group
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blood-curdling — A blood-curdling sound or story is very frightening and horrible.
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- blurred vision — a condition which makes it impossible to see clearly
- board chairman — the chairman of the board of a company, etc
- boarding house — A boarding house is a house which people pay to stay in for a short time.
- boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
- boatswain bird — tropic bird.
- bobbin turning — turning of furniture legs, stretchers, etc., to resemble a continuous row of bobbins.
- 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.
- body of christ — the Christian Church
- bone porcelain — bone china.
- bone turquoise — fossilized bone or tooth stained blue with iron phosphate and used as a gemstone
- bony labyrinth — an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit. Synonyms: maze, network, web.
- border disease — a congenital infectious disease of sheep and goats caused by a Togavirus and characterized by abortion, infertility, and deformity of lambs
- border dispute — a disagreement between countries about where the border between them should be drawn
- border terrier — a small rough-coated breed of terrier that originated in the Borders
- 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
- boring machine — a machine that bores holes, tunnels, etc
- borrowing rate — the interest rate at which money may be borrowed, esp an official rate set by a central bank
- boston terrier — a short stocky smooth-haired breed of terrier with a short nose, originally developed by crossing the French and English bulldogs with the English bull terrier
- bosworth field — the site, two miles south of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, of the battle that ended the Wars of the Roses (August 1485). Richard III was killed and Henry Tudor was crowned king as Henry VII
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- bottle turning — the turning of the legs of chairs, tables, etc., in manufacturing to give certain sections an ornamental, bottlelike form.
- bound moisture — Bound moisture is liquid in a solid, which exerts a vapor pressure that is less than the pure liquid would do at the same temperature.