16-letter words containing r, i, b
- eclipsing binary — a variable star whose changes in brightness are caused by periodic eclipses of two stars in a binary system.
- economic embargo — a legal stoppage of commerce, usually taken by one nation or group of nations to harm the economy of another nation or group, often to force a political change
- edinburgh prolog — Prolog dialect which eventually developed into the standard, as opposed to Marseille Prolog. (The difference is largely syntax.) Clocksin & Mellish describe Edinburgh Prolog. Version: C-Prolog.
- elburz mountains — a mountain range in N Iran, parallel to the SW and S shores of the Caspian Sea. Highest peak: Mount Demavend, 5671 m (18 606 ft)
- electric blanket — electrically-heated bedcover
- embarkation card — an official document that allows travellers to leave a country by boarding a ship or plane
- embourgeoisement — (chiefly UK) The taking-up of middle-class attitudes or values; bourgeoisification; the process of becoming affluent.
- embroidery frame — a frame in the form of a pair of (usually circular) rings, designed to keep the fabric taut while an embroiderer works on it
- emotional labour — work that requires good interpersonal skills
- equidistribution — An equal distribution.
- erymanthian boar — a wild boar that ravaged the district around Mount Erymanthus: captured by Hercules as his fourth labour
- erythroblastosis — A medical condition in which erythroblasts are abnormally found in the blood.
- executive member — a member of an executive committee
- experience table — an actuarial table, esp a mortality table based on past statistics
- fertility symbol — an object, esp a phallic symbol, used in fertility-cult ceremonies to symbolize regeneration
- fibonacci number — a number in the Fibonacci sequence, each of which is the sum of the previous two
- fibonacci series — a sequence of integers in which each integer (Fibonacci number) after the second is the sum of the two preceding integers; specif., the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, . . .
- filterable virus — a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.
- fire-tube boiler — any boiler for generating steam by passing hot gases and other combustible products through tubes (fire tubes) immersed in water to a chimney or uptake.
- first balkan war — Balkan War (def 1).
- first-time buyer — someone who is buying his or her first house
- fish or cut bait — any of various cold-blooded, aquatic vertebrates, having gills, commonly fins, and typically an elongated body covered with scales.
- fisherman's bend — a knot made by taking a round turn on the object to which the rope is to be fastened, passing the end of the rope around the standing part and under the round turn, and securing the end.
- flabbergastation — (colloquial) Bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted.
- flabbergastingly — Surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly.
- flibbertigibbets — Plural form of flibbertigibbet.
- flibbertigibbety — Like a flibbertigibbet; flighty; scatterbrained.
- forbid the banns — to raise an objection to a marriage announced in this way
- forced vibration — Forced vibration is a type of vibration in which a force is repeatedly applied to a mechanical system.
- fortin barometer — an adjustable cistern barometer, the most common of those employing mercury.
- four-deal bridge — a version of bridge in which four hands only are played, the players then cutting for new partners
- four-masted brig — jackass bark (def 2).
- fraises des bois — wild strawberries
- frontier orbital — the highest-energy occupied orbital or lowest-energy unoccupied orbital in a molecule. Such orbitals have a large influence on chemical properties
- full to the brim — If something, especially a container, is filled to the brim or full to the brim with something, it is filled right up to the top.
- gabriel, richard — Richard Gabriel
- galvanic battery — battery (def 1a).
- garbage disposal — A garbage disposal or a garbage disposal unit is a small machine in the kitchen sink that breaks down waste matter so that it does not block the sink.
- generalisability — Non-Oxford British standard spelling of generalizability.
- generalizability — The quality of being generalizable.
- get into trouble — be punished for wrongdoing
- gibberellic acid — a gibberellin C 18 H 21 O 4 COOH, produced as a metabolite by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi, used as a stimulator of plant growth.
- gingerbread palm — doom palm.
- gingerbread plum — a tree, Neocarya macrophylla, of western Africa, bearing a large, edible, starchy fruit.
- gingerbread tree — a W African tree, Parinari macrophyllum, with large mealy edible fruits (gingerbread plums): family Chrysobalanaceae
- globigerina ooze — a calcareous deposit occurring upon ocean beds and consisting mainly of the shells of dead foraminifers, especially globigerina.
- granville-barker — Harley, 1877–1946, English dramatist, actor, and critic.
- grin and bear it — to suffer trouble or hardship without complaint
- hairbrush cactus — a stout, spiny cactus, Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum, of Mexico, having white flowers and bristly fruits sometimes used locally as combs.
- hanging wardrobe — a wardrobe containing a rail with a large amount of space underneath, so that clothes can be hung on hangers placed onto the rail