14-letter words containing s, e, r, i, a
- barrier island — a long island, parallel to the coastline, formed from a ridge of sand (barrier beach) thrown up by the waves, that serves the shore as a protective barrier against tidal waves, storms, etc.
- bascule bridge — a kind of drawbridge counterweighted so that it can be raised and lowered easily
- bascule-bridge — a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge (bascule bridge) by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight.
- bastard ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastard-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- battle cruiser — A battle cruiser is a large fast warship that is lighter than a battleship and moves more easily.
- bazillionaires — Plural form of bazillionaire.
- be in the wars — If someone has been in the wars, they have been injured, for example in a fight or in an accident.
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- bedside manner — A doctor's bedside manner is the way in which they talk to their patients.
- beggar's-ticks — tick trefoil
- belletristical — relating to the fine arts
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- berberidaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Berberidaceae, a mainly N temperate family of flowering plants (mostly shrubs), including barberry and barrenwort
- berkner island — an island in Antarctica, in the S Weddell Sea, between the Ronne Ice Shelf and the Filchner Ice Shelf.
- bezier surface — (graphics) A surface defined by mathematical formulae, used in computer graphics. A surface P(u, v), where u and v vary orthogonally from 0 to 1 from one edge of the surface to the other, is defined by a set of (n+1)*(m+1) "control points" (X(i, j), Y(i, j), Z(i, j)) for i = 0 to n, j = 0 to m.
- biceps brachii — See under biceps.
- bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- bioregionalism — the conviction that environmental and social policies should be determined by the bioregion rather than economics or politics
- bioregionalist — someone who believes in bioregionalism
- birds and bees — any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- bitter cassava — a species of cassava (Manihot esculenta) whose poisonous roots when processed yield tapioca starch
- black squirrel — a fox squirrel or gray squirrel in that color phase in which the fur is black.
- blade-shearing — the shearing of sheep using hand shears
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- boarding house — A boarding house is a house which people pay to stay in for a short time.
- border disease — a congenital infectious disease of sheep and goats caused by a Togavirus and characterized by abortion, infertility, and deformity of lambs
- bowling crease — a line marked at the wicket, over which a bowler must not advance fully before delivering the ball
- branchiostegal — of or relating to the operculum covering the gill slits of fish
- brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
- braunschweiger — a smoked liver sausage, named after the city of Braunschweig
- brazing solder — an alloy of copper and zinc for joining two metal surfaces by melting the alloy so that it forms a thin layer between the surfaces
- breakfast time — Breakfast time is the period of the morning when most people have their breakfast.
- breast implant — an object such as a sachet filled with gel introduced surgically into a woman's breast to enlarge it
- breast-beating — public or ostentatious expression of guilt, remorse, or sorrow
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- brewer's grain — an exhausted malt occurring as a by-product of brewing and used as a feedstuff for cattle, pigs, and sheep
- brewster chair — a chair of 17th-century New England having heavy turned uprights with vertical turned spindles filling in the back, the space beneath the arms, and the spaces between the legs.
- bridge passage — bridge1 (def 7).
- bring onstream — To bring onstream a plant, mine, oilfield, etc. is to start production there.
- britney spears — beers
- bronchiectasis — chronic dilation of the bronchi or bronchial tubes, which often become infected
- brood parasite — a young bird hatched and reared by birds of a different species as a result of brood parasitism.
- cairngormstone — (mineral, rare) A yellow or smoky brown variety of rock crystal, found especially in the mountains of w Cairngorm in Scotland.
- calamine brass — an alloy of zinc carbonate and copper, formerly used to imitate gold.