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14-letter words containing s, i, b, e

  • between whiles — now and then; at intervals
  • bewilderedness — the state of being bewildered
  • beyond dispute — not open to dispute or question; settled
  • 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.
  • biceps femoris — See under biceps.
  • bicuspid valve — mitral valve
  • bide sb's time — If you bide your time, you wait for a good opportunity before doing something.
  • bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
  • big brotherism — paternalistic authoritarianism that seeks to supply the needs and regulate the conduct of people.
  • big house, the — a penitentiary
  • big red switch — (jargon)   (BRS) IBM jargon for the power switch on a computer, especially the "Emergency Pull" switch on an IBM mainframe or the power switch on an IBM PC where it really is large and red. "This [email protected]%$% bitty box is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch." It is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actually fired a non-conducting bolt into the main power feed; the BRSes on more recent mainframes physically drop a block into place so that they can't be pushed back in. People get fired for pulling them, especially inappropriately (see also molly-guard). Compare power cycle, three-finger salute, 120 reset; see also scram switch.
  • bildungsromane — a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
  • billy no-mates — a person with no friends
  • 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
  • biocybernetics — the branch of cybernetics that deals with the control and communication systems of living organisms
  • bioelectronics — a branch of electronics that deals with electronic devices, implants, etc. used in medicine and biological research
  • bioluminescent — the production of light by living organisms.
  • biomathematics — the study of the application of mathematics to biology
  • biometric risk — Biometric risk covers all risks related to human life conditions, such as death, birth, disability, age, and number of children.
  • bioprospecting — searching for plant or animal species for use as a source of commercially exploitable products, such as medicinal drugs
  • 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
  • biosystematics — the study of the variation and evolution of a population of organisms in relation to their taxonomic classification
  • biosystematist — someone who studies or works professionally in the field of biosystematics
  • bircher muesli — a type of muesli containing softened oats, dried fruit, and apple
  • 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
  • bishop's mitre — a European heteropterous bug, Aelia acuminata, whose larvae are a pest of cereal grasses: family Pentatomidae
  • bishops' bible — an English translation of the Bible made under the direction of Matthew Parker and published in 1568: the recognized translation of the Bible in England until the Authorized (King James) Version of 1611.
  • 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.
  • 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 selenium — an allotropic form of selenium occurring as a black, amorphous, water-insoluble, light-sensitive powder: used chiefly in photoelectric cells.
  • 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
  • blanket finish — a finish so close that a blanket would cover all the contestants involved
  • blanket stitch — a strong reinforcing stitch for the edges of blankets and other thick material
  • blanket-stitch — a basic sewing stitch in which widely spaced, interlocking loops, or purls, are formed, used for cutwork, as a decorative finish for edges, etc.
  • 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
  • bloc québécois — (in Canada) a political party that advocates autonomy for Quebec
  • blood disorder — a medical condition affecting the blood
  • blow one's lid — a removable or hinged cover for closing the opening, usually at the top, of a pot, jar, trunk, etc.; a movable cover.
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