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12-letter words containing s, i, n, g

  • beta testing — (programming)   Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software (or possibly hardware) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution. Beta testign aims to discover bugs that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes. Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and usability. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers. Some companies such as Google or Degree Jungle stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users. The term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. "Alpha test" was the unit test, module test or component test phase; "Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design.
  • betting news — the news of the latest odds on winners of matches, races and competitions
  • betting shop — A betting shop is a place where people can go to bet on something such as a horse race.
  • betting slip — a piece of paper used to place a bet
  • bevel siding — siding composed of tapered pieces, as clapboards, laid with the thicker lower edge of any piece overlapping the thinner upper edge of the piece below it.
  • bias binding — a strip of material cut on the bias for extra stretch and often doubled, used for binding hems, interfacings, etc, or for decoration
  • big business — Big business is business which involves very large companies and very large sums of money.
  • big-sounding — meant to be impressive in scale
  • bilingualism — Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages equally well.
  • billingsgate — the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices
  • binding post — one of several metal pegs or rods, fitted into a loose-leaf binder, for holding sheets with prepunched holes.
  • bio-organism — a dangerous fast-proliferating organism that could be used as the basis of a biological weapon
  • biomagnetics — the study of magnetic fields as a form of therapy
  • biomagnetism — animal magnetism.
  • bird nesting — the activity of searching for birds' nests as a hobby
  • biscay green — a yellowish green.
  • bit stuffing — (protocol)   A protocol which guarantees the receiver of synchronous data can recover the sender's clock. When the data stream sent contains a large number of adjacent bits which cause no transition of the signal, the receiver cannot adjust its clock to maintain proper synchronised reception. To eliminate the possibility of such a pathological case, when a preset number of transitionless bits have been transmitted, a bit which does cause a transition is "stuffed" (transmitted) by the sender. The receiver follows the same protocol and removes the stuffed bit after the specified number of transitionless bits, but can use the stuffed bit to recover the sender's clock. The advantage of bit stuffing is that only a bit (not a byte) is inserted in the data stream, and that only when the content of the data stream fails to provide a timing signal to the receiver. Thus very nearly 100% of the bits transported are useful data. In contrast, asynchronous transmission of data "throws away" a start bit and one or more stop bits for each data byte sent.
  • biting louse — any wingless insect of the order Mallophaga, such as the chicken louse: external parasites of birds and mammals with biting mouthparts
  • biting stage — the second part of the oral phase of psychosexual development, approximately 8 to18 months of age, during which a child has the urge to bite or chew objects.
  • blazing star — a North American liliaceous plant, Chamaelirium luteum, with a long spike of small white flowers
  • blind casing — (in a box window frame) a rough framework to which the trim is secured.
  • blisteringly — causing a blister or blisters.
  • block signal — a fixed railroad signal governing the movements of trains entering and using a given section of track.
  • blockbusting — A blockbusting film or book is one that is very successful, usually because it is very exciting.
  • bloodsucking — any animal that sucks blood, especially a leech.
  • blue springs — a town in W Missouri.
  • blue-singlet — working-class
  • bluesnarfing — the practice of using one Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to steal contact details, ring tones, images, etc from another
  • bluestocking — A bluestocking is an intellectual woman.
  • boardsailing — windsurfing
  • body english — a follow-through motion of the body, as after bowling a ball, in a semi-involuntary or joking effort to control the ball's movement
  • bognor regis — a resort in S England, in West Sussex on the English Channel: electronics industries. Regis was added to the name after King George V's convalescence there in 1929. Pop: 62 141 (2001)
  • bond washing — a series of deals in bonds made with the intention of avoiding taxation
  • book signing — a prearranged and publicized event at which an author signs copies of their latest book, often with individual dedications to purchasers
  • bookcrossing — the practice of deliberately leaving books in places where they will be found and read by other people
  • brainwashing — the process of brainwashing.
  • braunschweig — Brunswick
  • broadcasting — Broadcasting is the making and sending out of television and radio programmes.
  • brown-nosing — If you accuse someone of brown-nosing, you are saying in a rather offensive way that they are agreeing with someone important in order to get their support.
  • burning bush — a rutaceous shrub, Dictamnus fraxinella, of S Europe and Asia, whose glands release a volatile inflammable oil that can burn without harming the plant: identified as the bush from which God spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:2–4)
  • bush singlet — a black woollen singlet often worn by farm labourers
  • bushfighting — fighting in the bush
  • bushwhacking — to make one's way through woods by cutting at undergrowth, branches, etc.
  • buying spree — the hurried acquisition by a company, of goods, assets, or other companies
  • cablecasting — relating to broadcasting by cable
  • caenogenesis — the development of structures and organs in an embryo or larva that are adaptations to its way of life and are not retained in the adult form
  • caliginosity — darkness
  • camp springs — a city in central Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
  • camping site — A camping site is the same as a campsite.
  • campshedding — to line (the bank of a river) with campshot.
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