12-letter words containing s, i
- bishop's-cap — any of a genus (Mitella) of small woodland plants of the saxifrage family, with two-lobed seedcases shaped like a bishop's hat
- bismarck sea — an arm of the Pacific Ocean north of New Britain and north-east of New Guinea
- bismuthinite — a grey mineral consisting of bismuth sulphide in orthorhombic crystalline form. It occurs in veins associated with tin, copper, silver, lead, etc, and is a source of bismuth. Formula: Bi2S3
- bit of skirt — a girl or woman
- 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.
- bitter aloes — a bitter purgative drug made from the leaves of several species of aloe
- bitter cress — any plant belonging to the genus Cardamine, of the mustard family, having usually pinnate leaves and clusters of white, pink, or purple flowers.
- bitter lakes — two lakes, the Great Bitter Lake and Little Bitter Lake in NE Egypt: part of the Suez Canal
- biuniqueness — the quality of a one-to-one correspondence
- black muslim — a member of the Black Muslims
- blandishment — the act of blandishing; cajolery
- blastocoelic — of or relating to the blastocoel
- blastulation — the process of blastula formation
- blatherskite — a talkative silly person
- blazing star — a North American liliaceous plant, Chamaelirium luteum, with a long spike of small white flowers
- blimpishness — actions or behaviour akin to those of the fictional character of Colonel Blimp, or the quality of resembling this character
- blind casing — (in a box window frame) a rough framework to which the trim is secured.
- blind stitch — a type of stitch that is visible on one side of the material only
- blind summit — a point on a road where a vehicle approaching the top of a hill or incline cannot see vehicles approaching up the other side of the hill
- blind-emboss — blind-stamp.
- bliss carman — (William) Bliss, 1861–1929, Canadian poet and journalist in the U.S.
- blissfulness — full of, abounding in, enjoying, or conferring bliss.
- blister pack — a type of packet in which small items are displayed and sold, consisting of a transparent dome of plastic or similar material mounted on a firm backing such as cardboard
- blister rust — a disease of certain pines caused by rust fungi of the genus Cronartium, causing swellings on the bark from which orange masses of spores are released
- blisteringly — causing a blister or blisters.
- block island — an island off the coast of and a part of Rhode Island, at the E entrance to Long Island Sound.
- 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.
- blood sister — a sister by birth
- blood spavin — a disease of the hock joint of horses in which enlargement occurs because of collected fluids (bog spavin) bony growth (bone spavin) or distention of the veins (blood spavin)
- bloodstained — Someone or something that is bloodstained is covered with blood.
- bloodsucking — any animal that sucks blood, especially a leech.
- bloodthirsty — Bloodthirsty people are eager to use violence or display a strong interest in violent things. You can also use bloodthirsty to refer to very violent situations.
- bloody shirt — something, as a political issue or historical event, that can be used to stir up outrage, partisan support, etc.
- blossom into — the flower of a plant, especially of one producing an edible fruit.
- blue catfish — a large freshwater catfish, Ictalurus furcatus, that is a popular food fish in the states of the Mississippi River valley.
- blue devil's — a blue capsule or tablet containing the barbiturate amobarbital or its derivative.
- blue jasmine — a southern U.S. shrubby vine, Clematis crispa, of the buttercup family, having solitary, bell-shaped, blue or bluish-purple to pink flowers and bearing fruit with silky appendages.
- blue springs — a town in W Missouri.
- blue stilton — a rich cheese made from whole milk, blue-veined and very strong in flavour
- blue swimmer — an edible bluish Australian swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus
- blue thistle — blueweed (def 1).
- blue-singlet — working-class
- blue-thistle — Also called blue thistle. a bristly weed, Echium vulgare, of the borage family, having showy blue flowers, a native of Europe naturalized in the U.S.
- blues guitar — blues guitar music
- 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