15-letter words containing s, t, e, d
- bag on the side — An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or bloated. Also "to hang a bag on the side [of]". "C++? That's just a bag on the side of C." "They want me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system."
- bandpass filter — A bandpass filter is a filter designed to pass all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- bandstop filter — A bandstop filter is a filter designed to eliminate all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- barn-door skate — an Atlantic skate, Raja laevis, that grows to a length of 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- basic education — (in India) education in which all teaching is correlated with the learning of a craft
- basidiomycetous — belonging or pertaining to the basidiomycetes.
- be of two minds — to be undecided or irresolute
- be on the skids — to be on the decline or downgrade; meet with failure
- beast of burden — A beast of burden is an animal such as an ox or a donkey that is used for carrying or pulling things.
- beat the bounds — (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
- bedford heights — a town in N Ohio.
- bedsheet ballot — a very long, involved paper ballot
- belt-and-braces — providing double security, in case one security measure should fail
- belted sandfish — a sea bass, Serranus subligarius, inhabiting warm, shallow waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.
- beside the mark — not striking the point aimed at
- beyond question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
- bide one's time — to wait patiently for an opportunity
- billings method — a natural method of birth control that involves examining the colour and viscosity of the cervical mucus to discover when ovulation is occurring
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- bit on the side — an extramarital affair
- bits and pieces — You can use bits and pieces or bits and bobs to refer to a collection of different things.
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- blasting powder — a form of gunpowder made with sodium nitrate instead of saltpeter, used chiefly for blasting rock, ore, etc.
- blessed trinity — Trinity (def 1).
- bloodguiltiness — guilty of murder or bloodshed.
- bloody butchers — a hardy plant, Trillium sessile, common from New York to Georgia and westward, having stalkless, purple or green flowers.
- blossom-end rot — a disease of tomato and pepper caused by a deficiency of calcium, characterized by decay at the blossom end of the fruit.
- blue wood aster — a composite plant, Aster cordifolius, of North America, having heart-shaped leaves and pale-blue flowers.
- boiled potatoes — potatoes, usually peeled, cooked in boiling water
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- brand extension — the practice of using a well-known brand name to promote new products or services in unrelated fields
- brights-disease — a disease characterized by albuminuria and heightened blood pressure.
- bronze diabetes — hemochromatosis.
- brownfield site — a disused site envisaged for redevelopment
- building trades — the trades and professions concerned with the creation and finishing of buildings, such as carpenters, plasterers, masons, electricians, etc.
- buried treasure — A surprising piece of code found in some program. While usually not wrong, it tends to vary from crufty to bletcherous, and has lain undiscovered only because it was functionally correct, however horrible it is. Used sarcastically, because what is found is anything *but* treasure. Buried treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed. "I just found that the scheduler sorts its queue using bubble sort! Buried treasure!"
- bury st edmunds — a market town in E England, in Suffolk. Pop: 36 218 (2001)
- butter spreader — a small knife with a wide, flat blade, as for spreading butter on bread or rolls.
- butter-and-eggs — any of various plants, such as toadflax, the flowers of which are of two shades of yellow
- buttress thread — a screw thread having one flank that is vertical while the other is inclined, and a flat top and bottom: used in machine tools and designed to withstand heavy thrust in one direction
- cadmium sulfate — a water-soluble compound, CdSO 4 , of colorless crystals, used as an antiseptic.
- calculated risk — a chance of failure, the probability of which is estimated before some action is undertaken.
- cardinal system — a system of coding navigational aids by shape, color, and number, according to their positions relative to navigational hazards.
- cartesian diver — a glass vessel partially filled with water and covered with an airtight membrane, containing a hollow object that is open at the bottom and contains just enough air to allow it to float. Pressing on the membrane compresses the air in the vessel and forces water into the object, causing it to sink; releasing the membrane causes it to rise.
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- cartridge brass — brass composed of about 70 percent copper and 30 percent zinc.
- casement-window — a window sash opening on hinges that are generally attached to the upright side of its frame.
- castel gandolfo — a village in central Italy, 15 miles (24 km) SE of Rome: papal palace serving as the summer residence of the pope.
- castellated nut — a nut that has indentations similar to battlements