14-letter words containing t, a, d
- bertrand meyer — The author of the Eiffel Language and many articles on object-oriented software techniques.
- beta reduction — [lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g. (\ x . x+1) 4 --> 4+1 Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion. See also name capture.
- beta-endorphin — a potent endorphin released by the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain, trauma, exercise, or other forms of stress.
- beta-oxidation — a process by which fatty acids are degraded, involving oxidation of the beta carbons and removal of successive two-carbon fragments from the fatty acid.
- beyond a doubt — to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- bidialectalism — the state of being bidialectal
- billiard table — the rectangular table used for playing billiards
- binding rafter — a timber for supporting rafters between their extremities, as a purlin.
- binding strake — a very strong, heavy strake of planking, especially one next to a sheer strake.
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- bird sanctuary — an area of land in which birds are protected and encouraged to breed
- birthday party — a party to celebrate someone's birthday
- bitmap display — (hardware) A computer output device where each pixel displayed on the monitor screen corresponds directly to one or more bits in the computer's video memory. Such a display can be updated extremely rapidly since changing a pixel involves only a single processor write to memory compared with a terminal or VDU connected via a serial line where the speed of the serial line limits the speed at which the display can be changed. Most modern personal computers and workstations have bitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of graphical user interfaces, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screen fonts. Some more expensive systems still delegate graphics operations to dedicated hardware such as graphics accelerators. The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest days of computing when the Manchester University Mark I(?) computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortly after the Second World War. This used a storage tube as its working memory. Phosphor dots were used to store single bits of data which could be read by the user and interpreted as binary numbers.
- black and tans — Usually, Black and Tans. an armed force of about 6000 soldiers sent by the British government to Ireland in June, 1920, to suppress revolutionary activity: so called from the colors of their uniform.
- black redstart — a small, Passerine bird, Phoenicurus ochruros, found in Central and S Europe
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- bleeding heart — If you describe someone as a bleeding heart, you are criticizing them for being sympathetic towards people who are poor and suffering, without doing anything practical to help.
- blind as a bat — having extremely poor eyesight
- blind staggers — the staggers
- blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
- blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
- blood and guts — dealing with or depicting war or violence, especially in a lurid manner: a blood-and-guts movie.
- blood platelet — any of the minute, disklike, colorless elements of the blood that are essential for normal clotting
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blood-and-guts — dealing with or depicting war or violence, especially in a lurid manner: a blood-and-guts movie.
- board of trade — (in the United Kingdom) a ministry within the Department of Trade: responsible for the supervision of commerce and the promotion of export trade
- boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
- boatswain bird — tropic bird.
- body beautiful — a beautiful body
- body corporate — a group of persons incorporated to carry out a specific enterprise
- body snatching — the act or practice of robbing a grave to obtain a cadaver for dissection.
- bored to death — very weary and lack stimulation
- born yesterday — brought forth by birth.
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- boundary-stone — a stone marking a boundary, sometimes giving information such as the initials of the local authority in whose jurisdiction the boundary is
- brachydactylia — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- brachydactylic — having abnormally short fingers or toes
- bradley effect — the distortion of opinion polls caused by the reluctance of respondents to admit to a preference that is regarded as socially unacceptable
- brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
- bread poultice — a poultice made from breadcrumbs
- break the mold — If you say that someone breaks the mold, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- breakfast food — any prepared cereal for breakfast
- breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
- breathe a word — to say something or anything
- british dollar — any of several coins formerly issued by the British Empire for use in certain territories, as the Straits dollar or the Hong Kong dollar.
- broad daylight — of great breadth: The river was too broad to swim across.
- broad-spectrum — effective against a wide variety of diseases or microorganisms