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14-letter words containing t, d, i

  • bead lightning — lightning in which the intensity appears to vary along the path and which thus resembles a string of beads.
  • beard-stroking — deep thought
  • bending moment — the algebraic sum of all the moments to one side of a cross-section of a beam or other structural support
  • 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 dispute — not open to dispute or question; settled
  • bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 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
  • blind stamping — an impression on a book cover without using colour or gold leaf
  • blister-packed — presented in a blister pack
  • blood boosting — a procedure in which an athlete is injected with erythropoietin, his or her own blood, or the blood of a family member prior to competition, purportedly increasing the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity as a result of the addition of red blood cells.
  • blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
  • boarding party — group of officers or sailors who board a ship
  • boatswain bird — tropic bird.
  • body beautiful — a beautiful body
  • body of christ — the Christian Church
  • body snatching — the act or practice of robbing a grave to obtain a cadaver for dissection.
  • border dispute — a disagreement between countries about where the border between them should be drawn
  • border terrier — a small rough-coated breed of terrier that originated in the Borders
  • bosworth field — the site, two miles south of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire, of the battle that ended the Wars of the Roses (August 1485). Richard III was killed and Henry Tudor was crowned king as Henry VII
  • botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
  • bottom-feeding — the activities of a bottom feeder.
  • bound moisture — Bound moisture is liquid in a solid, which exerts a vapor pressure that is less than the pure liquid would do at the same temperature.
  • brachydactylia — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
  • brachydactylic — having abnormally short fingers or toes
  • brandy snifter — snifter (def 1).
  • bread poultice — a poultice made from breadcrumbs
  • breast-feeding — to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.
  • breeding stock — animals specifically kept to breed from
  • bridge circuit — any of several networks, such as a Wheatstone bridge, consisting of two branches across which a measuring device is connected. The resistance, capacitance, etc, of one component can be determined from the known values of the others when the voltage in each branch is balanced
  • bridge fluting — (on the stem of a drinking glass) flutes or facets continuing onto the underside of the bowl.
  • 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.
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