14-letter words containing t, i, e, b, r
- barium-hydrate — Also called calcined baryta, barium oxide, barium monoxide, barium protoxide. a white or yellowish-white poisonous solid, BaO, highly reactive with water: used chiefly as a dehydrating agent and in the manufacture of glass.
- barometrically — By means of a barometer.
- barrel shifter — (hardware) A hardware device that can shift or rotate a data word by any number of bits in a single operation. It is implemented like a multiplexor, each output can be connected to any input depending on the shift distance.
- barrier method — Barrier methods of contraception involve the use of condoms, diaphragms, or other devices that physically prevent the sperm from reaching the egg.
- bartered bride — a comic opera (1866) by Bedřich Smetana.
- bastard ridley — ridley (def 1).
- bastard-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- battle cruiser — A battle cruiser is a large fast warship that is lighter than a battleship and moves more easily.
- be cursed with — to be afflicted with; suffer from
- be in the wars — If someone has been in the wars, they have been injured, for example in a fight or in an accident.
- be struck with — to be attracted to or impressed by
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- beggar's-ticks — tick trefoil
- begging letter — A begging letter is a letter from a person or organization in which they ask you to send some money for a particular purpose.
- belletristical — relating to the fine arts
- belo horizonte — a city in SE Brazil, the capital of Minas Gerais state. Pop: 5 304 000 (2005 est)
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- beta geminorum — Pollux
- 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.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- big brotherism — paternalistic authoritarianism that seeks to supply the needs and regulate the conduct of people.
- big government — a form of government characterized by high taxation and public spending and centralization of political power
- 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
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- 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.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- biocybernetics — the branch of cybernetics that deals with the control and communication systems of living organisms
- biodegradation — to decay and become absorbed by the environment: toys that will biodegrade when they're discarded.
- bioelectricity — electricity generated by a living organism
- bioelectronics — a branch of electronics that deals with electronic devices, implants, etc. used in medicine and biological research
- biometeorology — the study of the effect of weather conditions on living organisms
- biometric risk — Biometric risk covers all risks related to human life conditions, such as death, birth, disability, age, and number of children.
- bioprospecting — searching for plant or animal species for use as a source of commercially exploitable products, such as medicinal drugs
- bioregionalist — someone who believes in bioregionalism
- bioremediation — the use of plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils and water
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- bishop's mitre — a European heteropterous bug, Aelia acuminata, whose larvae are a pest of cereal grasses: family Pentatomidae
- bit error rate — A bit error rate is the measure of the number of incorrect bits that can be expected in a specified number of bits in a serial stream.
- bits per pixel — (hardware, graphics) (bpp) The number of bits of information stored per pixel of an image or displayed by a graphics adapter. The more bits there are, the more colours can be represented, but the more memory is required to store or display the image. A colour can be described by the intensities of red, green and blue (RGB) components. Allowing 8 bits (1 byte) per component (24 bits per pixel) gives 256 levels for each component and over 16 million different colours - more than the human eye can distinguish. Microsoft Windows [and others?] calls this truecolour. An image of 1024x768 with 24 bpp requires over 2 MB of memory. "High colour" uses 16 bpp (or 15 bpp), 5 bits for blue, 5 bits for red and 6 bits for green. This reduced colour precision gives a slight loss of image quality at a 1/3 saving on memory. Standard VGA uses a palette of 16 colours (4 bpp), each colour in the palette is 24 bit. Standard SVGA uses a palette of 256 colours (8 bpp). Some graphics hardware and software support 32-bit colour depths, including an 8-bit "alpha channel" for transparency effects.
- bitter cassava — a species of cassava (Manihot esculenta) whose poisonous roots when processed yield tapioca starch
- bladder ketmia — plant with pale yellow flowers
- bladder ketmie — flower-of-an-hour
- blantyre-limbe — a city in S Malawi: largest city in the country; formed in 1956 from the adjoining towns of Blantyre and Limbe. Pop: 647 000 (2005 est)
- 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 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