14-letter words containing t, i, e, r, n
- atomic veteran — a veteran of the armed forces who was exposed to radioactivity during the testing or use of nuclear (atomic) weapons in World War II or subsequent wars.
- attractiveness — providing pleasure or delight, especially in appearance or manner; pleasing; charming; alluring: an attractive personality.
- attrition rate — the rate at which customers or subscribers switch from one supplier to another
- auction bridge — a variety of bridge, now generally superseded by contract bridge, in which all the tricks made score towards the game
- auditory nerve — either of the eighth pair of cranial nerves, which connect the ear with the brain and carry impulses relating to sound and balance
- austrian shade — a window shade in which the fabric falls in a series of puffy festoons created by vertical rows of shirring.
- autocovariance — (statistics) The covariance of a signal with another part of the same signal.
- autoregression — (mathematics) An autoregressive process that is used to model many types of natural behaviour.
- autoregulation — the continual automatic adjustment or self-regulation of a biochemical, physiological, or ecological system to maintain a stable state.
- auxiliary note — a nonharmonic note occurring between two harmonic notes
- auxiliary tone — a melodic ornamental tone following a principal tone by a step above or below and returning to the principal tone; embellishment.
- axis-ordinates — y-axis (def 1).
- baby-battering — the physical abuse of a baby or young child
- backscattering — the scattering of rays or particles at angles to the original direction of motion of greater than 90°
- backside-front — backend-to.
- bactrian camel — a two-humped camel, Camelus bactrianus, used as a beast of burden in the cold deserts of central Asia
- badger baiting — an illegal sport in which dogs are encouraged to draw a badger out of its burrow and attack it
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bargain hunter — A bargain hunter is someone who is looking for goods that are value for money, usually because they are on sale at a lower price than normal.
- basting thread — inexpensive, loosely twisted thread that can be easily pulled out when permanent stitching is in place
- be in the wars — If someone has been in the wars, they have been injured, for example in a fight or in an accident.
- beard-stroking — deep thought
- 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.
- belo horizonte — a city in SE Brazil, the capital of Minas Gerais state. Pop: 5 304 000 (2005 est)
- 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 government — a form of government characterized by high taxation and public spending and centralization of political power
- 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.
- bioelectronics — a branch of electronics that deals with electronic devices, implants, etc. used in medicine and biological research
- 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
- 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
- blood relation — A blood relation or blood relative is someone who is related to you by birth rather than by marriage.
- blotting paper — Blotting paper is thick soft paper that you use for soaking up and drying ink on a piece of paper.
- bone turquoise — fossilized bone or tooth stained blue with iron phosphate and used as a gemstone
- borrowing rate — the interest rate at which money may be borrowed, esp an official rate set by a central bank
- boston terrier — a short stocky smooth-haired breed of terrier with a short nose, originally developed by crossing the French and English bulldogs with the English bull terrier
- botanic garden — a place in which plants are grown, studied, and exhibited
- bottle turning — the turning of the legs of chairs, tables, etc., in manufacturing to give certain sections an ornamental, bottlelike form.