14-letter words containing e
- back to nature — If you want to get back to nature, you want to return to a simpler way of living.
- back-clearance — Machinery. the gradual termination of a groove on the body of an object not ending there, as the upper termination of a flute in a twist drill. Also called back clearance. a space in a depressed area of an object into which a machine tool or grinding wheel may safely enter at the end of a pass or operation.
- back-pedalling — a retreat from or a retraction of a previously held view
- backbone cabal — (networking) A group of large-site administrators who pushed through the Great Renaming and reined in the chaos of Usenet during most of the 1980s. The cabal mailing list disbanded in late 1988 after a bitter internal cat-fight.
- backbreakingly — In a backbreaking manner.
- backflap hinge — Building Trades. flap (def 20a).
- backflow valve — a valve for preventing flowing liquid, as sewage, from reversing its direction.
- backhandedness — The quality of being backhanded; the use of indirect tactics.
- backing singer — a singer providing a vocal accompaniment for a pop singer or pop number
- backscattering — the scattering of rays or particles at angles to the original direction of motion of greater than 90°
- backside cache — (hardware, processor) An implementation of secondary cache memory that allows it to be directly accessed by the CPU. Backside cache is used by Apple Computers, Inc. in their PowerPC G3 processor. Previous PowerPC processors used the system bus to access both secondary cache and main memory. In the PowerPC G3 a dedicated bus handles only CPU/cache transactions. This bus can operate faster than the system bus thus improving the overall performance of the processor. The term apparently derives from the relocation of the secondary cache from the motherboard to the processor card itself, i.e. on the backside of the processor card.
- backside-front — backend-to.
- backstage pass — a document or badge that entitles the bearer to go backstage at an event, esp a pop concert
- bacteriologist — a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
- bacteriophages — Plural form of bacteriophage.
- bacteriostasis — inhibition of the growth and reproduction of bacteria, esp by the action of a chemical agent
- bacteriostatic — the prevention of the further growth of bacteria.
- 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
- bahr el ghazal — a river in SW Sudan, flowing E to contribute to headwaters of the White Nile. About 500 miles (805 km) long.
- balance bridge — a bascule bridge
- balance spring — hairspring.
- balance weight — a weight used in machines to counterbalance a part, as of a crankshaft
- balanced valve — a valve designed so that pressure-induced forces from the fluid being controlled oppose one another so that resistance to opening and closing the valve is negligible.
- ball cartridge — a cartridge containing a primer and a ball and a full charge of powder
- ball of muscle — a very strong, fit, or forceful person
- ballast pocket — a depression that is formed beneath the ballast layer by penetration of ballast particles into the subgrade and that tends to collect moisture.
- ballet slipper — a heelless cloth or leather slipper worn by ballet dancers.
- ballon d'essai — a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it
- balloon sleeve — a sleeve fitting tightly from wrist to elbow and becoming fully rounded from elbow to shoulder
- ballroom dance — a social dance, popular since the beginning of the 20th century, in conventional rhythms, such as the foxtrot and the quickstep
- balm of gilead — any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora, esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin
- balm-of-gilead — any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.
- balsam of peru — an aromatic balsam that is obtained from the tropical South American leguminous tree Myroxylon pereirae and is similar to balsam of Tolu
- balsaminaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Balsaminaceae, a family of flowering plants, including balsam and touch-me-not, that have irregular flowers and explosive capsules
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- bamboo network — a network of close-knit Chinese entrepreneurs with large corporate empires in southeast Asia
- ban-the-bomber — a person who vigorously advocates banning the development or use of nuclear weapons.
- banach algebra — (mathematics) An algebra in which the vector space is a Banach space.
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bang's disease — a type of infectious brucellosis affecting cattle, caused by a bacterium (Brucella abortus) and often resulting in abortion
- bank annuities — British government bonds; consols
- bank statement — A bank statement is a printed document showing all the money paid into and taken out of a bank account. Bank statements are usually sent by a bank to a customer at regular intervals.
- banker's check — cashier's check.
- banker's draft — A banker's draft is the same as a bank draft.
- banker's order — pay order, banker's cheque
- baptismal name — Christian name (def 1).
- barbados earth — a diatomaceous marl found in Barbados
- barbados pride — Also called bead tree. a tropical African and Asian tree, Adenanthera pavonina, of the legume family, having feathery foliage and bearing red seeds that are used in beadwork.