| bristlegrass | (noun) grasses of grasslands and woodlands having large gracefully arching spikes with long bristles beneath each spikelet | Synonyms: bristle grass |
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| bristlelike | (adjective) resembling a bristle | - |
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| bristletail | (noun) small wingless insect with a long bristlelike tail | - |
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| brittle | (adjective) having little elasticity; hence easily cracked or fractured or snapped | Synonyms: brickle, brickly |
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| (adjective) lacking warmth and generosity of spirit | - |
| (adjective) (of metal or glass) not annealed and consequently easily cracked or fractured | Synonyms: unannealed |
| (noun) caramelized sugar cooled in thin sheets | Synonyms: toffee, toffy |
| brittlebush | (noun) fragrant rounded shrub of southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico having brittle stems and small crowded blue-green leaves and yellow flowers; produces a resin used in incense and varnish and in folk medicine | Synonyms: brittle bush, Encelia farinosa, incienso |
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| brittleness | (noun) firm but easily broken | Synonyms: crispiness, crispness |
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| broadleaf | (adjective) having relatively broad rather than needlelike or scalelike leaves | Synonyms: broad-leafed, broad-leaved |
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| broiled | (adjective) cooked by radiant heat (as over a grill) | Synonyms: grilled |
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| broiler | (noun) an oven or part of a stove used for broiling | - |
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| (noun) flesh of a small young chicken not over 2 1/2 lb suitable for broiling | - |
| bronchiole | (noun) any of the smallest bronchial ducts; ending in alveoli | - |
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| brooklet | (noun) a small brook | - |
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| bubble | (noun) a dome-shaped covering made of transparent glass or plastic | - |
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| (noun) an impracticable and illusory idea | - |
| (noun) a speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control | Synonyms: house of cards |
| (noun) a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide) | - |
| (verb) expel gas from the stomach | Synonyms: belch, burp, eruct |
| (verb) form, produce, or emit bubbles | - |
| (verb) cause to form bubbles | - |
| (verb) rise in bubbles or as if in bubbles | - |
| (verb) flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise | Synonyms: babble, burble, guggle, gurgle, ripple |
| bubblejet | (noun) a kind of ink-jet printer | Synonyms: bubble-jet printer, bubble jet printer |
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| bubbler | (noun) a public fountain to provide a jet of drinking water | Synonyms: drinking fountain, water fountain |
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| (noun) any of various devices in which air or some other gas is bubbled through a liquid | - |
| buckle | (noun) fastener that fastens together two ends of a belt or strap; often has loose prong | - |
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| (noun) a shape distorted by twisting or folding | Synonyms: warp |
| (verb) bend out of shape, as under pressure or from heat | Synonyms: heave, warp |
| (verb) fasten with a buckle or buckles | Synonyms: clasp |
| (verb) fold or collapse | Synonyms: crumple |
| buckler | (noun) armor carried on the arm to intercept blows | Synonyms: shield |
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| buckleya | (noun) parasitic shrub of the eastern United States having opposite leaves and insignificant greenish flowers followed by oily dull green olivelike fruits | Synonyms: Buckleya distichophylla |
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| buckminsterfullerene | (noun) a spheroidal fullerene; the first known example of a fullerene | Synonyms: buckyball |
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| buddleia | (noun) tropical shrub having clusters of white or violet or yellow flowers | Synonyms: butterfly bush |
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| bufflehead | (noun) small North American diving duck; males have bushy head plumage | Synonyms: Bucephela albeola, butterball, dipper |
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| bugle | (noun) a brass instrument without valves; used for military calls and fanfares | - |
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| (noun) a tubular glass or plastic bead sewn onto clothing for decoration | - |
| (noun) any of various low-growing annual or perennial evergreen herbs native to Eurasia; used for ground cover | Synonyms: bugleweed |
| (verb) play on a bugle | - |
| bugler | (noun) someone who plays a bugle | - |
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| bugleweed | (noun) any of various low-growing annual or perennial evergreen herbs native to Eurasia; used for ground cover | Synonyms: bugle |
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| (noun) a mildly narcotic and astringent aromatic herb having small whitish flowers; eastern United States | Synonyms: Lycopus virginicus |
| bulblet | (noun) small bulb or bulb-shaped growth arising from the leaf axil or in the place of flowers | Synonyms: bulbil |
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| bullet | (noun) (baseball) a pitch thrown with maximum velocity | Synonyms: fastball, heater, hummer, smoke |
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| (noun) a projectile that is fired from a gun | Synonyms: slug |
| (noun) a high-speed passenger train | Synonyms: bullet train |
| bullethead | (noun) a head shaped like a bullet | - |
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| bulletin | (noun) a brief report (especially an official statement issued for immediate publication or broadcast) | - |
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| (verb) make public by bulletin | - |
| bulletproof | (adjective) not penetrable by bullets | - |
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| (adjective) without flaws or loopholes | Synonyms: ironclad, unassailable, unshakable, watertight |
| (verb) make bulletproof | - |
| bumble | (verb) speak haltingly | Synonyms: falter, stammer, stutter |
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| (verb) walk unsteadily, tripping repeatedly | Synonyms: falter, stumble |
| (verb) make a mess of, destroy or ruin | Synonyms: ball up, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, botch, botch up, bungle, flub, fluff, foul up, fuck up, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, screw up, spoil |
| bumblebee | (noun) robust hairy social bee of temperate regions | Synonyms: humblebee |
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| bumbler | (noun) someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence | Synonyms: blunderer, botcher, bungler, butcher, fuckup, fumbler, sad sack, stumbler |
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| bundle | (noun) a package of several things tied together for carrying or storing | Synonyms: sheaf |
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| (noun) a collection of things wrapped or boxed together | Synonyms: package, packet, parcel |
| (noun) a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit) | Synonyms: big bucks, big money, megabucks, pile |
| (verb) sleep fully clothed in the same bed with one's betrothed | Synonyms: practice bundling |
| (verb) make into a bundle | Synonyms: bundle up, roll up |
| (verb) compress into a wad | Synonyms: compact, pack, wad |
| (verb) gather or cause to gather into a cluster | Synonyms: bunch, clump, cluster |
| bunghole | (noun) a hole in a barrel or cask; used to fill or empty it | - |
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| (noun) vulgar slang for anus | Synonyms: arse, arsehole, asshole |
| bungle | (noun) an embarrassing mistake | Synonyms: bloomer, blooper, blunder, boner, boo-boo, botch, flub, foul-up, fuckup, pratfall |
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| (verb) spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly | - |
| (verb) make a mess of, destroy or ruin | Synonyms: ball up, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, botch, botch up, bumble, flub, fluff, foul up, fuck up, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, screw up, spoil |
| bungled | (adjective) spoiled through incompetence or clumsiness | Synonyms: botched |
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| bungler | (noun) someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence | Synonyms: blunderer, botcher, bumbler, butcher, fuckup, fumbler, sad sack, stumbler |
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| bunglesome | (adjective) difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape | Synonyms: awkward, clumsy, ungainly |
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| burble | (verb) flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise | Synonyms: babble, bubble, guggle, gurgle, ripple |
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| burdenless | (adjective) not encumbered with a physical burden or load | Synonyms: unburdened |
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| burgle | (verb) commit a burglary; enter and rob a dwelling | Synonyms: burglarise, burglarize, heist |
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| burled | (adjective) (of wood) have a pattern from the grain of a tree burl | - |
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| burlesque | (adjective) relating to or characteristic of a burlesque | - |
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| (noun) a theatrical entertainment of broad and earthy humor; consists of comic skits and short turns (and sometimes striptease) | - |
| (noun) a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way | Synonyms: lampoon, mockery, parody, pasquinade, put-on, send-up, sendup, spoof, takeoff, travesty |
| (verb) make a parody of | Synonyms: parody, spoof |
| burnable | (adjective) capable of burning | Synonyms: ignitable, ignitible |
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| businesspeople | (noun) people who transact business (especially business executives) | Synonyms: business people |
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| bustle | (noun) a rapid active commotion | Synonyms: ado, flurry, fuss, hustle, stir |
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| (noun) a framework worn at the back below the waist for giving fullness to a woman's skirt | - |
| (verb) move or cause to move energetically or busily | Synonyms: bustle about, hustle |
| butler | (noun) a manservant (usually the head servant of a household) who has charge of wines and the table | Synonyms: pantryman |
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| buttonhole | (noun) a hole through which buttons are pushed | Synonyms: button hole |
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| (verb) detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors | Synonyms: lobby |
| butylene | (noun) any of three isomeric hydrocarbons C4H8; all used in making synthetic rubbers | Synonyms: butene |
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| cable | (noun) a very strong thick rope made of twisted hemp or steel wire | - |
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| (noun) a television system that transmits over cables | Synonyms: cable system, cable television, cable television service |
| (noun) a conductor for transmitting electrical or optical signals or electric power | Synonyms: line, transmission line |
| (noun) a telegram sent abroad | Synonyms: cablegram, overseas telegram |
| (noun) television that is transmitted over cable directly to the receiver | Synonyms: cable television |
| (noun) a nautical unit of depth | Synonyms: cable's length, cable length |
| (verb) send cables, wires, or telegrams | Synonyms: telegraph, wire |
| (verb) fasten with a cable | - |
| cablegram | (noun) a telegram sent abroad | Synonyms: cable, overseas telegram |
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| caboodle | (noun) any collection in its entirety | Synonyms: bunch, lot |
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| cabriolet | (noun) small two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage; with two seats and a folding hood | Synonyms: cab |
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| cackle | (noun) a loud laugh suggestive of a hen's cackle | - |
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| (noun) noisy talk | Synonyms: chatter, yack, yak, yakety-yak |
| (noun) the sound made by a hen after laying an egg | - |
| (verb) emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing | - |
| (verb) squawk shrilly and loudly, characteristic of hens | - |
| (verb) talk or utter in a cackling manner | - |
| (verb) make a noise characteristic of a goose | Synonyms: gaggle |
| cackler | (noun) a hen that has just laid an egg and emits a shrill squawk | - |
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| (noun) any of various insectivorous Old World birds with a loud incessant song; in some classifications considered members of the family Muscicapidae | Synonyms: babbler |
| cacomistle | (noun) raccoon-like omnivorous mammal of Mexico and the southwestern United States having a long bushy tail with black and white rings | Synonyms: Bassariscus astutus, bassarisk, cacomixle, civet cat, coon cat, miner's cat, raccoon fox, ring-tailed cat, ringtail |
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| cacomixle | (noun) raccoon-like omnivorous mammal of Mexico and the southwestern United States having a long bushy tail with black and white rings | Synonyms: Bassariscus astutus, bassarisk, cacomistle, civet cat, coon cat, miner's cat, raccoon fox, ring-tailed cat, ringtail |
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| cagoule | (noun) lightweight parka; waterproof | - |
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| cajole | (verb) influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering | Synonyms: blarney, coax, inveigle, palaver, sweet-talk, wheedle |
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| cajolery | (noun) flattery intended to persuade | Synonyms: blandishment, palaver |
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| cakehole | (noun) informal terms for the mouth | Synonyms: gob, hole, maw, trap, yap |
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| calculable | (adjective) able to be calculated or estimated | - |
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| calean | (noun) an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water | Synonyms: chicha, hookah, hubble-bubble, hubbly-bubbly, kalian, narghile, nargileh, sheesha, shisha, water pipe |
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| caleche | (noun) the folding hood of a horse-drawn carriage | Synonyms: calash, calash top |
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| (noun) a woman's large folded hooped hood; worn in the 18th century | Synonyms: calash |
| calefacient | (adjective) producing the sensation of heat when applied to the body | Synonyms: warming |
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| calefaction | (noun) the property of being warming | Synonyms: incalescence |
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| calefactive | (adjective) serving to heat | Synonyms: calefactory |
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| calefactory | (adjective) serving to heat | Synonyms: calefactive |
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| calendar | (noun) a list or register of events (appointments or social events or court cases etc) | - |
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| (noun) a tabular array of the days (usually for one year) | - |
| (noun) a system of timekeeping that defines the beginning and length and divisions of the year | - |
| (verb) enter into a calendar | - |
| calender | (noun) a machine that smooths or glazes paper or cloth by pressing it between plates or passing it through rollers | - |
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| (verb) press between rollers or plates so as to smooth, glaze, or thin into sheets | - |
| calendered | (adjective) (of paper and fabric and leather) having a surface made smooth and shiny especially by pressing between rollers | Synonyms: glossy |
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| calendric | (adjective) relating to or characteristic of or used in a calendar or time measurement | Synonyms: calendrical |
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| calendrical | (adjective) relating to or characteristic of or used in a calendar or time measurement | Synonyms: calendric |
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| calendula | (noun) any of numerous chiefly annual herbs of the genus Calendula widely cultivated for their yellow or orange flowers; often used for medicinal and culinary purposes | - |
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| callable | (adjective) subject to a demand for payment before due date | - |
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| caller | (adjective) providing coolness | - |
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| (adjective) fresh | - |
| (noun) a social or business visitor | Synonyms: company |
| (noun) the person initiating a telephone call | Synonyms: caller-up, phoner, telephoner |
| (noun) the person who convenes a meeting | - |
| (noun) someone who proclaims or summons in a loud voice | - |
| (noun) a person who announces the changes of steps during a dance | Synonyms: caller-out |
| (noun) the bettor in a card game who matches the bet and calls for a show of hands | - |
| (noun) an investor who buys a call option | - |
| calycle | (noun) a small cup-shaped structure (as a taste bud or optic cup or cavity of a coral containing a polyp) | Synonyms: caliculus, calyculus |
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| (noun) a group of bracts simulating a calyx as in a carnation or hibiscus | Synonyms: calyculus, epicalyx, false calyx |
| calycled | (adjective) having a calyculus | Synonyms: calyculate |
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| camachile | (noun) common thorny tropical American tree having terminal racemes of yellow flowers followed by sickle-shaped or circinate edible pods and yielding good timber and a yellow dye and mucilaginous gum | Synonyms: huamachil, manila tamarind, Pithecellobium dulce, wild tamarind |
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| camisole | (noun) a short negligee | - |
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| (noun) a short sleeveless undergarment for women | Synonyms: underbodice |
| camlet | (noun) a fabric of Asian origin; originally made of silk and camel's hair | - |
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| (noun) a garment made of camlet fabric | - |
| camomile | (noun) Eurasian plant with apple-scented foliage and white-rayed flowers and feathery leaves used medicinally; in some classification systems placed in genus Anthemis | Synonyms: Anthemis nobilis, Chamaemelum nobilis, chamomile |
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| campanile | (noun) a bell tower; usually stands alone unattached to a building | Synonyms: belfry |
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| cancelled | (adjective) (of events) no longer planned or scheduled | Synonyms: off |
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| candle | (noun) stick of wax with a wick in the middle | Synonyms: taper, wax light |
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| (noun) the basic unit of luminous intensity adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites; equal to 1/60 of the luminous intensity per square centimeter of a black body radiating at the temperature of 2,046 degrees Kelvin | Synonyms: candela, cd, standard candle |
| (verb) examine eggs for freshness by holding them against a light | - |
| candleberry | (noun) deciduous aromatic shrub of eastern North America with grey-green wax-coated berries | Synonyms: bayberry, Myrica pensylvanica, swamp candleberry, waxberry |
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| candlelight | (noun) the light provided by a burning candle | Synonyms: candle flame |
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| candlemaker | (noun) a person who makes or sells candles | - |
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| candlenut | (noun) large tree native to southeastern Asia; the nuts yield oil used in varnishes; nut kernels strung together are used locally as candles | Synonyms: Aleurites moluccana, varnish tree |
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| (noun) seed of candlenut tree; source of oil used in varnishes | - |
| candlepin | (noun) a bowling pin that is thin by comparison with a tenpin | - |
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| candlepins | (noun) a bowling game using slender bowling pins | Synonyms: candlepin bowling |
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| candlepower | (noun) luminous intensity measured in candelas | Synonyms: light intensity |
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| candlesnuffer | (noun) an implement with a small cup at the end of a handle; used to extinguish the flame of a candle | - |
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| candlestick | (noun) a holder with sockets for candles | Synonyms: candle holder |
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| candlewick | (noun) the wick of a candle | - |
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| (noun) loops of soft yarn are cut to give a tufted pattern | - |
| candlewood | (noun) any of several resinous trees or shrubs often burned for light | - |
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| canicule | (noun) the hot period between early July and early September; a period of inactivity | Synonyms: canicular days, dog days |
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| canoodle | (verb) fondle or pet affectionately | - |
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| cantabile | (adjective) smooth and flowing | Synonyms: singing |
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| canticle | (noun) a hymn derived from the Bible | - |
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| cantilever | (noun) projecting horizontal beam fixed at one end only | - |
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| (verb) construct with girders and beams such that only one end is fixed | - |
| (verb) project as a cantilever | - |