a leaning towards, inclination; a tendency to be in favour of or against sth or sb (without enough information to judge fairly); prejudice: "He shows a strong bias towards or against the plan."; "Her scientific bias showed itself in early childhood."; "His background biases him against foreigners."

cloth or plastic shield placed under a child's chin to protect clothing

the sacred book of the Christian religion

a list of writings on a subject, esp. a list of all writings used in the preparation of a book or article.

a chemical substance used esp. in baking and as medicine.

bicentennial; the day or year exactly 200 years after a particular event: "the company's bicentenary was in 1974."

the large muscle on the front of the upper arm

to quarrel, esp. about small matters: "The two children were always bickering (with each other)(over/about their toys)."

bike, cycle; a two-wheeled vehicle powered by its rider or which one rides by pushing its pedals with the feet; to travel by bycicle; "Seh goes to work on her bycicle or by bycicle."

offer to pay a price at an auction; call (in card games); command; "The politician made a bid for popular support."

to seem likely to be good or successful: "It bids fair to be an eventful summer."

to try to get: "Hargreaves is making a bid for the British Championship tomorrow."

to wait, usu. for a long time, until the right moment: "He seems to be doing nothing, but really he's just biding his time."

a low basin on which one sits to wash the lower part of the body. The word is French for "pony".

(of events) happening once every two years

a movable frame like a table, for supporting a dead body; coffin

eye-glasses having an upper part made for looking at distant objects, and a lower part made for reading

large; important

an organization or leader that has complete power and allows no freedom

to like sth very much: "He's big on bargains - he can tell you all about mobile phone deals."

make it, make a name for yourself, make your name, become very successful, famous or rich: "I knew from a young age that I wanted to make it big in showbusiness."

believing oneself to be more important than one really is

a person who thinks too highly of his/her own importance

a person who obstinately sticks to a belief or opinion

big cheese, big wheel; "The bigwigs from Head Office are coming to visit us next week."; "We were invited to a fancy cocktail with the local bigwigs."

bicycle

go away!: "'I'll give you $50 for it.' 'Oh, on yer bike.'"; "There's nothing for you here, mate. On your bike, then."

a scanty two-piece bathing costume

of, on, or with two sides; between or concerning two parties

(the blue-black fruit of) a low bushy plant growing in Northern Europe

a bitter green-brown liquid formed in the liver to help digestion of food; bad temper; "Fatty food makes some people bilious."

the bottom on a ship

of, containing, or expressed in two languages

a paper showing how much you owe for sth you have bought; a bird's beak

sb has been deceived about the quality of what they are getting: "I think the internet is a bill of goods being sold to a gullible public."

to be exactly what you need; to be suitable or what is required: "We need someone with some experience and an ability to mix well with all sorts of people; I think the first candidate fits the bill exactly."; "She was looking for a more challenging role, and Pinter's play filled the bill."

to pay for sth: "Taxpayers had to foot the bill for the repairs to the fountain."

a stagnant pool or lake formed by an incomplete tributary of a river; an Aboriginal word meaning 'dead river'.

hoarding

(to provide) a house for lodging soldiers in, esp. for a short time: "In 1941 the Hotel was requisitioned by the army and used as a billet for troops undergoing training."

a game in which ball are struck by a cue into pockets at the edge of a flat table.

one thousand million. Sometimes still used in Britain to mean one million million.

to rise in waves; swell out. "The flowers billowed over the house."

a vessel of tin or enamel used as a kettle, or for cooking.

a male goat

(appearing or happening) every two months or twice a month

a container, such as a breadbin or dustbin.

made up of two parts or units. In the binary arithmetic system only two numbers are used, 0 and 1.

tie; make fast

book cover; obligatory

a difficult situation in which anything you do to try to solve a problem will cause more problems: "It's a double bind - if we don't modernize, we lose our competitive edge and have to cut jobs, and if we do modernize we have to cut jobs because we don't need the staff."

a numbers game, also called housey-housey.

field glasses; an instrument to make things far away look closer: "You look through a pair of binoculars with both eyes."

(the scientific study of) the chemistry of living things

able to decay or disintegrate naturally

the written story of a person's life

the study of living things

methods of fighting a war in which living things such as bacteria are used for harming the enemy

having greater than human powers

being in two parts; shared by two parties

a two-footed creature

an aircraft with two sets of wings.

a tree with a slim trunk and branches, and a smooth bark.

the only feathered member of the Animal Kingdom, with front limbs adapted as wings.

a stupid person: "He thinks all women drivers are useless. What a bird brain!"

people who get up for work early will be successful; if you do sth before other people, you will gain an advantage: "The early bird catches the worm. so order your phone now - only 100 left in stock!"

sb who gets up or arrives somewhere early; person who gains some advantage by being early: "If you're an early bird you'll be able to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain."; "Are you an early bird, or do you like to sleep late in the mornings?"; "They do a cheap, early-bird dinner, if you get there before six."

a person you were looking for has escaped: "By the time the Admiral reached Dunkirk the birds had flown."

to be better to accept sth that you have, than to try to get sth better that you are not sure of; to be not worth giving up sth you already have for only the possibility of getting sth better: "It's not the greatest of jobs, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I can't afford to be out of work."

any bird that kills other birds and small animals for food

I know sth but I am not going to say who told me: "A little bird told me that you're expecting a baby."

sex (as explained in a practical way to children): "I think it's time we talked to Simon about the birds and the bees."

to be at a point above it from which you can see it very clearly: "I had a bird's eye view of the procession from the top of the lamp post."; to get a general, but clear, outline of a subject: "A good selective bibliography gives a bird's eye view of the relevant subject literature."

people who have the same interests, personalities or backgrounds will often be friendly with each other; people who have similar interests tend to spend time together: "'It's funny how people travel to the other side of the world, and then make friends with people of their own nationality, isn't it?' 'Yes, well, birds of a feather...'"; "It's easy to get drugs if you use them - birds of a feather flock together."

to manage to achieve two things with a single or one action: "There are advantages to an apprenticeship. You might as well kill two birds with one stone by doing and learning in parallel"; "Now we can kill two birds with one stone - we'll visit Kylie and see if the house is still for sale."

(of an idea) to be silly, useless, or not practical: "This book shows that not all his scientific projects were for the birds."

ballpoint: "written with a biro/in biro"

coming into life; emergence of a child or animal from the body of its mother

contraception, the prevention of pregnancy.

the anniversary of a birth

an unusual mark on the body at birth

the number of births for every 100 or every 1000 people during a given time

a small, flat, thin cake; cookie

sth is the best, worst, strangest, most surprising etc of its kind/type that you have experienced: "I've heard a lot of poor excuses in my time, but this one takes the biscuit."

divide into two equal parts

possessing qualities of both sexes

a priest in charge of a diocese, or group of parishes; a piece in chess

an American buffalo: "The bison is a large animal of the cattle family. There used to be great herds of them in America, where they are called 'buffalo'."

(esp. in France) a small or simple bar or restaurant

a small piece; a metal bar that goes in a horse's mouth: part of the bridle; single unit of information expressed in binary numbers, especially for computers.

to be so determined to do sth that no one can stop you: "They got the bit between their teeth and gave the opposition a bad time."

rather unacceptable, unreasonable, unfair or rude: "It's a bit much, her expecting me to wait for her and give her a lift home."; "I think that's a bit much, expecting you to look after her kids while she's out enjoying herself."

physically attractive: "Who's that guy at the bar? He's a bit of all right, isn't he?"

rather rude (a remark etc): "'He said he'd give me a lift to the airport, but now at the last minute he says he's meeting a friend.' 'Oh, that's a bit off, isn't it?'"

to be impatient: "People were champing at the bit, waiting to see what I was going to do."

to do a fair and reasonable amount: "Parents like to feel that they're doing their bit for the school."

small things of various kinds: "There are a few bits and bobs of yours still here; would you like me to send them on to you?"

to love sb very much: "Mark's such a nice man - we all love him to bits."

walk in air; on cloud nine; in seventh heaven; over the moon; to be surprised and very happy about sth; very excited and pleased that sth has happened: "She looked at the happy faces of her companions, and knew they wanted to be alone. 'What marvellous news. I'm thrilled to bits."; "I've been a fan of the show for years, so I was thrilled to bits when they asked me to be in it."

a female dog, fox or wolf

take a piece of sth, usually food, with the teeth.

to get a chance to do sth; to get a second/last chance to do sth that you failed to do the first time: "We had been quite successful on our first visit; now we were returning to have another bite at the cherry."; "Her reappointment will please those of us who felt she should have a second bite at the cherry."

to find that a project or piece of work you have decided to take on is too difficult for you to manage; to try to do more than you can: "I'm going to have to travel up to London every day. I'm beginning to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew"; "It's a very difficult project and he may find he's bitten off more than he can chew."

to try to borrow money from a person; to create a situation where sb has to spend more money: "Eddie tried to put the bite on Jack, but he didn't have any money either."; "The rise in oil prices continues to put the bite on industrial firms."

to take quite a large amount of money away from sth: "The tax has taken a big bite out of poorer people's incomes."

there is no reason to be afraid of sb: "Go ahead and ask him if he'll help you - he won't bite."

that is very annoying: "Damn, I can't park there, it's a tow zone. That bites the big one."

to be afraid to attempt sth again because of a previous bad experience; if you have failed or been hurt once, you will be very careful next time: "He hasn't had a girlfriend now for two years; I think it's a case of once bitten, twice shy."; "We're not ignoring the earthquake warning - after all, once bitten, twice shy."

sharp, unpleasant taste; not sweet

consisting of or containing little bits: "a rather bitty collection of short stories"

a soldiers' camp without tents; (esp. of soldiers) to spend the night in the open without tents

appearing or happening every two weeks or twice a week

strange, peculiar, odd