Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

[sing.] permission or authority to do anything that you think is necessary in order to achieve a particular result: These laws do not give companies a blank cheque to pollute without paying.

blanket /'blaegkit/ adjective [only before noun]

that includes or affects all possible cases, situations or people: a blanket ban on tobacco advertising

(Insurance) (used about insurance contracts) that pays for damage to different items or for injury to different people, but has only one total sum insured and no particular sums for individual items or people: While travelling on company business, you are covered under a blanket policy for injury, о blanket cover for all machinery all-risk, umbrella

bleak /ЬН:к/ adjective (bleaker, bleakest) not encouraging or giving any reason to have hope: bleak sales figures о Economists say the outlook for (= the future of) the economy is bleak.

bleed /bli:d/ verb (bled, bled /bled/)

[+ obj or no obj] (used especially in the continuous tenses) (about a company) to lose a large amount of sth, especially money or jobs: The business is bleeding cash at the rate of about $1 million a day. о The fishing industry has been bleeding jobs for years.

[+ obj] to take away a large amount of sb's money or resources: The banking system has been bled of resources by the government this year.

ШШ1 bleed sb 'dry/'white to take away all sb's money

.blind 'test noun [c]

= blind trial

(Marketing) a way of deciding which product out of a number of competing products is the best or most popular, or how a new product compares with others. People are asked to try the different products and to say which one/ones they prefer, but they are not told the names of the products: In blind tests, consumers chose our cola over more established brands.

double-blind test

.blind 'trial (also .blind 'test) noun [c] a type of research that is done to see the effects of a new product, especially a new medicine. Two groups of people believe that they are testing the product but one group is given a substance that does not contain any of it in order to compare the results with the group who are testing the real product. double-blind

blip /blip/ noun [c] a change in a process or situation, usually when it gets worse for a short time before it gets better; a temporary problem: The drop in sales was only a temporary blip.

'blister pack (also 'bubble pack) noun [c] a packet in which small goods such as pills are sold, with each individual item in its own separate cover on a piece of card: The capsules come in a blister pack of 100.—Picture at packaging

'blister .packaging (also 'bubble .packaging,

less frequent) noun [u]

materials used to protect small goods such as pills in their own separate covers on a piece of card; the process of wrapping goods in this way: child-proof blister packaging о blister-packaging machines

blitz /blits/ noun [c, usually sing. ] something that involves a lot of activity and is done over a short period of time: aru advertising blitz

bloated /'blautid; AmE 'blou-/ adjective

too big and costing or using too much money: Many sectors of the economy remain bloated and uncompetitive, о the company's bloated workforce

(IT, informal) (about software, etc.) not efficient and needing too much computer memory: Software programs become more bloated every week, о bloated applications that take too long to download

bloatware /'blautwea(r); AmE 'bloutwer/ (also 'fatware) noun [u]

(IT, informal) software that needs too much computer memory and does not work efficiently: Continually adding new features to a product often results in bloatware. о a 100 megabyte piece of bloatware

bloc /blDk; AmE Ыа±/ noun [C]

a group of countries that work closely together because they have similar political or financial interests: the former Soviet bloc о a trade/trading bloc

(Economics) = currency bloc

block /blDk; AmE bla:k/ noun, verb

noun [C]