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Bed bath / bed bɑ θ/ noun an act of washing the bed bath whole body of someone who is unable to get up to wash. Also called blanket bath bed blocking / bed blɒkiŋ/ noun the fact of people being kept in hospital because other forms of care are not available, which means that other people cannot be treated bedbug / bedb / noun a small insect which lives in dirty bedclothes and sucks blood bed occupancy / bed ɒkjυpənsi/ noun the percentage of beds in a hospital which are occupied bedpan / bedp n/ noun a dish into which someone can urinate or defecate without getting out of bed bed rest / bed rest/ noun a period of time spent in bed in order to rest and recover from an illness bedridden / bed rid(ə)n/ adjective referring to someone who has been too ill to get out of bed over a long period of time bedside manner / bedsaid m nə/ noun the way in which a doctor behaves towards a patient, especially a patient who is in bed ˽ a good bedside manner the ability to make patients feel comforted and reassured bedsore / bedsɔ / noun an inflamed patch of skin on a bony part of the body, which develops into an ulcer, caused by pressure of the part on the mattress after lying for some time in one position.

It involves keeping them away from other patients and making sure that faeces and soiled bedclothes do not carry the infection to other patients. bartholinitis / bɑ θəli naitis/ noun inflammation of the Bartholin’s glands Bartholin’s glands / bɑ θəlinz l ndz/ plural noun two glands at the side of the vagina and between it and the vulva, which secrete a lubricating substance. ] basal / beis(ə)l/ adjective located at the bottom basal of something, or forming its base basal metabolic rate / beisik metə bɒlik reit/ noun the amount of energy used by the body in exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide when at rest.

A person who has haemophilia (informal) bleeding / bli diŋ/ noun an unusual loss of blood from the body through the skin, through an orifice or internally bleeding time / bli diŋ taim/ noun a test of the clotting ability of someone’s blood, by timing the length of time it takes for the blood to congeal blennorrhagia / blenəυ reid ə/ noun the discharge of mucus blennorrhoea / blenə ri ə/ noun the discharge of watery mucus bleomycin / bli əυ maisin/ noun an antibiotic used to treat forms of cancer such as Hodgkin’s disease blephar- /blefər/ prefix same as blepharobleeding bleeding time blennorrhagia | blennorrhoea | bleomycin | blephar- (used before vowels) blepharitis / blefə raitis/ noun inflammation blepharitis | of the eyelid blepharo- /blefərəυ/ prefix referring to the eyelid blepharoconjunctivitis / blefərəυkən d ŋkti vaitis/ noun inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eyelids blepharon / blefərɒn/ noun an eyelid blepharospasm / blefərəυsp z(ə)m/ noun a sudden contraction of the eyelid, as when a tiny piece of dust gets in the eye blepharotosis / blefərəυ təυsis/ noun a condition in which the upper eyelid is half closed because of paralysis of the muscle or nerve blind /blaind/ adjective not able to see blind loop syndrome / blaind lu p sindrəυm/ noun a condition which occurs in cases of diverticulosis or of Crohn’s disease, with steatorrhoea, abdominal pain and megaloblastic anaemia blindness / blaindnəs/ noun the fact of not being able to see blind spot / blaind spɒt/ noun the point in the retina where the optic nerve joins it, which does not register light blind study / blaind st di/ noun an investigation to test an intervention such as giving a drug, in which a person does not know if he or she has taken the active medicine or the placebo blister / blistə/ noun a swelling on the skin containing serum from the blood, caused by rubbing, burning or a disease such as chickenpox í verb to produce blisters bloated / bləυtid/ adjective experiencing the uncomfortable sensation of a very full stomach block /blɒk/ noun 1.