12-letter words containing a, b, e, r
- base-pairing — the process of binding separate DNA sequences by base pairs.
- bashkirtseff — Marie, original name Marya Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva. 1858–84, Russian painter and diarist who wrote in French, noted esp for her Journal (1887)
- basidiospore — one of the spores, usually four in number, produced in a basidium
- basket chair — a chair made of wickerwork; a wicker chair
- basket maker — a member of an early Native American people of the southwestern US, preceding the Pueblo people, known for skill in basket-making
- basketballer — (informal) A basketball player; a person who plays basketball.
- basketweaver — a person who advocates simple, natural, and unsophisticated living
- basmati rice — a variety of long-grain rice with slender aromatic grains, used for savoury dishes
- basque shirt — a knitted pullover shirt having a crew neck, long or short sleeves, and a pattern of horizontal stripes.
- bastard file — a file of the commercial grade of coarseness between coarse and second-cut.
- bated breath — to moderate or restrain: unable to bate our enthusiasm.
- bathtub race — a sailing race between bathtubs fitted with outboard motors
- bathyspheres — Plural form of bathysphere.
- baton charge — A baton charge is an attacking forward movement made by a large group of policemen carrying batons.
- batter board — (at a building site) one of a number of boards set horizontally to support strings for outlining the foundation plan of a building.
- batter brace — a diagonal brace reinforcing one end of a truss.
- batter bread — spoon bread.
- batter's box — box1 (def 16a).
- battery acid — acid used in batteries, esp car batteries
- battery farm — a farm that uses batteries for raising poultry
- battery fire — the firing of a battery of weapons
- battery-park — The, a park at the S end of Manhattan, in New York City.
- battle array — the strategic arrangement of fighters and weapons in a battle
- battle creek — a city in S Michigan.
- battle dress — military field uniform and accouterments, generally camouflaged and stripped of all ornamentation.
- battle group — a group of warships usually consisting of at least one aircraft carrier, other surface ships, submarines, landing craft, etc
- battle royal — a fight, esp with fists or cudgels, involving more than two combatants; melee
- battlefronts — Plural form of battlefront.
- battleground — A battleground is the same as a battlefield.
- battleworthy — capable of engaging in combat; ready for battle: a decline in the nation's battleworthy forces.
- bay rum tree — a tropical American myrtaceous tree, Pimenta racemosa, that yields an oil used in making bay rum
- bay-head bar — a sand bar at the head of a bay.
- be on a roll — to have a series of successes; go from success to success
- beach-comber — a person who lives by gathering salable articles of jetsam, refuse, etc., from beaches.
- beach-la-mar — an English-based creole language spoken in Vanuatu and Fiji, and formerly much more widespread
- beachcombers — Plural form of beachcomber.
- beamsplitter — Alternative spelling of beam splitter.
- bean counter — You can describe people such as accountants and business managers as bean counters if you disapprove of them because you think they are only interested in money.
- bean sprouts — the sprouts of newly germinated mung beans, eaten as a vegetable, esp in Chinese dishes
- bean-shooter — peashooter.
- bear down on — to press down on; exert pressure on
- bear in mind — to remember
- bear witness — to give written or oral testimony
- bear-baiting — (formerly) an entertainment in which dogs attacked and enraged a chained bear
- bearableness — The characteristic of being bearable.
- bearded clam — mollusc eaten as seafood
- bearded lady — a woman with a beard, esp in a circus or freakshow
- bearded seal — a large gray-to-golden seal, Erignathus barbatus, inhabiting the Arctic Ocean and adjacent waters, having square foreflippers and a thick mustache of long bristles on each side of the muzzle.
- beardtongues — Plural form of beardtongue.
- bearing down — to hold up; support: to bear the weight of the roof.