19-letter words containing a, b, l

lean over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
learning disability — a disorder, as dyslexia, usually affecting school-age children of normal or above-normal intelligence, characterized by difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language, and thought to be related to impairment or slowed development of perceptual motor skills.
liability insurance — insurance covering the insured against losses arising from injury or damage to another person or property.
liberation theology — a 20th-century Christian theology, emphasizing the Biblical and doctrinal theme of liberation from oppression, whether racial, sexual, economic, or political.
library of congress — one of the major library collections in the world, located in Washington, D.C., and functioning in some ways as the national library of the U.S. although not officially designated as such: established by Congress in 1800 for service to its members, but now also serving government agencies, other libraries, and the public.
line-of-battle ship — ship of the line.
load-bearing printf — (programming, humour) The kind of bug present in a program which works correctly when producing debug output but fails when the debugging is turned off. The expression combines load-bearing wall and printf as used in debugging by printf.
lobster-tail helmet — a burgonet fitted with a long, articulated tail of lames for protecting the nape of the neck, worn by cavalry in the 17th century.
logical unit number — (storage) (LUN) A 3-bit identifier used on a SCSI bus to distinguish between up to eight devices (logical units) with the same SCSI ID.
look sb up and down — If someone looks you up and down, they direct their eyes from your head to your feet, in a rude and superior way and often as though they disapprove of you.
lord baltimore cake — a yellow layer cake, using only the yolks of eggs and having a fruit-nut filling consisting of pecans, almonds, maraschino cherries, and macaroon crumbs.
malleable cast iron — white cast iron that has been malleablized.
mary mcleod bethune — Mary McLeod [muh-kloud] /məˈklaʊd/ (Show IPA), 1875–1955, U.S. educator and civil-rights leader.
mercurial barometer — mercury barometer.
mexican bean beetle — a ladybird beetle, Epilachna varivestis, introduced into the U.S. from Mexico, that feeds on the foliage of the bean plant.
molecular biologist — a specialist in the study of biological phenomena at the molecular level
monoclonal antibody — antibody produced by a laboratory-grown cell clone, either of a hybridoma or a virus-transformed lymphocyte, that is more abundant and uniform than natural antibody and is able to bind specifically to a single site on almost any chosen antigen or reveal previously unknown antigen sites: used as an analytic tool in scientific research and medical diagnosis and potentially important in the treatment of certain diseases. Abbreviation: MAb.
mordvinian republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga basin. Capital: Saransk. Pop: 888 700 (2002). Area: 26 200 sq km (10 110 sq miles)
municipal bond fund — a mutual fund that invests in municipal bonds.
mutual masturbation — the act of two or more people masturbating each other
mutual savings bank — a noncapitalized savings bank that distributes its net earnings to depositors.
naberezhniye chelny — city in E European Russia, on the Kama River: pop. 514,000
national book award — any of several awards given annually, 1949–79, to an author whose book was judged the best in its category: administered by the Association of American Publishers. Abbreviation: NBA, N.B.A.
national coal board — a statutory corporation set up to run Britain's nationalised coal mining industry between 1947 and 1994, at which time the industry was privatized
negation by failure — An extralogical feature of Prolog and other logic programming languages in which failure of unification is treated as establishing the negation of a relation. For example, if Ronald Reagan is not in our database and we asked if he was an American, Prolog would answer "no".
neville chamberlain — (Arthur) Neville, 1869–1940, British statesman: prime minister 1937–40.
nominative absolute — a construction consisting in English of a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun in the nominative case followed by a predicate lacking a finite verb, used as a loose modifier of the whole sentence, as the play done in The play done, the audience left the theater.
non-distinguishable — to mark off as different (often followed by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height.
non-transferability — to convey or remove from one place, person, etc., to another: He transferred the package from one hand to the other.
normal distribution — a theoretical frequency distribution represented by a normal curve.
not by a long chalk — by no means; not possibly
not by a long sight — on no account; not at all
observation balloon — a balloon that is used for gathering information and reconnaissance purposes and spotting aircraft
obsolescence clause — a clause in an insurance policy that takes account of the obsolescence of the item insured in order to lower the amount to be paid out in the event of a claim
office-block ballot — a ballot on which the candidates are listed alphabetically, with or without their party designations, in columns under the office for which they were nominated.
olive-backed thrush — Swainson's thrush.
on someone's behalf — in / on behalf of, as a representative of or a proxy for: On behalf of my colleagues, I address you tonight.
on the baker's list — in good health
once in a blue moon — very rarely; almost never
optical double star — two stars that appear as one if not viewed through a telescope with adequate magnification, such as two stars that are separated by a great distance but are nearly in line with each other and an observer (optical double star) or those that are relatively close together and comprise a single physical system (physical double star)
out at (the) elbows — shabby; poverty-stricken
own flesh and blood — If you say that someone is your own flesh and blood, you are emphasizing that they are a member of your family.
oxyacetylene burner — a blowpipe for cutting or welding metals at high temperatures
palaeoethnobotanist — someone who studies fossil seeds and grains to further archaeological knowledge, esp of the domestication of cereals
palomar observatory — an astronomical observatory situated on Palomar Mountain in S California, having a 200-inch (508-cm) reflecting telescope and a 48-inch (122-cm) Schmidt telescope.
papal infallibility — the dogma that the pope cannot err in a solemn teaching addressed to the whole church on a matter of faith or morals.
paradichlorobenzene — a white, crystalline, volatile, water-insoluble solid, C 6 H 4 Cl 2 , of the benzene series, having a penetrating odor: used chiefly as a moth repellent.
parliament building — structure housing legislative offices
party-column ballot — Indiana ballot.
patrol torpedo boat — PT boat.

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