13-letter words containing a, b, o, l
- bielsko-biała — a town in S Poland: created in 1951 by the union of Bielsko and Biała Krakowska; a leading textile centre since the 16th century. Pop: 356 000 (2005 est)
- bildungsroman — a novel concerned with a person's formative years and development
- bilinear form — a function or functional of two variables that is linear with respect to each variable when the other variable is held fixed.
- billiard room — a room in a house, club, etc., where billiards is played.
- bimolecularly — in a bimolecular fashion
- bioaccumulate — (of substances, esp toxins) to build up within the tissues of organisms
- biobehavioral — of or relating to the application of biological methods and ideas to the study of behavior in an attempt to understand emotions and reactions in terms of brain and physiological function.
- biochemically — the science dealing with the chemistry of living matter.
- biocompatible — not rejected by the body
- biodegradable — Something that is biodegradable breaks down or decays naturally without any special scientific treatment, and can therefore be thrown away without causing pollution.
- bioecological — the study of the interrelations among living organisms in their natural environment; ecology.
- bioelectrical — relating to electrical current generated by biological activity
- bioequivalent — the condition in which different formulations of the same drug or chemical are equally absorbed when taken into the body.
- biomechanical — relating to biomechanics
- bisectionally — from a bisectional point of view
- bitonal image — (graphics) An image consisting only of a foreground colour and a background colour. Compare monochrome.
- bitter almond — a variety of almond whose bitter seeds yield hydrocyanic acid upon hydrolysis
- bl lac object — an extremely compact violently variable form of active galaxy
- black buffalo — a buffalofish, Ictiobus niger, of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainage systems south to Mexico.
- black country — a district in the English Midlands, around Birmingham: so called from the soot and grime produced by the many local industries.
- black diamond — coal (sense 1)
- black economy — The black economy consists of the buying, selling, and producing of goods or services that goes on without the government being informed, so that people can avoid paying tax on them.
- black hickory — a species of smooth-barked hickory, Carya tomentosa, with fragrant foliage that turns bright yellow in autumn
- black section — (in Britain in the 1980s) an unofficial group within the Labour Party in any constituency that represented the interests of local Black people
- black-bag job — surreptitious or illegal entry or activity by government agents seeking incriminating evidence.
- blackjack oak — a small oak tree, Quercus marilandica, of the southeastern US, with blackish bark and fan-shaped leaves
- blamestorming — a discussion or meeting for the purpose of assigning blame.
- blanketflower — a hardy flowering plant, Gaillardia aristata, that grows in the US
- blarney stone — a stone in Blarney Castle, in the SW Republic of Ireland, said to endow whoever kisses it with the gift of the gab and skill in flattery
- blasco ibanez — Vicente (biˈθente). 1867–1928, Spanish novelist, whose books include Blood and Sand (1909) and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1916)
- blasphemously — uttering, containing, or exhibiting blasphemy; irreverent; profane.
- blastogenesis — the theory that inherited characteristics are transmitted only by germ plasm
- blastomycosis — a fungal infection particularly affecting the lungs
- blepharoplast — a cylindrical cytoplasmic body in protozoa
- blepharospasm — spasm of the muscle of the eyelids, causing the eyes to shut tightly, either as a response to painful stimuli or occurring as a form of dystonia
- block capital — a sans-serif letter with lines of uniform weight.
- block diagram — a diagram showing the interconnections between the parts of an industrial process
- block release — the release of industrial trainees from work for study at a college for several weeks
- blood alcohol — alcohol that is circulating in the blood
- blood diamond — a diamond sold to help finance a military campaign
- blood sausage — a kind of black sausage made from minced pork fat, pig's blood, and other ingredients
- blood-stained — stained with blood: a bloodstained knife.
- bloody caesar — a drink consisting of vodka, juice made from clams and tomatoes, and usually Worcester sauce and hot pepper sauce
- bloody sunday — (in Northern Ireland) 30th January 1972, when British soldiers shot dead thirteen marchers in Londonderry who were protesting against the UK government's policy of internment
- bloomfieldian — Linguistics. influenced by, resembling, or deriving from the linguistic theory and the methods of linguistic analysis advocated by Leonard Bloomfield, characterized especially by emphasis on the classification of overt formal features.
- blot analysis — a technique for analysing biological molecules, such as proteins (Western blot analysis), DNA (Southern blot analysis), and RNA (Northern blot analysis), involving their separation by gel electrophoresis, transfer to a nitrocellulose sheet, and subsequent analysis by autoradiography
- blow a gasket — to burst out in anger
- blow an eprom — /bloh *n ee'prom/ (Or "blast", "burn") To program a read-only memory, e.g. for use with an embedded system. This term arose because the programming process for the Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM) that preceded present-day Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses on the chip. The usage lives on (it's too vivid and expressive to discard) even though the write process on EPROMs is nondestructive.
- blow the gaff — to divulge a secret
- blue asbestos — a common name for the mineral crocidolite, a variety of asbestos found in Africa and Australia