12-letter words containing a, b, r, s, e
- backpressure — a resistant pressure exerted by liquid or gas against the forward motion or flow of an exhaust or pipe system: Careful control of backpressure ensures an even supply of oil from the well.
- backswimmers — Plural form of backswimmer.
- backtrackers — Plural form of backtracker.
- backwardness — toward the back or rear.
- bacon-slicer — a machine for cutting bacon into slices
- bactericides — Plural form of bactericide.
- bacteriostat — any substance that arrests the growth or reproduction of bacteria but does not kill them
- badger skunk — hog-nosed skunk (def 1).
- badger state — any of various burrowing, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, as Taxidea taxus, of North America, and Meles meles, of Europe and Asia.
- badger-skunk — Also called badger skunk, rooter skunk. a large, naked-muzzled skunk, Conepatus mesoleucus, common in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, having a black coat with one broad white stripe down the back and tail.
- bag snatcher — a thief whose main tactic is to grab women's handbags and run off with them
- bairnsfather — Bruce. 1888–1959, British cartoonist, born in India: best known for his cartoons of the war in the trenches during World War I
- baker island — an island in the central Pacific near the equator, belonging to the U.S. 1 sq. mi. (2.6 sq. km).
- baker's oven — an oven used esp for baking bread
- bald cypress — a tree, Taxodium distichum, of swampy areas of the southern U.S., having featherlike needles and cone-shaped projections growing up from the roots, yielding a hardwood used in construction, shipbuilding, etc.
- ballanwrasse — a slow-growing fish (Labrus bergylta) found in rocky waters
- ballet skirt — a full skirt, often made with several layers of fabric, typical of those worn by ballet dancers
- bandersnatch — a fictional creature created by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, and appearing also in The Hunting of the Snark and Through the Looking-Glass
- bandjermasin — a seaport on the S coast of Borneo, in Indonesia.
- bank charges — penalties charged by a bank to a customer, for example when the customer's account is overdrawn or if a cheque is not honoured
- bankruptcies — Plural form of bankruptcy.
- banksia rose — a climbing rose, Rosa banksiae, native to China, having long, serrated leaves and white or yellow flowers.
- baptisteries — Plural form of baptistery.
- bar sinister — the condition, implication, or stigma of being of illegitimate birth
- baraesthesia — the ability to sense pressure
- barbecue set — a set of tools used for barbecuing
- barbiturates — any of a group of barbituric acid derivatives, used in medicine as sedatives and hypnotics.
- bargain sale — an event at which goods are sold at low prices, usually to clear old stocks
- barge course — the overhang of the gable end of a roof
- barley sugar — Barley sugar is a sweet made from boiled sugar.
- barnstormers — Plural form of barnstormer.
- barophoresis — the diffusion of suspended particles at a rate dependent on external forces
- barquisimeto — a city in NW Venezuela. Pop: 1 009 000 (2005 est)
- barristerial — pertaining to a barrister
- bartlesville — a city in NE Oklahoma.
- basal reader — an elementary-school textbook that teaches reading by combining stories with practice exercises: The Dick and Jane series was the most famous basal reader.
- base pairing — the hydrogen bonding that occurs between complementary nitrogenous bases in the two polynucleotide chains of a DNA molecule
- 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.
- bathyspheres — Plural form of bathysphere.
- batter's box — box1 (def 16a).
- battle dress — military field uniform and accouterments, generally camouflaged and stripped of all ornamentation.