13-letter words containing a, b, s
- brown mustard — black mustard. See under mustard (def 2).
- brussels lace — a fine lace with a raised or appliqué design
- buccaneerings — the characteristic actions of a buccaneer
- buck sergeant — a newly promoted sergeant
- buckeye state — Ohio (used as a nickname).
- buenas noches — good night
- buffalo chips — the dried dung of buffalo used as fuel, especially by early settlers on the western plains.
- buffalo grass — a short grass, Buchloë dactyloides, growing on the dry plains of the central US
- buffalo wings — spicy fried segments of chicken wings, usually served with celery sticks and a sauce of blue cheese
- built-up mast — a wooden mast formed of several shaped, longitudinal pieces joined together.
- bums on seats — If the organizers of an event such as a concert want to put bums on seats, they want a lot of people to attend it.
- bundle sheath — a layer of cells in plant leaves and stems that surrounds a vascular bundle.
- bureaucratese — wordy, jargon-filled, overcomplicated language considered typical of bureaucrats
- bureaucratism — an official of a bureaucracy.
- bureaucratist — a believer in bureaucracy
- burgess shale — a bed of Cambrian sedimentary rock in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia containing many unique invertebrate fossils
- burglariously — in the manner of a burglar or buglary
- buridan's ass — an example intended to show the deficiency of reason. An ass standing equidistant from two identical heaps of oats starves to death because reason provides no grounds for choosing to eat one rather than the other
- burmese glass — an American art glass of the late 19th century, ranging from greenish-yellow to pink.
- burnham scale — the salary scale for teachers in English state schools, which is revised periodically
- burning glass — a convex lens for concentrating the sun's rays into a small area to produce heat or fire
- burt standish — Burt L. pseudonym of Gilbert Patten.
- bus mastering — bus master
- business card — A person's business card or their card is a small card which they give to other people, and which has their name and details of their job and company printed on it.
- business case — a briefcase or attaché case.
- business park — an area specially designated and landscaped to accommodate business offices, warehouses, light industry, etc
- business plan — A business plan is a detailed plan for setting up or developing a business, especially one that is written in order to borrow money.
- businesswoman — A businesswoman is a woman who works in business.
- bustard quail — button quail.
- bustard-quail — any of several birds of the family Turnicidae, of warmer parts of the Old World, resembling but not related to the true quail. Also called bustard quail, hemipode.
- buster collar — a round collar, similar to a lampshade in shape, that is fitted round the neck of an animal or bird, for example to prevent it removing or interfering with a dressing or other treatment
- busto arsizio — a city in Lombardy, N Italy.
- butcher's saw — a type of hacksaw used especially by butchers for cutting through meat and bones.
- butler's tray — a tray resting on or attached to an X-shaped, often folding stand, on which are kept drink bottles and glasses
- buzzard's bay — an inlet of the Atlantic, in SE Massachusetts. 30 miles (48 km) long.
- by (all) odds — by far; unquestionably
- by contraries — contrary to what is expected
- by its nature — If you say that something has a particular characteristic by its nature or by its very nature, you mean that things of that type always have that characteristic.
- bypass engine — a gas turbine in which a part of the compressor delivery bypasses the combustion zone, flowing directly into or around the main exhaust gas flow to provide additional thrust
- cabbalistical — cabbalistic
- cabin cruiser — A cabin cruiser is a motor boat which has a cabin for people to live or sleep in.
- cabinetmakers — Plural form of cabinetmaker.
- cable release — a short length of flexible cable, used to operate the shutter of a camera without shaking it
- calabash tree — a tropical American evergreen tree, Crescentia cujete, that produces large round gourds: family Bignoniaceae
- calisaya bark — the bark of any of several tropical trees of the rubiaceous genus Cinchona, esp C. calisaya, from which quinine is extracted
- call sb names — If someone calls you names, they insult you by saying unpleasant things to you or about you.
- cambyses (ii) — died 522 b.c.; king of Persia (529-522): son of Cyrus the Great
- canada balsam — a yellow transparent resin obtained from the balsam fir. Because its refractive index is similar to that of glass, it is used as an adhesive in optical devices and as a mounting medium for microscope specimens
- candleberries — Plural form of candleberry.
- cannibalistic — Cannibalistic people and practices are connected with cannibalism.