15-letter words containing a, b
- bohemian forest — a mountain range between the SW Czech Republic and SE Germany. Highest peak: Arber, 1457 m (4780 ft)
- boil-in-the-bag — (of food) able to be boiled in a sealed bag until ready to eat
- boiled potatoes — potatoes, usually peeled, cooked in boiling water
- bologna sausage — a large smoked sausage made of seasoned mixed meats
- book of account — a book to keep accounts in; ledger
- book of changes — an ancient Chinese book of divination, in which 64 pairs of trigrams are shown with various interpretations.
- bookmaking firm — an organization that accepts bets from gamblers and pays out winnings
- boolean algebra — a system of symbolic logic devised by George Boole to codify logical operations. It is used in computers
- borderline case — a person or thing that is not clearly classifiable as something
- borrower's card — a card issued by a library to individuals or organizations entitling them or their representatives to borrow materials.
- boston marriage — (especially in 19th-century New England) an intimate friendship between two women often maintaining a household together.
- boston massacre — an outbreak (1770) in Boston against British troops, in which a few citizens were killed
- bouillotte lamp — a table lamp of the 18th century, having two or three adjustable candle brackets and a common shade sliding on a central shaft.
- bowel complaint — bowel disease or condition
- box the compass — to name the compass points in order
- brachial plexus — a network of nerves in the armpits and neck, innervating the shoulders, arms, and hands.
- brachiocephalic — of, relating to, or supplying the arm and head
- brachistochrone — the curve between two points through which a body moves under the force of gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve; the path of quickest descent
- brachystomatous — having a short proboscis, as certain insects.
- brackett series — a series of lines in the infrared spectrum of hydrogen.
- bragging rights — notional privileges that are gained by defeating a close rival
- braille display — (hardware) (Or "refreshable braille display", "refreshable display") An electromechanical device that renders braille with tiny, independently controlled pins used to represent the state of dots in braille cells. Each pin, in its "on" state, raises above the top of its hole in the screen; in its "off" state, it drops below the top of its hole. Older systems used tiny solenoids to control the state of the pins; modern systems are piezoelectric. Typical dimensions of a braille display are 1 line of 40 cells, each cell of two-by-eight dots.
- braille printer — (printer) (Or "(Braille) embosser") A printer, necessarily an impact printer, that renders text as Braille. Blind users call other printers ink printers.
- brake parachute — a parachute attached to the rear of a vehicle and opened to assist braking
- branch and hang — (humour) (BRH) Originally a mythical instruction for the IBM 1130 at Indiana University. Later some real examples were discovered. The Texas Instruments TI-980 allowed all addressing modes with all instructions, including Store Immediate Extended (stores the value into the extension word of the instruction) and Branch and Link Immediate (makes a subroutine call to the same instruction -- Branch and Hang). Compare HCF.
- branchial cleft — Zoology. one of a series of slitlike openings in the walls of the pharynx between the branchial arches of fishes and aquatic amphibians through which water passes from the pharynx to the exterior.
- branchial pouch — one of a series of rudimentary outcroppings of the inner pharyngeal wall, corresponding to the branchial grooves on the surface.
- branching rules — rules that are used to break down a complex problem into several smaller problems
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- brand awareness — the extent to which consumers are aware of a particular product or service
- brand extension — the practice of using a well-known brand name to promote new products or services in unrelated fields
- bravais lattice — any of 14 possible space lattices found in crystals
- brave new world — If someone refers to a brave new world, they are talking about a situation or system that has recently been created and that people think will be successful and fair.
- brazilian guava — a Brazilian shrub, Psidium guineense, of the myrtle family, having white-fleshed, greenish-yellow, bitter fruit.
- brazilian plume — a tropical American plant, Justicia carnea, of the acanthus family, having hairy, prominently veined leaves and a short, dense cluster of purple or pink flowers, grown in greenhouses or outdoors in warm regions.
- breach of faith — a violation of good faith, confidence, or trust; betrayal: To abandon your friends now would be a breach of faith.
- breach of trust — a violation of duty by a trustee or any other person in a fiduciary position
- bread and honey — money
- break and entry — breaking and entering.
- break statement — (programming) A statement in the C programming language that transfers control out of the innermost enclosing switch, while, do, or for statement. The statement also exists in languages derived from C, such as C++ and Java.
- break the mould — If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- break-in period — a period during which certain restrictions or moderation in operating should be followed, as the avoidance of high speed, rapid acceleration, or severe braking for a new automobile.
- break-out group — a group of people who detach themselves from a larger group or meeting in order to hold separate discussions
- breakbone fever — dengue
- breakdown cover — insurance cover against breakdowns in a vehicle
- breakeven chart — a graph measuring the value of an enterprise's revenue and costs against some index of its activity, such as percentage capacity. The intersection of the total revenue and total cost curves gives the breakeven point
- breakeven point — a point at which the total revenue and total cost are equal
- breakfast table — You refer to a table as the breakfast table when it is being used for breakfast.
- breaking plough — a plough with a long shallow mouldboard for turning virgin land or sod land
- breaking strain — the amount of strain that, if applied to a particular material, will cause it to break