15-letter words containing a, g, s, i
- augmented sixth — an interval greater than a major sixth by a chromatic half step.
- augusta emerita — a market town in W Spain, in Extremadura, on the Guadiana River: founded in 25 bc; became the capital of Lusitania and one of the chief cities of Iberia. Pop: 52 110 (2003 est)
- austria-hungary — the Dual Monarchy established in 1867, consisting of what are now Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and parts of Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Italy. The empire was broken up after World War I
- autobiographers — Plural form of autobiographer.
- autobiographies — Plural form of autobiography.
- autoradiographs — Plural form of autoradiograph.
- aviator glasses — sunglasses that look like goggles
- back plastering — the introduction of partitions of lath and plaster between the inner and outer surfaces of a stud wall in order to improve the insulating properties of the wall.
- back-scratching — a reciprocal exchange of favors, aid, or compliments
- bacterial ghost — a bacterial cell that is emptied and filled artificially with another substance
- bacteriophagous — Pertaining to the predation and consumption of bacterium.
- bag on the side — An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or bloated. Also "to hang a bag on the side [of]". "C++? That's just a bag on the side of C." "They want me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system."
- bangtail muster — a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted
- bat-wing sleeve — formed, shaped, etc., like the wing of a bat.
- bathing costume — A bathing costume is a piece of clothing that is worn for swimming, especially by women and girls.
- battleship gray — a subdued bluish gray.
- be having sb on — If you are having someone on, you are pretending that something is true when it is not true, for example as a joke or in order to tease them.
- benefits agency — an agency that handles the payment of benefits
- big sandy creek — a river in central Colorado, flowing NE and SE to the Arkansas River near Lamar: site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. 200 miles (322 km) long.
- biogasification — the conversion of organic matter into biogas.
- biostratigraphy — the examination of the ages of rock strata by using fossils
- bird of passage — If you refer to someone as a bird of passage, you mean that they are staying in a place for a short time before going to another place.
- blasting powder — a form of gunpowder made with sodium nitrate instead of saltpeter, used chiefly for blasting rock, ore, etc.
- boarding school — A boarding school is a school which some or all of the pupils live in during the school term. Compare day school.
- boston marriage — (especially in 19th-century New England) an intimate friendship between two women often maintaining a household together.
- bragging rights — notional privileges that are gained by defeating a close rival
- branching rules — rules that are used to break down a complex problem into several smaller problems
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- breaking strain — the amount of strain that, if applied to a particular material, will cause it to break
- breathing space — A breathing space is a short period of time between two activities in which you can recover from the first activity and prepare for the second one.
- breeding season — the time of year during which animals breed
- brights-disease — a disease characterized by albuminuria and heightened blood pressure.
- brush discharge — a slightly luminous electrical discharge between points of high charge density when the charge density is insufficient to cause a spark or around sharp points on a highly charged conductor because of ionization of air molecules in their vicinity
- buckinghamshire — a county in SE central England, containing the Vale of Aylesbury and parts of the Chiltern Hills: the geographic and ceremonial county includes Milton Keynes, which became an independent unitary authority in 1997. Administrative centre: Aylesbury. Pop (excluding Milton Keynes): 478 000 (2003 est). Area (excluding Milton Keynes): 1568 sq km (605 sq miles)
- bug fix release — (programming) A release which introduces no new features, but which merely aims to fix bugs in previous releases. All too commonly new bugs are introduced at the same time.
- building trades — the trades and professions concerned with the creation and finishing of buildings, such as carpenters, plasterers, masons, electricians, etc.
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- cairngorm-stone — smoky quartz.
- cardiac massage — a rhythmic compressing of the heart, using the hands to force blood through the blood vessels: an emergency medical procedure for treating heart failure
- carl xvi gustaf — born 1946, king of Sweden from 1973
- cartridge brass — brass composed of about 70 percent copper and 30 percent zinc.
- cassini-huygens — a NASA-ESA spacecraft launched in 1997 to study Saturn and its moons; Cassini entered orbit around the planet in 2004 and released the Huygens probe which landed on Titan in 2005
- catastrophising — Present participle of catastrophise.
- catastrophizing — Present participle of catastrophize.
- categoricalness — The quality of being categorical, positive, or absolute.
- categorisations — Plural form of categorisation.
- categorizations — Plural form of categorization.
- celestial globe — a spherical model of the celestial sphere showing the relative positions of stars, constellations, etc
- centipede grass — a slow-growing grass, Eremochloa ophiuroides, introduced into the U.S. from China and used for lawns in warm areas.
- central casting — a nominal casting agency that delivers stereotypes to films or, figuratively, to real life situations