14-letter words containing a, l, o
- bachelor party — A bachelor party is a party for a man who is getting married very soon, to which only men are invited.
- back catalogue — A musical performer's back catalogue is the music which they recorded and released in the past rather than their latest recordings.
- backbone cabal — (networking) A group of large-site administrators who pushed through the Great Renaming and reined in the chaos of Usenet during most of the 1980s. The cabal mailing list disbanded in late 1988 after a bitter internal cat-fight.
- backflow valve — a valve for preventing flowing liquid, as sewage, from reversing its direction.
- backing vocals — a vocal accompaniment for a pop singer
- backstrap loom — a simple horizontal loom, used especially in Central and South America, on which one of two beams holding the warp yarn is attached to a strap that passes across the weaver's back.
- bacteriologist — a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
- ball indicator — a flight instrument that measures the angle of roll about an aircraft's horizontal axis, thereby indicating whether or not the aircraft is skidding or slipping.
- ball of muscle — a very strong, fit, or forceful person
- ballast pocket — a depression that is formed beneath the ballast layer by penetration of ballast particles into the subgrade and that tends to collect moisture.
- ballon d'essai — a project or policy put forward experimentally to gauge reactions to it
- balloon sleeve — a sleeve fitting tightly from wrist to elbow and becoming fully rounded from elbow to shoulder
- ballot rigging — Ballot rigging is the act of illegally changing the result of an election by producing a false record of the number of votes.
- ballroom dance — a social dance, popular since the beginning of the 20th century, in conventional rhythms, such as the foxtrot and the quickstep
- balm of gilead — any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora, esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin
- balm-of-gilead — any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.
- balsam of peru — an aromatic balsam that is obtained from the tropical South American leguminous tree Myroxylon pereirae and is similar to balsam of Tolu
- balsam of tolu — tolu
- balsaminaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Balsaminaceae, a family of flowering plants, including balsam and touch-me-not, that have irregular flowers and explosive capsules
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- balto-slavonic — a hypothetical subfamily of Indo-European languages consisting of Baltic and Slavonic. It is now generally believed that similarities between them result from geographical proximity rather than any special relationship
- banana problem — (programming, humour) From the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell "banana", but I don't know when to stop". Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error). One may say "there is a banana problem" of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance, creeping featuritis).
- baptismal font — a large bowl for baptismal water, usually mounted on a pedestal
- baptismal vows — the solemn promises made during baptism, either by the person baptized or by his or her sponsors
- baranof island — an island off SE Alaska, in the western part of the Alexander Archipelago. Area: 4162 sq km (1607 sq miles)
- barbara liskov — (person) Professor Barbara Liskov was the first US woman to be awarded a PhD in computing, and her innovations can be found in every modern programming language. She currently (2009) heads the Programming Methodology Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Liskov's design innovations have, over the decades, made software more reliable and easier to maintain. She has invented two computer progamming languages: CLU, an object-orientated language, and Argus, a distributed programming language. Liskov's research forms the basis of modern programming languages such as Java, C# and C++. One of the biggest impacts of her work came from her contributions to the use of data abstraction, a method for organising complex programs. See Liskov substitution principle. In June 2009 she will receive the A. M. Turing Award.
- barber college — a school for training barbers
- barnacle goose — a N European goose, Branta leucopsis, that has a black-and-white head and body and grey wings
- barometrically — By means of a barometer.
- barong tagalog — (in the Philippines) a man's long-sleeved formal overblouse, made of fine, sheer fabric, often embroidered.
- basal ganglion — any of several masses of gray matter in each cerebral hemisphere.
- baseball glove — a padded glove with webbing between the thumb and index finger, worn by baseball players
- basket-of-gold — a yellow-flowered perennial plant (Alyssum saxatile, now more properly Aurinia saxatilis) of the crucifer family, often used in rock gardens
- battle of wits — If you refer to a situation as a battle of wits, you mean that it involves people with opposing aims who compete with each other using their intelligence, rather than force.
- battle station — the place or position that one is assigned to for battle or in an emergency.
- bay psalm book — a translation of the Psalms by John Eliot and others: the first book published (1640) in America.
- bazillionaires — Plural form of bazillionaire.
- be on the ball — to be alert; be efficient
- bearded collie — a medium-sized breed of dog having a profuse long straight coat, usually grey or fawn and often with white on the head, legs, and chest, a long tail, and a distinctive beard
- beaufort scale — an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used
- beauty parlour — A beauty parlour is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example to have their hair, nails or make-up done.
- beclomethasone — a potent synthetic corticosteroid, C 28 H 37 ClO 7 , prepared as an inhalant in the treatment of bronchial asthma.
- belaya tserkov — city in WC Ukraine: pop. 204,000
- belisha beacon — a flashing light in an orange globe mounted on a post, indicating a pedestrian crossing on a road
- belvoir castle — a castle in Leicestershire, near Grantham (in Lincolnshire): seat of the Dukes of Rutland; rebuilt by James Wyatt in 1816
- benzyl alcohol — a colorless, faintly aromatic, slightly water-soluble liquid, C 7 H 8 O, used chiefly as a solvent in the manufacture of perfumes and flavorings, and as an intermediate in the synthesis of benzyl esters and ethers.
- bermuda collar — a narrow, pointed collar on a woman's dress or blouse
- betake oneself — to go; move
- betray oneself — to reveal one's true character, intentions, etc
- bibliomaniacal — relating to a bibliomaniac