15-letter words containing a, n, e, l
- argyll and bute — a council area in W Scotland on the Atlantic Ocean: in 1975 the historical counties of Argyllshire and Bute became part of Strathclyde region; in 1996 they were reinstated as a single unitary authority. Argyll and Bute is mountainous and includes the islands of Bute, Mull, Islay, and Jura. Administrative centre: Lochgilphead. Pop: 91 300 (2003 est). Area: 6930 sq km (2676 sq miles)
- aristotelianism — a philosophical tradition based on the wide-ranging belief system of Aristotle
- armes parlantes — arms using devices to illustrate the name of the bearers, such as a rose and a wall to illustrate the name Rosewall
- arrivals lounge — a waiting area for people meeting passengers
- arterialization — to convert (venous blood) into arterial blood by the action of oxygen in the lungs.
- artificial gene — a duplicate gene synthesized in the laboratory by combining nucleotides in a sequence characteristic of the copied gene.
- artificialness' — made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural): artificial flowers.
- artillery plant — any of various tropical urticaceous plants of the genus Pilea, such as P. microphylla, all having stamens that discharge their pollen explosively
- ascending colon — the first portion of the colon, beginning at the cecum in the lower right abdominal cavity and continuing upward along the right posterior abdominal wall to approximately the lower ribs.
- ascending scale — a scale that is rising in pitch
- asian influenza — pandemic influenza caused by a strain of the influenza virus first isolated in Singapore in 1957
- assemblypersons — Plural form of assemblyperson.
- assisted living — Assisted living is a type of housing specially designed for people who need help in their everyday lives, but who do not need specialist nursing care. In assisted living facilities, residents live in independent rooms or apartments, but receive help with day-to-day activities, for example bathing, dressing, preparing meals, and taking their medicines.
- at arm's length — If you hold something at arm's length, you hold it away from your body with your arm straight.
- at first glance — If you say that something is true or seems to be true at first glance, you mean that it seems to be true when you first see it or think about it, but that your first impression may be wrong.
- at right angles — If two things are at right angles, they are situated so that they form an angle of 90° where they touch each other. You can also say that one thing is at right angles to another.
- at the controls — If someone is at the controls of a machine or other piece of equipment, they are operating it.
- atlantic ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atlantic-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atrabiliousness — The state or quality of being characterized by melancholy or glumness.
- attorney-at-law — a lawyer qualified to represent in court a party to a legal action
- audience appeal — the quality of being attractive to an audience
- auditor general — (in Canada) a federal official responsible for auditing government departments and making an annual report
- australian pine — casuarina
- authenticatable — to establish as genuine.
- autocorrelation — the condition occurring when successive items in a series are correlated so that their covariance is not zero and they are not independent
- autofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting autofluorescence.
- avant la lettre — before the (specified) concept, word, person, etc. existed
- avian influenza — an acute, usually fatal viral disease of chickens and other domestic and wild birds except pigeons, characterized by sudden onset of symptoms including fever, swollen head and neck, bluish-black comb and wattle, and difficult respiration.
- 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.
- baggage handler — a person who moves baggage onto and off planes at an airport
- balance control — a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
- balanced rudder — a rudder so designed that the center of water pressure on the forward face, when turned, lies about halfway along the length, minimizing the turning effort required.
- balanced ticket — a slate of candidates chosen to appeal to a wide range of voters, especially by including members of large regional, ethnic, or religious groups.
- balloon barrage — a series of moored balloons, usually strung together and hung with cables, for impeding a low-level attack by enemy aircraft.
- balloon payment — a large payment that concludes a series of smaller payments, for example in order to repay a loan
- ballpeen hammer — a hammer that has one end of its head shaped in a hemisphere for beating metal, etc
- ballpoint (pen) — a pen having, instead of a point, a small ball bearing that picks up its ink by rolling against an interior ink reservoir
- ballroom dancer — a person who participates in ballroom dancing
- baltic exchange — a group of companies, based in London, which engages in trading activities, esp chartering cargo vessels
- banana republic — Small, poor countries that are politically unstable are sometimes referred to as banana republics.
- bandpass filter — A bandpass filter is a filter designed to pass all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- bandstop filter — A bandstop filter is a filter designed to eliminate all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- bangtail muster — a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted
- bank of england — the central bank of the United Kingdom, which acts as banker to the government and the commercial banks. It is responsible for managing the government's debt and implementing its policy on other monetary matters: established in 1694, nationalized in 1946; in 1997 the government restored the authority to set interest rates to the Bank
- banner headline — A banner headline is a large headline in a newspaper that stretches across the front page.
- banqueting hall — a large building or room used for feasts
- barcelona chair — an armless, padded leather chair on a steel frame shaped like a curved X: Barcelona is a trademark for this chair
- barley sandwich — a drink of beer, esp at lunch time
- barrage balloon — Barrage balloons are large balloons which are fixed to the ground by strong steel cables. They are used in wartime, when the cables are intended to destroy low-flying enemy aircraft.