13-letter words containing a, p, t, e
- baroreceptors — Plural form of baroreceptor.
- barristership — the office of a barrister
- bartlett pear — a large, juicy variety of pear
- base hospital — a hospital serving a large rural area
- batch-process — to perform batch processing on (files)
- bay of plenty — a large bay of the Pacific on the NE coast of the North Island, New Zealand
- be upstanding — (in a court of law) a direction to all persons present to rise to their feet before the judge enters or leaves the court
- beam splitter — a system that divides a beam of light, electrons, etc, into two or more paths
- bear the palm — to be the winner; take the prize
- bearing plate — a heavy metal plate for receiving and distributing concentrated weight, as from a column or one end of a truss.
- beast of prey — any animal that hunts other animals for food
- beauty parlor — A beauty parlor is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example, to have their hair, nails, or makeup done.
- beaux esprits — bel esprit
- beaux-esprits — plural of bel-esprit.
- bedding plant — A bedding plant is a plant which lasts for one year. It is put in a flower bed before it flowers, and is then removed when it has finished flowering.
- bedding-plant — bedmaker (def 1).
- benthopelagic — relating to species living at the bottom of the sea
- berber carpet — a type of plain coloured carpeting, usually cream, oatmeal or light brown
- best practice — Best practice is the way of running a business or providing a service that is recognized as correct or most effective.
- beta particle — a high-speed electron or positron emitted by a nucleus during radioactive decay or nuclear fission
- beta receptor — a receptor, found on the surface of some cells of the sympathetic nervous system, that is stimulated by certain adrenergic substances: such stimulation results in certain physiological responses, such as acceleration of the action of the heart and dilatation of the arteries supplying heart and skeletal muscles
- beta-naphthol — either of two isomeric hydroxyl derivatives, C 1 0 H 7 OH, of naphthalene (alpha-naphthol or 1-naphthol and beta-naphthol or 2-naphthol) white or yellowish crystals, with a phenolic odor, that darken on exposure to light: used chiefly in dyes, drugs, perfumes, and insecticides.
- beta-receptor — a site on a cell, as of the heart, that, upon interaction with epinephrine or norepinephrine, controls heartbeat and heart contractability, vasodilation, smooth muscle inhibition, and other physiological processes.
- bias-ply tire — a vehicle tire in which the main plies or cords run across the bead.
- bibliotherapy — the use of reading as therapy
- biocompatible — not rejected by the body
- birth parents — a child's biological parents, regardless of whether they subsequently bring up the child
- black panther — (in the US) a member of a militant Black political party (1965–82) founded to end the political dominance of White people
- blepharoplast — a cylindrical cytoplasmic body in protozoa
- booby-trapped — (of a building, vehicle, etc) planted with a booby trap
- boom operator — a person who operates a boom
- border patrol — a government agency in charge of preventing terrorists, weapons, and illegal immigrants entering the country
- boycott apple — (legal) Some time before 1989, Apple Computer, Inc. started a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, claiming they had breeched Apple's copyright on the look and feel of the Macintosh user interface. In December 1989, Xerox failed to sue Apple Computer, claiming that the software for Apple's Lisa computer and Macintosh Finder, both copyrighted in 1987, were derived from two Xerox programs: Smalltalk, developed in the mid-1970s and Star, copyrighted in 1981. Apple wanted to stop people from writing any program that worked even vaguely like a Macintosh. If such look and feel lawsuits succeed they could put an end to free software that could substitute for commercial software. In the weeks after the suit was filed, Usenet reverberated with condemnation for Apple. GNU supporters Richard Stallman, John Gilmore and Paul Rubin decided to take action against Apple. Apple's reputation as a force for progress came from having made better computers; but The League for Programming Freedom believed that Apple wanted to make all non-Apple computers worse. They therefore campaigned to discourage people from using Apple products or working for Apple or any other company threatening similar obstructionist tactics (e.g. Lotus and Xerox). Because of this boycott the Free Software Foundation for a long time didn't support Macintosh Unix in their software. In 1995, the LPF and the FSF decided to end the boycott.
- brachypterous — having very short or incompletely developed wings
- brachytherapy — a form of radiotherapy in which sealed sources of radioactive material are inserted temporarily into body cavities or directly into tumours
- bracket creep — an advance into a higher income tax bracket resulting from an increase in nominal income: the higher taxes, when combined with the effects of inflation, may produce a decline in real income
- breaker strip — breaker1 (def 4).
- breaker-strip — a person or thing that breaks.
- breast pocket — The breast pocket of a man's coat or jacket is a pocket, usually on the inside, next to his chest.
- breeches part — a male role played by an actress.
- bull elephant — an adult male elephant
- butcher paper — heavy, moisture-resistant paper, as used for wrapping meat.
- butterfly pea — any of several leguminous plants of the genus Clitoria, as C. mariana, of North America, having pale-blue flowers.
- by reputation — If you know someone by reputation, you have never met them but you have heard of their reputation.
- camping stove — a portable stove powered by butane gas canisters, designed to be used for cooking while camping
- campylobacter — a rod-shaped bacterium that causes infections in cattle and man. Unpasteurized milk infected with campylobacter is a common cause of gastroenteritis
- candidateship — candidature
- candy striper — a volunteer worker in a hospital
- candy-striped — (esp of clothing fabric) having narrow coloured stripes on a white background
- candy-striper — a person, often a teenager, who works as a volunteer in a hospital.