15-letter words containing a, r, o, n
- 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
- 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
- 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
- branchial pouch — one of a series of rudimentary outcroppings of the inner pharyngeal wall, corresponding to the branchial grooves on the surface.
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- brand extension — the practice of using a well-known brand name to promote new products or services in unrelated fields
- 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.
- bread and honey — money
- 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.
- breakbone fever — dengue
- breakdown cover — insurance cover against breakdowns in a vehicle
- breakeven point — a point at which the total revenue and total cost are equal
- breaking plough — a plough with a long shallow mouldboard for turning virgin land or sod land
- breeding season — the time of year during which animals breed
- bring to a head — to bring or be brought to a crisis
- bristol channel — an inlet of the Atlantic, between S Wales and SW England, merging into the Severn estuary. Length: about 137 km (85 miles)
- bristol fashion — clean and neat, with newly painted and scrubbed surfaces, brass polished, etc
- britneyfication — the effect on clothes and fashions of following the revealing styles favoured by the US pop singer Britney Spears (born 1981)
- brompheniramine — a substance, C 16 H 19 BrN 2 , used as an antihistamine in the management of various allergies, as hay fever.
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- bronze diabetes — hemochromatosis.
- bronzed grackle — the western subspecies of the American bird, the common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula versicolor, having bronzy, iridescent plumage.
- brother-in-arms — a fellow soldier or comrade in a shared struggle
- brown-and-serve — requiring only a brief period of browning, as in an oven, before being ready to serve: brown-and-serve rolls.
- brown-tail moth — a white moth, Nygmia phaerrhoea, having a brown tuft at the end of the abdomen, the larvae of which feed on the foliage of various shade and fruit trees.
- brownian motion — the irregular motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or a gas, caused by the bombardment of the particles by molecules of the medium: first observed by Robert Brown in 1827.
- buffalo currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes odoratum, of the central U.S., having showy, drooping clusters of fragrant yellow flowers and edible black fruit.
- bulimia nervosa — a disorder characterized by compulsive overeating followed by vomiting: sometimes associated with anxiety about gaining weight
- bullnose header — bull header (def 1).
- bullnose-header — Also called bullnose header. a brick having one of the edges across its width rounded for laying as a header in a sill or the like.
- bureau of mines — a division of the Department of the Interior, created in 1910, that studies the nation's mineral resources and inspects mines.
- button mangrove — a tropical tree, Conocarpus erectus, having small, reddish, conelike fruits and bark used in tanning.
- cache coherency — (storage) (Or "cache consistency") /kash koh-heer'n-see/ The synchronisation of data in multiple caches such that reading a memory location via any cache will return the most recent data written to that location via any (other) cache. Some parallel processors do not cache accesses to shared memory to avoid the issue of cache coherency. If caches are used with shared memory then some system is required to detect when data in one processor's cache should be discarded or replaced because another processor has updated that memory location. Several such schemes have been devised.
- cadmean victory — a victory won with great losses to the victors
- caernarvonshire — (until 1974) a county of NW Wales, now part of Gwynedd
- cairngorm-stone — smoky quartz.
- calendarization — the process of calendarizing
- california gull — a large gull, Larus californicus, of the western U.S.
- california mink — cacomistle.
- california roll — a sushi roll containing avocado, cucumber, and crabmeat, or imitation crabmeat, wrapped in vinegared rice and seaweed.
- california rose — a cultivated variety of a bindweed, Calystegia hederacea, having showy, double, rose-colored flowers.
- call for margin — a demand made by a stockbroker for partial payment of a client's debt due to decreasing value of the collateral
- call forwarding — a telephone service that allows incoming calls to be transferred automatically to another number or extension
- calydonian boar — a savage boar sent by Artemis to destroy Calydon, a city in Aetolia, because its king had neglected to sacrifice to her. It was killed by Meleager, the king's son
- camp counsellor — an adult supervisor assigned to a group of campers at a summer camp
- campaign ribbon — a distinctively colored ribbon, either on a small, narrow bar or in the form of a strip, representing a military campaign participated in by the wearer.
- campaign worker — a person who carries out duties for a political candidate or party, esp before an election