15-letter words containing a, r, u, s, i
- bangtail muster — a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted
- barium stearate — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, Ba(C 18 H 35 O 2) 2 , used chiefly as a waterproofing agent and as a lubricant.
- barium sulphate — a white insoluble fine dense powder, used as a pigment, as a filler for paper, rubber, etc, and in barium meals. Formula: BaSO4
- barry mountains — a mountain range in SE Australia, in E Victoria: part of the Australian Alps
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- bathurst island — an island off the coast of N Nunavut, Canada, in the Arctic Archipelago: present south of the North Magnetic Pole nearby. 7609 sq. mi. (19,707 sq. km).
- béarnaise sauce — a creamy sauce, esp. for meat or fish, made of butter and egg yolks and flavored with wine, vinegar, shallots, and herbs
- bioastronautics — the study of the effects of space flight on living organisms
- brachial plexus — a network of nerves in the armpits and neck, innervating the shoulders, arms, and hands.
- branching rules — rules that are used to break down a complex problem into several smaller problems
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- 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
- brushback pitch — a fast ball deliberately thrown at or too near a batter's head
- 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)
- buffalo soldier — (formerly, especially among American Indians) a black soldier.
- 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.
- bulimia nervosa — a disorder characterized by compulsive overeating followed by vomiting: sometimes associated with anxiety about gaining weight
- bureau of mines — a division of the Department of the Interior, created in 1910, that studies the nation's mineral resources and inspects mines.
- buried treasure — A surprising piece of code found in some program. While usually not wrong, it tends to vary from crufty to bletcherous, and has lain undiscovered only because it was functionally correct, however horrible it is. Used sarcastically, because what is found is anything *but* treasure. Buried treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed. "I just found that the scheduler sorts its queue using bubble sort! Buried treasure!"
- burt l standish — Burt L. pseudonym of Gilbert Patten.
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- calculated risk — a chance of failure, the probability of which is estimated before some action is undertaken.
- capital surplus — any surplus of a business firm not derived from direct earnings or profits
- caprifoliaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Caprifoliaceae, a family of N temperate shrubs, small trees, and climbers including honeysuckle, elder, and guelder-rose
- carl xvi gustaf — born 1946, king of Sweden from 1973
- carnivorousness — flesh-eating: A dog is a carnivorous animal.
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- caustic surface — a surface that envelopes the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved surface
- central sudanic — a group of languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, and including Mangbetu.
- cervical plexus — a network of nerves branching from the spinal nerves of the neck region and innervating the neck, chest, diaphragm, and part of the face.
- ceteris paribus — other things being equal
- channel surfing — to change from one channel on a television set to another with great or unusual frequency, especially by using a remote control.
- channel-surfing — Channel-surfing is the same as channel-hopping.
- chi-square test — a test derived from the chi-square distribution to compare the goodness of fit of theoretical and observed frequency distributions or to compare nominal data derived from unmatched groups of subjects
- chinese lacquer — lacquer (def 2).
- chinese mustard — brown mustard.
- chintz curtains — curtains made of chintz
- church slavonic — Old Church Slavonic, esp as preserved in the liturgical use of the Orthodox church
- churchill falls — a waterfall in E Canada, in SW Labrador on the Churchill River: site of one of the largest hydroelectric power projects in the world. Height: 75 m (245 ft)
- circularisation — Alternative spelling of circularization.
- circumambagious — in a round-about manner
- circumambulates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of circumambulate.
- circumforaneous — moving around or abroad; roaming from place to place
- circumnavigates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of circumnavigate.
- circumstantials — incidentals; details
- circumstantiate — to support by giving particulars
- claims adjuster — A claims adjuster is someone who is employed by an insurance company to decide how much money a person making a claim should receive.
- claustrophobics — Plural form of claustrophobic.