15-letter words containing a, r
- baptism of fire — If someone who has just begun a new job has a baptism of fire, they immediately have to cope with very many severe difficulties and obstacles.
- bar examination — a written examination to determine if one is qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction.
- bar-code reader — an electronic machine that scans and reads bar codes
- barberry family — the plant family Berberidaceae, characterized by shrubs and herbaceous plants having very varied leaves and flowers and fruit in the form of a berry or capsule, and including the barberry, May apple, and Oregon grape.
- barbituric acid — a white crystalline solid used in the preparation of barbiturate drugs. Formula: C4H4N2O3
- barbizon school — a group of French painters of landscapes of the 1840s, including Théodore Rousseau, Daubigny, Diaz, Corot, and Millet
- barcelona chair — an armless, padded leather chair on a steel frame shaped like a curved X: Barcelona is a trademark for this chair
- bare infinitive — an infinitive verb form without to, used with certain auxiliary verbs , as in I must go. All I did was ask. We might win.
- barefoot doctor — (esp in developing countries) a worker trained as a medical auxiliary in a rural area who dispenses medicine, gives first aid, assists at childbirth, etc
- bargain counter — a store counter on which goods are displayed for sale at reduced prices
- bargain-hunting — the act of shopping for items sold at cheap, esp discounted, prices
- bargaining chip — In negotiations with other people, a bargaining chip is something that you are prepared to give up in order to obtain what you want.
- bargaining unit — a specific group of employees who are covered by the same collective agreement or set of agreements and represented by the same bargaining agent or agents
- barium chloride — a poisonous compound, BaCl2, consisting of flat white crystals that are soluble in water: it is used to treat water, metals, leather, etc.
- barium chromate — a yellow, crystalline compound, BaCrO 4 , used as a pigment (barium yellow)
- barium peroxide — a gray-white powder, BaO2, used as a bleach and in making hydrogen peroxide
- 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
- barium titanate — a crystalline ceramic used in capacitors and piezoelectric devices. Formula: BaTiO3
- barley sandwich — a drink of beer, esp at lunch time
- barn conversion — the adaptation of a farm barn into a building serving a different use, such as a house or commercial premises
- barn-door skate — an Atlantic skate, Raja laevis, that grows to a length of 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more.
- barothermograph — an automatic instrument for recording pressure and temperature.
- barracks lawyer — a member of the armed forces who speaks or acts like an authority on military law, regulations, and the rights of service personnel.
- 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.
- barrancabermeja — a city in N Colombia.
- barry mountains — a mountain range in SE Australia, in E Victoria: part of the Australian Alps
- barycentrically — In a barycentric manner.
- basic anhydride — a compound formed by removing water from a more complex compound: an oxide of a nonmetal (acid anhydride) or a metal (basic anhydride) that forms an acid or a base, respectively, when united with water.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- basse-normandie — a region of NW France, on the English Channel: consists of the Cherbourg peninsula in the west rising to the Normandy hills in the east; mainly agricultural
- basses-pyrenees — former name of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
- bathroom scales — scales typically kept in a bathroom for people to weigh themselves
- 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).
- bathymetrically — In a bathymetric way.
- bathythermogram — a record made by a bathythermograph.
- battery charger — a device that can restore the charge to a battery, usually by means of electricity
- battery farming — the activity of using batteries for raising poultry
- batting average — in baseball, a figure expressing the average batting efficiency of a player or team, figured by dividing the number of base hits by the number of official at-bats
- battle hardened — toughened by the experience of battle
- battleship gray — a subdued bluish gray.
- bayeux tapestry — an 11th- or 12th-century embroidery in Bayeux, nearly 70.5 m (231 ft) long by 50 cm (20 inches) high, depicting the Norman conquest of England
- be carried away — to be moved to great or unreasoning emotion or enthusiasm
- be raring to go — If you say that you are raring to go, you mean that you are very eager to start doing something.
- beach goldenrod — a composite plant, Solidago sempervirens, of eastern and southern North America, having a thick stem and large, branched, one-sided terminal clusters of yellow flowers, flourishing on sea beaches or salt marshes.
- beam-power tube — a vacuum tube in which the stream of electrons flowing to the plate is focused by the action of a set of auxiliary, charged elements, giving an increase in output power.
- bear animalcule — tardigrade (def 3).
- bear comparison — to be sufficiently similar in class or range to be compared with (something else), esp favourably
- bearded vulture — lammergeier
- béarnaise sauce — a creamy sauce, esp. for meat or fish, made of butter and egg yolks and flavored with wine, vinegar, shallots, and herbs