15-letter words containing a, s, u
- australian mist — a breed of medium-sized cat with a short spotted or marbled coat
- australian pine — casuarina
- austria-hungary — the Dual Monarchy established in 1867, consisting of what are now Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and parts of Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Italy. The empire was broken up after World War I
- authentications — Plural form of authentication.
- autobiographers — Plural form of autobiographer.
- autobiographies — Plural form of autobiography.
- autocannibalism — The eating of part of one's own body.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- autodidacticism — any self-directed learning or self-education
- autofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting autofluorescence.
- automatic focus — a system in a camera which automatically adjusts the lens so that the object being photographed is in focus, often one using infrared light to estimate the distance of the object from the camera
- autoradiographs — Plural form of autoradiograph.
- autoschediastic — offhand, with little forethought or preparation
- autostereoscopy — The display of stereoscopic images without the use of special viewing equipment.
- autotransformer — a transformer in which part of the winding is common to both primary and secondary circuits
- autotransfusion — a process in which a patient receives some of his or her own blood in a transfusion rather than a donor's blood
- autotransplants — Plural form of autotransplant.
- backup software — (tool, software) Software for doing a backup, often included as part of the operating system. Backup software should provide ways to specify what files get backed up and to where. It may include its own scheduling function to automate the procedure or, preferably, work with generic scheduling facilities. It may include facilities for managing the backup media (e.g. maintaining an index of tapes) and for restoring files from backups. Examples are Unix's dump command and Windows's ntbackup.
- bacteriophagous — Pertaining to the predation and consumption of bacterium.
- bad housekeeper — a person who is not an efficient and thrifty domestic manager
- 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).
- basic education — (in India) education in which all teaching is correlated with the learning of a craft
- basidiomycetous — belonging or pertaining to the basidiomycetes.
- bathing costume — A bathing costume is a piece of clothing that is worn for swimming, especially by women and girls.
- 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).
- 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 just as well — If you say that something that has happened is just as well, you mean that it is fortunate that it happened in the way it did.
- béarnaise sauce — a creamy sauce, esp. for meat or fish, made of butter and egg yolks and flavored with wine, vinegar, shallots, and herbs
- beast of burden — A beast of burden is an animal such as an ox or a donkey that is used for carrying or pulling things.
- beat one's gums — to talk much and idly
- beat oneself up — to reproach oneself
- beat the bounds — (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
- beat the bushes — a low plant with many branches that arise from or near the ground.
- bioastronautics — the study of the effects of space flight on living organisms
- bishop auckland — a town in N England, in central Durham: seat of the bishops of Durham since the 12th century: light industries. Pop: 24 764 (2001)
- bituminous coal — a soft black coal, rich in volatile hydrocarbons, that burns with a smoky yellow flame. Fixed carbon content: 46–86 per cent; calorific value: 1.93 × 107 – 3.63 × 107 J/kg
- black mountains — a mountain range running from N Monmouthshire and SE Powys (Wales) to SW Herefordshire (England). Highest peak: Waun Fach, 811 m (2660 ft)
- blackberry bush — a bush on which blackberries grow
- blasphemousness — the quality of being blasphemous
- blindman's buff — a game in which a blindfolded player has to catch and identify another player
- blue wood aster — a composite plant, Aster cordifolius, of North America, having heart-shaped leaves and pale-blue flowers.
- blue-eyed grass — any of various mainly North American iridaceous marsh plants of the genus Sisyrinchium that have grasslike leaves and small flat starlike blue flowers
- blueback salmon — sockeye salmon.
- bluegrass state — Kentucky (used as a nickname).
- bologna sausage — a large smoked sausage made of seasoned mixed meats
- brachial plexus — a network of nerves in the armpits and neck, innervating the shoulders, arms, and hands.