15-letter words containing a, t, r, i
- breaking strain — the amount of strain that, if applied to a particular material, will cause it to break
- breathing space — A breathing space is a short period of time between two activities in which you can recover from the first activity and prepare for the second one.
- brights-disease — a disease characterized by albuminuria and heightened blood pressure.
- brillat-savarin — Anthelme (ɑ̃tɛlm). 1755–1826, French lawyer and gourmet; author of Physiologie du Goût (1825)
- 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
- britannia metal — an alloy of low melting point consisting of tin with 5–10 per cent antimony, 1–3 per cent copper, and sometimes small quantities of zinc, lead, or bismuth: used for decorative purposes and for bearings
- british america — British North America.
- british library — the British national library, formed in 1973 from the British Museum library and other national collections: housed mainly in the British Museum until 1997 when a purpose-built library in St Pancras, London, was completed
- britneyfication — the effect on clothes and fashions of following the revealing styles favoured by the US pop singer Britney Spears (born 1981)
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- bronze diabetes — hemochromatosis.
- brother-in-arms — a fellow soldier or comrade in a shared struggle
- 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.
- brushback pitch — a fast ball deliberately thrown at or too near a batter's head
- building trades — the trades and professions concerned with the creation and finishing of buildings, such as carpenters, plasterers, masons, electricians, etc.
- 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.
- buryat republic — a constituent republic of SE central Russia, on Lake Baikal: mountainous, with forests covering over half the total area. Capital: Ulan-Ude. Pop: 981 000 (2002). Area: 351 300 sq km (135 608 sq miles)
- butterfly chair — a lightweight chair consisting of a piece of canvas, leather, etc. slung from a framework of metal bars
- cabinet picture — a small easel painting, usually under 3 feet (0.9 meters) in width and formerly exhibited in a cabinet or special room.
- cabinet scraper — a scraper used in preparing a wood surface for sanding.
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- cadmean victory — a victory won with great losses to the victors
- cafeteria-style — set up to allow a variety of choices.
- cairngorm-stone — smoky quartz.
- calcined baryta — baryta (def 1).
- calcined-baryta — Also called calcined baryta, barium oxide, barium monoxide, barium protoxide. a white or yellowish-white poisonous solid, BaO, highly reactive with water: used chiefly as a dehydrating agent and in the manufacture of glass.
- calcium citrate — the calcium salt of citric acid, used as a food additive
- calcium nitrate — a white, deliquescent solid, Ca(NO 3) 2 , used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, fireworks, matches, and explosives.
- calculated risk — a chance of failure, the probability of which is estimated before some action is undertaken.
- calendarization — the process of calendarizing
- calf diphtheria — a disease of the throat in young calves caused by Fusobacterium necrophorum, resulting in breathing difficulty and a painful cough
- calliper splint — a splint consisting of two metal rods with straps attached, for supporting or exerting tension on the leg
- camelot library — (library)
- camphorated oil — a liniment consisting of camphor and peanut oil, used as a counterirritant
- canisterization — the process of putting (something) into a canister or canisters
- canning factory — a building or group of buildings containing a plant assembly where food is sealed in cans or tins to preserve it
- cantilever beam — a long thick straight-sided piece of wood, metal, concrete, etc that is fixed at one end and is free at the other
- cape finisterre — a headland in NW Spain: the westernmost point of the Spanish mainland
- capillarization — The formation and development of a network of capillaries to a part of the body; it is increased by aerobic exercise.
- capital gearing — the ratio of a company's debt capital to its equity capital
- capital letters — a letter of the alphabet that usually differs from its corresponding lowercase letter in form and height, as A, B, Q, and R as distinguished from a, b, q, and r : used as the initial letter of a proper name, the first word of a sentence, etc.
- capital surplus — any surplus of a business firm not derived from direct earnings or profits
- captain's chair — a hardwood armchair having a low, curved back, formed of a single rail supported by spindles, and a saddle seat
- car maintenance — the act of maintaining an automobile
- carbazotic acid — picric acid.
- carbon fixation — the process by which plants assimilate carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form metabolically active compounds