15-letter words containing a, u, r, i, c
- autocorrelation — the condition occurring when successive items in a series are correlated so that their covariance is not zero and they are not independent
- autocorrelative — Relating to autocorrelation.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- automatic rifle — a type of light machine gun capable of firing automatically or in single shots.
- automorphically — in an automorphic manner
- autorhythmicity — The quality of being autorhythmic, or generating its own rhythm, as for example the cells of the cardiac muscle do.
- autotrophically — through an autotrophic process
- backup rotation — (operating system) Any system for re-using backup media, e.g. magnetic tape. One extreme would be to use the same media for every backup (e.g. copy disk A to disk B), the other extreme would be to use new media every time. The trade-off is between the cost of buying and storing media and the ability to restore any version of any file. One example is the Grandfather, Father, Son (GFS) scheme.
- bacteriophagous — Pertaining to the predation and consumption of bacterium.
- badminton court — the court on which games of badminton are played
- banana republic — Small, poor countries that are politically unstable are sometimes referred to as banana republics.
- banking product — one of the various services offered by a bank to its customers: mortgages, loans, insurance etc
- barbituric acid — a white crystalline solid used in the preparation of barbiturate drugs. Formula: C4H4N2O3
- bargain counter — a store counter on which goods are displayed for sale at reduced prices
- 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)
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- bear animalcule — tardigrade (def 3).
- 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.
- branchial pouch — one of a series of rudimentary outcroppings of the inner pharyngeal wall, corresponding to the branchial grooves on the surface.
- 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)
- 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.
- cactus geranium — a plant, Pelargonium echinatum, of the geranium family, native to southern Africa, having prickly stipules and white or reddish flowers.
- calcium blocker — any of a group of drugs that prevent the influx of calcium into excitable tissues such as smooth muscle of the heart or arterioles, used in the treatment of angina, hypertension, and certain arrhythmias.
- calcium carbide — a grey salt of calcium used in the production of acetylene (by its reaction with water) and calcium cyanamide. Formula: CaC2
- 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.
- california gull — a large gull, Larus californicus, of the western U.S.
- calorific value — the quantity of heat produced by the complete combustion of a given mass of a fuel, usually expressed in joules per kilogram
- 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
- cardinal humour — any of the four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, choler or yellow bile, melancholy or black bile) formerly thought to determine emotional and physical disposition
- cardinal number — A cardinal number is a number such as 1, 3, or 10 that tells you how many things there are in a group but not what order they are in. Compare ordinal number.
- cardinal virtue — anything considered to be an important or characteristic virtue: Tenacity is his cardinal virtue.
- cardiopulmonary — of, relating to, or affecting the heart and lungs
- carl xvi gustaf — born 1946, king of Sweden from 1973
- carnivorousness — flesh-eating: A dog is a carnivorous animal.
- carriage return — a mechanism on a typewriter that causes the carriage to return to the left side of the paper
- 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.