19-letter words containing b, a, c
- barometric pressure — atmospheric pressure as indicated by a barometer
- barrack-room lawyer — a person who freely offers opinions, esp in legal matters, that he or she is unqualified to give
- basic object system — (programming) (BOS) A C-callable library that implements the notion of object and which uses Tcl as its interpreter for interpreted methods (you can have "compiled" methods in C, and mix compiled and interpreted methods in the same object, plus lots more). You can subclass and mix in existing objects using BOS to extend, among other things, the set of tk widgets. BOS is a class-free object system, also called a prototype-based object system; it is modelled loosely on the Self system from Stanford University. Version 1.31 by Sean Levy <[email protected]>.
- batterie de cuisine — cooking utensils collectively; pots and pans, etc
- baudotbetical order — (algorithm) /baw do bet' i k*l/ Sorted into an order where numerics and special characters are intermixed by sorting a 5-bit Baudot code file ignoring the numeric shift and unshift codes.
- be burnt to a crisp — If something is burnt to a crisp, it is completely burnt.
- behavioral genetics — an interdisciplinary field studying the effects of genetics and hereditary factors on animal and human behavior.
- behavioral medicine — an interdisciplinary field that uses the concepts and techniques of the behavioral sciences to improve physical and emotional health.
- behavioural science — the application of scientific methods to the study of the behaviour of organisms
- belgian east africa — a former Belgian trust territory in Africa, also (1924–62) Ruanda-Urundi, now the independent countries of Rwanda and Burundi.
- bend over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
- benefit performance — a theatrical or musical performance in aid of charity
- benzylidene acetone — a colorless, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, C 10 H 10 O, having a vanillalike odor, used chiefly as a scent in the manufacture of perfume.
- betamethyl acrolein — crotonaldehyde.
- bicarbonate of soda — Bicarbonate of soda is a white powder which is used in baking to make cakes rise, and also as a medicine for your stomach.
- bilingual education — schooling in which those not fluent in the standard or national language are taught in their own language.
- bill of particulars — an itemized statement of claims or counterclaims provided to the opposing party of a lawsuit
- binary large object — (database) (BLOB) A large block of data stored in a database, such as an image or sound file. A BLOB has no structure which can be interpreted by the database management system but is known only by its size and location.
- binocular disparity — the small differences in the positions of the parts of the images falling on each eye that results when each eye views the scene from a slightly different position; these differences make stereoscopic vision possible
- black carpenter ant — a large, black ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, that lives in damp wood in nature or in houses, where it can cause considerable damage by boring or tunneling.
- black carpet beetle — any of several small beetles of the family Dermestidae, the larvae of which are household pests, feeding on rugs and other woolen fabrics, especially Anthrenus scrophulariae (buffalo carpet beetle) and Attagenus piceus (black carpet beetle)
- black forest gateau — a chocolate sponge cake containing morello cherries and whipped cream, with a topping of chocolate icing
- black warrior river — a river in N central Alabama, flowing SW past Birmingham to the Tombigbee River. 178 miles (286 km) long.
- black-billed cuckoo — a black-billed North American cuckoo, Coccyzus erythropthalmus, that, unlike most cuckoos, constructs its own nest and rears its own young.
- black-billed magpie — either of two corvine birds, Pica pica (black-billed magpie) of Eurasia and North America, or P. nuttalli (yellow-billed magpie) of California, having long, graduated tails, black-and-white plumage, and noisy, mischievous habits.
- black-footed ferret — a musteline mammal, Mustela nigripes, of W North America, closely related to the weasels
- black-tailed godwit — a large wading bird with a very long beak, Limosa limosa, found in W and Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia
- blackbelly rosefish — a reddish scorpionfish, Helicolenus dactylopterus, inhabiting the deep waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.
- blackfellow's bread — the edible portion of a species of pore fungus, Polyporus mylittae, that occurs in Australia.
- blackstrap molasses — the molasses remaining after the maximum quantity of sugar has been extracted from the raw material
- blind carbon (copy) — a carbon copy of a letter sent to someone other than the addressee, with no indication on the original letter that such a copy has been sent
- blood alcohol level — the amount of alcohol in someone's blood
- blue stellar object — any of a class of blue celestial objects, at one time thought to be stars, that do not emit appreciable radio waves. Abbreviation: BSO.
- board certification — the process of certifying that a physician has passed an examination and met the standards of a professional organization representing a particular medical specialty.
- boat-tailed grackle — a large grackle, Quiscalus major, of the southeastern U.S., that folds its tail into a shape resembling the keel of a boat.
- boundary commission — (in Britain) a body established by statute to undertake periodic reviews of the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies and to recommend changes to take account of population shifts
- bracket abstraction — (compiler) An algorithm which turns a term into a function of some variable. The result of using bracket abstraction on T with respect to variable v, written as [v]T, is a term containing no occurrences of v and denoting a function f such that f v = T. This defines the function f = (\ v . T). Using bracket abstraction and currying we can define a language without bound variables in which the only operation is monadic function application. See combinator.
- brand contamination — the process by which the reputation of a particular brand or product becomes tarnished by adverse publicity
- breach of the peace — A breach of the peace is noisy or violent behaviour in a public place which is illegal because it disturbs other people.
- british east africa — the former British possessions of Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar, before their independence in the 1960s
- british west africa — the former British possessions of Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast, and the former trust territories of Togoland and Cameroons
- bug tracking system — (programming) (BTS) A system for receiving and filing bugs reported against a software project, and tracking those bugs until they are fixed. Most major software projects have their own BTS, the source code of which is often available for use by other projects. Well known BTSs include GNATS, Bugzilla, and Debbugs.
- building contractor — an individual or company that contracts for the construction of houses, etc
- buildings insurance — insurance which covers buildings
- business accounting — the keeping of detailed accounts relating to a business or businesses
- buster brown collar — a medium-sized, starched collar with rounded edges, lying flat on the shoulders, worn by women and girls.
- cable-stayed bridge — a type of suspension bridge in which the supporting cables are connected directly to the bridge deck without the use of suspenders
- california bluebell — either of two plants, Phacelia campanularia or P. minor, of southern California, having ovate leaves and bell-shaped blue or purple flowers.
- california job case — a job case having sufficient spaces to contain both uppercase and lowercase letters and 37 additional characters of foundry type. Compare case2 (def 8).
- canterbury pilgrims — the pilgrims whose stories are told in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales