15-letter words containing b, e, k, a
- break the mould — If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- break-in period — a period during which certain restrictions or moderation in operating should be followed, as the avoidance of high speed, rapid acceleration, or severe braking for a new automobile.
- break-out group — a group of people who detach themselves from a larger group or meeting in order to hold separate discussions
- breakbone fever — dengue
- breakdown cover — insurance cover against breakdowns in a vehicle
- breakeven chart — a graph measuring the value of an enterprise's revenue and costs against some index of its activity, such as percentage capacity. The intersection of the total revenue and total cost curves gives the breakeven point
- breakeven point — a point at which the total revenue and total cost are equal
- breakfast table — You refer to a table as the breakfast table when it is being used for breakfast.
- breaking plough — a plough with a long shallow mouldboard for turning virgin land or sod land
- breaking strain — the amount of strain that, if applied to a particular material, will cause it to break
- bronzed grackle — the western subspecies of the American bird, the common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula versicolor, having bronzy, iridescent plumage.
- bucket elevator — a chain of buckets for raising liquids or materials to a higher level
- 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)
- bullock's heart — the large, edible fruit of a tropical American tree, Annona reticulata.
- bullock's-heart — the large, edible fruit of a tropical American tree, Annona reticulata.
- 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.
- camelback truss — a roof truss having upper and lower chords curving upward from a common point at each side.
- center halfback — Field Hockey. the player in the middle among the halfbacks.
- cinderella book — (publication) "Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation", by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See also book titles.
- circuit breaker — A circuit breaker is a device which can stop the flow of electricity around a circuit by switching itself off if anything goes wrong.
- collecting bank — a bank that collects money from the account of the writer of a cheque on behalf of the person who has deposited the cheque into the bank
- comfort blanket — a blanket that a young child is very attached to
- commercial bank — a bank primarily concerned with accepting demand deposits, used as checking accounts
- contact breaker — a switching device used in the distributor of an internal-combustion engine which controls the timing of the spark that ignites the spark plug
- counterblockade — a retaliatory blockade
- darkling beetle — any of a family (Tenebrionidae) of sluggish, dark beetles that feed on plants at night
- dog's breakfast — a disorderly mixture; hodgepodge.
- dvorak keyboard — a keyboard designed to facilitate typing speed by having the most frequently used characters on the home row, with all the vowels on the left side.
- eat like a bird — any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
- elm bark beetle — the bark-boring beetle (Scolytus multistriatus) that feeds on the bark of elm trees and carries Dutch elm disease
- emergency brake — hand brake in car
- engagement book — couple
- false buckthorn — a spiny shrub or small tree, Bumelia lanuginosa, of the sapodilla family, native to the southern U.S., having gummy, milky sap and white, bell-shaped flowers and yielding a hard, light-brown wood.
- garboard strake — the first strake on each side of a keel.
- gaudier-brzeska — Henri (ɑ̃ri), original name Henri Gaudier. 1891–1915, French vorticist sculptor
- give me a break — to smash, split, or divide into parts violently; reduce to pieces or fragments: He broke a vase.
- give sb a break — You can say 'give me a break' to show that you are annoyed by what someone has said or done.
- globe artichoke — artichoke (defs 1, 2).
- great bear lake — a lake in NW Canada, in the Northwest Territories. 12,275 sq. mi. (31,792 sq. km).
- greenback party — a former political party, organized in 1874, opposed to the retirement or reduction of greenbacks and favoring their increase as the only paper currency.
- ground-breaking — the act or ceremony of breaking ground for a new construction project.
- groundbreakings — Plural form of groundbreaking.
- heartbreakingly — causing intense anguish or sorrow.
- heartbrokenness — The state or quality of being heartbroken.
- humpback bridge — arched bridge
- hydraulic brake — a brake operated by fluid pressures in cylinders and connecting tubular lines.
- in the ballpark — a tract of land where ball games, especially baseball, are played.
- investment bank — a financial institution that deals chiefly in the underwriting of new securities.
- jack-in-the-box — a toy consisting of a box from which an enclosed figure springs up when the lid is opened.
- jukebox musical — a musical play or film that is based around a series of well-known popular songs