16-letter words containing b, o, c, s
- insurance broker — person who sells insurance policies
- jacobson's organ — either of a pair of blind, tubular, olfactory sacs in the roof of the mouth, vestigial in humans but well-developed in many animals, especially reptiles.
- jacques bonhomme — the contemptuous title given by the nobles to the peasants in the revolt of the Jacquerie in 1358 and adopted by the peasants in subsequent revolts.
- job satisfaction — Job satisfaction is the pleasure that you get from doing your job.
- job's comforters — a person who unwittingly or maliciously depresses or discourages someone while attempting to be consoling.
- jude the obscure — a novel (1895) by Thomas Hardy.
- knapsack problem — the problem of determining which numbers from a given collection of numbers have been added together to yield a specific sum: used in cryptography to encipher (and sometimes decipher) messages.
- leave of absence — permission to be absent from duty, employment, service, etc.; leave.
- lick observatory — the astronomical observatory of the University of California, situated on Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, and having a 120-inch (3-meter) reflecting telescope and a 36-inch (91-cm) refracting telescope.
- liebig condenser — a laboratory condenser consisting of a glass tube surrounded by a glass envelope through which cooling water flows
- low-carbon steel — steel containing between 0.04 and 0.25 per cent carbon
- man on horseback — a military leader who presents himself as the savior of the country during a period of crisis and either assumes or threatens to assume dictatorial powers.
- megakaryoblastic — (cytology) Of or pertaining to a megakaryoblast.
- modersohn-becker — Paula [pou-lah] /ˈpaʊ lɑ/ (Show IPA), 1876–1907, German painter.
- monohybrid cross — the offspring of individuals that differ with respect to a particular gene pair.
- monosyllabically — In single syllables.
- mossbauer effect — the phenomenon in which an atom in a crystal undergoes no recoil when emitting a gamma ray, giving all the emitted energy to the gamma ray, resulting in a sharply defined wavelength.
- nitrous bacteria — bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites in the soil
- non-compressible — to press together; force into less space.
- objective pascal — An extension of the PASCAL language which provides the possibility to use object-oriented programming constructs.
- objective spirit — the human spirit, insofar as it has become capable of a rational identification of its individual self with the community of other spirits but is not yet capable of the identification with the absolute idea that characterizes the absolute spirit.
- observation deck — an area on a high building that is surrounded with railings or fencing and which provides panoramic views
- obstructionistic — a person who deliberately delays or prevents progress.
- obtuse bisectrix — See under bisectrix (def 1).
- occasional table — a small table with no regular use
- october surprise — a major event, occurring shortly before a presidential election, which influences the result
- oversubscription — to subscribe for more of than is available, expected, or required: The charity drive was oversubscribed by several thousand dollars.
- paratuberculosis — Johne's disease.
- pocket billiards — pool2 (def 1).
- police constable — police officer
- pre-subscription — a sum of money given or pledged as a contribution, payment, investment, etc.
- proboscis monkey — a reddish, arboreal monkey, Nasalis larvatus, of Borneo, the male of which has a long, flexible nose: an endangered species.
- psychobiological — the use of biological methods to study normal and abnormal emotional and cognitive processes, as the anatomical basis of memory or neurochemical abnormalities in schizophrenia.
- public ownership — ownership by the state; nationalization
- public relations — (used with a plural verb) the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.
- public schoolboy — a boy attending a public school, or a man who attended one
- public transport — fare-paying travel
- rack one's brain — If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
- rainbow seaperch — an embiotocid fish, Hypsurus caryi, living off the Pacific coast of North America, having red, orange, and blue stripes on the body.
- rambunctiousness — difficult to control or handle; wildly boisterous: a rambunctious child.
- rectus abdominis — a long flat muscle that extends along the whole length of both sides of the abdomen. It flexes the vertebral column, particularly the lumbar portion; it also tenses the anterior abdominal wall and assists in compressing the abdominal contents
- reserve buoyancy — the difference between the volume of a hull below the designed waterline and the volume of the hull below the lowest opening incapable of being made watertight.
- rhabdomyosarcoma — a malignant tumor made up of striated muscle tissue.
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- save one's bacon — the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- school librarian — a librarian who works in or is in charge of a school library
- scotch blackface — one of a Scottish breed of mountain sheep having a black face and growing long, coarse wool.
- scottish borders — a council area in SE Scotland, on the English border: created in 1996, it has the same boundaries as the former Borders Region: it is mainly hilly, with agriculture (esp sheep farming) the chief economic activity. Administrative centre: Newtown St Boswells. Pop: 108 280 (2003 est). Area: 4734 sq km (1827 sq miles)
- scribbling block — scratch pad.