15-letter words containing b, o, r, n, t
- biscuit tortoni — an individual portion of tortoni, frozen and served in a small cup, often topped with ground almonds.
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- black operation — a covert and undocumented military operation
- black snakeroot — a tall bugbane, Cimicifuga racemosa, of the buttercup family, of eastern North America, having thin, tapering, toothed or deeply cut leaflets and branched clusters of small, white flowers.
- blasting powder — a form of gunpowder made with sodium nitrate instead of saltpeter, used chiefly for blasting rock, ore, etc.
- blossom-end rot — a disease of tomato and pepper caused by a deficiency of calcium, characterized by decay at the blossom end of the fruit.
- blotch printing — a fabric-printing method in which the ground color is transferred from the cylinder and the motif retains the original hue of the cloth.
- boa constrictor — A boa constrictor is a large snake that kills animals by wrapping itself round their bodies and squeezing them to death. Boa constrictors are found mainly in South and Central America and the West Indies.
- body toning bar — a weighted exercise bar made of steel encased in a layer of foam, used for toning and strength training.
- bohemian forest — a mountain range between the SW Czech Republic and SE Germany. Highest peak: Arber, 1457 m (4780 ft)
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- border incident — an incident, usually fighting, on a border between countries
- boston marriage — (especially in 19th-century New England) an intimate friendship between two women often maintaining a household together.
- boston massacre — an outbreak (1770) in Boston against British troops, in which a few citizens were killed
- bourbon biscuit — a rich chocolate-flavoured biscuit with a chocolate-cream filling
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- bowstring truss — a structural truss consisting of a curved top chord meeting a bottom chord at each end.
- box chronometer — a ship's chronometer, supported on gimbals in a wooden box
- brachistochrone — the curve between two points through which a body moves under the force of gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve; the path of quickest descent
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- brand extension — the practice of using a well-known brand name to promote new products or services in unrelated fields
- breakeven point — a point at which the total revenue and total cost are equal
- bring into line — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- 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
- british council — an organization founded (1934) to extend the influence of British culture and education throughout the world
- britneyfication — the effect on clothes and fashions of following the revealing styles favoured by the US pop singer Britney Spears (born 1981)
- brocken specter — an optical phenomenon sometimes occurring at high altitudes when the image of an observer placed between the sun and a cloud is projected on the cloud as a greatly magnified shadow.
- broken pediment — a pediment, as over a doorway or window, having its raking cornice interrupted at the crown or apex.
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- bronze diabetes — hemochromatosis.
- brooklyn center — a city in SE Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
- 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.
- brownfield site — a disused site envisaged for redevelopment
- 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.
- bucket conveyor — a conveyor consisting of an endless chain with a series of buckets attached at regular intervals, used for moving ore, gravel, grain, or other bulk materials.
- buffalo currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes odoratum, of the central U.S., having showy, drooping clusters of fragrant yellow flowers and edible black fruit.
- buffer solution — a solution to which a salt of a weak acid or base has been added
- button mangrove — a tropical tree, Conocarpus erectus, having small, reddish, conelike fruits and bark used in tanning.
- button mushroom — Button mushrooms are small mushrooms used in cooking.
- cannonball tree — a South American tree, Couroupita guianensis, bearing round, woody-husked fruit whose shells are used to make containers and utensils.
- carbon fixation — the process by which plants assimilate carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form metabolically active compounds
- carry one's bat — (of an opening batsman) to reach the end of an innings without being dismissed
- 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.
- cartier-bresson — Henri (ɑ̃ri). 1908–2004, French photographer
- catchment board — a public body concerned with the conservation and organization of water supply from a catchment area
- centrifugal box — a revolving chamber, used in the spinning of manufactured filaments, in which the plastic fibers, subjected to centrifugal force, are slightly twisted and emerge in the form of yarn wound into the shape of a hollow cylinder.
- chamber concert — a concert of chamber music