19-letter words containing b, s
- banker's acceptance — a draft or bill of exchange drawn on a bank and accepted by it
- barbados gooseberry — Also called lemon vine. a treelike cactus, Pereskia aculeata, of tropical America, characterized by broad, elliptical leaves and spiny stems bearing a yellow, edible fruit.
- bargaining position — the position of a person, group, or organization in a negotiation, with respect to their ability to achieve a deal which is favourable to themselves
- barometric pressure — atmospheric pressure as indicated by a barometer
- 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
- battle-ground state — a state of the U.S. in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning and that is considered key to the outcome of a presidential election: the swing states of Ohio and Indiana.
- battles of bull run — two battles fought at Manassas Junction near a stream named Bull Run, during the American Civil War (July, 1861 and August, 1862), in both of which the Federal army was routed by the Confederates
- be burnt to a crisp — If something is burnt to a crisp, it is completely burnt.
- be greek to someone — to be incomprehensible or unintelligible to someone
- be liable to do sth — When something is liable to happen, it is very likely to happen.
- be of use/be no use — If something or someone is of use, they are useful. If they are no use, they are not at all useful.
- be one's own master — If you say that you are your own master, you mean that your decisions are not controlled by other people and you are free to do what you want.
- be one's own person — a human being, whether an adult or child: The table seats four persons.
- be someone's junior — to be younger than someone
- be up to one's neck — the part of the body of an animal or human being that connects the head and the trunk.
- beat about the bush — to avoid the point at issue; prevaricate
- beat someone hollow — to defeat someone thoroughly and convincingly
- beauty preparations — the cosmetics, creams etc used to improve someone's beauty
- behavioral genetics — an interdisciplinary field studying the effects of genetics and hereditary factors on animal and human behavior.
- behavioural science — the application of scientific methods to the study of the behaviour of organisms
- behind closed doors — If people have talks and discussions behind closed doors, they have them in private because they want them to be kept secret.
- belgian east africa — a former Belgian trust territory in Africa, also (1924–62) Ruanda-Urundi, now the independent countries of Rwanda and Burundi.
- bellybutton surgery — laparoscopy.
- bend over backwards — to make a special effort, esp in order to please
- benedict's solution — a chemical solution used to detect the presence of glucose and other reducing sugars. Medically, it is used to test the urine of diabetics
- bernoulli's theorem — Statistics. law of averages (def 1).
- bernstein condition — (parallel) Processes cannot execute in parallel if one effects values used by the other. Nor can they execute in parallel if any subsequent process uses data effected by both, i.e. whose value might depend on the order of execution.
- beside the question — not related to the subject under discussion
- bi-lateral symmetry — a basic body plan in which the left and right sides of the organism can be divided into approximate mirror images of each other along the midline.
- 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.
- bill of particulars — an itemized statement of claims or counterclaims provided to the opposing party of a lawsuit
- 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
- bird's-eye primrose — a Eurasian primrose, Primula farinosa, having clusters of purplish flowers with yellow centres
- bird's-foot trefoil — any of various creeping leguminous Eurasian plants of the genus Lotus, esp L. corniculatus, with red-tipped yellow flowers and seed pods resembling the claws of a bird
- bismuth oxychloride — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble powder, BiOCl, used chiefly in the manufacture of pigments, face powders, and artificial pearls.
- black forest gateau — a chocolate sponge cake containing morello cherries and whipped cream, with a topping of chocolate icing
- 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
- blast from the past — You can use a blast from the past as a light-hearted way of referring to something such as an old song or fashion that you hear or notice again, and which reminds you of an earlier time.
- blood pressure cuff — A blood pressure cuff is a medical device consisting of a piece of rubber or similar material that is wrapped around a patient's arm and then inflated in order to measure their blood pressure.
- bloodstock industry — the breeding and training of racehorses
- bloody-nosed beetle — a beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa, that exudes bright red blood when alarmed: family Chrysomelidae
- blot one's copybook — to spoil one's reputation by making a mistake, offending against social customs, etc
- blow one's own horn — If you blow your own horn, you boast about yourself.
- blow someone's mind — (of a drug, esp LSD) to alter someone's mental state
- blow the whistle on — to make a clear musical sound, a series of such sounds, or a high-pitched, warbling sound by the forcible expulsion of the breath through a small opening formed by contracting the lips, or through the teeth, with the aid of the tongue.
- blue screen of life — (operating system) (BSOL, by analogy with "Blue Screen of Death") The opening screen of Microsoft Windows NT. This screen shows the file system loading, and any problems such as conversions from FAT to NTFS or a scan of a hard drive. The Blue Screen of Life occurs in one way, as opposed to the Blue Screen of Death, which can occur in many different ways and times.
- 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.