16-letter words containing b, u, g
- leaf-cutting bee — any of the bees of the family Megachilidae that cut circular pieces from leaves or flowers to line their nests.
- lean-burn engine — an engine designed to use a lean mixture of fuel and air in order to reduce petrol consumption and exhaust emissions
- leveraged buyout — the purchase of a company with borrowed money, using the company's assets as collateral, and often discharging the debt and realizing a profit by liquidating the company. Abbreviation: LBO.
- lightbulb moment — a moment of sudden inspiration, revelation, or recognition
- like gangbusters — a law-enforcement officer who specializes in breaking up organized crime, often by forceful or sensational means.
- louise bourgeois — Léon Victor Auguste [ley-awn veek-tawr oh-gyst] /leɪˈɔ̃ vikˈtɔr oʊˈgyst/ (Show IPA), 1851–1925, French statesman: Nobel Peace Prize 1920.
- mobility housing — houses designed or adapted for people who have difficulty in walking but are not necessarily chairbound
- montagu's blenny — a small blenny, Coryphoblennius galerita, found among rocks in shallow water
- munchen-gladbach — former name of Mönchengladbach.
- niche publishing — publishing books that are intended for a very specialized market
- nondurable goods — goods that remain usable for, or must be replaced within, a relatively short period of time, as food, apparel, or fabrics
- norwegian buhund — a slightly-built medium-sized dog of a breed with erect pointed ears and a short thick tail carried curled over its back
- number crunching — a person or thing that performs a great many numerical calculations, as a financial analyst, statistician, computer, or computer program.
- number-crunching — a person or thing that performs a great many numerical calculations, as a financial analyst, statistician, computer, or computer program.
- oblique triangle — any triangle that does not have a right angle (contrasted with right triangle).
- of human bondage — a novel (1915) by W. Somerset Maugham.
- operating budget — money allocated to a project
- organized labour — labour carried out by workers in trade unions, or the workers themselves
- patent ambiguity — uncertainty of meaning created by the obscure or ambiguous language appearing on the face of a written instrument.
- photograph album — bound book for photos
- pietermaritzburg — a province in the E part of the Republic of South Africa. 35,284 sq. mi. (91,886 sq. km). Capital: Pietermaritzburg.
- publicity agency — an advertising agency; a firm that gets publicity for people or products
- publishing house — a company that publishes books, pamphlets, engravings, or the like: a venerable publishing house in Boston.
- right about face — Military. a command, given to a soldier or soldiers at attention, to turn the body about toward the right so as to face in the opposite direction. the act of so turning in a prescribed military manner.
- right honourable — (in Britain and certain Commonwealth countries) a title of respect for a Privy Councillor or an appeal-court judge
- ring-billed gull — a North American gull, Larus delawarensis, having a black ring around the bill.
- robin's-egg blue — a pale green to a light greenish-blue color.
- rough and tumble — characterized by violent, random, disorderly action and struggles: a rough-and-tumble fight; He led an adventuresome, rough-and-tumble life.
- rough-and-tumble — characterized by violent, random, disorderly action and struggles: a rough-and-tumble fight; He led an adventuresome, rough-and-tumble life.
- saint petersburg — Also called Russian Empire. Russian Rossiya. a former empire in E Europe and N and W Asia: overthrown by the Russian Revolution 1917. Capital: St. Petersburg (1703–1917).
- santiago de cuba — a region in Ecuador, E of the Andes: the border long disputed by Peru.
- scarborough lily — a plant, Vallota speciosa, of the amaryllis family, native to southern Africa, having clusters of funnel-shaped, scarlet flowers.
- schaumburg-lippe — a former state in NW Germany.
- sebaceous glands — any of the cutaneous glands that secrete oily matter for lubricating hair and skin.
- self-lubricating — to apply some oily or greasy substance to (a machine, parts of a mechanism, etc.) in order to diminish friction; oil or grease (something).
- self-subjugation — the act, fact, or process of subjugating, or bringing under control; enslavement: The subjugation of the American Indians happened across the country.
- slubberdegullion — a slovenly or worthless person
- soft brown sugar — a type of moist sugar made by coating white sugar with dark molasses
- sounding balloon — a balloon carrying instruments aloft to make atmospheric measurements, especially a radiosonde balloon.
- south burlington — a town in NW Vermont.
- strawberry guava — a shrub or small tree, Psidium littorale, of the myrtle family, native to Brazil, having smooth, grayish-brown bark, leathery leaves, white flowers, and edible, white-fleshed, purplish-red fruit.
- subcartilaginous — partially or incompletely cartilaginous.
- subliminal image — an image used in advertising, etc, that is too quick to be registered by the mind but is used to influence the viewer unconsciously
- sublingual gland — (in human beings) either of a pair of salivary glands situated beneath the tongue
- subsistence wage — the lowest wage upon which a worker and his or her family can survive
- substantia nigra — a deeply pigmented area of the midbrain containing dopamine-producing nerve cells.
- subtropical high — one of several highs, as the Azores and Pacific highs, that prevail over the oceans at latitudes of about 30 degrees N and S. Also called subtropical anticyclone. Compare high (def 37).
- teutoburg forest — region of low, forested mountains, mostly in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: highest point, c. 1,500 ft (457 m)
- teutoburger wald — a chain of wooded hills in Germany, in Westphalia: Romans defeated by German tribes a.d.
- the arabian gulf — the arm of the Arabian Sea between SW Iran and Arabia; important for the oilfields on its shores