16-letter words containing c, e, r, b
- bonhomme richard — the flagship of John Paul Jones.
- bordelaise sauce — a dark sauce made from meat stock, flour, wine, onions, seasonings, etc., served over broiled meat
- border leicester — a breed of sheep originally developed in the border country between Scotland and England by crossing English Leicesters with Cheviots: large numbers in Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand. It has a long white fleece with no wool on the head
- boreal chickadee — a brown-capped, black-throated chickadee (Parus hudsonicus) found near the Atlantic coast from Labrador to N New York
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- botanical garden — a place where collections of plants and trees are kept for scientific study and exhibition
- bouches-du-rhone — a department of S central France, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Capital: Marseille. Pop: 1 883 645 (2003 est). Area: 5284 sq km (2047 sq miles)
- bracknell forest — a unitary authority in SE England, in E Berkshire. Pop: 110 100 (2003 est). Area: 109 sq km (42 sq miles)
- bragg scattering — the diffraction phenomenon exhibited by a crystal bombarded with x-rays in such a way that each plane of the crystal lattice acts as a reflector (Bragg reflector)
- braking distance — the distance a vehicle travels from the point at which its brakes are applied to the point at which it comes to a stop
- branchial groove — one of a series of rudimentary depressions on the surface of the embryo between adjacent branchial arches, homologous to the branchial clefts of gill-breathing ancestral forms.
- branchiopneustic — breathing by means of gills, as certain aquatic insect larvae.
- brand acceptance — the extent to which consumers recognize and welcome a brand
- break one's back — to overwork or work very hard
- break one's neck — to exert oneself greatly, esp by hurrying, in order to do something
- break the record — surpass previous highest, best
- breakfast cereal — a type of food made from a cereal plant and commonly eaten at breakfast
- breast screening — a radiological or other examination of a woman's breasts to check for signs of cancer
- bren gun carrier — (esp in World War II) a small armoured vehicle equipped with a Bren gun
- bridge financing — interim or emergency financing through a short- or medium-term loan (bridge loan)
- bridge rectifier — a full-wave rectifier consisting of a bridge with a similar rectifier in each of the four arms
- bridging finance — money borrowed temporarily to cover the period before a particular event occurs, for example, until a house purchaser receives money under a mortgage
- bring to justice — to capture, try, and usually punish (a criminal, an outlaw, etc)
- bristlecone pine — a coniferous tree, Pinus aristata, of the western US, bearing cones with bristle-like prickles: one of the longest-lived trees, useful in radiocarbon dating
- broadloom carpet — any carpet woven on a wide loom and not having seams, especially one wider than 54 inches (137 cm).
- bronchopneumonia — inflammation of the lungs, originating in the bronchioles
- brothel-creepers — soft-soled men's shoes that were originally popular in the 1950s
- bullock's oriole — a common oriole, Icterus galbula bullockii, of western North America: a subspecies of the northern oriole.
- buoyancy chamber — an enclosed section of a canoe, float, ship or other object that contains air, foam, or another buoyant substance in order to help maintain buoyancy
- bureau de change — a place where foreign currencies can be exchanged
- bureaucratically — of, relating to, or characteristic of a bureaucrat or a bureaucracy; arbitrary and routine.
- bury the hatchet — to cease hostilities and become reconciled
- bush huckleberry — a huckleberry shrub, Gaylussacia dumosa, having sticky, hairy twigs, white or pink flowers, and tasteless but edible black fruit.
- buttercup family — the plant family Ranunculaceae, typified by mostly herbaceous plants having usually alternate leaves, multistaminate flowers sometimes lacking petals but with colorful sepals, and including the anemone, buttercup, clematis, columbine, delphinium, and monkshood.
- buttercup squash — a small, usually dark-green squash that is a variety of Cucurbita maxima, having sweet orange flesh.
- butterfly effect — the idea, used in chaos theory, that a very small difference in the initial state of a physical system can make a significant difference to the state at some later time
- butterfly orchid — an orchid (Oncidium papilio) with reddish flowers, native to South America
- butterfly scheme — A parallel version of Scheme for the BBN Butterfly computer.
- byzantine church — Orthodox Church (def 1).
- cabbage root fly — a dipterous fly, Erioischia brassicae, whose larvae feed on the roots and stems of cabbages and other brassicas: family Muscidae (houseflies, etc)
- cabbage-tree hat — a broad-brimmed hat made from cabbage-tree leaves.
- cabinet minister — a minister who is a member of the cabinet
- caducibranchiate — (of many amphibians, such as frogs) having gills during one stage of the life cycle only
- camborne-redruth — a former (until 1974) urban district in SW England, in Cornwall: formed in 1934 by the amalgamation of the neighbouring towns of Camborne and Redruth. Pop: 39 936 (2001)
- canada bluegrass — a Eurasian grass, Poa compressa, naturalized in North America, having creeping rootstocks and bluish-green leaves.
- cannonball serve — (in tennis) a very fast low serve
- canterbury bells — a cultivated bellflower (Campanula medium) with white, pink, or blue cuplike flowers
- canterbury tales — an unfinished literary work by Chaucer, largely in verse, consisting of stories told by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury
- cape may warbler — a North American wood warbler, Dendroica tigrina, olive-green striped with black on the wings and back and yellow striped with black on the breast.
- capsule wardrobe — a collection of clothes and accessories that includes only items considered essential