15-letter words containing c, o, b, d
- carbon monoxide — Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that is produced especially by the engines of vehicles.
- carboxylic acid — any of a class of organic acids containing the carboxyl group
- 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.
- catchment board — a public body concerned with the conservation and organization of water supply from a catchment area
- chandler wobble — a slight, irregular nutation of the earth's rotational axis with a period of c. 428 days
- child abduction — the crime of removing a child from its rightful home
- chromosome band — any of the transverse bands that appear on a chromosome after staining. The banding pattern is unique to each type of chromosome, allowing characterization
- cinderella book — (publication) "Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation", by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See also book titles.
- climb indicator — an instrument that shows the rate of ascent or descent of an aircraft, operating on a differential pressure principle.
- color blindness — inability to distinguish one or several chromatic colors, independent of the capacity for distinguishing light and shade.
- colorado beetle — a black-and-yellow beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, that is a serious pest of potatoes, feeding on the leaves: family Chrysomelidae
- combined forces — the forces of two or more countries, fighting together
- commendableness — The state or quality of being commendable.
- compound number — a quantity expressed in two or more different but related units
- contract bridge — the most common variety of bridge, in which the declarer receives points counting towards game and rubber only for tricks he bids as well as makes, any overtricks receiving bonus points
- coordinate bond — a type of covalent chemical bond in which both the shared electrons are provided by one of the atoms
- copper-bottomed — If you describe something as copper-bottomed, you believe that it is certain to be successful.
- corps de ballet — In ballet, the corps de ballet is the group of dancers who dance together, in contrast to the main dancers, who dance by themselves.
- counterbalanced — Simple past tense and past participle of counterbalance.
- counterblockade — a retaliatory blockade
- countermandable — able to be countermanded
- coureur de bois — a French Canadian woodsman or Métis who traded with Native Americans for furs
- cranberry gourd — a South American vine, Abobra tenuifolia, of the gourd family, having deeply lobed, ovate leaves and bearing a berrylike scarlet fruit.
- credit mobilier — a joint-stock company organized in 1863 and reorganized in 1867 to build the Union Pacific Railroad. It was involved in a scandal in 1872 in which high government officials were accused of accepting bribes.
- crude oil berth — A crude oil berth is a place at a port for ships carrying crude oil.
- cuban solenodon — a rare shrewlike nocturnal mammal of the Caribbean, Atopogale cubana, having a long hairless tail and an elongated snout: family Solenodontidae, order Insectivora (insectivores)
- d. c. power lab — The former site of SAIL. This name was very funny because the obvious connection to electrical engineering was nonexistent - the lab was named after a Donald C. Power. Compare Marginal Hacks.
- dartmouth basic — (language) The original BASIC language, designed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1963. Dartmouth BASIC first ran on a GE 235 [date?] and on an IBM 704 on 1964-05-01. It was designed for quick and easy programming by students and beginners using Dartmouth's experimental time-sharing system. Unlike most later BASIC dialects, Dartmouth BASIC was compiled.
- dead-cat bounce — a temporary recovery in prices following a substantial fall as a result of speculators buying stocks they have already sold rather than as a result of a genuine reversal of the downward trend
- debathification — The process of removing former members of the ruling Bath party of Iraq from the military and civil office following the ousting of w Saddam Hussein.
- debenture stock — stock that pays a fixed rate of interest at fixed intervals
- debt counsellor — a person who advises people who are in debt on how to deal with their debt and get out of it
- decarboxylation — the removal or loss of a carboxyl group from an organic compound
- decarburization — The act, process, or result of decarburizing.
- deception table — a table of the 18th century made so as to conceal its true function, as in serving as a cabinet for a chamber pot.
- decomposability — (uncountable) The condition of being decomposable.
- decree absolute — A decree absolute is the final order made by a court in a divorce case which ends a marriage completely.
- democratifiable — able to be made into a democracy
- destruct button — a button that, when pressed, causes a missile or rocket to destruct
- dichlorobenzene — any of a group of three insoluble isomeric chemical compounds used in solvents, insecticides, and dyes
- discombobulated — to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers.
- discombobulates — Third-person singular simple present indicative form of discombobulate.
- discount broker — an agent who discounts commercial paper.
- distributor cap — the cap of an engine's distributor that holds in place the wires from the distributor to the sparking plugs
- dithiocarbamate — any salt or ester of dithiocarbamic acid, commonly used as fungicides
- dodecasyllables — Plural form of dodecasyllable.
- dorsibranchiate — having branchiae or gills along the back
- double concerto — a concerto for two solo instruments
- double saucepan — a cooking utensil consisting of two saucepans, one fitting inside the other. The bottom saucepan contains water that, while boiling, gently heats food in the upper pan
- double-declutch — to change to a lower gear in a motor vehicle by first placing the gear lever into the neutral position before engaging the desired gear, at the same time releasing the clutch pedal and increasing the engine speed