15-letter words containing d, a, c, r
- approved school — In Britain in the past, an approved school was a boarding school where young people could be sent to stay if they had been found guilty of a crime.
- arc de triomphe — the triumphal arch in Paris begun by Napoleon I to commemorate his victories of 1805–6 and completed in 1836
- archibald prize — an annual prize awarded by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1921, for outstanding contributions to art, letters, science, and politics
- arts and crafts — decorative handicraft and design, esp that of the Arts and Crafts movement, in late nineteenth-century Britain, which sought to revive medieval craftsmanship
- ascribed status — the social position assigned to a person on the basis of kinship, ethnic group, sex, etc.
- assured tenancy — an agreement between a government-approved body such as a housing association and a tenant for occupation of a newly-built house or flat at an agreed market rent, under which the tenant has security of tenure
- astrodynamicist — a person who studies astrodynamics
- atlantic ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atlantic-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- audience rating — a figure based on statistical sampling indicating what proportion of the total listening and viewing audience tune in to a specific programme or network
- audio frequency — a frequency in the range 20 hertz to 20 000 hertz. A sound wave of this frequency would be audible to the human ear
- audio recording — an electronic recording of sound
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- backseat driver — If you refer to a passenger in a car as a backseat driver, they annoy you because they constantly give you advice about how to drive.
- badminton court — the court on which games of badminton are played
- balanced rudder — a rudder so designed that the center of water pressure on the forward face, when turned, lies about halfway along the length, minimizing the turning effort required.
- ballroom dancer — a person who participates in ballroom dancing
- banking product — one of the various services offered by a bank to its customers: mortgages, loans, insurance etc
- bar-code reader — an electronic machine that scans and reads bar codes
- barbituric acid — a white crystalline solid used in the preparation of barbiturate drugs. Formula: C4H4N2O3
- barefoot doctor — (esp in developing countries) a worker trained as a medical auxiliary in a rural area who dispenses medicine, gives first aid, assists at childbirth, etc
- barium chloride — a poisonous compound, BaCl2, consisting of flat white crystals that are soluble in water: it is used to treat water, metals, leather, etc.
- barley sandwich — a drink of beer, esp at lunch time
- basic anhydride — a compound formed by removing water from a more complex compound: an oxide of a nonmetal (acid anhydride) or a metal (basic anhydride) that forms an acid or a base, respectively, when united with water.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- be carried away — to be moved to great or unreasoning emotion or enthusiasm
- beach goldenrod — a composite plant, Solidago sempervirens, of eastern and southern North America, having a thick stem and large, branched, one-sided terminal clusters of yellow flowers, flourishing on sea beaches or salt marshes.
- belt-and-braces — providing double security, in case one security measure should fail
- ben day process — a method of adding texture, shading, or detail to line drawings by overlaying a transparent sheet of dots or any other pattern during platemaking
- benedict arnold — Benedict, 1741–1801, American general in the Revolutionary War who became a traitor.
- benzal chloride — a colorless, oily liquid, C 7 H 6 Cl 2 , used chiefly in the synthesis of benzaldehyde, and in the manufacture of dyes.
- beta-adrenergic — pertaining to or involving beta receptors
- bidirectionally — in a bidirectional manner
- big sandy creek — a river in central Colorado, flowing NE and SE to the Arkansas River near Lamar: site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. 200 miles (322 km) long.
- birch partridge — ruffed grouse
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- bladder campion — a European caryophyllaceous plant, Silene vulgaris, having white flowers with an inflated calyx
- blank cartridge — a cartridge containing powder but no bullet: used in battle practice or as a signal
- blockade runner — a person, ship etc that tries to carry goods through a blockade
- blockade-runner — a ship or person that passes through a blockade.
- board-certified — A doctor who is board-certified has passed tests and meets the standards of a board of specialists in their area of medicine.
- boarding school — A boarding school is a school which some or all of the pupils live in during the school term. Compare day school.
- borderline case — a person or thing that is not clearly classifiable as something
- borrower's card — a card issued by a library to individuals or organizations entitling them or their representatives to borrow materials.
- branch and hang — (humour) (BRH) Originally a mythical instruction for the IBM 1130 at Indiana University. Later some real examples were discovered. The Texas Instruments TI-980 allowed all addressing modes with all instructions, including Store Immediate Extended (stores the value into the extension word of the instruction) and Branch and Link Immediate (makes a subroutine call to the same instruction -- Branch and Hang). Compare HCF.
- breakdown cover — insurance cover against breakdowns in a vehicle
- breeder reactor — a type of nuclear reactor that produces more fissionable material than it consumes
- broadcast storm — (networking) A broadcast on a network that causes multiple hosts to respond by broadcasting themselves, causing the storm to grow exponentially in severity. See network meltdown.
- bronzed grackle — the western subspecies of the American bird, the common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula versicolor, having bronzy, iridescent plumage.