12-letter words containing i, o, u
- bluestocking — A bluestocking is an intellectual woman.
- boar-hunting — the practice of hunting wild boars
- boarding out — the local-authority practice of placing a client in a foster family or voluntary establishment and paying for it
- boatbuilding — Boatbuilding is the craft or industry of making boats.
- bodybuilding — Bodybuilding is the activity of doing special exercises regularly in order to make your muscles grow bigger.
- boiler house — a building housing a boiler
- boisterously — rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained: the sound of boisterous laughter.
- bolt upright — If someone is sitting or standing bolt upright, they are sitting or standing very straight.
- book burning — the destruction of writings of which the subject, the view of the author, or the like is considered politically or socially objectionable: used as a means of censorship or oppression.
- bootylicious — sexually attractive, esp with curvaceous buttocks
- booze cruise — a day trip to a foreign country, esp from England across the English Channel to France, for the purposes of buying cheap alcohol, cigarettes, etc
- boucherville — a town in S Quebec, in E Canada, near Montreal, on the St. Lawrence.
- boudin blanc — a boiled sausage made with light-colored meat, as veal or chicken, and without blood
- bougainville — an island in the W Pacific, in Papua New Guinea: the largest of the Solomon Islands: unilaterally declared independence in 1990; occupied by government troops in 1992, and granted autonomy in 2001. Chief town: Kieta. Area: 10 049 sq km (3880 sq miles)
- bouillon cup — a small, bowl-shaped vessel, with two handles, in which bouillon is served.
- boulangerite — a bluish lead-gray mineral, lead antimony sulfide, Pb 5 Sb 4 S 11 , a minor ore of lead.
- bouleuterion — a council chamber in ancient Greece.
- boulevardier — (originally in Paris) a fashionable man, esp one who frequents public places
- bounce light — Also, bounce lighting. light that is bounced off a reflective surface onto the subject in order to achieve a softer lighting effect.
- bouncing bet — a perennial soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) with clusters of pinkish flowers
- bourgeoisify — to convert to a bourgeois attitude or appearance
- bourke-white — Margaret. 1906–71, US photographer, a pioneer of modern photojournalism: noted esp for her coverage of World War II
- bournonville — Auguste [French oh-gyst] /French oʊˈgüst/ (Show IPA), 1805–79, Danish ballet dancer and choreographer.
- box junction — (in Britain) a road junction having yellow cross-hatching painted on the road surface. Vehicles may only enter the hatched area when their exit is clear
- brain tumour — a tumour that is situated in the brain
- bridge house — a deckhouse including a bridge or bridges for navigation.
- bring around — If you bring someone around when they are unconscious, you make them become conscious again.
- bristlemouth — any of several small, deep-sea fishes of the family Gonostomatidae, having numerous sharp, slender teeth covering the jaws.
- bubble point — the temperature at which bubbles just start to appear in a heated liquid mixture
- buccolingual — of or relating to the cheek and tongue.
- bud mutation — a variation produced by a genetic alteration in the bud such that the seeds produced by the resulting growth perpetuate the change in succeeding generations.
- buenos aires — the capital of Argentina, a major port and industrial city on the Río de la Plata estuary: became capital in 1880; university (1821). Pop: 13 349 000 (2005 est)
- buffalo bill — nickname of William Frederick Cody. 1846–1917, US showman who toured Europe and the US with his famous Wild West Show
- buffalo bird — a cowbird, Molothrus ater, of North America.
- buffalo fish — any of a genus (Ictiobus) of large, humpbacked, freshwater sucker fishes found in North America
- bull session — A bull session is an informal conversation among a small group of people.
- bulldog clip — A bulldog clip is a metal clip with a spring lever that opens and closes two flat pieces of metal. It is used for holding papers together.
- bullet point — A bullet point is one of a series of important items for discussion or action in a document, usually marked by a square or round symbol.
- bunco artist — a confidence trickster or con artist
- bunny boiler — a person, esp a woman, who is considered to be emotionally unstable and likely to be dangerously vengeful
- buoyancy aid — a type of usually foam-filled lifejacket designed for use in sports such as canoeing
- bur marigold — any plant of the genus Bidens that has yellow flowers and pointed fruits that cling to fur and clothing: family Asteraceae (composites)
- burial mound — a barrow
- burkina faso — an inland republic in W Africa: dominated by Mossi kingdoms (10th–19th centuries); French protectorate established in 1896; became an independent republic in 1960; consists mainly of a flat savanna plateau. Official language: French; Mossi and other African languages also widely spoken. Religion: mostly animist, with a large Muslim minority. Currency: franc. Capital: Ouagadougou. Pop: 17 812 961 (2013 est). Area: 273 200 sq km (105 900 sq miles)
- burro's tail — a succulent Mexican plant, Sedum morganianum, of the stonecrop family, bearing small, rose-colored flowers and long, hanging, nearly cylindrical stems with closely packed whitish-green leaves.
- button quail — any small quail-like terrestrial bird of the genus Turnix, such as T. sylvatica (striped button quail), occurring in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World: family Turnicidae, order Gruiformes (cranes, rails, etc)
- buttonholing — the hole, slit, or loop through which a button is passed and by which it is secured.
- buying group — an association of companies who use their combined purchasing power to achieve the best prices from suppliers
- buying order — an order to buy a certain security
- buying power — the amount of services or goods a company, person, group or currency is able to purchase