15-letter words containing m, a, t, r
- astrophotometry — the measurement of the intensity of light of celestial objects.
- asymmetric bars — a pair of wooden or fibreglass bars placed parallel to each other but set at different heights, for various exercises
- asymmetric time — musical time consisting of an odd number of beats in each bar divided into uneven combinations, such as 3 + 2, 4 + 3, 2 + 3 + 2, etc
- at arm's length — If you hold something at arm's length, you hold it away from your body with your arm straight.
- at the mercy of — in the power of
- atmospherically — pertaining to, existing in, or consisting of the atmosphere: atmospheric vapors.
- augmented roman — a writing system based on an expanded English alphabet, consisting of 43 characters representing different phonemes of spoken English, used for teaching beginners to read. Abbreviation: I.T.A., i.t.a.
- augusta emerita — a market town in W Spain, in Extremadura, on the Guadiana River: founded in 25 bc; became the capital of Lusitania and one of the chief cities of Iberia. Pop: 52 110 (2003 est)
- australian mist — a breed of medium-sized cat with a short spotted or marbled coat
- automata theory — the formal study of the power of computation of abstract machines
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- automatic rifle — a type of light machine gun capable of firing automatically or in single shots.
- automorphically — in an automorphic manner
- autorhythmicity — The quality of being autorhythmic, or generating its own rhythm, as for example the cells of the cardiac muscle do.
- autotransformer — a transformer in which part of the winding is common to both primary and secondary circuits
- badminton court — the court on which games of badminton are played
- ballet mistress — a woman who teaches and rehearses the dancers in a ballet company
- bangtail muster — a roundup of cattle to be counted, each one having the hairs on its tail docked as it is counted
- baptism of fire — If someone who has just begun a new job has a baptism of fire, they immediately have to cope with very many severe difficulties and obstacles.
- bar examination — a written examination to determine if one is qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction.
- barium chromate — a yellow, crystalline compound, BaCrO 4 , used as a pigment (barium yellow)
- barium stearate — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble solid, Ba(C 18 H 35 O 2) 2 , used chiefly as a waterproofing agent and as a lubricant.
- barium sulphate — a white insoluble fine dense powder, used as a pigment, as a filler for paper, rubber, etc, and in barium meals. Formula: BaSO4
- barium titanate — a crystalline ceramic used in capacitors and piezoelectric devices. Formula: BaTiO3
- barothermograph — an automatic instrument for recording pressure and temperature.
- barry mountains — a mountain range in SE Australia, in E Victoria: part of the Australian Alps
- bathroom scales — scales typically kept in a bathroom for people to weigh themselves
- bathymetrically — In a bathymetric way.
- bathythermogram — a record made by a bathythermograph.
- battery farming — the activity of using batteries for raising poultry
- beam-power tube — a vacuum tube in which the stream of electrons flowing to the plate is focused by the action of a set of auxiliary, charged elements, giving an increase in output power.
- bedtime reading — a book, magazine etc read at bedtime
- before the mast — as an apprentice seaman
- bergamot orange — a small Asian spiny rutaceous tree, Citrus bergamia, having sour pear-shaped fruit
- beside the mark — not striking the point aimed at
- black marketeer — A black marketeer is someone who sells goods on the black market.
- black september — a Palestinian Terrorist group, responsible for the assassinations of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich in 1972
- black-marketeer — to sell articles in the black market.
- bohemian forest — a mountain range between the SW Czech Republic and SE Germany. Highest peak: Arber, 1457 m (4780 ft)
- boston marriage — (especially in 19th-century New England) an intimate friendship between two women often maintaining a household together.
- boston massacre — an outbreak (1770) in Boston against British troops, in which a few citizens were killed
- brachystomatous — having a short proboscis, as certain insects.
- break statement — (programming) A statement in the C programming language that transfers control out of the innermost enclosing switch, while, do, or for statement. The statement also exists in languages derived from C, such as C++ and Java.
- break the mould — If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- britannia metal — an alloy of low melting point consisting of tin with 5–10 per cent antimony, 1–3 per cent copper, and sometimes small quantities of zinc, lead, or bismuth: used for decorative purposes and for bearings
- british america — British North America.
- 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.
- brother-in-arms — a fellow soldier or comrade in a shared struggle
- brown-tail moth — a white moth, Nygmia phaerrhoea, having a brown tuft at the end of the abdomen, the larvae of which feed on the foliage of various shade and fruit trees.
- brownian motion — the irregular motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or a gas, caused by the bombardment of the particles by molecules of the medium: first observed by Robert Brown in 1827.