15-letter words containing n, o, c, e
- benedict arnold — Benedict, 1741–1801, American general in the Revolutionary War who became a traitor.
- benefit concert — a concert to raise money for charity
- benefit society — an organization which, by means of dues, secures for its members certain benefits, such as life insurance, hospitalization, etc.
- 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.
- benzyl chloride — a colorless, corrosive liquid, C 7 H 7 Cl, used chiefly as an intermediate in the synthesis of benzyl compounds.
- bessel function — one of several transcendental functions, usually represented as power series, that are solutions to a group of related differential equations.
- beta conversion — (theory) A term from lambda-calculus for beta reduction or beta abstraction.
- bicycle touring — the activity of touring on a bicycle
- bidirectionally — in a bidirectional manner
- bioluminescence — the production of light by living organisms as a result of the oxidation of a light-producing substance (luciferin) by the enzyme luciferase: occurs in many marine organisms, insects such as the firefly, etc
- biomechanically — from a biomechanical point of view
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- black operation — a covert and undocumented military operation
- black snakeroot — a tall bugbane, Cimicifuga racemosa, of the buttercup family, of eastern North America, having thin, tapering, toothed or deeply cut leaflets and branched clusters of small, white flowers.
- bladder campion — a European caryophyllaceous plant, Silene vulgaris, having white flowers with an inflated calyx
- blagoveshchensk — a city and port in E Russia, in Siberia on the Amur River. Pop: 222 000 (2005 est)
- blast injection — the injection of liquid fuel directly into the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine using a blast of high-pressure air to atomize the spray of fuel
- 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.
- blow one's cool — (of the wind or air) to be in motion.
- blow one's cork — to lose one's temper; become enraged
- blueback salmon — sockeye salmon.
- bone conduction — the transmission of sound vibrations to the internal ear through the cranial bones (opposed to air conduction).
- book of changes — an ancient Chinese book of divination, in which 64 pairs of trigrams are shown with various interpretations.
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- border incident — an incident, usually fighting, on a border between countries
- borderline case — a person or thing that is not clearly classifiable as something
- boston massacre — an outbreak (1770) in Boston against British troops, in which a few citizens were killed
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- bowel complaint — bowel disease or condition
- box chronometer — a ship's chronometer, supported on gimbals in a wooden box
- brachistochrone — the curve between two points through which a body moves under the force of gravity in a shorter time than for any other curve; the path of quickest descent
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- breakdown cover — insurance cover against breakdowns in a vehicle
- bristol channel — an inlet of the Atlantic, between S Wales and SW England, merging into the Severn estuary. Length: about 137 km (85 miles)
- britneyfication — the effect on clothes and fashions of following the revealing styles favoured by the US pop singer Britney Spears (born 1981)
- brocken specter — an optical phenomenon sometimes occurring at high altitudes when the image of an observer placed between the sun and a cloud is projected on the cloud as a greatly magnified shadow.
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- bronzed grackle — the western subspecies of the American bird, the common grackle, Quiscalus quiscula versicolor, having bronzy, iridescent plumage.
- brooklyn center — a city in SE Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
- bucket conveyor — a conveyor consisting of an endless chain with a series of buckets attached at regular intervals, used for moving ore, gravel, grain, or other bulk materials.
- business office — the office where the financial transactions, bookkeeping, etc. for a firm or institution are carried on
- business school — A business school is a school or college which teaches business subjects such as economics and management.
- cache coherency — (storage) (Or "cache consistency") /kash koh-heer'n-see/ The synchronisation of data in multiple caches such that reading a memory location via any cache will return the most recent data written to that location via any (other) cache. Some parallel processors do not cache accesses to shared memory to avoid the issue of cache coherency. If caches are used with shared memory then some system is required to detect when data in one processor's cache should be discarded or replaced because another processor has updated that memory location. Several such schemes have been devised.
- cacodaemoniacal — Demonic; evil.
- cadmean victory — a victory won with great losses to the victors
- caernarvonshire — (until 1974) a county of NW Wales, now part of Gwynedd
- cairngorm-stone — smoky quartz.
- caisson disease — decompression sickness