15-letter words containing o, d, e, t
- apollo asteroid — one of a number of asteroids whose orbits cross that of the earth.
- apostles' creed — a concise statement of Christian beliefs dating from about 500 ad, traditionally ascribed to the Apostles
- arc de triomphe — the triumphal arch in Paris begun by Napoleon I to commemorate his victories of 1805–6 and completed in 1836
- armaments depot — a store for armaments
- around the bend — to force (an object, especially a long or thin one) from a straight form into a curved or angular one, or from a curved or angular form into some different form: to bend an iron rod into a hoop.
- around the horn — (thrown) from third base to second to first in trying for a double play
- arrondissements — Plural form of arrondissement.
- at death's door — If you say that someone is at death's door, you mean they are very ill indeed and likely to die.
- at the hands of — If someone experiences a particular kind of treatment, especially unpleasant treatment, at the hands of a person or organization, they receive it from them.
- audio equipment — electrical devices used to play or record sound
- auditor general — (in Canada) a federal official responsible for auditing government departments and making an annual report
- audubon society — a North American organization devoted to the conservancy of birds
- 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.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- autoschediastic — offhand, with little forethought or preparation
- autotetraploidy — the generation of the tetraploid state, created by the fusing of two nuclei from the same species
- azerty keyboard — a common European version of typewriter keyboard layout with the characters a, z, e, r, t, and y positioned on the top row of alphabetic characters at the left side of the keyboard
- baconian method — induction (def 4a).
- bag on the side — An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or bloated. Also "to hang a bag on the side [of]". "C++? That's just a bag on the side of C." "They want me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system."
- bandstop filter — A bandstop filter is a filter designed to eliminate all frequencies within a band of frequencies.
- 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
- barn-door skate — an Atlantic skate, Raja laevis, that grows to a length of 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more.
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- basic education — (in India) education in which all teaching is correlated with the learning of a craft
- basidiomycetous — belonging or pertaining to the basidiomycetes.
- be of two minds — to be undecided or irresolute
- be on the skids — to be on the decline or downgrade; meet with failure
- beast of burden — A beast of burden is an animal such as an ox or a donkey that is used for carrying or pulling things.
- beat the bounds — (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
- bedford heights — a town in N Ohio.
- bedsheet ballot — a very long, involved paper ballot
- before the wind — with the wind coming from astern
- benedict arnold — Benedict, 1741–1801, American general in the Revolutionary War who became a traitor.
- benevolent fund — a charitable organization
- beyond question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
- beyond the pale — If you think that someone's actions or behaviour are not acceptable, you can say that they are beyond the pale.
- bide one's time — to wait patiently for an opportunity
- bidirectionally — in a bidirectional manner
- billings method — a natural method of birth control that involves examining the colour and viscosity of the cervical mucus to discover when ovulation is occurring
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- bit on the side — an extramarital affair
- bit-mapped font — a computer font whose characters are held in memory as series of dots.
- 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.
- blasting powder — a form of gunpowder made with sodium nitrate instead of saltpeter, used chiefly for blasting rock, ore, etc.
- bloodguiltiness — guilty of murder or bloodshed.
- bloody butchers — a hardy plant, Trillium sessile, common from New York to Georgia and westward, having stalkless, purple or green flowers.
- blossom-end rot — a disease of tomato and pepper caused by a deficiency of calcium, characterized by decay at the blossom end of the fruit.
- blue cattle dog — an Australian breed of dog with a bluish coat, developed for herding cattle
- blue wood aster — a composite plant, Aster cordifolius, of North America, having heart-shaped leaves and pale-blue flowers.