14-letter words containing o, n, s, a
- boatswain bird — tropic bird.
- body mechanics — body exercises that are intended to improve one's posture, stamina, poise, etc.
- body snatching — the act or practice of robbing a grave to obtain a cadaver for dissection.
- boolean search — (information science) (Or "Boolean query") A query using the Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT, and parentheses to construct a complex condition from simpler criteria. A typical example is searching for combinatons of keywords on a web search engine. Examples: car or automobile "New York" and not "New York state" The term is sometimes stretched to include searches using other operators, e.g. "near". Not to be confused with binary search. See also: weighted search.
- bophuthatswana — (formerly) a Bantu homeland in N South Africa: consisted of six separate areas; declared independent by South Africa in 1977 although this was not internationally recognized; abolished in 1993. Capital: Mmabatho
- born yesterday — brought forth by birth.
- bounce message — A notification message returned to the sender by a site unable to relay e-mail to the intended recipient or the next link in a bang path. Reasons might include a nonexistent or misspelled user name or a down relay site. Bounce messages can themselves fail, with occasionally ugly results; see sorcerer's apprentice mode and software laser. The terms "bounce mail" and "barfmail" are also common.
- boundary-stone — a stone marking a boundary, sometimes giving information such as the initials of the local authority in whose jurisdiction the boundary is
- bow and scrape — to behave in an excessively deferential or obsequious way
- bowling crease — a line marked at the wicket, over which a bowler must not advance fully before delivering the ball
- branchiostegal — of or relating to the operculum covering the gill slits of fish
- brazing solder — an alloy of copper and zinc for joining two metal surfaces by melting the alloy so that it forms a thin layer between the surfaces
- bring onstream — To bring onstream a plant, mine, oilfield, etc. is to start production there.
- bronchiectasis — chronic dilation of the bronchi or bronchial tubes, which often become infected
- bronchospastic — of or relating to bronchospasms
- brown thrasher — a common large songbird, Toxostoma rufum, of the eastern U.S., having reddish-brown plumage.
- bulk transport — the transport of large quantities of goods or commodities in lorries, ships, or by rail
- bust one's ass — Informal. to burst. to go bankrupt. to collapse from the strain of making a supreme effort: She was determined to make straight A's or bust.
- by a long shot — People sometimes use the expression by a long shot to emphasize the opinion they are giving.
- cadaverousness — of or like a corpse.
- cahokia mounds — the largest group of prehistoric Indian earthworks in the US, located northeast of East St Louis
- caicos islands — a group of islands in the Caribbean: part of the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- cairngormstone — (mineral, rare) A yellow or smoky brown variety of rock crystal, found especially in the mountains of w Cairngorm in Scotland.
- calumniousness — Calumny.
- camp counselor — activities supervisor
- campanulaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Campanulaceae, a family of temperate and subtropical plants, including the campanulas, having bell-shaped nodding flowers
- canons regular — one of a body of dignitaries or prebendaries attached to a cathedral or a collegiate church; a member of the chapter of a cathedral or a collegiate church.
- cantankerously — In a cantankerous manner.
- capitalisation — The act or process of capitalising.
- capriciousness — subject to, led by, or indicative of a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic: He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react.
- caramelisation — (chiefly British) alternative spelling of caramelization.
- carbon process — a photographic process for producing positive prints by exposing sensitized carbon tissue to light passing through a negative. Washing removes the unexposed gelatine leaving the pigmented image in the exposed insoluble gelatine
- carcinogenesis — the development of cancerous cells from normal ones
- carcinomatosis — a condition characterized by widespread dissemination of carcinomas or by a carcinoma that affects a large area
- carcinosarcoma — a malignant tumour composed of carcinoma and sarcoma
- cardiocentesis — surgical puncture of the heart
- carnarvonshire — Caernarvon.
- cartoonishness — The state or condition of being cartoonish.
- casement cloth — a sheer fabric made of a variety of fibers, used for window curtains and as backing for heavy drapery or decorative fabrics.
- casino banking — an approach to banking which risks losing investors' money in the quest for maximizing profits
- castelo branco — Humberto de Alencar [oon-ber-too di ah-len-kahr] /ũˈbɛr tʊ dɪ ɑ lɛ̃ˈkɑr/ (Show IPA), 1900–67, Brazilian general and statesman: president 1964–67.
- castle shannon — a city in SW Pennsylvania.
- castrametation — the art of designing and laying out an encampment
- casual contact — the level of contact at which a person is not subject to contracting a communicable disease from another, especially nonsexual contact with a person infected with a venereal disease.
- categorisation — (British spelling) Alternative form of categorization.
- cellini's halo — Heiligenschein.
- center of mass — the point in a body or system of bodies at which the entire mass may be assumed to be concentrated
- central powers — (before World War I) Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary after they were linked by the Triple Alliance in 1882
- centralisation — Alternative spelling of centralization.
- centre of mass — the point at which the mass of a system could be concentrated without affecting the behaviour of the system under the action of external linear forces