12-letter words containing o, r, k
- break ground — to do something that has not been done before
- break of day — dawn; daybreak.
- breaker zone — the area offshore where waves break, between the outermost breaker and the limit of wave uprush; the zone within which waves approaching the coastline start breaking, usually in water depths of 16 to 32 feet (5 to 10 meters).
- breakthrough — A breakthrough is an important development or achievement.
- breaststroke — Breaststroke is a swimming stroke which you do lying on your front, moving your arms and legs horizontally in a circular motion.
- breeze block — a cinder block.
- breeze-block — A breeze-block is a large, grey brick made from ashes and cement.
- broken arrow — a town in NE Oklahoma.
- broken chord — a chord played as an arpeggio
- broken heart — If you say that someone has a broken heart, you mean that they are very sad, for example because a love affair has ended unhappily.
- broken water — a patch of water whose surface is rippled or choppy, usually surrounded by relatively calm water.
- broken-check — a check pattern in which the rectangular shapes are slightly irregular.
- broken-field — of or having to do with running in which the ball carrier zigzags so as to go past defenders and avoid being tackled by them
- brooks range — a mountain range in N Alaska. Highest peak: Mount Isto, 2761 m (9058 ft)
- brooks's law — (programming) "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" - a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting work among N programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N), but the complexity and communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of "The Mythical Man-Month". The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as "Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice; too often, management still does. See also creationism, second-system effect, optimism.
- brown canker — a fungous disease of roses, characterized by leaf and flower lesions, stem cankers surrounded by a reddish-purple border, and dieback.
- brown hackle — an artificial fly having a peacock herl body, golden tag and tail, and brown hackle.
- browser skin — a changeable decorative background for a browser
- buffer stock — a stock of a commodity built up by a government or trade organization with the object of using it to stabilize prices
- bullock cart — a cart pulled by one or two bullocks
- 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)
- cantankerous — Someone who is cantankerous is always finding things to argue or complain about.
- cape nordkyn — a cape in N Norway: the northernmost point of the European mainland
- carbon black — a black finely divided form of amorphous carbon produced by incomplete combustion of natural gas or petroleum: used to reinforce rubber and in the manufacture of pigments and ink
- cargo pocket — a large patch pocket, usually pleated at the sides and often having a flap.
- carving fork — a large, two-tined fork with a metal guard to protect the hand, used to hold meat in place as it is being carved
- chain locker — a compartment where the chain or cable of an anchor is stowed when the anchor is raised.
- chain smoker — person: smokes heavily
- chain-smoker — A chain-smoker is a person who chain-smokes.
- chapter book — a children's book, typically a work of fiction, of moderate length and complexity, divided into chapters and intended for readers approximately seven to ten years old
- charity work — unpaid work, usually fundraising, done in aid of a charity
- checkerbloom — a Californian malvaceous plant, Sidalcea malvaeflora, with pink or purple flowers
- checkerboard — A checkerboard is a square board with 64 black and white squares that is used for playing checkers or chess.
- chimney rock — a column of rock rising above the level of the surrounding area or isolated on the face of a steep slope.
- choke collar — a training collar for a dog, that tightens when the dog strains at the leash
- chokeberries — Plural form of chokeberry.
- chook chaser — a small motorcycle, esp for off-road use
- chook raffle — a raffle for which the main prize is a roast chicken
- chukot range — mountain range in NE Siberia: highest peak, c. 7,500 ft (2,286 m)
- cinder block — A cinder block is a large grey brick made from coal cinders and cement which is used for building.
- clickthrough — the act of clicking on an advertisement or other link to go to another website, especially a retail site: The store gets lots of clickthroughs from social media.
- clos network — (networking) A type of network topology that can connect N inputs to N outputs with less that N^2 crosspoint switches.
- clothes rack — a framework for holding or displaying clothes in a shop
- cock feather — the odd-coloured feather set on the shaft of an arrow at right angles to the nock
- cock lobster — a male lobster
- cock sparrow — a male sparrow
- cocksureness — The state or condition of being cocksure.
- cocktail bar — a bar which serves cocktails
- cockthrowing — the sport of knocking down, or killing, a cock that is tied to a post
- coffee break — A coffee break is a short period of time, usually in the morning or afternoon, when you stop working and have a cup of coffee.