19-letter words containing o, u, n
- augmented cognition — the study of the augmenting of human mental functions by computer programs
- augsburg confession — the statement of beliefs and doctrines of the Lutherans, formulated by Melanchthon and endorsed by the Lutheran princes, which was presented at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 and which became the chief creed of the Lutheran Church.
- auriculoventricular — atrioventricular.
- austro-prussian war — the war (1866) in which Prussia, Italy, and some minor German states opposed Austria, Saxony, Hanover, and the states of southern Germany.
- author's alteration — a correction or change made in typeset copy that is not a correction of an error introduced by the compositor. Abbreviation: AA, A.A., a.a., aa.
- autotransplantation — autograft.
- ave regina coelorum — a Latin hymn in honor of the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven.
- baja california sur — a state of NW Mexico, in the S part of the Lower California peninsula. Capital: La Paz. Pop: 423 516 (2000). Area: 73 475 sq km (28 363 sq miles)
- balfour declaration — the statement made by Arthur Balfour in 1917 of British support for the setting up of a national home for the Jews in Palestine, provided that the rights of "existing non-Jewish communities" in Palestine could be safeguarded
- ballot-box stuffing — the act of illegally submitting more than one vote in a ballot in which only one vote is permitted
- bang for one's buck — value for money
- bankruptcy petition — an official request for protection under bankruptcy laws, which initiates bankruptcy proceedings
- battle-ground state — a state of the U.S. in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning and that is considered key to the outcome of a presidential election: the swing states of Ohio and Indiana.
- battles of bull run — two battles fought at Manassas Junction near a stream named Bull Run, during the American Civil War (July, 1861 and August, 1862), in both of which the Federal army was routed by the Confederates
- bbc networking club — (body) A bulletin board run by the British Broadcasting Corporation Education department from April 1994 to 30 Nov 1995.
- be burnt to a crisp — If something is burnt to a crisp, it is completely burnt.
- be of use/be no use — If something or someone is of use, they are useful. If they are no use, they are not at all useful.
- be someone's junior — to be younger than someone
- be up to one's neck — the part of the body of an animal or human being that connects the head and the trunk.
- beauty preparations — the cosmetics, creams etc used to improve someone's beauty
- beggar-my-neighbour — a card game in which one player tries to win all the cards of the other player
- behavioural science — the application of scientific methods to the study of the behaviour of organisms
- bellybutton surgery — laparoscopy.
- below par/under par — If you feel below par or under par, you feel tired and unable to perform as well as you normally do.
- benedict's solution — a chemical solution used to detect the presence of glucose and other reducing sugars. Medically, it is used to test the urine of diabetics
- bernoulli principle — (Or "air foil principle", after Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli, 1700-1782) The law that pressure in a fluid decreases with the rate of flow. It has been applied to a class of hard disk drives. See Bernoulli Box.
- bernoulli's theorem — Statistics. law of averages (def 1).
- beside the question — not related to the subject under discussion
- beta-naphthyl group — See under naphthyl.
- bilingual education — schooling in which those not fluent in the standard or national language are taught in their own language.
- binocular disparity — the small differences in the positions of the parts of the images falling on each eye that results when each eye views the scene from a slightly different position; these differences make stereoscopic vision possible
- bloodstock industry — the breeding and training of racehorses
- blowing your buffer — (jargon) Losing your train of thought. A reference to buffer overflow.
- blue screen of life — (operating system) (BSOL, by analogy with "Blue Screen of Death") The opening screen of Microsoft Windows NT. This screen shows the file system loading, and any problems such as conversions from FAT to NTFS or a scan of a hard drive. The Blue Screen of Life occurs in one way, as opposed to the Blue Screen of Death, which can occur in many different ways and times.
- blue-ringed octopus — a highly venomous octopus, Octopus maculosus, of E Australia which exhibits blue bands on its tentacles when disturbed
- blue-tongued lizard — a large Australian lizard, Tiliqua scincoides, characterized by having a cobalt-blue tongue.
- board of trade unit — a unit of electrical energy equal to 1 kilowatt-hour
- bordering countries — countries that share a border with a particular country
- born out of wedlock — born when one's parents are not legally married
- bound hand and foot — with hands and feet tied
- boundary commission — (in Britain) a body established by statute to undertake periodic reviews of the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies and to recommend changes to take account of population shifts
- bright young things — young, fun-loving, fashionable upper-class people, esp of the 1920s
- brimstone butterfly — a common yellow butterfly, Gonepteryx rhamni, of N temperate regions of the Old World: family Pieridae
- brown paper bag bug — (programming) A programming bug that is so stupid that it makes the programmer want to put a brown paper bag over his head.
- building contractor — an individual or company that contracts for the construction of houses, etc
- bulbourethral gland — Cowper's gland
- business accounting — the keeping of detailed accounts relating to a business or businesses
- buster brown collar — a medium-sized, starched collar with rounded edges, lying flat on the shoulders, worn by women and girls.
- buy a pig in a poke — to buy, get, or agree to something without sight or knowledge of it in advance
- by leaps and bounds — with unexpectedly rapid progess