15-letter words containing o, u, t, e, r
- bargain counter — a store counter on which goods are displayed for sale at reduced prices
- barium chromate — a yellow, crystalline compound, BaCrO 4 , used as a pigment (barium yellow)
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- beam-power tube — a vacuum tube in which the stream of electrons flowing to the plate is focused by the action of a set of auxiliary, charged elements, giving an increase in output power.
- 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.
- beetroot purple — a deep purple-red; a purple pigment derived from beets.
- bernoulli trial — one of a sequence of independent experiments each of which has the same probability of success, such as successive throws of a die, the outcome of which is described by a binomial distribution
- beurre noisette — a sauce of butter cooked until golden or nut brown, sometimes flavored with capers, vinegar, herbs, etc.
- bicycle touring — the activity of touring on a bicycle
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- bloody butchers — a hardy plant, Trillium sessile, common from New York to Georgia and westward, having stalkless, purple or green flowers.
- blue wood aster — a composite plant, Aster cordifolius, of North America, having heart-shaped leaves and pale-blue flowers.
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- branchiostegous — branchiostegal.
- breach of trust — a violation of duty by a trustee or any other person in a fiduciary position
- break the mould — If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do completely different things from what has been done before or from what is usually done.
- break-out group — a group of people who detach themselves from a larger group or meeting in order to hold separate discussions
- bronchial tubes — the bronchi or their smaller divisions
- brussels sprout — Brussels sprouts are vegetables that look like tiny cabbages.
- 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.
- bucket elevator — a chain of buckets for raising liquids or materials to a higher level
- buffer solution — a solution to which a salt of a weak acid or base has been added
- bullock's heart — the large, edible fruit of a tropical American tree, Annona reticulata.
- bullock's-heart — the large, edible fruit of a tropical American tree, Annona reticulata.
- butcher's-broom — a liliaceous evergreen shrub, Ruscus aculeatus, that has stiff prickle-tipped flattened green stems, which resemble and function as true leaves. The plant was formerly used for making brooms
- button mangrove — a tropical tree, Conocarpus erectus, having small, reddish, conelike fruits and bark used in tanning.
- calcareous tufa — tufa
- call-out charge — a set amount charged for a repairman to come to one's house, or to a broken-down vehicle, which is added to the cost of the actual repair
- carpometacarpus — a bone in the wing of a bird that consists of the metacarpal bones and some of the carpal bones fused together
- cartesian doubt — willful suspension of all interpretations of experience that are not absolutely certain: used as a method of deriving, by elimination of such uncertainties, axioms upon which to base theories.
- casters-up mode — [IBM, probably from slang belly up] Yet another synonym for "broken" or "down". Usually connotes a major failure. A system (hardware or software) which is "down" may be already being restarted before the failure is noticed, whereas one which is "casters up" is usually a good excuse to take the rest of the day off (as long as you're not responsible for fixing it).
- cauliflowerette — a single floret from the head of a cauliflower.
- cell disruption — Cell disruption is when a biological material becomes smaller to release proteins and enzymes.
- centrifugal box — a revolving chamber, used in the spinning of manufactured filaments, in which the plastic fibers, subjected to centrifugal force, are slightly twisted and emerge in the form of yarn wound into the shape of a hollow cylinder.
- charles doughty — Charles Montagu [mon-tuh-gyoo] /ˈmɒn təˌgyu/ (Show IPA), 1843–1926, English traveler and writer.
- charlotte russe — a cold dessert made in a mould with sponge fingers enclosing a mixture of whipped cream, custard, etc
- chemoautotrophs — Plural form of chemoautotroph.
- chemoautotrophy — the process of deriving energy through oxidizing inorganic chemical compounds, as opposed to photosynthesis
- chromium-plated — having been plated with chromium
- closed fracture — simple fracture.
- cluster college — a small residential college affiliated with a university but semi-independent and specializing in one field of study.
- colour sergeant — a sergeant who carries the regimental, battalion, or national colours, as in a colour guard
- combat neurosis — battle fatigue.
- combat trousers — Combat trousers are large, loose trousers with lots of pockets.
- comma butterfly — an orange-brown European vanessid butterfly, Polygonia c-album, with a white comma-shaped mark on the underside of each hind wing
- compton-burnett — Dame Ivy. 1884–1969, English novelist. Her novels include Men and Wives (1931) and Mother and Son (1955)
- computer cookie — HTTP cookie
- computer dating — the use of computers by dating agencies to match their clients
- computer ethics — (philosophy) Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).