13-letter words containing r, a, b
- brooklyn park — city in SE Minn.: suburb of Minneapolis: pop. 67,000
- brown bagging — to bring (one's own liquor) to a restaurant or club, especially one that has no liquor license.
- brown mustard — black mustard. See under mustard (def 2).
- brown-bagging — the practice of eating one's lunch or drinking a bottle of alcohol from a brown bag
- brussels lace — a fine lace with a raised or appliqué design
- brutalization — to make brutal.
- buccaneerings — the characteristic actions of a buccaneer
- buck sergeant — a newly promoted sergeant
- bucket ladder — a series of buckets that move in a continuous chain, used to dredge riverbeds, etc, or to excavate land
- bud variation — any variation in a bud due to changes in either its genetic composition or environment or both such that the resulting flower, fruit, or shoot differs from others of the same plant or species.
- buffalo berry — a shrub (genus Shepherdia) of the oleaster family, native to W North America, with silvery leaves
- buffalo grass — a short grass, Buchloë dactyloides, growing on the dry plains of the central US
- buffalo grove — a city in NE Illinois.
- bulbourethral — of or relating to the rounded mass of tissue surrounding the urethra at the root of the penis.
- bullace grape — the thick-skinned musk-scented purple grape produced by this plant: used to make wine
- bullhead rail — a rail having a cross section with a bulbous top and bottom, the top being larger
- bully-ragging — to bully; harass: to bullyrag fraternity plebs.
- bumble around — When someone bumbles around or bumbles about, they behave in a confused, disorganized way, making mistakes and usually not achieving anything.
- buoyant force — the law that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force (buoyant force) equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.
- bureaucratese — wordy, jargon-filled, overcomplicated language considered typical of bureaucrats
- bureaucratism — an official of a bureaucracy.
- bureaucratist — a believer in bureaucracy
- bureaucratize — to administer by or transform into a bureaucracy
- burgess shale — a bed of Cambrian sedimentary rock in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia containing many unique invertebrate fossils
- burglar alarm — A burglar alarm is an electric device that makes a bell ring loudly if someone tries to enter a building by force.
- burglar-proof — designed to be secure and to frustrate any attempted burglary
- burglariously — in the manner of a burglar or buglary
- burial ground — A burial ground is a place where bodies are buried, especially an ancient place.
- buridan's ass — an example intended to show the deficiency of reason. An ass standing equidistant from two identical heaps of oats starves to death because reason provides no grounds for choosing to eat one rather than the other
- burmese glass — an American art glass of the late 19th century, ranging from greenish-yellow to pink.
- burnham scale — the salary scale for teachers in English state schools, which is revised periodically
- burning glass — a convex lens for concentrating the sun's rays into a small area to produce heat or fire
- burt standish — Burt L. pseudonym of Gilbert Patten.
- bus mastering — bus master
- business card — A person's business card or their card is a small card which they give to other people, and which has their name and details of their job and company printed on it.
- business park — an area specially designated and landscaped to accommodate business offices, warehouses, light industry, etc
- bustard quail — button quail.
- bustard-quail — any of several birds of the family Turnicidae, of warmer parts of the Old World, resembling but not related to the true quail. Also called bustard quail, hemipode.
- buster collar — a round collar, similar to a lampshade in shape, that is fitted round the neck of an animal or bird, for example to prevent it removing or interfering with a dressing or other treatment
- busto arsizio — a city in Lombardy, N Italy.
- butch haircut — a short haircut for men, similar to a crew cut.
- butcher paper — heavy, moisture-resistant paper, as used for wrapping meat.
- butcher's saw — a type of hacksaw used especially by butchers for cutting through meat and bones.
- butler's tray — a tray resting on or attached to an X-shaped, often folding stand, on which are kept drink bottles and glasses
- butterfly pea — any of several leguminous plants of the genus Clitoria, as C. mariana, of North America, having pale-blue flowers.
- butyraldehyde — a colourless flammable pungent liquid used in the manufacture of resins. Formula: CH3(CH2)2CHO
- buzzard's bay — an inlet of the Atlantic, in SE Massachusetts. 30 miles (48 km) long.
- by contraries — contrary to what is expected
- by its nature — If you say that something has a particular characteristic by its nature or by its very nature, you mean that things of that type always have that characteristic.
- by reputation — If you know someone by reputation, you have never met them but you have heard of their reputation.