14-letter words containing r, u, c, t
- austro-asiatic — a hypothetical phylum or superfamily of languages consisting of Mon-Khmer and certain other languages of India and South-East Asia. Links with Malayo-Polynesian have also been suggested
- author catalog — a catalog whose entries are listed by author, editor, compiler, translator, or other party considered to have responsibility for the creation or assembly of the work specified.
- autobiographic — marked by or dealing with one's own experiences or life history; of or in the manner of an autobiography: autobiographical material; an autobiographical novel.
- autocollimator — an instrument combining the functions of a telescope and collimator, for detecting and measuring very small deviations in a beam of light.
- autocoprophagy — the consumption of one's own faeces
- autocorrelator — (electronics) A device that modifies a signal with a delayed copy of itself in order to detect any periodic signal hidden in the noise.
- autocovariance — (statistics) The covariance of a signal with another part of the same signal.
- autocratically — In an autocratic manner.
- autodestructed — Simple past tense and past participle of autodestruct.
- automatic door — a self-opening door
- autoreactivity — (immunology) The condition of being autoreactive.
- azimuth circle — a device for measuring azimuths, consisting of a graduated ring equipped with a sighting vane on each side, which fits concentrically over a compass.
- baccalaureates — Plural form of baccalaureate.
- back to nature — If you want to get back to nature, you want to return to a simpler way of living.
- bamboo curtain — (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China
- barbour jacket — a hard-wearing waterproof waxed jacket
- basic industry — an industry which is highly important in a nation's economy
- basque country — Theregion comprising three provinces in N Spain, on the Bay of Biscay, inhabited by Basques: 2,803 sq mi (7,260 sq km); pop. 2,104,000
- battery backup — A battery backup is a system in some power supplies that switches between a main power source and a battery.
- battle cruiser — A battle cruiser is a large fast warship that is lighter than a battleship and moves more easily.
- be cursed with — to be afflicted with; suffer from
- be struck with — to be attracted to or impressed by
- beaufort scale — an international scale of wind velocities ranging for practical purposes from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force). In the US an extension of the scale, from 13 to 17 for winds over 64 knots, is used
- beauty culture — the skill or occupation of a beautician
- bermuda cutter — a marconi-rigged cutter.
- beta reduction — [lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g. (\ x . x+1) 4 --> 4+1 Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion. See also name capture.
- beta structure — a secondary structure occurring in many proteins, consisting of several polypeptide chains running in parallel or alternating directions and joined by intermolecular hydrogen bonds, creating a flexible, strong arrangement.
- bib and tucker — an outfit of clothes (esp in the phrase best bib and tucker)
- binary counter — (electronics, hardware) A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a synchronous counter or a ripple counter.
- bioaeronautics — the use of aircraft in the discovery, development, and protection of natural and biological resources
- bird sanctuary — an area of land in which birds are protected and encouraged to breed
- biscuit barrel — an airtight container of circular section equipped with a lid and used for storing biscuits
- biscuit-firing — the first firing given to pottery, before it is glazed
- bone structure — the skeletal composition of a human or animal
- bracket fungus — any saprotroph or parasitic fungus of the basidiomycetous family Polyporaceae, growing as a shelflike mass (bracket) from tree trunks and producing spores in vertical tubes in the bracket
- brazil current — a warm current in the Atlantic Ocean flowing SE along the E coast of Brazil.
- bread poultice — a poultice made from breadcrumbs
- breakfast club — a service that provides a breakfast for children who arrive early at school
- bridge circuit — any of several networks, such as a Wheatstone bridge, consisting of two branches across which a measuring device is connected. The resistance, capacitance, etc, of one component can be determined from the known values of the others when the voltage in each branch is balanced
- broad-spectrum — effective against a wide variety of diseases or microorganisms
- bronchial tube — Your bronchial tubes are the two tubes which connect your windpipe to your lungs.
- brunswick stew — a stew originally made with squirrel and onions, and now usually with rabbit or chicken and corn, okra, onions, tomatoes, lima beans, etc.
- brushed cotton — cotton fabric that is brushed to remove excess lint and fibres to leave a soft, smooth finish
- bucket brigade — a line of persons passing buckets of water along in trying to put out a fire
- bull stretcher — Also called bullnose stretcher. a brick having one of the edges along its length rounded for laying as a stretcher in a sill or the like.
- bumper sticker — A bumper sticker is a small piece of paper or plastic with words or pictures on it, designed for sticking onto the back of your car. It usually has a political, religious, or humorous message.
- burschenschaft — a students' fraternity, originally one concerned with Christian ideals, patriotism, etc
- bush carpenter — a rough-and-ready unskilled workman
- butcher's shop — a shop dedicated to the selling of meat
- butter brickle — an ice-cream flavor, usually vanilla or butterscotch, containing crunchy bits of butterscotch candy.