16-letter words containing s, e, r, o, l
- blow one's cover — to be or serve as a covering for; extend over; rest on the surface of: Snow covered the fields.
- bluegrass region — a region in central Kentucky, famous for its horse farms and fields of bluegrass.
- boarding kennels — a place where dog owners can pay to have their dogs looked after while they are away
- bob's your uncle — everything is or will turn out all right
- bois de rose oil — rosewood oil.
- bootstrap loader — (operating system) A short program loaded from non-volatile storage and used to bootstrap a computer. On early computers great efforts were expended on making the bootstrap loader short, in order to make it easy to toggle in via the front panel switches. It was just clever enough to read in a slightly more complex program (usually from punched cards or paper tape), to which it handed control. This program in turn read the application or operating system from a magnetic tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps, the computer "pulled itself up by its bootstraps" to a useful operating state. Nowadays the bootstrap loader is usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in from a fixed location on the disk, called the "boot block". When this program gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control over to it. A diskless workstation can use bootp to load its OS from the network.
- bordelaise sauce — a dark sauce made from meat stock, flour, wine, onions, seasonings, etc., served over broiled meat
- border leicester — a breed of sheep originally developed in the border country between Scotland and England by crossing English Leicesters with Cheviots: large numbers in Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand. It has a long white fleece with no wool on the head
- bornholm disease — an epidemic virus infection characterized by pain round the base of the chest
- boulogne-sur-mer — a port in N France, on the English Channel. Pop: 44 859 (1999)
- bouquet larkspur — a plant, Delphinium grandiflorum, of eastern Asia, having blue or whitish flowers and hairy fruit.
- bracknell forest — a unitary authority in SE England, in E Berkshire. Pop: 110 100 (2003 est). Area: 109 sq km (42 sq miles)
- braille embosser — Braille printer
- bring sb to heel — If you bring someone to heel, you force them to obey you.
- bristlecone pine — a coniferous tree, Pinus aristata, of the western US, bearing cones with bristle-like prickles: one of the longest-lived trees, useful in radiocarbon dating
- broad-shouldered — having broad shoulders
- brothel-creepers — soft-soled men's shoes that were originally popular in the 1950s
- brussels griffon — one of a Belgian breed of toy dogs having a thick, wiry, reddish-brown coat.
- bulletproof vest — a protective garment
- bullock's oriole — a common oriole, Icterus galbula bullockii, of western North America: a subspecies of the northern oriole.
- bundle of nerves — a very nervous person
- bundled software — software sold as part of a package with computers or other hardware or software
- burn oneself out — to undergo rapid combustion or consume fuel in such a way as to give off heat, gases, and, usually, light; be on fire: The fire burned in the grate.
- butterfly stroke — a swimming stroke in which the arms are plunged forward together in large circular movements
- call to quarters — a bugle call shortly before taps, notifying soldiers to retire to their quarters
- canadian soldier — the mayfly.
- cannonball serve — (in tennis) a very fast low serve
- capsule wardrobe — a collection of clothes and accessories that includes only items considered essential
- carbon bisulfide — carbon disulfide
- carbon disulfide — a heavy, volatile, colorless liquid, CS2, highly flammable and poisonous, used as a solvent, insecticide, etc.
- carbonless paper — a sheet of paper impregnated with dye which transfers writing or typing onto the copying surface below without the necessity for carbon pigment
- carboxylesterase — (enzyme) Any enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of a carboxylic ester.
- caroline islands — an archipelago of over 500 islands and islets in the W Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines, all of which are now part of the Federated States of Micronesia, except for the Palau group: formerly part of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; centre of a typhoon zone. Area: (land) 1183 sq km (457 sq miles)
- carolus linnaeus — Carolus [kar-uh-luh s] /ˈkær ə ləs/ (Show IPA), (Carl von Linné) 1707–78, Swedish botanist.
- caryophyllaceous — of, relating to, or belonging to the Caryophyllaceae, a family of flowering plants including the pink, carnation, sweet william, and chickweed
- cash on delivery — If you pay for goods cash on delivery, you pay for them in cash when they are delivered. The abbreviation C.O.D. is also used.
- category listing — A category listing is a list of different product categories such as menswear, womenswear, and childrenswear.
- chalon-sur-saône — an industrial city in E central France, on the Saône River. Pop: 50 124 (1999)
- chancellorsville — hamlet in NE Va. (now called Chancellor): site of a Civil War battle (May, 1863) won by Confederate forces
- channel crossing — a crossing of the English Channel
- charles coughlin — Charles Edward ("Father Coughlin") 1891–1979, U.S. Roman Catholic priest, activist, radio broadcaster, and editor, born in Canada.
- chattel personal — an item of movable personal property, such as furniture, domestic animals, etc
- chemolithotrophs — Plural form of chemolithotroph.
- chemoprophylaxis — the prevention of disease using chemical drugs
- cholecystography — radiography of the gall bladder after administration of a contrast medium
- cholesterolaemia — the presence of abnormally high levels of cholesterol in the blood
- citronella grass — a tropical Asian grass, Cymbopogon (or Andropogon) nardus, with bluish-green lemon-scented leaves
- clitoridectomies — Plural form of clitoridectomy.
- cloak-and-suiter — a manufacturer or seller of clothing.
- cloistered vault — a vault having the form of a number of intersecting coves.