16-letter words containing s, o, n
- batch processing — manufacturing products or treating materials in batches, by passing the output of one process to subsequent processes
- bbn technologies — (company) A company, originally known as Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. BBN were awarded the original contract to build the ARPANET and have been extensively involved in Internet development. They are responsible for managing NNSC, CSNET, and NEARnet. The language LOGO was developed at BBN, as was the BBN Butterfly supercomputer.
- be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
- be in sb's shoes — If you talk about being in someone's shoes, you talk about what you would do or how you would feel if you were in their situation.
- be of assistance — Someone or something that is of assistance to you is helpful or useful to you.
- be one's own man — to be independent or free
- bear one's cross — a structure consisting essentially of an upright and a transverse piece, used to execute persons in ancient times.
- bed-sitting room — a combined bedroom and sitting room serving as a one-room apartment
- beg the question — If you say that something begs a particular question, you mean that it makes people want to ask that question; some people consider that this use is incorrect.
- behavioural sink — a small area in which people or animals live in overcrowded conditions
- belgian malinois — one of a Belgian breed of medium-sized dogs having a short coat, tan to dark brown in color, a black mask, and erect ears, bred originally as a sheepherding dog.
- belgian sheepdog — any of a Belgian breed of large herding dog with a black coat, sometimes used as a guide dog
- bells of ireland — an annual garden plant, Moluccella laevis, whose flowers have a green cup-shaped calyx: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- benito mussolini — Benito [buh-nee-toh;; Italian be-nee-taw] /bəˈni toʊ;; Italian bɛˈni tɔ/ (Show IPA), (I"Il Duce") 1883–1945, Italian Fascist leader: premier of Italy 1922–43.
- benoit samuelson — Joan (Joan Benoit) born 1957, U.S. distance runner: first Olympic marathon women's winner, 1984.
- benzoate of soda — sodium benzoate
- bertillon system — a system formerly in use for identifying persons, esp criminals, by means of a detailed record of physical characteristics
- beside the point — If you say that something is beside the point, you mean that it is not relevant to the subject that you are discussing.
- beta abstraction — [lambda-calculus] The conversion of an expression to an application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. Some subterm of the original expression becomes the argument of the abstraction and the rest becomes its body. E.g. 4+1 --> (\ x . x+1) 4 The opposite of beta abstraction is beta reduction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion.
- bicapitalisation — The act said to have been performed on trademarks (such as PostScript, NeXT, NeWS, VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of common coinage by nonstandard capitalisation. Too many marketroid types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the 2,317th time they do it. Compare studlycaps.
- bihar and orissa — a former province of NE India: now divided into the states of Bihar and Odisha (formerly Orissa).
- binet-simon test — an intelligence test that consists of questions, problems, and things to do, graded in terms of mental age
- binocular fusion — fusion (def 5a).
- binocular-fusion — the act or process of fusing; the state of being fused.
- bird's-nest soup — a rich spicy Chinese soup made from the outer part of the nests of SE Asian swifts of the genus Collocalia
- birthday honours — (in Britain) honorary titles conferred on the official birthday of the sovereign
- bite one's nails — to chew off the ends of one's fingernails
- blonde bombshell — Journalists sometimes use blonde bombshell to refer to a woman with blonde hair who is very attractive.
- blow one's cover — to be or serve as a covering for; extend over; rest on the surface of: Snow covered the fields.
- blow one's lines — (of the wind or air) to be in motion.
- blow one's stack — to lose one's temper; fly into a rage
- bluegrass region — a region in central Kentucky, famous for its horse farms and fields of bluegrass.
- board of pardons — an agency that determines which prisoners are to be released on parole or discretionary mandatory supervision and recommends pardons
- boarding kennels — a place where dog owners can pay to have their dogs looked after while they are away
- boatswain's mate — a job classification in the US navy
- boatswain's pipe — a whistle used formerly to give orders on board ship
- bob's your uncle — everything is or will turn out all right
- bodily functions — physical processes such as urination and defecation
- bois de boulogne — a large park in W Paris, formerly a forest: includes the racecourses of Auteuil and Longchamp
- bonded warehouse — a warehouse in which dutiable goods are deposited until duty is paid or the goods are cleared for export
- bonneville flats — an area of salt flats in the W part of Great Salt Lake Desert, in NW Utah: site of automobile speed tests.
- book of business — A company's or agent's book of business is the total of all insurance accounts written by them.
- bornholm disease — an epidemic virus infection characterized by pain round the base of the chest
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- boston tea party — a raid in 1773 made by citizens of Boston (disguised as Indians) on three British ships in the harbour as a protest against taxes on tea and the monopoly given to the East India Company. The contents of several hundred chests of tea were dumped into the harbour
- bouches-du-rhone — a department of S central France, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Capital: Marseille. Pop: 1 883 645 (2003 est). Area: 5284 sq km (2047 sq miles)
- boulogne-sur-mer — a port in N France, on the English Channel. Pop: 44 859 (1999)
- boundary dispute — dispute between neighbours about the boundary between their properties
- bowman's capsule — a membranous, double-walled capsule surrounding a glomerulus of a nephron.
- bracknell forest — a unitary authority in SE England, in E Berkshire. Pop: 110 100 (2003 est). Area: 109 sq km (42 sq miles)