13-letter words containing t, o, b, e
- boustrophedon — having alternate lines written from right to left and from left to right
- bow collector — a sliding current collector, consisting of a bow-shaped strip mounted on a hinged framework, used on trains, etc, to collect current from an overhead-wire
- box stretcher — a heavy rectangular stretcher connecting successive legs of a table, chair, etc.
- boycott apple — (legal) Some time before 1989, Apple Computer, Inc. started a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, claiming they had breeched Apple's copyright on the look and feel of the Macintosh user interface. In December 1989, Xerox failed to sue Apple Computer, claiming that the software for Apple's Lisa computer and Macintosh Finder, both copyrighted in 1987, were derived from two Xerox programs: Smalltalk, developed in the mid-1970s and Star, copyrighted in 1981. Apple wanted to stop people from writing any program that worked even vaguely like a Macintosh. If such look and feel lawsuits succeed they could put an end to free software that could substitute for commercial software. In the weeks after the suit was filed, Usenet reverberated with condemnation for Apple. GNU supporters Richard Stallman, John Gilmore and Paul Rubin decided to take action against Apple. Apple's reputation as a force for progress came from having made better computers; but The League for Programming Freedom believed that Apple wanted to make all non-Apple computers worse. They therefore campaigned to discourage people from using Apple products or working for Apple or any other company threatening similar obstructionist tactics (e.g. Lotus and Xerox). Because of this boycott the Free Software Foundation for a long time didn't support Macintosh Unix in their software. In 1995, the LPF and the FSF decided to end the boycott.
- boynton beach — a city in SE Florida.
- brachypterous — having very short or incompletely developed wings
- bracket clock — a small clock designed to be placed on a bracket or shelf.
- brazen it out — to act in a bold way as if one need not be ashamed
- break it down — stop it
- break through — If you break through a barrier, you succeed in forcing your way through it.
- breakthroughs — a military movement or advance all the way through and beyond an enemy's front-line defense.
- breast pocket — The breast pocket of a man's coat or jacket is a pocket, usually on the inside, next to his chest.
- breast stroke — a swimming stroke performed face down in which both arms are extended outward and sideways from a position close to the chest, while the legs engage in a frog kick
- breaststroker — a person who swims breaststroke
- brest litovsk — former name (until 1921) of Brest.
- bretton woods — resort in the White Mountains, N.H.: site of a United Nations monetary conference (1944) at which the International Monetary Fund was established
- brevirostrate — having a short beak or bill
- bring home to — to convince of
- bring to bear — to bring into operation or effect
- bring to life — to bring back to consciousness
- broad hatchet — a hatchet with a broad cutting edge.
- brokenhearted — Someone who is brokenhearted is very sad and upset because they have had a serious disappointment.
- bromo-seltzer — a compound containing a bromide, sodium bicarbonate, etc., used for relief from headaches and upset stomachs, and as a sedative
- bromocriptine — a dopamine agonist drug which blocks the release of prolactin from the pituitary gland, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease
- bronco buster — a person who breaks broncos to the saddle.
- brotherliness — of, like, or befitting a brother; affectionate and loyal; fraternal: brotherly love.
- brownie point — If someone does something to score brownie points, they do it because they think they will be praised for it.
- budget period — the time which a budget covers
- bulbourethral — of or relating to the rounded mass of tissue surrounding the urethra at the root of the penis.
- bulwer-lytton — Edward George Earle Lytton1st Baron Lytton of Knebworth 1803-73; Eng. novelist & playwright: father of Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton
- bums on seats — If the organizers of an event such as a concert want to put bums on seats, they want a lot of people to attend it.
- bunko steerer — a swindler, especially a person who lures another to a gambling game to be cheated.
- 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.
- 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
- butcher block — designating or of a thick slab made by gluing together strips of hardwood, as maple or oak, used for counter and table tops, etc.
- butcher's boy — a boy doing deliveries for a butcher and perhaps also learning the butchery trade, esp in the past
- butter cookie — Cookery. a plain cookie whose chief ingredients are butter, flour, and sugar.
- butter cooler — an earthenware container, consisting of a dish and cover, used to keep butter cool
- buttoned-down — conventional or conservative
- buttress root — a tree root that extends above ground as a platelike outgrowth of the trunk supporting the tree. Buttress roots are mainly found in trees of tropical rain forests
- butyrophenone — a drug used to treat psychiatric disorders
- by contraries — contrary to what is expected
- by definition — If you say that something has a particular quality by definition, you mean that it has this quality simply because of what it is.
- by reputation — If you know someone by reputation, you have never met them but you have heard of their reputation.
- byte compiler — byte-code compiler
- campylobacter — a rod-shaped bacterium that causes infections in cattle and man. Unpasteurized milk infected with campylobacter is a common cause of gastroenteritis
- capitate bone — the largest and central bone of the carpus, articulating with the second, third, and fourth metacarpal bones.
- car boot sale — A car boot sale is a sale where people sell things they own and do not want from a little stall or from the back of their car.
- carbohydrates — foods which contain carbohydrate
- carbon credit — Carbon credits are an allowance that certain companies have, permitting them to burn a certain amount of fossil fuels.