20-letter words containing t, r, o
- baccalaureate sermon — a farewell sermon addressed to a graduating class in some U.S. colleges and schools.
- back the wrong horse — to bet on a horse that loses the race
- background radiation — low-intensity radiation from, for example, small amounts of radioisotopes in soil, air, building materials, etc
- backwards compatible — backward compatibility
- bacteriochlorophylls — Plural form of bacteriochlorophyll.
- baggage storage room — A baggage storage room is a room in a hotel where people can leave their baggage in order to collect it later.
- ballistic trajectory — the path of an unpowered object, as a missile, moving only under the influence of gravity and possibly atmospheric friction and with its surface providing no significant lift to alter the course of flight.
- baptism for the dead — the baptism of a living person in the place of and for the sake of one who has died unbaptized: now practiced chiefly by Mormons.
- barothermohygrograph — an automatic instrument for recording pressure, temperature, and humidity.
- basal metabolic rate — the rate at which heat is produced by the body at rest, 12 to 14 hours after eating, measured in kilocalories per square metre of body surface per hour
- basic lead carbonate — ceruse.
- basic object adapter — (architecture) (BOA) Part of the CORBA architecture.
- bats-wing coral-tree — a small tree, Erythrina verspertilio, of tropical and subtropical Australia with red flowers and leaves shaped like the wings of a bat
- be (or get) wise to — to be (or become) aware of; have (or attain) a proper understanding of
- be called to the bar — to become a barrister
- be for the high jump — to be liable to receive a severe reprimand or punishment
- be getting somewhere — If you say that you are getting somewhere, you mean that you are making progress towards achieving something.
- be hard pushed to do — If you are hard pushed to do something, you find it very difficult to do it.
- be in the market for — to wish to buy or acquire
- be shot through with — If something is shot through with an element or feature, it contains a lot of that element or feature.
- be there for someone — If someone is there for you, they help and support you, especially when you have problems.
- beat around the bush — to talk around a subject without getting to the point
- beaverhead mountains — a mountain range on the border of E Idaho and SW Montana, in the Bitterroot Range. 10,961 feet (3343 meters).
- been-there done-that — an exclamation expressing familiarity and boredom with a situation, experience, etc
- belgorod-dnestrovski — a port in SW Ukraine, on the Dniester estuary: belonged to Romania from 1918 until 1940; under Soviet rule (1944–91). Pop: 48 100 (2004 est)
- belgorod-dnestrovsky — a seaport in SW Ukraine, on the Black Sea.
- benoit b. mandelbrot — Benoit Mandelbrot
- benztropine mesylate — a synthetic anticholinergic, C 21 H 25 NO⋅CH 4 O 3 S, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
- benzyl isoamyl ether — a colorless liquid, C 12 H 18 O, used in soap perfumes.
- bernese mountain dog — a strong sturdy dog of a breed with a bushy tail and a long silky black coat with reddish-brown and white markings, often used as a working farm dog
- best-efforts selling — a method of underwriting a security whereby a syndicate takes a new issue without any guarantees of sale to the issuer.
- bimodal distribution — a frequency distribution with two modes
- biological diversity — Biological diversity is the same as biodiversity.
- bird-footed dinosaur — theropod.
- black-throated diver — a diving bird, Gavia arctica, found in Europe and Asia, and a rare summer visitor to the UK
- bloodless revolution — the events of 1688–89 by which James II was expelled and the sovereignty conferred on William and Mary.
- blue ridge mountains — a mountain range in the eastern US, extending from West Virginia into Georgia: part of the Appalachian mountains. Highest peak: Mount Mitchell, 2038 m (6684 ft)
- blue screen of death — (humour) (BSOD) The infamous white-on-blue text screen which appears when Microsoft Windows crashes. BSOD is mostly seen on the 16-bit systems such as Windows 3.1, but also on Windows 95 and apparently even under Windows NT 4. It is most likely to be caused by a GPF, although Windows 95 can do it if you've removed a required CD-ROM from the drive. It is often impossible to recover cleanly from a BSOD. The acronym BSOD is sometimes used as a verb, e.g. "Windoze just keeps BSODing on me today".
- bolometric magnitude — the magnitude of a star derived either from the total energy that it radiates at all wavelengths or from the total energy of those of its wavelengths that are received on earth.
- bomb disposal expert — an expert in bomb disposal
- bone mineral density — a measurement of the amount of calcium and other minerals in a segment of bone, a higher mineral content indicating a higher bone density and strength, used to detect osteoporosis or monitor its treatment.
- born-again christian — person: evangelical
- bottom hole pressure — Bottom hole pressure is the pressure at the bottom of the hole, usually measured in pounds per square inch.
- bottom of the barrel — poor quality
- bottom-up processing — a processing technique, either in the brain or in a computer, in which incoming information is analysed in successive steps and later-stage processing does not affect processing in earlier stages
- boulogne billancourt — a suburb of Paris, in N France.
- boulogne-billancourt — an industrial suburb of SW Paris. Pop: 106 367 (1999)
- bowling on the green — lawn bowling.
- bowling-on-the-green — a game played with wooden balls on a level, closely mowed green having a slight bias, the object being to roll one's ball as near as possible to a smaller white ball at the other end of the green. Also called bowls, bowling on the green. Compare bowl2 (def 2), bowling green, jack1 (def 7), rink (def 5).
- boy-meets-girl story — a film, book, etc whose plot is conventionally or trivially romantic