15-letter words containing u, b, o
- beat the bounds — (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
- beetroot purple — a deep purple-red; a purple pigment derived from beets.
- benevolent fund — a charitable organization
- benzyl fluoride — a colorless liquid, C 7 H 7 F, used in organic synthesis.
- bergius process — a method of hydrogenation formerly used with coal to produce an oil similar to petroleum.
- bernoulli trial — one of a sequence of independent experiments each of which has the same probability of success, such as successive throws of a die, the outcome of which is described by a binomial distribution
- bessel function — one of several transcendental functions, usually represented as power series, that are solutions to a group of related differential equations.
- beurre noisette — a sauce of butter cooked until golden or nut brown, sometimes flavored with capers, vinegar, herbs, etc.
- beyond question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
- bicycle touring — the activity of touring on a bicycle
- bioaccumulation — the process in which industrial waste, toxic chemicals, etc. gradually accumulate in living tissue
- bioastronautics — the study of the effects of space flight on living organisms
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- bioluminescence — the production of light by living organisms as a result of the oxidation of a light-producing substance (luciferin) by the enzyme luciferase: occurs in many marine organisms, insects such as the firefly, etc
- biscuit tortoni — an individual portion of tortoni, frozen and served in a small cup, often topped with ground almonds.
- bishop auckland — a town in N England, in central Durham: seat of the bishops of Durham since the 12th century: light industries. Pop: 24 764 (2001)
- biting housefly — a two-winged fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, having the mouthparts adapted for biting, and commonly a household and stable pest.
- bituminous coal — a soft black coal, rich in volatile hydrocarbons, that burns with a smoky yellow flame. Fixed carbon content: 46–86 per cent; calorific value: 1.93 × 107 – 3.63 × 107 J/kg
- black guillemot — a common guillemot, Cepphus grylle: its summer plumage is black with white wing patches and its winter plumage white with greyish wings
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- black mountains — a mountain range running from N Monmouthshire and SE Powys (Wales) to SW Herefordshire (England). Highest peak: Waun Fach, 811 m (2660 ft)
- blasphemousness — the quality of being blasphemous
- blockade runner — a person, ship etc that tries to carry goods through a blockade
- blockade-runner — a ship or person that passes through a blockade.
- blood corpuscle — one of the cells in the blood
- bloodguiltiness — guilty of murder or bloodshed.
- bloody butchers — a hardy plant, Trillium sessile, common from New York to Georgia and westward, having stalkless, purple or green flowers.
- blue cattle dog — an Australian breed of dog with a bluish coat, developed for herding cattle
- blue wood aster — a composite plant, Aster cordifolius, of North America, having heart-shaped leaves and pale-blue flowers.
- blueback salmon — sockeye salmon.
- bodily function — A person's bodily functions are the normal physical processes that regularly occur in their body, particularly the ability to urinate and defecate.
- bologna sausage — a large smoked sausage made of seasoned mixed meats
- bone conduction — the transmission of sound vibrations to the internal ear through the cranial bones (opposed to air conduction).
- bonheur-du-jour — a delicate fall-front desk of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- book of account — a book to keep accounts in; ledger
- boom-bust cycle — A boom-bust cycle is a series of events in which a rapid increase in business activity in the economy is followed by a rapid decrease in business activity, and this process is repeated again and again.
- booster cushion — an extra seat or cushion placed on an existing seat for a child to sit on in a car
- borough council — a local government body elected by a borough
- borough-english — (until 1925) a custom in certain English boroughs whereby the youngest son inherited land to the exclusion of his older brothers
- borscht circuit — summer resort hotels in the Catskills and White Mountains, where entertainment is provided for the guests
- bottom-up model — (programming) A method for estimating the cost of a complete software project by combining estimates for each component.
- botulinum toxin — a pharmaceutical formulation of botulin used in minute doses to treat various forms of muscle spasm and for the cosmetic removal of wrinkles
- bouillotte lamp — a table lamp of the 18th century, having two or three adjustable candle brackets and a common shade sliding on a central shaft.
- bourbon biscuit — a rich chocolate-flavoured biscuit with a chocolate-cream filling
- boustrophedonic — of or relating to lines written in opposite directions
- bowstring truss — a structural truss consisting of a curved top chord meeting a bottom chord at each end.
- box huckleberry — a nearly prostrate evergreen huckleberry shrub, Gaylussacia brachycera, of central to eastern North America, having short clusters of white or pink flowers and blue fruit.
- boys' night out — an evening spent outside of the home by a group of men
- brachystomatous — having a short proboscis, as certain insects.
- branchial pouch — one of a series of rudimentary outcroppings of the inner pharyngeal wall, corresponding to the branchial grooves on the surface.