15-letter words containing u, d
- assured tenancy — an agreement between a government-approved body such as a housing association and a tenant for occupation of a newly-built house or flat at an agreed market rent, under which the tenant has security of tenure
- attitude survey — a survey of the opinions held by a particular group of people
- audience appeal — the quality of being attractive to an audience
- audience rating — a figure based on statistical sampling indicating what proportion of the total listening and viewing audience tune in to a specific programme or network
- audio equipment — electrical devices used to play or record sound
- audio frequency — a frequency in the range 20 hertz to 20 000 hertz. A sound wave of this frequency would be audible to the human ear
- audio recording — an electronic recording of sound
- auditor general — (in Canada) a federal official responsible for auditing government departments and making an annual report
- audubon society — a North American organization devoted to the conservancy of birds
- auf wiedersehen — goodbye, until we see each other again
- augmented roman — a writing system based on an expanded English alphabet, consisting of 43 characters representing different phonemes of spoken English, used for teaching beginners to read. Abbreviation: I.T.A., i.t.a.
- augmented sixth — an interval greater than a major sixth by a chromatic half step.
- autodestructive — likely to cause one's own destruction
- autodidacticism — any self-directed learning or self-education
- automatic drive — an automotive transmission requiring either very little or no manual shifting of gears.
- autoradiographs — Plural form of autoradiograph.
- autoradiography — the technique or process of making autoradiographs.
- autoschediastic — offhand, with little forethought or preparation
- autotetraploidy — the generation of the tetraploid state, created by the fusing of two nuclei from the same species
- bad housekeeper — a person who is not an efficient and thrifty domestic manager
- badminton court — the court on which games of badminton are played
- balanced rudder — a rudder so designed that the center of water pressure on the forward face, when turned, lies about halfway along the length, minimizing the turning effort required.
- banking product — one of the various services offered by a bank to its customers: mortgages, loans, insurance etc
- barbituric acid — a white crystalline solid used in the preparation of barbiturate drugs. Formula: C4H4N2O3
- barium chloride — a poisonous compound, BaCl2, consisting of flat white crystals that are soluble in water: it is used to treat water, metals, leather, etc.
- barium peroxide — a gray-white powder, BaO2, used as a bleach and in making hydrogen peroxide
- basic autocoder — Early system on IBM 7070. Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959).
- basic education — (in India) education in which all teaching is correlated with the learning of a craft
- basidiomycetous — belonging or pertaining to the basidiomycetes.
- bathurst island — an island off the coast of N Nunavut, Canada, in the Arctic Archipelago: present south of the North Magnetic Pole nearby. 7609 sq. mi. (19,707 sq. km).
- be snowed under — to be overwhelmed, esp with paperwork
- bearded vulture — lammergeier
- beast of burden — A beast of burden is an animal such as an ox or a donkey that is used for carrying or pulling things.
- beat the bounds — (formerly) to define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods
- benevolent fund — a charitable organization
- benzyl fluoride — a colorless liquid, C 7 H 7 F, used in organic synthesis.
- beyond question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
- big muddy river — a river in SW Illinois, flowing SW into the Mississippi. About 120 miles (195 km) long.
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- 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)
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- blindman's buff — a game in which a blindfolded player has to catch and identify another player
- 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.
- blue-eyed grass — any of various mainly North American iridaceous marsh plants of the genus Sisyrinchium that have grasslike leaves and small flat starlike blue flowers