18-letter words containing u, r, e
- audio conferencing — the practice of conducting meetings by the use of audio telecommunications
- auditory phonetics — the branch of phonetics concerned with the perception of speech sounds by humans
- augmented interval — an interval that is a half step greater than the corresponding major or perfect interval
- australian doubles — an unusual formation in doubles in which the server's partner is positioned on the same side of the court as the server.
- australian terrier — a small wire-haired breed of terrier similar to the cairn
- australopithecines — Plural form of australopithecine.
- authorized capital — the total amount of value of the shares that a company is allowed to distribute
- authorized version — the revised English translation of the Bible published in England in 1611 with the authorization of King James I
- autogenic training — a technique for reducing stress through mental exercises to produce physical relaxation
- automatic exposure — the automatic adjustment of the lens aperture and shutter speed of a camera by a control mechanism
- auxiliary equation — characteristic equation (def 1b).
- auxiliary language — a language, as Esperanto, Swahili, or English, used for intercommunication by speakers of various other languages.
- auxiliary-equation — Mathematics. the characteristic polynomial of a given matrix, equated to zero. Also called auxiliary equation. an equation with one variable and equated to zero, which is derived from a given linear differential equation and in which the coefficient and power of the variable in each term correspond to the coefficient and order of a derivative in the original equation.
- aviation insurance — Aviation insurance is insurance cover for aircraft, and for damage, injury, or loss of life or cargo while traveling on aircraft.
- avoirdupois weight — a British and American system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces
- axis of revolution — an axis in a plane, about which an area is revolved to form a solid of revolution.
- bachelor's-buttons — any of various plants of the daisy family with button-like flower heads
- back to square one — If you are back to square one, you have to start dealing with something from the beginning again because the way you were dealing with it has failed.
- background reading — reading of related works in order to get contextual information on a topic that you are intending to study or write about
- barbershop quartet — a group of four singers who perform a style of music sung in four-part harmony
- bargaining counter — A bargaining counter is the same as a bargaining chip.
- barium thiosulfate — a white, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, BaS 2 O 3 ⋅H 2 O, used chiefly in the manufacture of explosives, matches, paints, and varnishes.
- battle of omdurman — a battle (1898) in which the Mahdi's successor and his Ansar followers were defeated by Lord Kitchener's British forces
- battleground-state — a state of the U.S. in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning and that is considered key to the outcome of a presidential election: the swing states of Ohio and Indiana.
- be sure of oneself — If you are sure of yourself, you are very confident about your own abilities or opinions.
- beefsteak mushroom — an edible bracket fungus, Fistulina hepatica, that grows on trees and can rot the heartwood of living oaks and chestnuts.
- before you know it — rapidly, soon
- behaviour patterns — the characteristic ways in which a person or animal acts
- bernoulli equation — Hydrodynamics. Bernoulli's theorem (def 2).
- berwick-upon-tweed — a town in N England, in N Northumberland at the mouth of the Tweed: much involved in border disputes between England and Scotland between the 12th and 16th centuries; neutral territory 1551–1885. Pop: 12 870 (2001)
- best-ball foursome — a match, scored by holes, between two pairs of players, in which the score of the lower scoring member of each pair is taken as their score for the hole.
- bioinstrumentation — the use of instruments, as sensors, to detect and measure certain body functions, as of persons in spaceflight, and transmit the data to a point where it is evaluated
- bird's-nest fungus — any fungus of the family Nidulariaceae, having a nestlike spore-producing body containing egglike spore-filled structures
- blackback flounder — any of various popular food flatfishes, as Parophrys vetulus of the Pacific (English sole) and Pseudopleuronectes americanus of the Atlantic (winter flounder or blackback flounder)
- blissful ignorance — unawareness or inexperience of something unpleasant
- blue-collar worker — a manual industrial worker
- board of education — a group or agency with responsibility for education
- bolt from the blue — If a piece of news comes like a bolt from the blue, it is completely unexpected and very surprising.
- born to the purple — being of royal or high birth
- boulogne-sur-seine — an industrial suburb of SW Paris. Pop: 106 367 (1999)
- bounty-fed farmers — farmers who benefit from subsidies
- bourdon-tube gauge — an instrument for measuring the pressure of gases or liquids, consisting of a semicircular or coiled, flexible metal tube attached to a gauge that records the degree to which the tube is straightened by the pressure of the gas or liquid inside.
- brand-name product — A brand-name product is one which is made by a well-known manufacturer and has the manufacturer's label on it.
- breach of security — an act that violates a country, area, or building's security measures
- bread and circuses — something offered as a means of distracting attention from a problem or grievance
- break your silence — If someone breaks their silence about something, they talk about something that they have not talked about before or for a long time.
- bring someone luck — If you say that something brings bad luck or brings someone good luck, you believe that it has an influence on whether good or bad things happen to them.
- bring-and-buy sale — A bring-and-buy sale is an informal sale to raise money for a charity or other organization. People who come to the sale bring things to be sold and buy things that other people have brought.
- briquet's syndrome — somatization disorder.
- broadcasting house — any of a number of buildings in the UK from which the BBC broadcasts or has broadcast