12-letter words containing y, a
- backroom boy — You can refer to a man as a backroom boy when he does important work in an organization and has good ideas but is not seen or known about by the public.
- bacteriology — Bacteriology is the science and the study of bacteria.
- bad hair day — People sometimes say they are having a bad hair day when they do not feel very happy or relaxed, especially because their hair does not look good.
- bald cypress — a tree, Taxodium distichum, of swampy areas of the southern U.S., having featherlike needles and cone-shaped projections growing up from the roots, yielding a hardwood used in construction, shipbuilding, etc.
- balletically — in a balletic fashion; gracefully
- balloon tyre — a pneumatic tyre containing air at a relatively low pressure and having a wide tread
- banbury cake — a cake consisting of a pastry base filled with currants, raisins, candied peel, and sugar, with a crisscross pattern on the top
- banbury tart — a tart filled with a lemon-flavored mixture of currants, raisins, or the like.
- bandy-legged — bow-legged
- bank holiday — A bank holiday is a public holiday.
- bank robbery — theft from a bank
- barbarically — without civilizing influences; uncivilized; primitive: barbaric invaders.
- barbary duck — the flesh of a Muscovy duck used as food
- bargain away — to lose or renounce (freedom, rights, etc) in return for something valueless or of little value
- barium x-ray — gastrointestinal series: x-ray examination of the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract after barium sulfate is given rectally (barium enema) or orally as a contrast medium.
- barley field — a piece of land cleared of trees and undergrowth, usually enclosed with a fence or hedge and used for growing barley
- barley sugar — Barley sugar is a sweet made from boiled sugar.
- barley water — Barley water is a drink made from barley. It is sometimes flavoured with orange or lemon.
- barodynamics — the branch of mechanics concerned with heavy structures
- barratrously — In a barratrous manner.
- baryta water — an aqueous solution of barium hydroxide, used chiefly as a reagent.
- basic salary — base pay.
- bastille day — (in France) an annual holiday on July 14, commemorating the fall of the Bastille
- bathetically — in a bathetic fashion
- bathygraphic — of or relating to the depths of the ocean
- bathypelagic — of, relating to, or inhabiting the lower depths of the ocean between approximately 1000 and 4000 metres
- bathyscaphes — Plural form of bathyscaphe.
- bathyspheres — Plural form of bathysphere.
- battery acid — acid used in batteries, esp car batteries
- battery farm — a farm that uses batteries for raising poultry
- battery fire — the firing of a battery of weapons
- battery-park — The, a park at the S end of Manhattan, in New York City.
- battle array — the strategic arrangement of fighters and weapons in a battle
- battle royal — a fight, esp with fists or cudgels, involving more than two combatants; melee
- battleworthy — capable of engaging in combat; ready for battle: a decline in the nation's battleworthy forces.
- bay of fundy — an inlet of the Atlantic in SE Canada, between S New Brunswick and W Nova Scotia: remarkable for its swift tides of up to 21 m (70 ft)
- bay rum tree — a tropical American myrtaceous tree, Pimenta racemosa, that yields an oil used in making bay rum
- bay-head bar — a sand bar at the head of a bay.
- bayonet bulb — an electric light bulb which is inserted into the socket against spring pressure and turned so that pins on its side engage in slots in the socket
- bearded lady — a woman with a beard, esp in a circus or freakshow
- beatifically — bestowing bliss, blessings, happiness, or the like: beatific peace.
- beauty cream — a cosmetic cream
- beauty quark — bottom quark
- beauty queen — A beauty queen is a woman who has won a beauty contest.
- beauty salon — A beauty salon is the same as a beauty parlour.
- beauty sleep — sleep, esp sleep before midnight
- beauty strip — a narrow forest corridor left uncut alongside a road or body of water.
- bedraggledly — In a bedraggled manner.
- behaviorally — manner of behaving or acting.
- belaying pin — a cylindrical, sometimes tapered pin, usually of metal or wood, that fits into a hole in a pin or fife rail: used for belaying