16-letter words containing on
- bacterioplankton — (biology) The bacterial component of marine plankton.
- badminton racket — the type of racket used in games of badminton
- bahasa indonesia — the official language of Indonesia: developed from the form of Malay formerly widely used as a trade language in SE Asia
- balloon catheter — a type of catheter with a tiny, inflatable balloon at the tip, used in various surgical procedures
- balloon mortgage — A balloon mortgage is a mortgage on which the repayments are relatively small until the large final payment.
- baltimore canyon — a submarine valley cut into the continental shelf and slope seaward of Chesapeake Bay.
- barium carbonate — a white, poisonous, water-insoluble powder, BaCO 3 , used chiefly in the manufacture of rodenticides, paints, and dyes.
- baron tweedsmuir — the title of Scottish novelist John Buchan
- batch production — production of goods in batches, rather than continuously
- batlle y ordonez — José [haw-se] /hɔˈsɛ/ (Show IPA), 1856–1929, Uruguayan statesman: president of Uruguay 1903–07, 1911–15.
- bayonet practice — drill in the use of a bayonet
- be in one's cups — If someone is in their cups, they are drunk.
- be on the market — to be offered for sale
- be one's own man — to be independent or free
- bear one's cross — a structure consisting essentially of an upright and a transverse piece, used to execute persons in ancient times.
- beef bourguignon — boeuf bourguignon
- beg the question — If you say that something begs a particular question, you mean that it makes people want to ask that question; some people consider that this use is incorrect.
- benoit samuelson — Joan (Joan Benoit) born 1957, U.S. distance runner: first Olympic marathon women's winner, 1984.
- bertillon system — a system formerly in use for identifying persons, esp criminals, by means of a detailed record of physical characteristics
- beta abstraction — [lambda-calculus] The conversion of an expression to an application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. Some subterm of the original expression becomes the argument of the abstraction and the rest becomes its body. E.g. 4+1 --> (\ x . x+1) 4 The opposite of beta abstraction is beta reduction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion.
- bicapitalisation — The act said to have been performed on trademarks (such as PostScript, NeXT, NeWS, VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of common coinage by nonstandard capitalisation. Too many marketroid types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the 2,317th time they do it. Compare studlycaps.
- bidirectionality — capable of reacting or functioning in two, usually opposite, directions.
- binary operation — a mathematical operation in which two elements are combined to yield a single result: Addition and multiplication are binary operations on the set of real numbers.
- binet-simon test — an intelligence test that consists of questions, problems, and things to do, graded in terms of mental age
- binocular fusion — fusion (def 5a).
- binocular-fusion — the act or process of fusing; the state of being fused.
- biodeterioration — biodegradation.
- bioenvironmental — pertaining to the environment of living organisms: Bioenvironmental engineers seek to reduce air and water pollution.
- biofortification — the process of breeding staple crops to have higher levels of essential nutrients, either through selective breeding or genetic modification: iron biofortification of rice; biofortification of wheat with zinc.
- biomagnification — biological magnification.
- birthday honours — (in Britain) honorary titles conferred on the official birthday of the sovereign
- bite one's nails — to chew off the ends of one's fingernails
- bite your tongue — either of the two fleshy parts or folds forming the margins of the mouth and functioning in speech.
- blonde bombshell — Journalists sometimes use blonde bombshell to refer to a woman with blonde hair who is very attractive.
- blow one's cover — to be or serve as a covering for; extend over; rest on the surface of: Snow covered the fields.
- blow one's lines — (of the wind or air) to be in motion.
- blow one's stack — to lose one's temper; fly into a rage
- blue-ribbon jury — a jury composed of persons having more than ordinary education and presumably exceptional intelligence and perceptiveness, selected by the court on the motion of plaintiff or defendant to try cases of unusual complexity or importance.
- bluegrass region — a region in central Kentucky, famous for its horse farms and fields of bluegrass.
- board of pardons — an agency that determines which prisoners are to be released on parole or discretionary mandatory supervision and recommends pardons
- bodily functions — physical processes such as urination and defecation
- boeuf bourgignon — casserole of beef, vegetables, herbs, etc, cooked in red wine
- bon gre, mal gre — whether willing or not; willy-nilly.
- bonded warehouse — a warehouse in which dutiable goods are deposited until duty is paid or the goods are cleared for export
- bonhomme richard — the flagship of John Paul Jones.
- bonneville flats — an area of salt flats in the W part of Great Salt Lake Desert, in NW Utah: site of automobile speed tests.
- boston cream pie — a cake of two layers with icing and a creamy filling
- boston tea party — a raid in 1773 made by citizens of Boston (disguised as Indians) on three British ships in the harbour as a protest against taxes on tea and the monopoly given to the East India Company. The contents of several hundred chests of tea were dumped into the harbour
- bouches-du-rhone — a department of S central France, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Capital: Marseille. Pop: 1 883 645 (2003 est). Area: 5284 sq km (2047 sq miles)
- break one's back — to overwork or work very hard