13-letter words starting with b
- ballistospore — a spore, esp a fungal spore, that is forcefully ejected from its source
- balloon chuck — a lathe chuck having the form of a hollow hemisphere, for enclosing and holding small parts, as balance staffs of watches, so that only their ends are exposed.
- balloon clock — a bracket clock of the late 18th century, having a round dial on a short case with concave sides resting on bracket feet.
- balloon frame — a wooden building frame composed of machine-sawed scantlings fastened with nails, having studs rising the full height of the frame with the joists nailed to the studs and supported by sills or by ribbons let into the studs.
- balloon shade — a window shade that when raised is gathered into a series of puffy festoons created by inverted pleats in the fabric.
- balloon-berry — strawberry-raspberry.
- balmer series — a series of lines in the hydrogen spectrum, discovered by Johann Jakob Balmer (1825–98) in 1885
- balneotherapy — the treatment of disease by bathing, esp to improve limb mobility in arthritic and neuromuscular disorders
- balsam capivi — copaiba.
- balsam family — the plant family Balsaminaceae, typified by succulent stems, alternate, opposite, or whorled simple leaves, and irregular solitary or clustered flowers, including the balsam and jewelweed.
- balsam poplar — a poplar tree, Populus balsamifera, of NE North America, having resinous buds and broad heart-shaped leaves
- balsam spruce — either of two North American coniferous trees of the genus Picea, P. pungens (the blue spruce) or P. engelmanni
- balsamiferous — yielding or producing balsam
- baltic shield — the wide area of ancient rock in Scandinavia
- baltic states — the republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which became constituent republics of the former Soviet Union in 1940, regaining their independence in 1991
- baluster stem — a stem of a drinking glass or the like having a gradual swelling near the top or bottom.
- bamboo shoots — the shoots of the bamboo plant, often used as food in Asian dishes
- bamboozlement — The act or process of bamboozling or being bamboozled.
- banana bender — a native or inhabitant of Queensland
- banana family — the plant family Musaceae, characterized by large treelike herbaceous plants of tropical regions, having a trunk formed by spiraling leaf sheaths, and bearing large leaves, flower clusters above leathery red-to-purple bracts, and fleshy fruit in clusters, including the banana and plantain.
- banana spider — a large, yellowish, tropical crab spider (Heteropoda venatoria) occasionally found in bunches of bananas shipped to the Temperate Zones
- banbury tarts — small baked pastries filled with raisins, currants, etc.
- bancassurance — the selling of insurance products by a bank to its customers
- band spectrum — a spectrum consisting of a number of bands of closely spaced lines that are associated with emission or absorption of radiation by molecules
- band together — If people band together, they meet and act as a group in order to try and achieve something.
- band-aid baby — a child conceived to strengthen a faltering relationship
- banded purple — any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, especially one deep in tone.
- banderilleros — Plural form of banderillero.
- bandicoot rat — any of three burrowing rats of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia, of S and SE Asia: family Muridae
- bandspreading — an additional tuning control in some radio receivers whereby a selected narrow band of frequencies can be spread over a wider frequency band, in order to give finer control of tuning
- bang goes sth — If you say bang goes something, you mean that it is now obvious that it cannot succeed or be achieved.
- bang on about — If someone bangs on about something, they keep talking about it in a boring or annoying way.
- banister back — a back of a chair or the like, usually having semicircular spindles between the top rail and the cross rail or seat.
- bank discount — interest on a loan deducted from the principal amount when the loan is made and based on the loan's face value
- bank examiner — a public official appointed under U.S. state or federal laws to inspect and audit the operations and accounts of banks in the examiner's jurisdiction.
- bank of issue — a bank, as a Federal Reserve Bank, empowered by a government to issue currency.
- bank transfer — a payment between two bank accounts
- banker's bill — a banknote
- banking hours — the hours during which a bank is open for business
- banking house — a more formal term for a bank
- bankrupt worm — a roundworm (genus Trichostrongylus) that is an intestinal parasite of birds and mammals, especially devastating to young livestock.
- bantamweights — Plural form of bantamweight.
- banzai attack — a mass attack of troops, without concern for casualties, as practised by the Japanese in World War II
- bar billiards — a table game in pubs, etc, in which short cues are used to pocket balls into holes scoring various points and guarded by wooden pegs that incur penalties if they are knocked over
- bar-and-grill — a place where food and alcoholic drinks are served to customers; a combined barroom and grillroom.
- barbados aloe — a tropical aloe, Aloe barbadensis (or A. vera), of the lily family, having clusters of yellow flowers: its juice is used medicinally.
- barbarossa ii — (Khair ed-Din) c1466–1546, Barbary pirate, born in Greece (brother of Barbarossa I).
- barbarousness — The state or quality of being barbarous.
- barbary coast — coastal region of N Africa, extending from Egypt to the Atlantic, inhabited chiefly by Berbers and once (until early 19th cent.) dominated by pirates
- barbary sheep — aoudad