15-letter words starting with b
- billings method — a natural method of birth control that involves examining the colour and viscosity of the cervical mucus to discover when ovulation is occurring
- binary notation — a number system having a base of two, numbers being expressed by sequences of the digits 0 and 1: used in computing, as 0 and 1 can be represented electrically as off and on
- binomial series — an infinite series obtained by expanding a binomial raised to a power that is not a positive integer.
- bioaccumulation — the process in which industrial waste, toxic chemicals, etc. gradually accumulate in living tissue
- bioastronautics — the study of the effects of space flight on living organisms
- bioavailability — the extent to which a drug or other substance is taken up by a specific tissue or organ after administration; the proportion of the dose of a drug that reaches the systemic circulation intact after administration by a route other than intravenous
- biobibliography — a bibliography containing biographical sketches of the authors listed.
- biodestructible — biodegradable
- biogasification — the conversion of organic matter into biogas.
- biogeochemistry — the science of biological, chemical, and geological aspects of the environment
- bioluminescence — the production of light by living organisms as a result of the oxidation of a light-producing substance (luciferin) by the enzyme luciferase: occurs in many marine organisms, insects such as the firefly, etc
- biomathematical — relating to biomathematics
- biomechanically — from a biomechanical point of view
- biopsychologist — a field of psychology that deals with the effects of biological factors on behavior.
- biostatistician — someone who studies or works professionally in the field of biostatistics
- biostratigraphy — the examination of the ages of rock strata by using fossils
- biot-savart law — the law that the magnetic induction near a long, straight conductor, as wire, varies inversely as the distance from the conductor and directly as the intensity of the current in the conductor.
- bipartite graph — complete graph
- birch partridge — ruffed grouse
- bird of passage — If you refer to someone as a bird of passage, you mean that they are staying in a place for a short time before going to another place.
- bird's eye view — You say that you have a bird's eye view of a place when you are looking down at it from a great height, so that you can see a long way but everything looks very small.
- birthing center — a medical facility for the labor and childbirth experience in a family-friendly, homelike environment.
- birthing centre — a private maternity hospital
- biscuit tortoni — an individual portion of tortoni, frozen and served in a small cup, often topped with ground almonds.
- 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)
- bit on the side — an extramarital affair
- bit-mapped font — a computer font whose characters are held in memory as series of dots.
- bite the bullet — to face up to (pain, trouble, etc) with fortitude; be stoical
- biting housefly — a two-winged fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, having the mouthparts adapted for biting, and commonly a household and stable pest.
- bitmapped image — a computer image that is held in memory as a series of colored dots in a grid, each dot represented by one or more bits.
- bits and pieces — You can use bits and pieces or bits and bobs to refer to a collection of different things.
- bits per second — (communications, unit) (bps, b/s) The unit in which data rate is measured. For example, a modem's data rate is usually measured in kilobits per second. In 1996, the maximum modem speed for use on the PSTN was 33.6 kbps, rising to 56 kbps in 1997. Note that kilo- (k), mega- (M), etc. in data rates denote powers of 1000, not 1024.
- bittersweetness — the quality of being bittersweet
- bituminous coal — a soft black coal, rich in volatile hydrocarbons, that burns with a smoky yellow flame. Fixed carbon content: 46–86 per cent; calorific value: 1.93 × 107 – 3.63 × 107 J/kg
- black and white — In a black and white photograph or film, everything is shown in black, white, and grey.
- black guillemot — a common guillemot, Cepphus grylle: its summer plumage is black with white wing patches and its winter plumage white with greyish wings
- black horehound — a hairy unpleasant-smelling chiefly Mediterranean plant, Ballota nigra, having clusters of purple flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)
- black marketeer — A black marketeer is someone who sells goods on the black market.
- black mountains — a mountain range running from N Monmouthshire and SE Powys (Wales) to SW Herefordshire (England). Highest peak: Waun Fach, 811 m (2660 ft)
- black operation — a covert and undocumented military operation
- black raspberry — a plant, Rubus occidentalis, of E North America, that has black berry-like fruits
- black sea bream — a sparid fish, Spondyliosoma cantharus, found in N Europe and the Mediterranean
- black september — a Palestinian Terrorist group, responsible for the assassinations of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games at Munich in 1972
- black snakeroot — a tall bugbane, Cimicifuga racemosa, of the buttercup family, of eastern North America, having thin, tapering, toothed or deeply cut leaflets and branched clusters of small, white flowers.
- black-and-white — displaying only black and white tones; without color, as a picture or chart: a black-and-white photograph.
- black-marketeer — to sell articles in the black market.
- blackberry bush — a bush on which blackberries grow
- blackberry lily — an ornamental Chinese iridaceous plant, Belamcanda chinensis, that has red-spotted orange flowers and clusters of black seeds that resemble blackberries
- blackwall hitch — a knot for hooking tackle to the end of a rope, holding fast when pulled but otherwise loose
- bladder campion — a European caryophyllaceous plant, Silene vulgaris, having white flowers with an inflated calyx