13-letter words containing a, b, c, t
- biocompatible — not rejected by the body
- bioelectrical — relating to electrical current generated by biological activity
- biostatistics — the use of statistics to analyse biological data
- biosystematic — relating to biosystematics
- biotic factor — a living thing, as an animal or plant, that influences or affects an ecosystem: How do humans affect other biotic factors? Weather is not a biotic factor because it is not alive.
- bird-watching — Bird-watching is the activity of watching and studying wild birds in their natural surroundings.
- birectangular — having two right angles.
- birthday cake — a special cake eaten at a birthday party
- birthday card — a greeting card sent on someone's birthday
- biscuit bread — biscuits or a biscuit: I like biscuit bread more than corn bread for supper.
- bisectionally — from a bisectional point of view
- bl lac object — an extremely compact violently variable form of active galaxy
- black and tan — a mixture of stout or porter and ale
- black country — a district in the English Midlands, around Birmingham: so called from the soot and grime produced by the many local industries.
- black currant — the small, round, blackish, edible fruit of a widely cultivated shrub, Ribes nigrum, of the saxifrage family.
- black margate — a grayish grunt, Anisotremus surinamensis, of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil.
- black mustard — a Eurasian plant, Brassica (or Sinapsis) nigra, with clusters of yellow flowers and pungent seeds from which the condiment mustard is made: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)
- black panther — (in the US) a member of a militant Black political party (1965–82) founded to end the political dominance of White people
- black quarter — blackleg (def 1).
- black section — (in Britain in the 1980s) an unofficial group within the Labour Party in any constituency that represented the interests of local Black people
- black studies — a program of studies in black history and culture offered by a school or college, often including Afro-American history and black literature.
- black tracker — an Aboriginal tracker working for the police
- black treacle — molasses
- black vulture — the Eurasian vulture, Aegypius monachus, of the family Accipitridae
- black-and-tan — (of a dog) of a black color with tan markings above the eyes and on the muzzle, chest, legs, feet, and breech.
- black-hearted — evil, malicious, or wicked
- blacksmithing — the work of a blacksmith.
- blame culture — the tendency to look for one person or organization that can be held responsible for a bad state of affairs, an accident, etc
- blanket chest — a chest, with or without drawers, having a rectangular space under a lifting lid or top, used for storing blankets, bedding, or clothing.
- blast furnace — A blast furnace is a large structure in which iron ore is heated under pressure so that it melts and the pure iron metal separates out and can be collected.
- blastomycosis — a fungal infection particularly affecting the lungs
- block capital — a sans-serif letter with lines of uniform weight.
- boat neckline — a wide, high neckline that follows the curve of the collarbone and ends in points on the shoulder seams.
- body snatcher — (formerly) a person who robbed graves and sold the corpses for dissection
- bombastically — (of speech, writing, etc.) high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious.
- bomber jacket — A bomber jacket is a short jacket which is gathered into a band at the waist or hips.
- bona vacantia — unclaimed goods
- booster cable — either of a pair of electric cables having clamps at each end and used for starting the engine of a vehicle whose battery is dead.
- bootlace worm — a nemertean worm, Lineus longissimus, that inhabits shingly shores and attains lengths of over 6 m (20 ft)
- bouncy castle — A bouncy castle is a large object filled with air, often in the shape of a castle, which children play on at a fairground or other outdoor event.
- bowling match — a game of bowls
- boycott apple — (legal) Some time before 1989, Apple Computer, Inc. started a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, claiming they had breeched Apple's copyright on the look and feel of the Macintosh user interface. In December 1989, Xerox failed to sue Apple Computer, claiming that the software for Apple's Lisa computer and Macintosh Finder, both copyrighted in 1987, were derived from two Xerox programs: Smalltalk, developed in the mid-1970s and Star, copyrighted in 1981. Apple wanted to stop people from writing any program that worked even vaguely like a Macintosh. If such look and feel lawsuits succeed they could put an end to free software that could substitute for commercial software. In the weeks after the suit was filed, Usenet reverberated with condemnation for Apple. GNU supporters Richard Stallman, John Gilmore and Paul Rubin decided to take action against Apple. Apple's reputation as a force for progress came from having made better computers; but The League for Programming Freedom believed that Apple wanted to make all non-Apple computers worse. They therefore campaigned to discourage people from using Apple products or working for Apple or any other company threatening similar obstructionist tactics (e.g. Lotus and Xerox). Because of this boycott the Free Software Foundation for a long time didn't support Macintosh Unix in their software. In 1995, the LPF and the FSF decided to end the boycott.
- boynton beach — a city in SE Florida.
- brace and bit — a hand tool for boring holes, consisting of a cranked handle into which a drilling bit is inserted
- brachydactyly — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- brachypterous — having very short or incompletely developed wings
- brachytherapy — a form of radiotherapy in which sealed sources of radioactive material are inserted temporarily into body cavities or directly into tumours
- bracket clock — a small clock designed to be placed on a bracket or shelf.
- bracket creep — an advance into a higher income tax bracket resulting from an increase in nominal income: the higher taxes, when combined with the effects of inflation, may produce a decline in real income
- break the ice — to relieve shyness or reserve, esp between strangers