13-letter words containing a, b, l, c
- 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.
- brace molding — keel1 (def 6).
- brachycranial — brachycephalic
- brachydactyly — abnormal shortness of the fingers and toes.
- bracket clock — a small clock designed to be placed on a bracket or shelf.
- breech-loader — a firearm that is loaded at the breech
- breechloading — loaded at the breech.
- brilliant cut — a cut for gems
- brilliant-cut — a cut intended to enhance the brilliance of a gem with the least possible sacrifice of weight, characterized by a form resembling two pyramids set base to base, truncated so as to give a broad table and a very small culet, and having from 18 to 104 facets, 58 being typical.
- broccoli raab — a plant (Brassica rapa ruvo) of the crucifer family with close clusters of small flowers and dark green, somewhat bitter leaves cooked as a vegetable
- broccoli rabe — a plant, Brassica rapa ruvo, of which the slightly bitter, dark-green leaves and clustered flower buds are eaten as a vegetable.
- brussels lace — a fine lace with a raised or appliqué design
- bucket ladder — a series of buckets that move in a continuous chain, used to dredge riverbeds, etc, or to excavate land
- buffalo chips — the dried dung of buffalo used as fuel, especially by early settlers on the western plains.
- buffalo cloth — a heavyweight woolen fabric constructed in twill weave and having a shaggy pile.
- bulkhead deck — the uppermost continuous deck in the hull of a vessel, forming watertight compartments with the main transverse bulkheads.
- bullace grape — the thick-skinned musk-scented purple grape produced by this plant: used to make wine
- burnham scale — the salary scale for teachers in English state schools, which is revised periodically
- buster collar — a round collar, similar to a lampshade in shape, that is fitted round the neck of an animal or bird, for example to prevent it removing or interfering with a dressing or other treatment
- butyl acetate — a colourless liquid with a fruity odour, existing in four isomeric forms. Three of the isomers are important solvents for cellulose lacquers. Formula: CH3COOC4H9
- butyl alcohol — any of four isomeric alcohols, C4H9OH, obtained from petroleum products: used as solvents and in organic synthesis
- cab rank rule — the rule that obliges barristers to take on any client in strict rotation
- cabbalistical — cabbalistic
- cable molding — a molding in the form of a rope.
- cable railway — a railway on which individual cars are drawn along by a strong cable or metal chain operated by a stationary motor
- cable release — a short length of flexible cable, used to operate the shutter of a camera without shaking it
- cable tramway — tramway (def 4).
- calabash tree — a tropical American evergreen tree, Crescentia cujete, that produces large round gourds: family Bignoniaceae
- calculability — determinable by calculation; ascertainable: This map was designed so that distances by road are easily calculable.
- calisaya bark — the bark of any of several tropical trees of the rubiaceous genus Cinchona, esp C. calisaya, from which quinine is extracted
- call sb names — If someone calls you names, they insult you by saying unpleasant things to you or about you.
- call-by-value — (CBV) An evaluation strategy where arguments are evaluated before the function or procedure is entered. Only the values of the arguments are passed and changes to the arguments within the called procedure have no effect on the actual arguments as seen by the caller. See applicative order reduction, call-by-value-result, strict evaluation, call-by-name, lazy evaluation.
- campylobacter — a rod-shaped bacterium that causes infections in cattle and man. Unpasteurized milk infected with campylobacter is a common cause of gastroenteritis
- canada balsam — a yellow transparent resin obtained from the balsam fir. Because its refractive index is similar to that of glass, it is used as an adhesive in optical devices and as a mounting medium for microscope specimens
- candleberries — Plural form of candleberry.
- cannibalistic — Cannibalistic people and practices are connected with cannibalism.
- cannibalizing — Present participle of cannibalize.
- cannonballing — Present participle of cannonball.
- cap and bells — the traditional garb of a court jester, including a cap with bells attached to it
- capitalizable — to write or print in capital letters letters or with an initial capital letter.
- capstan table — drum table.
- car boot sale — A car boot sale is a sale where people sell things they own and do not want from a little stall or from the back of their car.
- carbenicillin — a semisynthetic penicillin, C 17 H 16 N 2 Na 2 O 6 S, used against certain bacteria, especially those involved in urinary tract infections.
- carbo-loading — Informal. carbohydrate loading.
- carbolic acid — Carbolic acid or carbolic is a liquid that is used as a disinfectant and antiseptic.
- carbolic soap — a disinfectant soap containing phenol
- carbolic-acid — Also called carbolic acid, hydroxybenzene, oxybenzene, phenylic acid. a white, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous mass, C 6 H 5 OH, obtained from coal tar, or a hydroxyl derivative of benzene: used chiefly as a disinfectant, as an antiseptic, and in organic synthesis.
- carbonneutral — pertaining to or having achieved a state in which the net amount of carbon dioxide or other carbon compounds emitted into the atmosphere is reduced to zero because it is balanced by actions to reduce or offset these emissions: Since the administration installed solar panels, the campus has become carbon neutral; a carbon-neutral brewery.
- carbonylation — the introduction of a carbonyl group into a compound through chemical reaction