13-letter words containing a, l, p, r
- barley stripe — a disease of barley, characterized by blighted heads and chlorotic, brown, or frayed stripes on the leaves, caused by a fungus, Helminthosporium gramineum.
- barred spiral — a spiral galaxy in which the arms originate at the ends of a bar-shaped nucleus
- barrel-shaped — having the shape of a barrel
- bartlett pear — a large, juicy variety of pear
- beam splitter — a system that divides a beam of light, electrons, etc, into two or more paths
- bear the palm — to be the winner; take the prize
- bearing plate — a heavy metal plate for receiving and distributing concentrated weight, as from a column or one end of a truss.
- beauty parlor — A beauty parlor is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example, to have their hair, nails, or makeup done.
- bell purchase — a tackle consisting of two standing single blocks, two running single blocks, a fall, and a runner, so arranged that it gives a mechanical advantage of six, neglecting friction.
- beta particle — a high-speed electron or positron emitted by a nucleus during radioactive decay or nuclear fission
- bias-ply tire — a vehicle tire in which the main plies or cords run across the bead.
- bibliographer — an expert in bibliography
- bibliographic — a complete or selective list of works compiled upon some common principle, as authorship, subject, place of publication, or printer.
- bibliotherapy — the use of reading as therapy
- binary pulsar — a pulsar in a binary system.
- black crappie — a dark, spotted crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)
- black panther — (in the US) a member of a militant Black political party (1965–82) founded to end the political dominance of White people
- blepharoplast — a cylindrical cytoplasmic body in protozoa
- blepharospasm — spasm of the muscle of the eyelids, causing the eyes to shut tightly, either as a response to painful stimuli or occurring as a form of dystonia
- blow an eprom — /bloh *n ee'prom/ (Or "blast", "burn") To program a read-only memory, e.g. for use with an embedded system. This term arose because the programming process for the Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM) that preceded present-day Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses on the chip. The usage lives on (it's too vivid and expressive to discard) even though the write process on EPROMs is nondestructive.
- blue copperas — a salt, copper sulfate, CuSO 4 ⋅5H 2 O, occurring naturally as large transparent, deep-blue triclinic crystals, appearing in its anhydrous state as a white powder: used chiefly as a mordant, insecticide, fungicide, and in engraving.
- border patrol — a government agency in charge of preventing terrorists, weapons, and illegal immigrants entering the country
- bridge player — a person who plays the game of bridge
- brook lamprey — a jawless fish, Lampetra planeri, native to the European part of the Atlantic Ocean and the northwest Mediterranean
- brooklyn park — city in SE Minn.: suburb of Minneapolis: pop. 67,000
- bullace grape — the thick-skinned musk-scented purple grape produced by this plant: used to make wine
- burglar-proof — designed to be secure and to frustrate any attempted burglary
- butterfly pea — any of several leguminous plants of the genus Clitoria, as C. mariana, of North America, having pale-blue flowers.
- cacodyl group — the univalent group (CH 3) 2 As−, derived from arsine.
- cacographical — Synonym of cacographic.
- calligraphist — fancy penmanship, especially highly decorative handwriting, as with a great many flourishes: She appreciated the calligraphy of the 18th century.
- calliper rule — a measuring instrument having two parallel jaws, one fixed at right angles to the end of a calibrated scale and the other sliding along it
- camp follower — If you describe someone as a camp follower, you mean that they do not officially belong to a particular group or movement but support it for their own advantage.
- campaniliform — Alternative form of campaniform.
- campylobacter — a rod-shaped bacterium that causes infections in cattle and man. Unpasteurized milk infected with campylobacter is a common cause of gastroenteritis
- cape coloured — (formerly, in South Africa) a racial classification under apartheid for people of mixed ethnic origin
- cape marigold — any composite plant of the genus Dimorphotheca, having variously colored, daisylike flowers.
- cape-farewell — Cape, a cape in S Greenland: most southerly point of Greenland.
- cape-flattery — Cape, a cape in NW Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait.
- capellmeister — a person in charge of an orchestra, esp in an 18th-century princely household
- caprylic acid — a fatty acid, (CH3)(CH2)6COOH, with a rancid taste: used in the synthesis of dyes, drugs, perfumes, etc.
- capsule range — a small range of clothes by a particular designer, intended to be representative of the full range
- carbolic soap — a disinfectant soap containing phenol
- card walloper — (jargon) An EDP programmer who grinds out batch programs that do things like print people's paychecks. Compare code grinder. See also punched card, eighty-column mind.
- carpal tunnel — forearm to hand
- carpet beetle — any of various beetles of the genus Anthrenus, the larvae of which feed on carpets, furnishing fabrics, etc: family Dermestidae
- caryophyllene — (organic compound) A sesquiterpene (containing a cyclobutane ring) found in the essential oils of several plants such as clove and pepper.
- central islip — a town on S Long Island, in SE New York.
- centripetally — Towards a centre or axis.
- century plant — an agave, Agave americana, native to tropical America but naturalized elsewhere, having very large spiny greyish leaves and greenish flowers on a tall fleshy stalk. It blooms only once in its life, after 10 to 30 years (formerly thought to flower after a century)