15-letter words containing n, a, r, t
- argyll and bute — a council area in W Scotland on the Atlantic Ocean: in 1975 the historical counties of Argyllshire and Bute became part of Strathclyde region; in 1996 they were reinstated as a single unitary authority. Argyll and Bute is mountainous and includes the islands of Bute, Mull, Islay, and Jura. Administrative centre: Lochgilphead. Pop: 91 300 (2003 est). Area: 6930 sq km (2676 sq miles)
- aristotelianism — a philosophical tradition based on the wide-ranging belief system of Aristotle
- arithmetic mean — an average value of a set of integers, terms, or quantities, expressed as their sum divided by their number
- armaments depot — a store for armaments
- armes parlantes — arms using devices to illustrate the name of the bearers, such as a rose and a wall to illustrate the name Rosewall
- arms inspection — the official checking of a country's weapons and other military equipment, usually to check that international agreements have been respected
- army-navy store — a retail store selling a stock of surplus army, naval, and other military apparel and goods, often at bargain rates.
- around the bend — to force (an object, especially a long or thin one) from a straight form into a curved or angular one, or from a curved or angular form into some different form: to bend an iron rod into a hoop.
- around the horn — (thrown) from third base to second to first in trying for a double play
- arrangement fee — a fee charged by a bank, building society, etc for setting up a loan
- arrest judgment — to stay proceedings after a verdict, on the grounds of error or possible error
- arrondissements — Plural form of arrondissement.
- arterialization — to convert (venous blood) into arterial blood by the action of oxygen in the lungs.
- arthur brisbane — Arthur, 1864–1936, U.S. journalist.
- artificial gene — a duplicate gene synthesized in the laboratory by combining nucleotides in a sequence characteristic of the copied gene.
- artificialness' — made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural): artificial flowers.
- artillery plant — any of various tropical urticaceous plants of the genus Pilea, such as P. microphylla, all having stamens that discharge their pollen explosively
- arts and crafts — decorative handicraft and design, esp that of the Arts and Crafts movement, in late nineteenth-century Britain, which sought to revive medieval craftsmanship
- asian shorthair — a generic term for a group of breeds of short-haired cat of Burmese type, including the Bombay
- asset-stripping — If a person or company is involved in asset-stripping, they buy companies cheaply, sell off their assets to make a profit, and then close the companies down.
- assured tenancy — an agreement between a government-approved body such as a housing association and a tenant for occupation of a newly-built house or flat at an agreed market rent, under which the tenant has security of tenure
- astrodynamicist — a person who studies astrodynamics
- astronautically — In an astronautic way.
- astronavigation — celestial navigation
- at arm's length — If you hold something at arm's length, you hold it away from your body with your arm straight.
- at first glance — If you say that something is true or seems to be true at first glance, you mean that it seems to be true when you first see it or think about it, but that your first impression may be wrong.
- at right angles — If two things are at right angles, they are situated so that they form an angle of 90° where they touch each other. You can also say that one thing is at right angles to another.
- at short notice — Notice is used in expressions such as 'at short notice', 'at a moment's notice' or 'at twenty-four hours' notice', to indicate that something can or must be done within a short period of time.
- at the controls — If someone is at the controls of a machine or other piece of equipment, they are operating it.
- atlantic ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atlantic-ridley — ridley (def 1).
- atrabiliousness — The state or quality of being characterized by melancholy or glumness.
- attorney-at-law — a lawyer qualified to represent in court a party to a legal action
- audience rating — a figure based on statistical sampling indicating what proportion of the total listening and viewing audience tune in to a specific programme or network
- auditor general — (in Canada) a federal official responsible for auditing government departments and making an annual report
- augmented roman — a writing system based on an expanded English alphabet, consisting of 43 characters representing different phonemes of spoken English, used for teaching beginners to read. Abbreviation: I.T.A., i.t.a.
- australian alps — a mountain range in SE Australia, in E Victoria and SE New South Wales. Highest peak: Mount Kosciuszko, 2195 m (7316 ft)
- australian mist — a breed of medium-sized cat with a short spotted or marbled coat
- australian pine — casuarina
- austria-hungary — the Dual Monarchy established in 1867, consisting of what are now Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and parts of Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Italy. The empire was broken up after World War I
- autocorrelation — the condition occurring when successive items in a series are correlated so that their covariance is not zero and they are not independent
- autofluorescent — Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting autofluorescence.
- autotransformer — a transformer in which part of the winding is common to both primary and secondary circuits
- autotransfusion — a process in which a patient receives some of his or her own blood in a transfusion rather than a donor's blood
- autotransplants — Plural form of autotransplant.
- avant la lettre — before the (specified) concept, word, person, etc. existed
- back plastering — the introduction of partitions of lath and plaster between the inner and outer surfaces of a stud wall in order to improve the insulating properties of the wall.
- back projection — a method of projecting pictures onto a translucent screen so that they are viewed from the opposite side, used esp in films to create the illusion that the actors in the foreground are moving
- back-scratching — a reciprocal exchange of favors, aid, or compliments
- backup rotation — (operating system) Any system for re-using backup media, e.g. magnetic tape. One extreme would be to use the same media for every backup (e.g. copy disk A to disk B), the other extreme would be to use new media every time. The trade-off is between the cost of buying and storing media and the ability to restore any version of any file. One example is the Grandfather, Father, Son (GFS) scheme.