14-letter words containing r, a, b, t
- arboricultural — Of or pertaining to the care, planting and maintenance of trees.
- arborsculpture — The art and craft technique of growing and shaping tree trunks.
- archaebacteria — (formerly) a group of microorganisms now regarded as members of the Archaea
- archebacterium — (biology) alternative spelling of archaebacterium.
- art exhibition — an exhibition of works of art such as pictures
- asarah betevet — a Jewish fast day observed on the 10th day of the month of Tevet in memory of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.
- astrobiologist — a person who studies astrobiology
- at first blush — when first seen; as a first impression
- atomic orbital — Physics, Chemistry. a wave function describing the state of a single electron in an atom (atomic orbital) or in a molecule (molecular orbital) the electron in that state.
- attractability — The quality of being attractable.
- auction bridge — a variety of bridge, now generally superseded by contract bridge, in which all the tricks made score towards the game
- aussie battler — an Australian working-class person
- austrian blind — a window blind consisting of rows of vertically gathered fabric that may be drawn up to form a series of ruches
- autobiographer — a person who writes the story of his or her own life
- autobiographic — marked by or dealing with one's own experiences or life history; of or in the manner of an autobiography: autobiographical material; an autobiographical novel.
- babies'-breath — baby's breath
- baby-battering — the physical abuse of a baby or young child
- baccalaureates — Plural form of baccalaureate.
- bachelor chest — a chest of drawers, esp., one for men's shirts, sweaters, underwear, etc.
- bachelor party — A bachelor party is a party for a man who is getting married very soon, to which only men are invited.
- back and forth — If someone moves back and forth, they repeatedly move in one direction and then in the opposite direction.
- back formation — the invention of a new word on the assumption that a familiar word is derived from it. The verbs edit and burgle were so created from editor and burglar
- back scratcher — a long-handled device for scratching one's own back.
- back to nature — If you want to get back to nature, you want to return to a simpler way of living.
- back-and-forth — backward and forward; side to side; to and fro: a back-and-forth shuttling of buses to the stadium; the back-and-forth movement of a clock's pendulum.
- back-formation — the analogical creation of one word from another word that appears to be a derived or inflected form of the first by dropping the apparent affix or by modification.
- backscattering — the scattering of rays or particles at angles to the original direction of motion of greater than 90°
- backscratching — a long-handled device for scratching one's own back.
- backside-front — backend-to.
- backstrap loom — a simple horizontal loom, used especially in Central and South America, on which one of two beams holding the warp yarn is attached to a strap that passes across the weaver's back.
- bacteriologist — a branch of microbiology dealing with the identification, study, and cultivation of bacteria and with their applications in medicine, agriculture, industry, and biotechnology.
- bacteriophages — Plural form of bacteriophage.
- bacteriostasis — inhibition of the growth and reproduction of bacteria, esp by the action of a chemical agent
- bacteriostatic — the prevention of the further growth of bacteria.
- bactrian camel — a two-humped camel, Camelus bactrianus, used as a beast of burden in the cold deserts of central Asia
- badger baiting — an illegal sport in which dogs are encouraged to draw a badger out of its burrow and attack it
- ball cartridge — a cartridge containing a primer and a ball and a full charge of powder
- ball indicator — a flight instrument that measures the angle of roll about an aircraft's horizontal axis, thereby indicating whether or not the aircraft is skidding or slipping.
- ballet slipper — a heelless cloth or leather slipper worn by ballet dancers.
- ballot rigging — Ballot rigging is the act of illegally changing the result of an election by producing a false record of the number of votes.
- baltimore chop — a batted ball that takes a high bounce upon hitting the ground on or immediately in front of home plate, often enabling the batter to reach first base safely.
- bamboo curtain — (esp in the 1950s and 1960s) the political and military barrier to communications around the People's Republic of China
- bamboo network — a network of close-knit Chinese entrepreneurs with large corporate empires in southeast Asia
- bamboo turning — turning of spindles and framing members to simulate the jointing of bamboo.
- ban-the-bomber — a person who vigorously advocates banning the development or use of nuclear weapons.
- bancroft prize — one of a group of annual awards for literary achievement in American history and biography: administered by Columbia University.
- bang to rights — caught red-handed
- banker's draft — A banker's draft is the same as a bank draft.
- barbados earth — a diatomaceous marl found in Barbados
- barbary states — semi-independent Turkish provinces along the coast of N Africa (16th-19th cent.); Tripoli, Tunisia, Algeria, & Morocco