| B |
Thai baht (currency); Baume (temperature); human blood type (of the ABO group); grade of softness in pencils (eg 2B, 3B etc); American bomber series (eg B-52); battle; bishop (chess); breathalyser; bold; bachelor; Baptist; billion; British; occupational group (of ACB1C2 etc); building; Venezuelan bolivar (currency) |
| b |
ball, batsman, bowled, bye (cricket); base; bass; bath; bedroom; before; billion; book; born; bound (bookbinding); bowels; breadth; by; euphemism for bloody, bugger |
| BO, B5 etc |
series of paper sizes (qv A0-A10 etc) |
| B4216 etc |
secondary roads (qv Al, Ml) |
| BA |
Bachelor of Arts; British Airways; British Academy; able-bodied seaman; Booksellers’ Association; British Association for the Advancement of Science (also BAAS); bronchial asthma; Buenos Aires; bank acceptance; British Association screw thread |
| BAA |
British Airports Authority; Bachelor of Applied Arts; Booking Agents’ Association of Great Britain; British Archaelogical Association; British Astronomical Association |
| BAA&A |
British Assocation of Accountants and Auditors |
| BAAB |
British Amateur Athletic Board |
| BA( Admin) |
Bachelor of Arts in Administration (also BAdmin) |
| BAAF |
British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering |
| BA(Art) |
Bachelor of Arts in Art |
| BAAS |
British Association for the Advancement of Science (also BA) |
| Bab |
Babylonian |
| BABIE |
British Association for the Betterment of Infertility and Education |
| BABS |
Blind Approach Beacon System (airports) |
| Bac, bac |
baccalaureat = study programme similar to British A-levels, a prerequisite for University entrance |
| BAC |
British Aircraft Corporation; blood-alcohol concentration; British Association of Chemists |
| BACO |
British Aluminium Company |
| BACS |
Bankers’ Automated Clearing Service |
| bact |
bacteria; bacteriology |
| BADA |
British Antique Dealers’ Association |
| BAe |
British Aerospace |
| BAEA |
British Actors’ Equity Association |
| BAEC |
British Agricultural Export Council |
| BA(Econ) |
Bachelor of Arts in Economics |
| BA(Ed) |
Bachelor of Arts in Education |
| BAFO |
British Army Forces Overseas |
| BAFTA |
British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| BAGA |
British Amateur Gymnastics Association |
| BAgr |
Bachelor of Agriculture; BAgEc = Bachelor of Agricultural Economics; BAgrSc = Bachelor of Agricultural Science) |
| Bah |
Bahamas |
| BAHOH |
British Association for the Hard of Hearing |
| BAI |
Bachelor of Engineering |
| BAJDE |
British Association of Industrial Editors |
| Ball, Bal |
Balliol College (Oxford); Ballarat (Victoria) |
| BALPA |
British Airline Pilots’ Association |
| b&b |
bread and breakfast |
| BARC |
British Automobile Racing Club |
| Bart’s |
St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London |
| BAT |
British-American Tobacco Company |
| Bat, bat |
battalion; battery |
| BAWA |
British Amateur Wrestling Association |
| BB |
Brigitte Bardot; very soft black lead pencil; pseudonym of prolific English country book author and illustrator Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905-1990). |
| BBBC |
British Boxing Board of Control |
| BBC |
British Broadcasting Corporation |
| BBFC |
British Board of Film Censors |
| bbl |
barrel; bbls/d = barrels per day (usually of oil production) |
| BBQ |
barbecue |
| BC |
Before Christ; British Council; British Colombia, Canada |
| bcc |
blind carbon copy, i.e. one that the recipient of the original message is unaware of |
| BCCI |
Bank of Credit and Commerce International |
| BCF |
British Chess Federation |
| BCNZ |
Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand |
| BCom |
Bachelor of Commerce |
| BD |
Bachelor of Divinity |
| BDA |
British Dental Association; British Dyslexia Association |
| BDD |
body dismorphic disorder – a preoccupation with a perceived defect in appearance, causing distress and impairment in functioning. |
| BDS |
Bachelor of Dental Surgery |
| BEA |
British European Airways |
| BE |
British Empire |
| BEd |
Bachelor of Education |
| Beds |
Bedfordshire |
| BEEB |
British Broadcasting Corporation (also BBC) |
| BEF |
British Expeditionary Force |
| Bee Gees |
From Brothers Gibb, family pop group |
| BEM |
British Empire Medal |
| Benelux |
Customs union between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg |
| BEng |
Bachelor of Engineering |
| Berks |
Berkshire |
| BeV |
unit of one billion electron volts |
| BFG |
big friendly giant |
| BFPA |
British Film Producers’ Association |
| BFPO |
British Forces Post Office |
| BHS |
British Home Stores; British Horse Society |
| Bib |
Bible; Biblical |
| bibl |
bibliography; bibliographical |
| BIET |
British Institute of Engineering Technology |
| Biggies |
Code for ‘Biggies Flies Undone’ |
| BIM |
British Institute of Management |
| BIOS |
Basin Input / Output System |
| BISF |
British Iron and Steel Federation |
| Bit, bit |
binary digit (Binary digiT) |
| BL |
Bachelor of Law |
| B/L, B/1 |
bill of lading |
| BLitt |
Bachelor of Letters |
| BLL |
Bachelor of Laws |
| BLT, blt |
bacon, lettuce and tomato (sandwich); built |
| blvd |
boulevard |
| BMJ |
British Medical Journal |
| B-movie |
Low-cost supporting movie (originally Hollywood productions) |
| BMT |
British Mean Time; bone marrow transplant |
| BMTA |
British Motor Trade Association |
| BMus |
Bachelor of Music |
| BMW |
Bayerische Motoren Werke, Bavaria: car manufacturer |
| BMX |
bicycle motocross; a bicycle designed for rough or stunt riding |
| bn |
billion |
| BNA |
British Nursing Association |
| BNFL |
British Nuclear Fuels Limited |
| BO, bo |
body odour; box office |
| BOAC |
British Overseas Airways Corporation |
| Bod |
Bodleian Library, Oxford |
| BOLTOP |
better on lips than on paper (usually placed below a ‘paper kiss’ – X – on the back of a lover’s envelope) |
| BOOK |
box of organised knowledge (Anthony Burgess’s definition of a book) |
| BOP |
Boy’s Own Paper (boy’s weekly, 1879–1967) |
| BOSS |
Bureau of State Security (South Africa) |
| BOT |
Board of Trade |
| bot |
botany; botanical; bottle; bottom |
| BOTB |
British Overseas Trade Board |
| BP |
British Petroleum |
| B-P |
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement |
| BPA |
British Philatelic Association |
| BPC |
British Pharmaceutical Codex; British Printing Corporation |
| bpm |
beats per minute (heart rate) |
| BPS |
British Pharmacological Society; bits per second |
| Bfr&Q |
DIY chain store established by a Mr Block and a Mr Quayle in Southampton in 1968 |
| br |
branch; bridge; brown |
| BR |
British Rail |
| bra |
brassiere |
| BRCS |
British Red Cross Society |
| Brig |
Brigadier; Brig Gen = Brigadier General |
| BRM |
British Racing Motors |
| Bro, bro |
Brother; brother |
| B-road |
secondary road |
| BS |
bullshit |
| BSC |
British Safety Council; British Steel Corporation; British Sugar Corporation; British Standards Council |
| BSc |
Bachelor of Science |
The original handful of university Bachelor degrees has in recent years proliferated to hundreds: BLE (Bachelor of Land Economy); BNSc (Bachelor of Nursing Science); BO (Bachelor of Oratory); BPd (Bachelor of Pedagogy) and so on. There are dozens of specialist arts degrees, too: BA(Arts); BA(Econ); BA(Theol), etc; and scores of variations on science degrees: BSc(H Ec); BSc(Med Lab Tech) – of which only the most significant are listed in this desktop dictionary.
| BSCP |
British Standard Code of Practice |
| BSE |
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (‘mad cow’ disease) |
| BSG |
British Standard Gauge (railways) |
| BSI |
British Standards Institution |
| B-side |
The ‘flip’ or less important side of a vinyl record |
| BSkyB |
British Sky Broadcasting (an amalgamation of Sky TV and BSB, British Satellite Broadcasting) |
| BSRA |
British Sound Recording Association |
| BSSc |
Bachelor of Social Science (sometimes BSocSc) |
| BST |
British Summer Time |
| Bt, Bart |
Baronet |
| BTC |
British Transport Commission |
| btl |
bottle |
| BTU |
British Thermal Unit |
| BTW |
by the way |
| Bucks |
Buckinghamshire |
| BUPA |
British United Provident Association |
| BURMA |
be undressed, ready, my angel (on lover’s envelope)
|
