| bothy | n. | small cottage or hut, usu. of only a single room | ||
| bottomry | n. | shipping contract wherein the vessel is used as collateral to raise money financing a commercial voyage | nautical | |
| bougie | n. | thin flexible instrument for insertion or dilation of bodily passages | ||
| bouser | n. | tippler, heavy drinker, boozer | obsolete | |
| boustrophedon | adv. | moving alternately from right to left and from left to right, as in certain ancient texts and inscriptions | ||
| bowse | v. | to haul with tackle [also bouse] | nautical | |
| boxty | n. | Irish potato pancake or bread | ||
| brach | n. | female hound; disgusting woman | archaic | |
| bract | n. | small specialized leaf growing with a plant’s flower | botany | |
| bradawl | n. | small hand-boring tool | ||
| bradykinin | n. | peptide hormone that mediates inflammation | ||
| brail | n. | small horizontal lines used for gathering in sail; leather cord for tying down a hawk’s wings so as to prevent flight | ||
| brake | n. | thicket, overgrown area | ||
| brannigan | n. | drinking bout; brawl | ||
| brass neck | n. | shamelessness, gall; person with this quality | idiom | |
| brassard | n. | decorative cloth band worn on upper arm | ||
| brassie | n. | brass-faced wooden golf club for hitting long low drives | ||
| brast | v. | past participle of “burst” | archaic | |
| brawn | n. | head cheese | British | |
| bread and scrape | n. | bread and dripping, toast with melted-away fat from roasting meat; bread with thinnest amount of butter applied | British | |
| break-bulk | adj. | of or related to non-containerized cargo, that is, cargo designated for multiple consignees which must be offloaded piecemeal at each port | ||
| breasthook | n. | shaped horizontal timber spanning the bow between decks of a ship | nautical | |
| brevier | n. | size of printing type, usu. judged nowadays equivalent to 8 point type | ||
| brickbat | n. | piece of brick, esp. when used as a missile | ||
| bride | n. | thread or threads connecting parts of lacework | ||
| bridewell | n. | prison, reformatory | ||
| brigandine | n. | body armor consisting of iron rings or plates sewn onto, and sometimes within, fabric coverings | ||
| Brobdingnagian | adj. | stupendously huge | ||
| bromide | n. | chemical compound based upon bromine; medicament from such a compound, esp. lithium bromide, formerly used as antidepressant at beginning of 20th C.; platitude; dullard | ||
| brothel creeper | n. | shoe with thick crepe sole, often with suede uppers | ||
| brumation | n. | period of torpor and sluggish activity | ||
| Brummagem | adj. | gaudy and cheap; fake, counterfeit | ||
| brunser | n. | male homosexual, esp. younger partner of a pair | slang | |
| brychan | n. | rough wool blanket | ||
| bubblehead | n. | dolt, stupid person | ||
| bubo | n. | inflamed swelling of lymphatic gland, esp. in groin or armpit | ||
| buccal | adj. | of or related to the cheek | ||
| buckshee | adj. | extra, free | slang | |
| bucranium | n. | sculpted ox skull used as decoration | architecture | |
| budge | n. | lambskin fur | ||
| Buggins’s turn | n. | possession of office by rotation or seniority rather than merit | idiom | |
| buhl | n. | brass, pewter, tortoiseshell, etc. inlaid as decoration | ||
| bulla | n. | blister, vesicle; hollow spaces within bone structures; clay balls or containers, often with external writing detailing contents; papal letters | biology | |
| bumbailiff | n. | low-rank bailiff | ||
| bumbaste | v. | to beat on the buttocks; thus, to beat soundly | ||
| bumboat | n. | small boat selling provisions or wares to ships in port or offshore | ||
| bumph | n. | useless papers or documents | British | |
| buncombe | n. | humbug, claptrap; mere speechifying | ||
| bund | n. | causeway, embankment; secondary retaining wall surrounding tank for fluid | ||
| bunny boiler | n. | vengeful former partner after being spurned, usu. of a woman | slang |
