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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


Brahman
In Hinduism, the supreme being, an impersonal and infinite creator of the universe. Brahman exists in everything, and is the spirit, or atman, of every living thing. Achieving union with Brahman and ceasing to be reborn is the goal of every Hindu. All the images of gods, such as Vishnu or Durga, are aspects of Brahman, the one indivisible god. Brah...

breast
One of a pair of organs on the chest of the adult human female, also known as a mammary gland. Each of the two breasts contains milk-producing cells and a network of tubes or ducts that lead to openings in the nipple. Milk-producing cells in the breast do not become active until a woman has g...

BRM
Abbreviation for British Racing Motors, a racing-car manufacturer founded in 1947 by Raymond Mays. Their first Grand Prix win was in 1959, and in the next 15 years they won 17 Grands Prix. In 1962 Graham Hill won victory for BRM in the Formula 1 World Constructors' and Drivers' championships. In 1974 the team went into liquidation

Braunschweig
German form of Brunswick, a city in Lower Saxony, Germany

Bronson, Charles
US film actor. He developed the screen persona of a hard-bitten loner over the years, working in both Hollywood and Europe. His films include The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and memorably in C'era una volta il West/Once Upon ...

Brown,
(James) British Labour politician, prime minister and leader of the Labour Party from 2007. He was chancellor of the Exchequer 1997–2007. As chancellor he ceded to the Bank of England full control of interest rates, and promoted ...

Branagh, Kenneth
(Charles) Northern Irish stage and film actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987. His first film as both actor and director was Henry V (1989); he returned to Shakespeare with lavish film versions of Much Ado About...

brine
Common name for a solution of sodium chloride (NaCl) in water. Brines are used extensively in the food-manufacturing industry for canning vegetables, pickling vegetables (sauerkraut manufacture), and curing meat. Industrially, brine is the source from which chlorine, caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), and sodium carbonate are made. The chlor-...

Brown, Earle
(Appleton) US composer. He pioneered graph notation (a method of notating controlled improvisation by graphical means) and mobile form during the 1950s, as in Available Forms II (1962) for ensemble and two conductors. He was an associate of John Cage and was influenced by th...

British Virgin Islands
Part of the Virgin Islands group in the West Indies

British Somaliland
British protectorate 1884–1960 comprising over 176,000 sq km/67,980 sq mi of territory on the north Somali coast of East Africa, opposite its base at Aden. In 1960 British Somaliland united with Italian Somaliland to form the independent state of Somalia. British authorities were harassed from 1899 by Somali nationalists, led by the Muslim...

Brando, Marlon
Click images to enlargeUS actor. One of the great exponents of method acting, he had a powerful presence on both stage and screen, and was one of the most influential actors of his generation. He won Best Actor Academy Awards for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972), alth...

Brooks, Mel
US film director, producer, actor, and comedian. His films, known for their slapstick and verbal humour, include The Producers (1967; Academy Award for Best Screenplay), Blazing Saddles (1974), and Young Frankenstein (1974). Brooks was a stand-up comic, gaining a wide audience with hi...

bromeliad
Any tropical or subtropical plant belonging to the pineapple family, usually with stiff leathery leaves, which are often coloured and patterned, and bright, attractive flower spikes. There are about 1,400 species in tropical America; several are cultivated as greenhouse plants. (Family Bromeliaceae.) Some grow in habitats ranging from scrub des...

brontosaurus
Former name of a type of large, plant-eating dinosaur, now better known as apatosaurus

bronchiole
Small-bore air tube found in the vertebrate lung responsible for delivering air to the main respiratory surfaces. Bronchioles lead off from the larger bronchus and branch extensively before terminating in the many thousand alveoli that form the bulk of lung tissue

bronchus
One of a pair of large tubes (bronchi) branching off from the windpipe (trachea) and passing into the vertebrate lung. Apart from their size, bronchi differ from the bronchioles in possessing cartilaginous rings, which give rigidity and prevent collapse during breathing movements. Numerous glands in the wall of the bronchus secrete a slimy mucus, w...

Brownian movement
Continuous random motion of particles in a fluid medium (gas or liquid) as they are subjected to impact from the molecules of the medium. The phenomenon was explained by German physicist Albert Einstein in 1905 but was observed as long ago as 1827 by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown. Brown was look...

brown dwarf
In astronomy, object less massive than a star but denser than a planet. Brown dwarfs do not have enough mass to ignite nuclear reactions at their centres, but shine by heat released during their contraction from a gas cloud. Groups of brown dwarfs have been discovered, and some astronomers believe that vast numbers of them exist throughout the Gala...

brutalism
Architectural style of the 1950s and 1960s that evolved from the work of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. It is uncompromising in its approach, believing that practicality and user-friendliness should be the first and foremost aims of architectural design. Materials such as steel and concrete are favoured. The term was first used by Alison a...

bribery
Corruptly receiving or agreeing to receive, giving or promising to give, any gift, loan, fee, reward, or advantage as an inducement or reward to persons in certain positions of trust. For example, it is an offence to improperly influence in this way judges or other judicial officers, members and officers of public bodies, or voters at public electi...

Brandt Commission
International committee (1977–83) set up to study global development issues. It produced two reports, stressing the interdependence of the countries of the wealthy, industrialized North and the poor South (or developing world), and made detailed recommendations for accelerating the development of poorer countries (involving the transfer of res...

brackets
(mathematics) Pairs of signs that show which part of a calculation should be worked out first. For example, 4(7+3) indicates that 4 is to be multiplied by the result obtained from adding 7 and 3. The mnemonic BODMAS can help one to remember the order in which an arithmetical expression sho...

brownfield site
Site that has been developed in the past for industry or for some human activity other than agriculture. Most brownfield sites are found in urban areas, where redevelopment is encouraged. However, many sites are contaminated by industrial pollutants, and it is costly to make the land safe for future development

Brent
Outer borough of northwest Greater London. It includes the suburbs of Wembley and Willesden. Features Wembley Stadium (1923); the Kilburn State Cinema (1937), the largest cinema in Europe when built; Brent Cross shopping centre (1976), first regional shopping centre in Europe; Neasden Temple (1995), the largest Hindu temple outside Indi...

Bromley
Outer borough of southeast Greater London features Crystal Palace, re-erected at Sydenham in 1854 and burned down in 1936, site now partly occupied by the National Sports Centre; Crystal Palace Museum, housed within the former Palace School of Engineering (1872), the only building to survive the fire in 1936; 13th-century parish chu...

bracket
Another word for parenthesis

Bruce, Christopher
English choreographer and dancer. He was artistic director of the Rambert Dance Company 1994–2002. His work integrates modern and classical idioms and often chooses political or socially conscious themes, as in Ghost Dances (1981), which treats the theme of political oppression. Other works include Cruel Garden
Brel, Jacques
Belgian singer and songwriter. He was active in France from 1953, where his fatalistic ballads made him a star. Of his more than 400 songs, many have been recorded in translation by singers as diverse as Frank Sinatra and David Bowie. `Ne me quitte pas/If You Go Away` (1964) is one of his best-known songs. Brel worked in the
brocade
Rich woven fabric, produced on a Jacquard loom. It is patterned, normally with more than two colours. Today brocade may be produced from artificial fibres, but it was traditionally made from silk, sometimes with highlights in metal thread

British Film Institute
Organization founded in 1933 to promote the cinema as a `means of entertainment and instruction`. It includes the National Film Archive (founded in 1935) and the National Film Theatre (founded in 1951), and is involved in publishing books and periodicals such as the monthly Sight and Sound. The BFI provides funding for ...

brass band
Instrumental ensemble consisting of brass and sometimes percussion instruments. It differs from a military band, which would contain woodwind (although brass bands in Lancashire, England, also contain woodwind). The instruments of a brass band usually include (in descending order of pitch) the cornet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, B flat baritone, euphon...

bridge
(computing) In computing, device that connects two similar local area networks (LANs). Bridges transfer data in packets between the two networks, without making any changes or interpreting the data in any way. See also router

Braun, Wernher von
German rocket engineer; see von Braun

browser
In computing, any program that allows the user to search for and view data. Browsers usually do not permit the user to edit data, but are sometimes able to convert data from one file format to another. Web browsers allow access to the World Wide Web. Microsoft's Internet Explorer was the leading Web browser in 2006, acting as a graphical user i...

Bruton, John Gerard
Irish politician, leader of the centrist Fine Gael (United Ireland Party) 1990–2001 and prime minister 1994–97. The collapse of Albert Reynolds's Fianna Fáil–Labour government in November 1994 thrust Bruton, as a leader of a new coalition with Labour and the Democratic Left Party, into the prime ministerial vacancy. He press...

broadband
In computing, a type of data transmission in which a single circuit can carry several channels at once, used for example in cable television. Broadband networking is one way of supplying much greater Internet bandwidth over the existing telephone system. See also ADSL. The term broadband refers to the method of transmitting voice, video, and data u...

Brighton and Hove
Unitary authority in southern England, created in 1997. Area 84 sq km/32 sq mi Towns Brighton, Hove (administrative headquarters), Woodingdean, Rottingdean, Portslade-by-Sea Features English Channel; South Downs; Royal Pavilion (Brighton) redesigned and enlarged by English archite...

Bridgend
(authority) Unitary authority in south Wales created in 1996 from part of the former county of Mid Glamorgan. Area 40 sq km/15 sq mi Towns Bridgend (administrative headquarters), Porthcawl (resort and residential area), Maesteg Ph...

breast screening
In medicine, examination of the breast to detect the presence of breast cancer at an early stage. Screening methods include self-screening by monthly examination of the breasts and formal programmes of screening by palpation (physical examination) and mammography in special clinics. Screening may be offered to older women on a routine basis and...

British Empire
Empire covering, at its height in the 1920s, about a sixth of the landmass of the Earth, all of its lands recognizing the United Kingdom (UK) as their leader. It consisted of the Empire of India, four self-governing countries known as dominions, and dozens of colonies and territories. The Empire ...

Bracknell Forest
Unitary authority (borough status) in central south England, created in 1998 from part of the former county of Berkshire. Area 109 sq km/42 sq mi Towns Bracknell (administrative headquarters), Sandhurst, Crowthorne Features Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (established in 1799 for officer training); Transport Research Laboratory; Bro...

breast cancer
In medicine, cancer of the breast. It is usually diagnosed following the detection of a painless lump in the breast (either through self-examination or mammography). Other, less common symptoms, include changes in the shape or texture of the breast and discharge from the nipple. It is the commonest cancer amongst women: there are 28,000 new...

Brian Bóruma
King of Munster from 976 and high king of Ireland from 999. His campaigns represent the rise of Munster as a power in Ireland, symbolized by his victory over Leinster and the Dublin Norse at Glen Mama in 999. He was renowned as a builder of forts, and this may have been his most significant military legacy. He died in victory over the Vikings at Cl...

British Lions
Rugby union side selected from the best players in the British Isles for tours of Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. The first tour by a British side representing two or more countries took place in 1888, however the first one composed of players from all four Home Unions (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) occurred in 1910. To wear the re...

British Empire
(World War I) The colonies of the British Empire sent more than 2.5 million men to fight for Britain's cause during World War I. India was the largest single provider, contributing nearly 1.3 million men. It is estimated that Canada sent some 418,000 men overseas, Australia contributed 322...

bronze
(sculpture) In sculpture, a work cast in bronze. An alloy of copper and tin, bronze is harder than copper and, therefore, more suitable for casting. Ancient bronzes develop a patina, a thin green coating caused by oxidation, usually after exposure to air. When bronze is gilded (covered with go...

brochure
Small pamphlet; the usual intention is to interest the reader in a product or service. The layout of text and illustrations is usually understood easily and quickly, but is also usually structured so as to influence the potential consumer's emotional response by the skilful use of colour and imagery

Brahma Vihara
Four Buddhist states of mind: metta (loving kindness), compassion (sympathy and empathy with the suffering of others), sympathetic joy (an ability to feel happiness at the good fortune of others), and equanimity (a sense of being calm, grounded, and balanced no matter what happens). The Brahma Vihara are the goal of some Buddhist meditations

Brontë, Charlotte
English novelist and member of the Brontë family. Her most famous novels are Jane Eyre (1847) and Villette (1853). After the early death of her mother, Charlotte attended a school for clergymen's daughters at Cowan Bridge with her older sisters, Maria an...

Brontë, Emily
English novelist and member of the Brontë family. Her works include Wuthering Heights (1847) and her Poems (1846). Emily's unusual character and intellect seem to have been unrecognized by her family until quite late in her short life. She was passionately attached to the wild countryside around her ho...

Brontë, Anne
English novelist and member of the Brontë family. Although considered to have a more modest talent than her sisters Charlotte Brontë and Emily Brontë, her works include the fiction Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). Anne successfully held posts as a governess in England. Sh...

brit milah
In Judaism, the covenant of male circumcision (removal of all or part of the foreskin of the penis). It is a sign of God's covenant with the Jewish people, made through Abraham (Genesis 17:9–14). Brit milah is usually performed on a baby eight days' old by a mohel, an expert trained in the ritual and medical technique, and in the p...

brainstorming
Creative process used to generate ideas. A group activity, brainstorming involves encouraging members of the group to contribute any idea they have about the subject selected for discussion, no matter how wild it may seem. All ideas are written down and then when the initial brainstorming process is completed each is examined in more detail. This p...

BST
Abbreviation for British Summer Time and bovine somatotropin

BSc
Abbreviation for the degree of Bachelor of Science. The US abbreviation is BS

buddleia
Any of a group of ornamental shrubs or trees with spikes of fragrant flowers. The purple or white flower heads of the butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) attract large numbers of butterflies. (Genus Buddleia, family Buddleiaceae.)

bulb
Underground bud with fleshy leaves containing a reserve food supply and with roots growing from its base. Bulbs function in vegetative reproduction and are characteristic of many monocotyledonous plants such as the daffodil, snowdrop, and onion. Bulbs are grown on a commercial scale in temperate countries, such as England and the Netherlands

buckwheat
Any of a group of cereal plants. The name usually refers to Fagopyrum esculentum, which reaches about 1 m/3 ft in height and can grow on poor soil in a short summer. The highly nutritious black triangular seeds (groats) are eaten by both animals and humans. They can be cooked and eaten whole or as a cracked meal (kasha), or g...

buckthorn
Any of several thorny shrubs. The buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus) is native to Britain, but is also found throughout Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. Its berries were formerly used in medicine as a purgative, to clean out the bowels. (Genus Rhamnus, family Rhamnaceae.)

butane
Alkane (saturated hydrocarbon) derived from natural gas and as a product of the fractional distillation of crude oil (unrefined petroleum). Liquefied under pressure, it is used as a fuel for industrial and domestic purposes (for example, in portable cookers)

Buxtehude, Dietrich
Danish composer. In 1668 he was appointed organist at the Marienkirche, Lübeck, Germany, where his fame attracted Johann Sebastian Bach and Handel. He is remembered for his organ works and cantatas, written for his evening concerts (Abendmusiken); he also wrote numerous trio sonatas for two violins, viola da gamba, and h...

Butler, Samuel
(19th century) English writer. He made his name in 1872 with a satiric attack on contemporary utopianism, Erewhon (an anagram of nowhere). He is now remembered for his unfinished, semi-autobiographical discursive novel, The Way of All Flesh<...

Butler, Richard Austen
British Conservative politician. As minister of education 1941–45, he was responsible for the 1944 Education Act that introduced the 11-plus examination for selection of grammar school pupils; he was chancellor of the Exchequer 1951–55, Lord Privy Seal 1955–59, and foreign minister 1963–64. As a candidate for the prime m...

Butler, Samuel
(17th century) English satirist. His best-known poem Hudibras, published in three parts in 1663, 1664, and 1678, became immediately popular for its biting satire against the Puritans and on other contemporary is...

Buthelezi, Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha
South African Zulu leader and politician, president of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which he founded as a paramilitary organization for attaining a nonracial democratic society in 1974 and converted into a political party in 1994. He was appointed home affairs minister in the country's first post-apartheid government, led...

Bute, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
British Tory politician, prime minister 1762–63. On the accession of George III in 1760, he became the chief instrument in the king's policy for breaking the power of the Whigs and establishing the personal rule of the monarch through Parliament

Busoni, Ferruccio Dante Benvenuto
Italian pianist, composer, and music critic. Much of his music was for the piano, but he also composed several operas including Doktor Faust, completed by Philipp Jarnach after Busoni's death. His work shows the influence of Liszt and his ballet score for Doktor Faust shows his debt to Bizet. Specimens of h...

bushranger
Australian armed robber of the 19th century. The first bushrangers were escaped convicts. The last gang was led by Ned Kelly and his brother Dan in 1878–80. They form the subject of many Australian ballads

Bushmen
Former name for the Kung, San, and other hunting and gathering groups (for example, the Gikwe, Heikom, and Sekhoin) living in and around the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. They number approximately 50,000 and speak San and other click languages of the Khoisan family. They are characteristically small-statured. For much of the year the Bush...

Buryat
Republic in the eastern Siberian region of the Russian Federation; area 351,300 sq km/135,637 sq mi; population (1996) 1,053,000 (70% Russian, 24% Buryat). The main cities are Ulan-Ude (capital), Kyakhta, and Gusinoozersk. Buryat is bordered on the south by Mongolia, and occupies the eastern and northern shores of Lake Baika...

Bury
City and administrative headquarters of Bury metropolitan borough, Greater Manchester, northwest England, on the River Irwell, 16 km/10 mi north of central Manchester; population (2001) 60,700. The principal industries are textiles, paper-making, and engineering. Other activities include printing and the manufacture of chemicals, textil...

Burton upon Trent
Town in Staffordshire, central England, on the River Trent, northeast of Birmingham; population (2001) 43,800. A former cotton-spinning town, brewing is now the principal industry with five major breweries in operation; Marmite savoury spread is produced from the yeast by-products. Engineering, food-processing, and the manufactu...

Burton, Richard Francis
English explorer and translator (he knew 35 oriental languages). He travelled mainly in the Middle East and northeast Africa, often disguised as a Muslim. He made two attempts to find the source of the White Nile, in 1855 and 1857–58 (on the second, with John Speke, he reached Lake Tanganyika), ...

Bursa
City in northwestern Turkey, southeast of the Sea of Marmara, situated on the lower slopes of Mt Uladag (2,443 m/8,015 ft), with a port at nearby Mudanya; population (2003 est) 1,288,900. It was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1326 until 1423. It is a commercial and industrial centre, as well as market centre for a rich agricultural ...

Burroughs, William S(eward)
US author. One of the most culturally influential post-war writers, his work is noted for its experimental methods, black humour, explicit homo-eroticism, and apocalyptic vision. In 1944 he met Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, all three becoming leading members of the Beat Generation. His first novel, Junkie (1953), docum...

Burroughs, Edgar Rice
US novelist. He wrote Tarzan of the Apes (1914; filmed 1918), the story of an aristocratic child lost in the jungle and reared by apes, and followed it with over 20 more books about the Tarzan character. He also wrote a series of novels about life on Mars, including A Princess of Mars (1917) and Sy...

Burr, Aaron
US politician, Republican vice-president 1801–05. In 1804 he killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel. In 1807 Burr was tried and acquitted of treason charges, which implicated him variously in a scheme to conquer Mexico, or part of Florida, or to rule over a seceded Louisiana. Burr was on George Washington's staff durin...

Burns, Robert
Scottish poet. He used a form of Scots dialect at a time when it was not considered suitably `elevated` for literature. Burns's first volume, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, appeared in 1786. In addition to his poetry (such as `To a Mouse`), Burns wr...

Burney, Fanny
(Frances) English novelist and diarist. She achieved success with Evelina, an epistolary novel published in 1778, became a member of Samuel Johnson's circle, and received a post at court from Queen Charlotte. She published three further novels, Cecilia...

Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson
English writer. She emigrated with her family to the USA in 1865. Her novels for children include the rags-to-riches tale Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) and The Secret Garden (1911), which has its values anchored in nature mysticism

Burne-Jones, Edward Coley
English painter. In 1856 he was apprenticed to the Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who remained a dominant influence. His paintings, inspired by legend and myth, were characterized by elongated forms and subdued tones, as in King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid (1880–84; Tate Gallery, London). He...

burn
In medicine, destruction of body tissue by extremes of temperature, corrosive chemicals, electricity, or radiation. First-degree burns may cause reddening; second-degree burns cause blistering and irritation but usually heal spontaneously; third-degree burns are disfiguring and may be life-threatening. Burns cause plasma, th...

Burke, Robert O'Hara
Irish-born Australian explorer who in 1860–61 made the first south–north crossing of Australia (from Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria), with William Wills (1834–1861). Both died on the return journey, and only one of their party survived

Burgundy
(modern) Modern region and former duchy of east-central France that includes the départements of Ain, Côte-d'Or, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, and Yonne; area 31,582 sq km/12,194 sq mi; population (1999 est) 1,610,100. Its admini...

burgh
(government) Former unit of Scottish local government, referring to a town enjoying a degree of self-government. Burghs were abolished in 1975; the terms burgh and royal burgh once gave mercantile privilege but are now only an honorary distinction

Burgenland
Federal state of southeast Austria, extending south from the Danube along the western border of the Hungarian plain, bordering Lower Austria in the northwest and Styria in the southwest; area 3,965 sq km/1,531 sq mi; population (2001 est) 278,600. Its capital is Eisenstadt

Burbage, Richard
English actor. He is thought to have been Shakespeare's original Hamlet, Othello, and Lear. He also appeared in first productions of works by Ben Jonson, Thomas Kyd, and John Webster. His father James Burbage (c. 1530–1597) built the first English playhouse, known as `the Theatre`; his brother Cuthbert Burb...

Buñuel, Luis
Spanish-born film director. He is widely considered one of the giants of European art cinema, responsible for such enduring classics as Los olvidados/The Young and the Damned (1950), Viridiana (1961), Belle de jour (1966), and Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie/The Discr...

Bunker Hill, Battle of
The first significant engagement in the American Revolution, on 17 June 1775, near a small hill in Charlestown (now part of Boston), Massachusetts; the battle actually took place on Breed's Hill, but is named after Bunker Hill as this was the more significant of the two. Although the colonists were defeated, they were able to retreat to Bos...

Bull Run, battles of
In the American Civil War, two victories for the Confederate army under General Robert E Lee at Manassas Junction, northeastern Virginia, named after the stream where they took place: First Battle of Bull Run 21 July 1861; Second Battle of Bull Run 29–30 August 1862. The battles are known as the Battle of Manassas in the southern state...

bullroarer
Musical instrument used by Australian Aborigines for communication and during religious rites. It consists of a weighted aerofoil (a rectangular slat of wood about 15 cm/6 in to 60 cm/24 in long and about 1.25 cm/0.5 in to 5 cm/2 in wide) whirled rapidly about the head on a long cord to make a deep whirring noise. It is also used in...

bull
(religion) Document or edict issued by the pope; so called from the circular seals (medieval Latin bulla) attached to them. Some of the most celebrated bulls include Leo X's condemnation of Luther in 1520 and Pius IX's proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870

Bull, John
(imaginary figure) Imaginary figure personifying England; see John Bull

bulimia
Eating disorder in which large amounts of food are consumed in a short time (`binge`), usually followed by depression and self-criticism. The term is often used for bulimia nervosa, an emotional disorder in which eating is followed by deliberate vomiting and purging. This may be a chronic stage in anorexia nervosa

Burckhardt, Jacob Christoph
Swiss art historian, one of the founders of cultural history as a discipline. His The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860), intended as part of a study of world cultural history, profoundly influenced thought on the Renaissance

bulrush
Either of two plants: the great reed mace or cat's tail (Typha latifolia) with velvety chocolate-brown spikes of tightly packed flowers reaching up to 15 cm/6 in long; and a type of sedge (Scirpus lacustris) with tufts of reddish-brown flo...

bugle
(plant) Any of a group of low-growing plants belonging to the mint family, with spikes of white, pink, or blue flowers. The leaves may be smooth-edged or slightly toothed, the lower ones with a long stalk. They are often grown as ground cover. (Genus Ajuga, family La...

buzzard
Species of medium-sized hawk with broad wings, often seen soaring. Buzzards are in the falcon family, Falconidae, order Falconiformes. The common buzzard Buteo buteo of Europe and Asia is about 55 cm/1.8 ft long with a wingspan of over 1.2 m/4 ft. It preys on a variety ...

butterfly fish
Any of several fishes, not all related. They include the freshwater butterfly fish Pantodon buchholzi of western Africa and the tropical marine butterfly fishes in family Chaetodontidae. P. buchholzi can leap from the water and glide for a short distance on its large winglike pectoral fins. Up to 10 cm/4 in...