bbbb

Definition(s) of “B”

b

abbreviation

• Physics barn(s).

• ( b.) born (used to indicate a date of birth) : George Lloyd (b. 1913).

• billion.

• bass.

• basso.

barn 1 |bärn|

noun

a large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw or for housing livestock.

• a large shed used for storing vehicles.

• a large and unattractive building : moved into that barn of a house.

ORIGIN Old English bern, berern, from bere [barley] + ern, ærn [house.]

barn 2 (abbr.: b)

noun Physics

a unit of area, 10 −28 square meters, used esp. in particle physics.

ORIGIN 1940s: apparently from the phrase as big as a barn door.

B 1 |bē| (also b)

noun ( pl. Bs or B's )

1 the second letter of the alphabet.

• the second highest class of academic mark.

• denoting the second-highest-earning socioeconomic category for marketing purposes, including intermediate management and professional personnel.

• ( b) Chess denoting the second file from the left, as viewed from White's side of the board.

• (usu. b) the second constant to appear in an algebraic equation.

• Geology denoting a soil horizon of intermediate depth, typically the subsoil.

• the human blood type (in the ABO system) containing the B antigen and lacking the A.

2 (usu. B) Music the seventh note of the diatonic scale of C major.

• a key based on a scale with B as its keynote.

PHRASES

plan B an alternative strategy : it's time I put plan B into action.

B 2

abbreviation

• (used in recording moves in chess) bishop : Be5.

• black (used in describing grades of pencil lead) : 2HB pencils.

• (in personal ads) Black.

• bomber (in designations of U.S. aircraft types) : a B52.

• a dry cell battery size.

symbol

• the chemical element boron.

• Physics magnetic flux density.

boron |ˈbôrän|

noun

the chemical element of atomic number 5, a nonmetallic solid. (Symbol: B)

Boron is usually prepared as an amorphous brown powder, but when very pure it forms hard, shiny, black crystals with semiconducting properties. The element has some specialized uses, such as in alloy steels and nuclear control rods.

DERIVATIVES

boride |-rīd| noun.

ORIGIN early 19th cent.: from borax , on the pattern of carbon (which it resembles in some respects).