16-letter words containing a, w, s
- poor boy sweater — a snug-fitting, pullover sweater with ribbing on both the body and sleeves, worn by girls and women.
- poor white trash — white trash.
- proposal writing — Extension of Fortran for proposal writing.
- purchasing power — Also called buying power. the ability to purchase goods and services.
- queen anne's war — the war (1702–13) in which England and its American colonies opposed France and its Indian allies. It constituted the American phase of the War of the Spanish Succession.
- radial (arm) saw — a circular saw suspended from a pivoted horizontal arm along which it can be moved
- rainbow seaperch — an embiotocid fish, Hypsurus caryi, living off the Pacific coast of North America, having red, orange, and blue stripes on the body.
- raise an eyebrow — If something causes you to raise an eyebrow or to raise your eyebrows, it causes you to feel surprised or disapproving.
- raspberry sawfly — a black sawfly, Monophadnoides geniculatus, the larvae of which feed on the leaves of the raspberry and blackberry.
- rattlesnake weed — a hawkweed, Hieracium venosum, of eastern North America, whose leaves and root are thought to possess medicinal properties.
- sandwich islands — the Hawaiian Islands
- savannah sparrow — a North American sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, having brown and white plumage with a yellow stripe over each eye.
- sawn-off shotgun — A sawn-off shotgun is a shotgun on which the barrel has been cut short. Guns like this are often used by criminals because they can be easily hidden.
- seaside knotweed — See under knotweed.
- second world war — World War II.
- secondary growth — an increase in the thickness of the shoots and roots of a vascular plant as a result of the formation of new cells in the cambium.
- seven weeks' war — the war (1866) in which Prussia, Italy, and some minor German states opposed Austria, Saxony, Hanover, and the states of southern Germany.
- seven years' war — the war (1756–63) in which England and Prussia defeated France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony.
- seward peninsula — a peninsula in W Alaska, on Bering Strait.
- shaft horsepower — the horsepower delivered to the driving shaft of an engine, as measured by a torsion meter. Abbreviation: shp, SHP.
- shakedown cruise — extortion, as by blackmail or threats of violence.
- shared ownership — (in Britain) a form of house purchase whereby the purchaser buys a proportion of the dwelling, usually from a local authority or housing association, and rents the rest
- sheet-web weaver — any of numerous spiders of the family Linyphiidae, characterized by a closely woven, sheetlike web.
- shorthand writer — a person trained to write in shorthand
- show cause order — a court order issued to a party in a lawsuit, directing that party to appear to give reasons why a certain action should not be put into effect by the court.
- show-me attitude — a sceptical frame of mind
- showcase project — a project designed to attract attention and show off the abilities of the people involved in it
- showy crab apple — a large Japanese bush or tree, Malus floribunda, of the rose family, having red fruit and rose-colored flowers that fade to white.
- sir isaac newton — Sir Isaac, 1642–1727, English philosopher and mathematician: formulator of the law of gravitation.
- sleep-wake cycle — Physiology. the species-specific biological pattern of alternating sleep and wakefulness, in humans roughly 8 hours of nocturnal sleep and 16 hours of daytime activity.
- slow metabolizer — A slow metabolizer is someone whose body is slow to break down, absorb, or use a particular substance.
- social darwinism — a 19th-century theory, inspired by Darwinism, by which the social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions and in accord with which a position of laissez-faire is advocated.
- soft brown sugar — a type of moist sugar made by coating white sugar with dark molasses
- software library — a collection of programs that are used to develop software
- software package — bundle of files to execute computer program
- sooty shearwater — any of several long-winged seabirds, often used as food, especially Puffinus tenuirostris (short-tailed shearwater) of Australia and Puffinus griseus (sooty shearwater) which breeds in the Southern Hemisphere and winters in the Northern Hemisphere.
- spanish windlass — a stick used as a device for twisting and tightening a rope or cable
- spit-and-sawdust — (of a pub) shabby, dirty, and basic
- spring snowflake — a European amaryllidaceous plant, Leucojum vernum, with white nodding bell-shaped flowers
- starry grasswort — a weedy plant, Cerastium arvense, of the pink family, native to the North Temperate Zone, having narrow leaves and white flowers.
- straight whiskey — pure, unblended whiskey of 80 to 110 proof.
- strawberry blite — a plant, Chenopodium capitatum, having dense, rounded clusters of minute reddish flowers.
- strawberry blond — reddish blond.
- strawberry guava — a shrub or small tree, Psidium littorale, of the myrtle family, native to Brazil, having smooth, grayish-brown bark, leathery leaves, white flowers, and edible, white-fleshed, purplish-red fruit.
- strawberry shrub — Carolina allspice
- subsistence wage — the lowest wage upon which a worker and his or her family can survive
- superheavyweight — an amateur boxer weighing more than 91 kg
- swamp buttonwood — the buttonbush.
- swash plate pump — a collar or face plate on a shaft that is inclined at an oblique angle to the axis of rotation and imparts reciprocating motion to push rods parallel to the shaft axis
- swedenborgianism — of or relating to Emanuel Swedenborg, his religious doctrines, or the body of followers adhering to these doctrines and constituting the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church.