12-letter words containing a, w
- backwardness — toward the back or rear.
- backwoodsman — Backwoodsmen are people, especially politicians, who like the old ways of doing things, or who are involved in an organization at a local level.
- backwoodsmen — Plural form of backwoodsman.
- baden-powell — Robert Stephenson Smyth (smɪθ, smaɪθ), 1st Baron Baden-Powell. 1857–1941, British general, noted for his defence of Mafeking (1899–1900) in the Boer War; founder of the Boy Scouts (1908) and (with his sister Agnes) the Girl Guides (1910)
- bagworm moth — any moth of the family Psychidae
- baldwin park — city in SW Calif.: suburb of Los Angeles: pop. 76,000
- baleen whale — any of an order (Mysticeta) of whales with toothless jaws, baleen in the mouth, and a symmetrical skull, consisting of the gray whale, the right whales, and rorquals
- ballanwrasse — a slow-growing fish (Labrus bergylta) found in rocky waters
- banana prawn — a prawn of the genus Penaeus, fished commercially in tropical waters of N Australia
- bank swallow — a swallow, Riparia riparia, of the Northern Hemisphere, that nests in tunnels dug in sand or clay banks.
- bantamweight — A bantamweight is a boxer who weighs between 51 and 53.5 kilograms, or a wrestler who weighs between 52 and 57 kilograms. A bantamweight is heavier than a flyweight but lighter than a featherweight.
- bargain away — to lose or renounce (freedom, rights, etc) in return for something valueless or of little value
- barley water — Barley water is a drink made from barley. It is sometimes flavoured with orange or lemon.
- barn swallow — the US and Canadian name for the common swallow, Hirundo rustica
- barrow point — the northernmost tip of Alaska, on the Arctic Ocean
- baryta water — an aqueous solution of barium hydroxide, used chiefly as a reagent.
- basic weight — basis weight.
- basis weight — the weight in pounds of a ream of paper of a basic size, usually 25 × 38 inches (63 × 96 cm) for book stock, 17 × 22 inches (43 × 55 cm) for writing stock, and 20 × 26 inches (50 × 66 cm) for cover stock.
- basket weave — a weave of fabrics resembling the weave used in basket making
- basketweaver — a person who advocates simple, natural, and unsophisticated living
- bastard wing — a tuft of feathers attached to the first digit of a bird, distinct from the wing feathers attached to the other digits and the ulna
- bastardsword — Alternative spelling of bastard sword.
- bathing wrap — a loose robe to wear after bathing, often made of towelling
- battle wagon — a battleship.
- battlewagons — Plural form of battlewagon.
- battleworthy — capable of engaging in combat; ready for battle: a decline in the nation's battleworthy forces.
- beaked whale — any of a worldwide family (Ziphiidae) of medium-sized toothed whales characterized by a long, narrow snout
- bear down on — to press down on; exert pressure on
- bear witness — to give written or oral testimony
- bearing down — to hold up; support: to bear the weight of the roof.
- bearing wall — any of the walls supporting a floor or the roof of a building.
- belleau wood — a forest in N France: site of a battle (1918) in which the US Marines halted a German advance on Paris
- below stairs — People sometimes use below stairs to refer to the servants in a rich household and the things that are connected with them.
- belt highway — beltway (def 1).
- bench-warmer — a substitute who rarely gets to play in a game.
- betweenbrain — the posterior part of the forebrain
- bhubaneshwar — a state in E India. 60,136 sq. mi. (155,752 sq. km). Capital: Bhubaneshwar.
- bird watcher — a person who identifies and observes birds in their natural habitat as a recreation.
- bird-watcher — A bird-watcher is a person whose hobby is watching and studying wild birds in their natural surroundings.
- biscuit ware — unglazed earthenware
- black pewter — pewter composed of 60 percent tin and 40 percent lead.
- black powder — gunpowder as used in sports involving modern muzzleloading firearms
- black walnut — a North American walnut tree, Juglans nigra, with hard dark wood and edible oily nuts
- black wattle — a small Australian acacia tree, A. mearnsii, with yellow flowers
- bladder worm — an encysted saclike larva of the tapeworm. The main types are cysticercus, hydatid, and coenurus
- bladderwrack — any of several seaweeds of the genera Fucus and Ascophyllum, esp F. vesiculosus, that grow in the intertidal regions of rocky shores and have branched brown fronds with air bladders
- blue-sky law — a state law regulating the trading of securities: intended to protect investors from fraud
- bond washing — a series of deals in bonds made with the intention of avoiding taxation
- bottlewasher — a person or machine that washes bottles.
- bowel cancer — cancer of the colon