17-letter words containing i, w
- king george's war — a war (1744–48) waged by England and its colonies against France, constituting the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession.
- king philip's war — the war (1675–76) between New England colonists and a confederation of Indians under their leader, King Philip.
- know one's onions — a plant, Allium cepa, of the amaryllis family, having an edible, succulent, pungent bulb.
- ladies-in-waiting — plural of lady-in-waiting.
- lake waikaremoana — a lake in the North Island of New Zealand in a dense bush setting. Area: about 55 sq km (21 sq miles)
- lake winnipegosis — a lake in S Canada, in W Manitoba. Area: 5400 sq km (2086 sq miles)
- law of reflection — the principle that when a ray of light, radar pulse, or the like, is reflected from a smooth surface the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of refraction — the principle that for a ray, radar pulse, or the like, that is incident on the interface of two media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the ray in the first medium to the velocity in the second medium and the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of trichotomy — the property that for natural numbers a and b , either a is less than b , a equals b , or a is greater than b .
- learned borrowing — a word or other linguistic form borrowed from a classical language into a modern language.
- leg before wicket — a manner of dismissal on the grounds that a batsman has been struck on the leg by a bowled ball that otherwise would have hit the wicket
- lesser periwinkle — a Eurasian apocynaceous evergreen plant of the genus Vinca,; V. minor, having trailing stems and blue flowers
- lewis with harris — the northernmost island of the Hebrides, in NW Scotland. 825 sq. mi. (2135 sq. km).
- lick one's wounds — an injury, usually involving division of tissue or rupture of the integument or mucous membrane, due to external violence or some mechanical agency rather than disease.
- lie in wait (for) — to wait so as to catch after planning an ambush or trap (for)
- light dawns on sb — If light dawns on you, you begin to understand something after a period of not being able to understand it.
- light heavyweight — a boxer or other contestant intermediate in weight between a middleweight and a heavyweight, especially a professional boxer weighing up to 175 pounds (80 kg).
- lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
- longitudinal wave — a wave in which the direction of displacement is the same as the direction of propagation, as a sound wave.
- low-hanging fruit — the fruit that grows low on a tree and is therefore easy to reach
- low-velocity zone — a layer or zone in the earth in which the velocity of seismic waves is slightly lower than in the layers above and below. The asthenosphere is thought to be such a zone
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- lower paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- mann-whitney test — a statistical test of the difference between the distributions of data collected in two experimental conditions applied to unmatched groups of subjects but comparing the distributions of the ranks of the scores
- manpower planning — a procedure used in organizations to balance future requirements for all levels of employee with the availability of such employees
- manual typewriter — a keyboard machine, operated entirely by hand, for writing mechanically in characters resembling print
- maxwell equations — equations developed by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79) upon which classical electromagnetic theory is based
- may/might as well — If you say that you might as well do something, or that you may as well do it, you mean that you will do it although you do not have a strong desire to do it and may even feel slightly unwilling to do it.
- mercy otis warren — Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.
- message switching — store and forward
- metabolic pathway — biochemistry: sequence of reactions within a cell or organism
- microsoft network — The Microsoft Network
- microsoft windows — (operating system) Microsoft's proprietary window system and user interface software released in 1985 to run on top of MS-DOS. Widely criticised for being too slow (hence "Windoze", "Microsloth Windows") on the machines available then. The 1996 market share of operating systems was: DOS/Windows 70% Windows 95 15% Windows NT 2% Other 13% Versions include 1985 Windows 1, 1987 Windows 2, 1987 Windows/386, 1990 Windows 3.0, 1992 Windows 3.1, 1992 Windows for Workgroups 3.1, 1993 Windows 3.11, 1993 Windows for Workgroups 3.11, 1993 Windows NT 3.1, 1994 Windows NT 3.5, 1995 Windows 95, 199? Windows NT 4, 1998 Windows 98, Windows NT 5, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.
- mid-level network — (Or "regional network"). The kind of networks which make up the second level of the Internet hierarchy. They are the transit networks which connect the stub networks to the backbone networks.
- middle low german — Low German of the period c1100–c1500.
- middle of nowhere — a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place
- mileage allowance — the number of miles allowed to be travelled on a rented vehicle such as a car during the period it is rented or leased
- milton work count — a system of hand valuation in which aces count 4, kings 3, queens 2, and jacks 1
- minion of the law — a policeman.
- most well studied — marked by or suggestive of conscious effort; not spontaneous or natural; affected: studied simplicity.
- mount fairweather — a mountain in W North America, on the border between Alaska and British Columbia. Height: 4663 m (15 300 ft)
- multilateral well — A multilateral well is a well that has more than one branch radiating from the main wellbore.
- nashville warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, having a gray head, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts.
- nautical twilight — the period of time during which the sun is 12° below the horizon
- network marketing — a marketing strategy in which sales representatives of a company recruit other salespeople and earn commissions on their own sales and on the sales made by their team: Use your personal relationships to be successful in network marketing.
- new english bible — an English translation (1970) of the Bible into contemporary idiom, directed by Anglican and other Protestant churches of Great Britain.
- new expressionism — neo-expressionism.
- new guinea pidgin — the variety of Neo-Melanesian spoken in Papua New Guinea and neighbouring islands
- new lease on life — a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation.
- newcastle disease — a rapidly spreading virus-induced disease of birds and domestic fowl, as chickens, marked by respiratory difficulty, reduced egg production and, in chicks, paralysis.