20-letter words containing o, n, w, a
- hurricane-force wind — a wind, not necessarily a hurricane, having a speed of more than 72 miles per hour (32 m/sec): the strongest of the winds.
- imported currantworm — the larva of any of several insects, as a sawfly, Nematus ribesii (imported currantworm) which infests and feeds on the leaves and fruit of currants.
- in contact (with sb) — If you are in contact with someone, you regularly meet them or communicate with them.
- indicated horsepower — the horsepower of a reciprocating engine as shown by an indicator record. Abbreviation: ihp, IHP.
- junior featherweight — a boxer weighing up to 122 pounds (54.9 kg), between bantamweight and featherweight.
- king's-pawn openings — a class of chess openings in which the pawn in front of the king is advanced two squares on the first move.
- knock-down, drag-out — characterized by great violence, harshness, animosity, etc.
- know all the answers — be opinionated
- knowledge management — data technology
- law of contradiction — the law that a proposition cannot be both true and false or that a thing cannot both have and not have a given property.
- law of large numbers — the theorem in probability theory that the number of successes increases as the number of experiments increases and approximates the probability times the number of experiments for a large number of experiments.
- law of superposition — Geology. a basic law of geochronology, stating that in any undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on bottom, each layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it.
- law-and-order issues — issues concerning law and social conventions
- lead with one's chin — to act so imprudently as to invite disaster
- llywelyn ap iorwerth — called Llywelyn the Great. died 1240, prince of Gwynedd, N Wales (1194–1238), who extended his rule over most of Wales
- look homeward, angel — a novel (1929) by Thomas Wolfe.
- madwoman of chaillot — a satirical comedy (1945) by Jean Giraudoux.
- microcrystalline wax — Microcrystalline wax is a wax used as a stiffening agent and as a coating agent for tablets and capsules.
- microwave background — a background of microwave electromagnetic radiation with a black-body spectrum discovered in 1965, understood to be the thermal remnant of the big bang with which the universe began
- minkowski space-time — a four-dimensional space in which three coordinates specify the position of a point in space and the fourth represents the time at which an event occurred at that point
- neighbourhood warden — a person employed by a local authority to patrol residential areas and deal with antisocial behaviour
- network transparency — (networking) A feature of an operating system or other service which lets the user access a remote resource through a network without having to know if the resource is remote or local. For example NFS allow users to access remote files as if they were local files.
- new democratic party — the Canadian social democratic party formed in 1961
- new england theology — Calvinism as modified and interpreted by the descendants of the Puritans in New England, especially Jonathan Edwards, becoming the dominant theology there from about 1730 to 1880.
- no two ways about it — If you say that there are no two ways about it, you are emphasizing that there is no doubt at all about a particular situation or about how it should be interpreted.
- northern white cedar — any of several chiefly coniferous trees valued for their wood, especially Chamaecyparis thyoides, of the eastern U.S., or Thuja occidentalis (northern white cedar) of northeastern North America.
- norwegian forest cat — a breed of long-haired cat with a long bushy tail and a long mane
- not put a foot wrong — If you never put a foot wrong, you never make any mistakes.
- not worth the candle — not worth the price or trouble entailed (esp in the phrase the game's not worth the candle)
- old man of the woods — an edible, mild-tasting mushroom, Strobilomyces floccopus, occurring in coniferous woodlands of eastern North America.
- on one's own account — If you take part in a business activity on your own account, you do it for yourself, and not as a representative or employee of a company.
- on the drawing board — in the planning stage
- on the starboard bow — within 45 degrees to the starboard of straight ahead
- oxyacetylene welding — welding using an oxyacetylene burner
- paint the town (red) — to go on a boisterous spree; carouse
- pale western cutworm — the larva of a noctuid moth, Agrotis orthogonia, of the western U.S. and Canada, that seriously damages grains, beets, potatoes, alfalfa, etc., by feeding underground on roots and stems.
- particle beam weapon — a weapon that fires particle beams into the atmosphere or space
- pickwickian syndrome — an abnormality characterized by extreme obesity accompanied by sleepiness, hypoventilation, and polycythemia.
- pleased with oneself — If someone seems very satisfied with something they have done, you can say that they are pleased with themselves, especially if you think they are more satisfied than they should be.
- power of appointment — the authority granted by a donor to a donee to select the person or persons who are to enjoy property rights or income upon the death of the donor or of the donee or after the termination of existing rights or interests.
- powhatan confederacy — a network of Algonquian-speaking Indian settlements in Virginia that was ruled by Powhatan.
- prince william sound — a sound in the Gulf of Alaska, on the S coast of Alaska: S end of Trans-Alaska oil pipeline at port of Valdez.
- prothonotary warbler — a wood warbler, Protonotaria citrea, of the eastern U.S., having an orange-yellow head and underparts, and bluish-gray wings and tail.
- put the hard word on — to ask or demand something from
- queensland arrowroot — a South American and West Indian herb, Canna edulis, having large sheathing leaves, red flowers, and edible rhizomes.
- ring wall foundation — A ring wall foundation is a base made of concrete, used to put large tanks on.
- rotary-wing aircraft — an aircraft, esp a helicopter, that is lifted or propelled by rotating airfoils
- rough-winged swallow — either of two New World swallows of the genus Stelgidopteryx, having outer primary feathers with small barblike hooks on the margins.
- rub up the wrong way — to arouse anger (in); annoy
- saint andrew's cross — a low evergreen shrub, Ascyrum hypericoides, native to temperate and subtropical America, having flowers in clusters of three: often cultivated.