12-letter words containing p, o, w, a
- polish wheat — a wheat, Triticum polonicum, grown chiefly in S Europe, N Africa, and Turkestan.
- poll watcher — a representative of a political party or of an organization running a candidate who is assigned to the polls on an election day to watch for violations of the laws that regulate voting, campaigning, etc.
- positive law — customary law or law enacted by governmental authority (as distinguished from natural law).
- post-weaning — to accustom (a child or young animal) to food other than its mother's milk; cause to lose the need to suckle or turn to the mother for food.
- postcardware — Shareware that borders on freeware, in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be psychologically related to real estate "sales" in which $1 changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift.)
- pot-walloper — (in some boroughs before the Reform Bill of 1832) a man who qualified as a householder, and therefore a voter, by virtue of ownership of his own fireplace at which to boil pots.
- powder flask — a small flask of gunpowder formerly carried by soldiers and hunters.
- powder paper — Pharmacology. charta (def 2).
- power assist — a procedure for supplementing or replacing the manual effort needed to operate a device or system, often by hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical means.
- power factor — (in an electrical circuit) the ratio of the power dissipated to the product of the input volts times amps
- power hammer — a type of mechanical hammer operated by compressed air and used by blacksmiths, metalworkers, and manufacturers
- power vacuum — a situation when a government has no identifiable central authority
- power-stream — to stream and watch (multiple videos, episodes of a TV show, etc.) in one sitting or over a short period of time.
- powerboating — a boat propelled by mechanical power.
- powerwalking — a form of exercise that involves rapid walking with arms bent and swinging naturally.
- prairie fowl — prairie chicken.
- prairie wolf — coyote (def 1).
- praiseworthy — deserving of praise; laudable: a praiseworthy motive.
- property law — the branch of law dealing with issues relating to land and houses
- push forward — keep advancing
- road sweeper — a person who sweeps roads
- sage sparrow — a small gray finch, Amphispiza belli, of dry, brushy areas of western North America.
- saw palmetto — a shrublike palmetto, Serenoa repens, of the palm family, native to the southern U.S., having green or blue leafstalks set with spiny teeth.
- scapegallows — a criminal who escapes death by hanging or the gallows
- school prawn — a common olive-green prawn, Metapenaeus macleayi
- shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
- shadowgraphy — the production of a shadowgraph
- shop steward — commerce: union rep
- sloop of war — (formerly) a sailing or steam naval vessel having cannons on only one deck.
- snow leopard — a long-haired, leopardlike feline, Panthera (Uncia) uncia, of mountain ranges of central Asia, having a relatively small head and a thick, creamy-gray coat with rosette spots: an endangered species.
- song sparrow — a small emberizine songbird, Melospiza melodia, common in North America.
- sparrow hawk — a small, short-winged European hawk, Accipiter nisus, that preys on smaller birds.
- sparrowgrass — asparagus.
- sponged ware — spongeware.
- swamp locust — water locust.
- swamp mallow — a rose mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos.
- sweet potato — a plant, Ipomoea batatas, of the morning glory family, grown for its sweet, edible, tuberous roots.
- tapioca snow — snow pellets.
- tree sparrow — a Eurasian bird, Passer montanus, related to but smaller than the house sparrow.
- twin paradox — a phenomenon predicted by relativity. One of a pair of identical twins is supposed to live normally in an inertial system whilst the other is accelerated to a high speed in a spaceship, travels for a long time, and finally returns to rest beside his twin. The travelled twin will be found to be younger than his brother
- up the wazoo — the anus.
- wages policy — a government policy setting wages and wage increases for workers, for example, setting minimum wage requirements
- walk-on part — acting role with no spoken lines
- wapsipinicon — a river in E Iowa, flowing SE to the Mississippi River. 255 miles (410 km) long.
- watch pocket — a small pocket in a garment, as in a vest or trousers, for holding a pocket watch, change, etc. Compare fob1 (def 1).
- water pistol — a toy gun that shoots a stream of liquid.
- water pocket — a cavity at the foot of a cliff formed by the falling action of an intermittent stream.
- water sports — a sport played or practiced on or in water, as swimming, water polo, or surfing.
- water sprout — a nonflowering shoot arising from a branch or axil of a tree or shrub.
- water vapour — steam