12-letter words containing p, w, a
- song sparrow — a small emberizine songbird, Melospiza melodia, common in North America.
- space writer — a journalist or copywriter paid according to a space rate. Also called space man. Compare stringer (def 6).
- sparrow hawk — a small, short-winged European hawk, Accipiter nisus, that preys on smaller birds.
- sparrowgrass — asparagus.
- sponged ware — spongeware.
- spring water — water from natural underground source
- superhighway — a highway designed for travel at high speeds, having more than one lane for each direction of traffic, a safety strip dividing the two directions, and cloverleaves to route the traffic on and off the highway. Compare expressway.
- swamp azalea — an azalea, Rhododendron viscosum, of the eastern U.S., having fragrant, white to pink or sometimes red flowers.
- swamp locust — water locust.
- swamp mallow — a rose mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos.
- swamp rabbit — any of several southern cottontails, especially Sylvilagus aquaticus, of swamps and lowlands.
- swap trading — a contract in which the parties to it exchange liabilities on outstanding debts in trading
- sweet potato — a plant, Ipomoea batatas, of the morning glory family, grown for its sweet, edible, tuberous roots.
- swimming cap — A swimming cap is a rubber cap which you wear to keep your hair dry when you are swimming.
- swine plague — hemorrhagic septicemia of hogs, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella suiseptica, characterized by an accompanying infection of pneumonia.
- switch plate — a plate, usually of metal, ceramic, or plastic, covering a switch so that the knob or toggle protrudes.
- take up with — to get into one's hold or possession by voluntary action: to take a cigarette out of a box; to take a pen and begin to write.
- tapioca snow — snow pellets.
- team up with — join forces with
- 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
- twisted pair — A twisted pair is a pair of wires that are twisted together to reduce interference.
- twitterpated — excited or overcome by romantic feelings; smitten.
- up the wazoo — the anus.
- urban sprawl — the uncontrolled spread of urban development into neighboring regions.
- wackyparsing — (Internet, slang) present participle of wackyparse.
- wages policy — a government policy setting wages and wage increases for workers, for example, setting minimum wage requirements
- wake-up call — an act or instance of waking up.
- walk spanish — to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadrupedal locomotion.
- walk-on part — acting role with no spoken lines
- walk-up rate — The walk-up rate at a hotel is the price charged to a customer who arrives without a reservation.
- walking pace — the speed at which someone walks
- wall creeper — a small, gray and crimson Old World bird, Tichodroma muraria, that inhabits cliffs in mountainous areas.
- walled plain — a circular or almost circular area on the moon, sometimes with a floor that is depressed, usually partially enclosed by walls that rise to varying heights and that are usually lower than those of a crater.
- wallpapering — Present participle of wallpaper.
- walter pater — Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.
- wapsipinicon — a river in E Iowa, flowing SE to the Mississippi River. 255 miles (410 km) long.
- warmer-upper — something that provides one with invigorating warmth: Hot soup is a good warmer-upper after skiing.
- warp-knitted — designating a fabric made by warp knitting.
- 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 pepper — a widely distributed annual plant, Polygonum hydropiper, of marshes and bogs, characterized by acrid, peppery-tasting leaves.
- 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 spider — a Eurasian spider, Argyroneta aquatica, that spins a web in the form of an air-filled chamber in which it lives submerged in streams and ponds
- water splash — a place where a stream runs over a road
- water sports — a sport played or practiced on or in water, as swimming, water polo, or surfing.
- water sprite — a sprite or spirit inhabiting the water, as an undine.
- water sprout — a nonflowering shoot arising from a branch or axil of a tree or shrub.
- water supply — the supply of purified water available to a community.
- water vapour — steam