17-letter words containing s, a, w, e
- great awakening's — the series of religious revivals among Protestants in the American colonies, especially in New England, lasting from about 1725 to 1770.
- great vowel shift — a series of changes in the quality of the long vowels between Middle and Modern English as a result of which all were raised, while the high vowels (ē) and (o̅o̅), already at the upper limit, underwent breaking to become the diphthongs (ī) and (ou).
- great white shark — a large shark, Carcharodon carcharias, of tropical and temperate seas, known to occasionally attack swimmers.
- greater spearwort — a Eurasian ranunculaceous plant, Ranunculus lingua, which grows in wet places and has long narrow leaves and yellow flowers
- guardhouse lawyer — a person in military service, especially an inmate of a guardhouse or brig, who is or claims to be an authority on military law, regulations, and soldiers' rights.
- gulf war syndrome — a group of symptoms occurring in some Gulf War veterans, most commonly including headache and memory loss, muscle pain, skin disorders, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments, possibly caused by exposure to chemical weapons, vaccines, infectious diseases, or other factors.
- hardware register — (hardware, system administration) (Or "hardware log") A list of all hardware, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer.
- have it both ways — to try to get the best of a situation, argument, etc, by chopping and changing between alternatives or opposites
- have no words for — to be incapable of describing
- highways engineer — a civil engineer trained and specialized in the planning, construction, maintenance, etc of highways and roads
- how the land lies — the prevailing conditions or state of affairs
- how's-your-father — sexual intercourse
- illinois waterway — a waterway system in N Illinois made up of canals and rivers connecting Lake Michigan in Chicago with the Mississippi River. 336 miles (541 km) long.
- immigrant workers — people who work in a country they arrived to in order to settle there
- indian strawberry — a plant, Duchesnea indica, of the rose family, native to India, having yellow flowers and inedible fruit resembling strawberries.
- into one's barrow — suited to one's interests or desires
- inward investment — Inward investment is the investment of money in a country by companies from outside that country.
- isherwood framing — a system for framing steel vessels in which light, closely spaced, longitudinal frames are connected by heavy, widely spaced transverse frames with deep webs.
- japanese knotweed — Mexican bamboo.
- japanese wisteria — a wisteria, Wisteria floribunda, of Japan, having violet, violet-blue, pink, red, or white flowers, grown in the U.S. as an ornamental.
- jehovah's witness — A Jehovah's Witness is a member of a religious organization which accepts some Christian ideas and believes that the world is going to end very soon.
- kawasaki syndrome — a syndrome, usually afflicting children, characterized by high fever, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, rashes, irritated eyes and mucous membranes, etc. with possible damage to the cardiovascular system
- kennesaw mountain — a mountain in N Georgia, near Atlanta: battle 1864. 1809 feet (551 meters).
- 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.
- knowledgeableness — The state, quality, or measure of being knowledgeable; wisdom.
- ladies-in-waiting — plural of lady-in-waiting.
- lake of the woods — Eldrick [el-drik] /ˈɛl drɪk/ (Show IPA), ("Tiger") born 1975, U.S. professional golfer.
- lake winnipegosis — a lake in S Canada, in W Manitoba. Area: 5400 sq km (2086 sq miles)
- lee harvey oswald — Lee Harvey, 1939–63, designated by a presidential commission to be the lone assassin of John F. Kennedy.
- lewis with harris — the northernmost island of the Hebrides, in NW Scotland. 825 sq. mi. (2135 sq. km).
- make the worst of — to be pessimistic about
- 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
- 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
- narrow-shouldered — having shoulders which do not extend very far from the neck; not broad-shouldered
- nashville warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, having a gray head, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts.
- nervous breakdown — (not in technical use) any disabling mental disorder requiring treatment.
- new england aster — a tall composite plant, Aster novae-angliae, of the northeastern U.S., the flowers of which have lavender to deep-purple rays.
- 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.
- new orleans style — a style of jazz developed in New Orleans early in the 20th century, influenced by blues, ragtime, marching band music, and minstrelsy and marked by polyphonic group improvisation.
- new scotland yard — See under Scotland Yard (def 1).
- 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.
- newspaper cutting — clipping from a news publication
- nine days' wonder — an event or thing that arouses considerable but short-lived interest or excitement.
- northwest passage — a ship route along the Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska, joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- observation tower — lookout, observation point
- off one's own bat — If someone does something off their own bat, they do it without anyone else suggesting it.
- one-time password — (security) (OTP) A security system that requires a new password every time a user authenticates themselves, thus protecting against an intruder replaying an intercepted password. OTP generates passwords using either the MD4 or MD5 hashing algorithms. The equivalent term "S/Key", developed by Bellcore, is a trademark of Telcordia Technologies, so the name OTP is used increasingly. See RFC 1760 - "The S/KEY One-Time Password System" and RFC 1938 - "A One-Time Password System".