17-letter words containing s, o, l, w
- 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.
- lesser yellowlegs — either of two American shorebirds having yellow legs, Tringa melanoleuca (greater yellowlegs) or T. flavipes (lesser yellowlegs)
- 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.
- light dawns on sb — If light dawns on you, you begin to understand something after a period of not being able to understand it.
- lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
- lowbush blueberry — a shrub, Vaccinium angustifolium, of eastern North America, having small, white flowers and blue-black fruit.
- maxwell equations — equations developed by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79) upon which classical electromagnetic theory is based
- most well studied — marked by or suggestive of conscious effort; not spontaneous or natural; affected: studied simplicity.
- mother spleenwort — a fern, Asplenium bulbiferum, of tropical Africa and Australasia, the fronds often bearing bulbils that sprout into new plants while still attached, grown as an ornamental.
- move one's bowels — to pass waste matter from the large intestine; defecate
- narrow-shouldered — having shoulders which do not extend very far from the neck; not broad-shouldered
- 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).
- old wives' summer — a period of fine, summerlike weather occurring in Europe in autumn.
- out at the elbows — the bend or joint of the human arm between upper arm and forearm.
- out of this world — the earth or globe, considered as a planet.
- peloponnesian war — a war between Athens and Sparta, 431–404 b.c., that resulted in the transfer of hegemony in Greece from Athens to Sparta.
- pincushion flower — scabious2 (def 1).
- play with oneself — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
- pointer swizzling — swizzle
- power supply unit — (hardware) (PSU) An electronic module that converts high voltage (110 or 240 VAC) alternating current mains electricity into smoothed direct current at the various differnt voltages required by the motherboard; internal peripheral devices, cheifly storage devices: hard disks, CD or DVD, floppy disks and external connections such as USB. A PSU needs a high enough power output rating to supply all the devices connected to it and should output as little as possible electrical noise, both on the output wires and as electromagnetic radiation. See also uninterruptable power supply.
- pull one's weight — the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass; amount a thing weighs.
- register of wills — (in some states of the U.S.) the official charged with the probate of wills or with the keeping of the records of the probate court.
- run short/run low — If you are running short of something or running low on something, you do not have much of it left. If a supply of something is running short or running low, there is not much of it left.
- russian wolfhound — borzoi.
- sb could do worse — If you tell someone that they could do worse than do a particular thing, you are advising them that it would be quite a good thing to do.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- self-acknowledged — widely recognized; generally accepted: an acknowledged authority on Chinese art.
- settlement worker — a person who works with underprivileged people in a settlement house.
- sheepswool sponge — wool sponge.
- sidesaddle flower — a pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea.
- six o'clock swill — a period of heavy drinking, esp during the years when hotels had to close their bars at 6.00 p.m.
- slap on the wrist — a sharp blow or smack, especially with the open hand or with something flat.
- slings and arrows — Slings and arrows are unpleasant things that happen to you and that are not your fault.
- slowly but surely — If you say that something is happening slowly but surely, you mean that it is happening gradually but it is definitely happening.
- social networking — the development of social and professional contacts; the sharing of information and services among people with a common interest.
- social notworking — the practice of spending time unproductively on social networking websites, esp when one should be working
- software platform — a major piece of software, as an operating system, an operating environment, or a database, under which various smaller application programs can be designed to run.
- spin one's wheels — a circular frame or disk arranged to revolve on an axis, as on or in vehicles or machinery.
- stonewall jackson — Andrew ("Old Hickory") 1767–1845, U.S. general: 7th president of the U.S. 1829–37.
- strawberry blonde — woman: with reddish fair hair
- swaddling clothes — cloth for wrapping around a baby
- swash plate motor — a collar or face plate on a shaft that is inclined at an oblique angle to the axis of rotation and converts reciprocating motion to rotation
- sword of damocles — Damocles (def 2).
- tell its own tale — to be self-evident
- the lower animals — relatively simple or primitive animals and not mammals or vertebrates
- the lower mammals — relatively simple or primitive mammals