19-letter words containing s, t, e, w, a

northwest ordinance — the act of Congress in 1787 providing for the government of the Northwest Territory and setting forth the steps by which its subdivisions might become states.
out at (the) elbows — shabby; poverty-stricken
parting of the ways — When there is a parting of the ways, two or more people or groups of people stop working together or travelling together.
personal watercraft — a jet-propelled boat ridden like a motorcycle.
pinwheel escapement — a clock escapement in which two pallets, usually of unequal length, alternately engage and release pins set on the escape wheel perpendicular to its plane of rotation.
play footsie (with) — to touch feet or rub knees (with) in a caressing way, as under the table
programmer's switch — (hardware) A button on the front of some Apple Macintosh computers which, when pressed, causes a command line prompt to appear. This gives access to the built-in mini-debugger, which has commands to dump memory, return to the application that was broken out, and others. A more sophisticated debugger must be installed in order to inspect breakpoints, etc.
public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
reef whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 1).
sandwich generation — the generation of people still raising their children while having to care for their aging parents.
smooth the path/way — If you smooth the path or smooth the way towards something, you make it easier or more likely to happen.
so what else is new — not surprised
son-of-a-bitch stew — (in the Old West) a stew often prepared by chuck-wagon cooks for working cowboys, containing tripe and often also the heart, liver, brains, kidney, etc., of a slaughtered steer.
sound effects woman — a woman who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
sow one's wild oats — any uncultivated species of Avena, especially a common weedy grass, A. fatua, resembling the cultivated oat.
spanish west africa — a former overseas territory of Spain in NW Africa: divided in 1958 into the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara
spider-hunting wasp — any solitary wasp of the superfamily Pompiloidea, having a slender elongated body: the fast-running female hunts spiders as a food store for her larvae
st. lawrence seaway — a series of channels, locks, and canals between Montreal and the mouth of Lake Ontario, a distance of 182 miles (293 km), enabling most deep-draft vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean, up the St. Lawrence River, to all the Great Lakes ports: developed jointly by the U.S. and Canada.
stick in one's craw — the crop of a bird or insect.
straightforwardness — going or directed straight ahead: a straightforward gaze.
strawberry geranium — a plant, Saxifraga stolonifera (or S. sarmentosa), of the saxifrage family, native to eastern Asia, that has rounded, variegated leaves and numerous threadlike stolons and is frequently cultivated as a houseplant.
swallow-tailed coat — tail coat.
swallow-tailed kite — an American kite, Elanoides forficatus, having black upper parts, white head and underparts, and a long, deeply forked tail.
swedish nightingale — Jenny (Johanna Maria Lind Goldschmidt"The Swedish Nightingale") 1820–87, Swedish soprano.
sweetheart contract — a contract made through collusion between management and labor representatives containing terms beneficial to management and detrimental to union workers.
sweetheart neckline — a neckline on a woman's garment, as a dress, with a high back and a low-cut front with two curved edges resembling the conventionalized shape of a heart.
sweetness and light — extreme or excessive pleasantness or amiability.
switchblade (knife) — a large jackknife that snaps open when a release button on the handle is pressed
taming of the shrew — a comedy (1594?) by Shakespeare.
teaching fellowship — a fellowship providing a student in a graduate school with free tuition and expenses and stipulating that the student assume some teaching duties in return.
the grapes of wrath — a novel (1939) by John Steinbeck.
the hampshire downs — a range of low chalk hills that crosses Hampshire in S England
the mathworks, inc. — (company) The company marketing MATLAB. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Address: 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, Massachusetts 01760-2098 USA. Telephone: +1 (508) 647-7000. Fax: +1 (508) 647-7101.
the pickwick papers — a novel written by the English novelist Charles Dickens(1812--70)
the wolverine state — a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes area of the north central US
throw in one's hand — (in cards) to concede defeat by putting one's cards down
throw oneself at sb — If someone throws themselves at you, they make it very obvious that they want to begin a relationship with you, by behaving as though they are sexually attracted to you.
throw sth overboard — If you throw something overboard, for example an idea or suggestion, you reject it completely.
tidal power station — a power station where the energy of flowing water is converted into electricity
to be a showstopper — to be very impressive; to be sensational
to be headline news — to attract a lot of attention from newspapers
to blow a raspberry — If you blow a raspberry, you make a sound by putting your tongue out and blowing, in order to insult someone.
twist someone's arm — the upper limb of the human body, especially the part extending from the shoulder to the wrist.
under the shadow of — in danger of; apparently fated for
up against the wall — any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
wade-giles (system) — a system for transliterating Chinese ideograms into the Latin alphabet, in wide use esp. before Pinyin was adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1979
wage-push inflation — an inflationary trend caused by wage increases that in turn cause rises in production costs and prices.
wandering albatross — a large albatross, Diomedea exulans, of southern waters, having the plumage mostly white with dark markings on the upper parts.
wassermann antibody — reagin (def 1).
wassermann reaction — a diagnostic test for syphilis using the fixation of a complement by the serum of a syphilitic individual.

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