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12-letter words containing s, w, a

  • satin-flower — a Californian plant, Clarkia amoena, of the evening primrose family, having cup-shaped pink or purplish flowers blotched with red.
  • satsuma ware — a Japanese pottery from Kyushu, first produced in the early 17th century and after 1800 having a crackle glaze and overglaze polychrome enameling and gilding.
  • 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.
  • saw-whet owl — a very small North American owl, Aegolius acadicus, having streaked, brown plumage and lacking ear tufts.
  • say the word — If someone says the word, they give their approval as a sign that something should start to happen.
  • scapegallows — a criminal who escapes death by hanging or the gallows
  • school prawn — a common olive-green prawn, Metapenaeus macleayi
  • schwann cell — a cell of the peripheral nervous system that wraps around a nerve fiber, jelly-roll fashion, forming the myelin sheath.
  • scram switch — (jargon)   (From the nuclear power industry) An emergency power-off switch (see Big Red Switch), especially one positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel. In general, this is *not* something you frob lightly; these often initiate expensive events (such as Halon dumps) and are installed in a dinosaur pen for use in case of electrical fire or in case some luckless field servoid should put 120 volts across himself while Easter egging. SCRAM stands for Safety Control Rod Ax Man. In the early days of nuclear power, boron moderator rods were raised and lowered on ropes. In the event of a runaway chain reaction, a man with an axe would chop the rope and drop the rods into the nuclear pile to stop the reaction. See also molly-guard, TMRC.
  • screw around — a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, especially by means of a screwdriver.
  • screw thread — Also called worm. the helical ridge of a screw.
  • sea bindweed — a species of bindweed, Calystegia soldanella, which grows on beaches in E North America, Europe, and Asia
  • sea crawfish — spiny lobster
  • sea lungwort — a plant, Mertensia maritima, of the borage family, growing on northern seacoasts and having leaves with an oysterlike flavor.
  • sea milkwort — a maritime plant, Glaux maritima, having small, pinkish-white flowers.
  • seismic wave — a wave of energy that is generated by an earthquake or other earth vibration and that travels within the earth or along its surface.
  • self-drawing — the act of a person or thing that draws.
  • self-renewal — the act of renewing.
  • semantic web — an extension of the World Wide Web in which data is structured and XML-tagged on the basis of its meaning or content, so that computers can process and integrate the information without human intervention: the semantic Web acting as a global database or huge brain.
  • sepak takraw — a game originating in South Asia in which two teams kick a ball back and forth over a net
  • servicewoman — a woman who is a member of the armed forces of a country.
  • sewage works — a place where chemicals are used to clean sewage so that it can then be allowed to go into rivers, etc or used to make manure
  • sewing table — a worktable for holding sewing materials, often supplied with a bag or pouch for needlework.
  • shadow bands — slow-moving waves of light and dark observed to move across light-coloured surfaces on the earth just before and after totality in a solar eclipse. They are thought to originate from the effects of irregular atmospheric refraction
  • shadow dance — a dance in which shadows of the dancers are cast on a screen.
  • shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
  • shadowgraphy — the production of a shadowgraph
  • sharp-witted — having or showing mental acuity; intellectually discerning; acute.
  • shawl collar — a rolled collar and lapel in one piece that curves from the back of the neck down to the front closure of a single-breasted or double-breasted garment.
  • shawl tongue — kiltie (def 3).
  • shirtwaister — a tailored blouse or shirt worn by women.
  • shooting war — open conflict between hostile nations involving direct military engagements.
  • shop steward — commerce: union rep
  • show the way — guide
  • shower stall — an individual compartment or self-contained unit, having a single shower and accommodating one person.
  • siamese twin — (not in technical use) conjoined twin.
  • signal tower — a tower from which railway signals are controlled or displayed
  • sir lawrence — Sir Lawrence Alma-, Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence.
  • skeeter hawk — mosquito hawk.
  • skeleton law — a framework or basic outline of law or rule
  • sleepwalking — an act of sleepwalking; somnambulation.
  • sloop of war — (formerly) a sailing or steam naval vessel having cannons on only one deck.
  • slow-release — sustained-release.
  • slumber wear — nightclothes
  • small wonder — (I am) hardly surprised (that)
  • smart growth — People such as architects and environmentalists use smart growth to refer to the construction of new buildings and roads within a town or city so that they are close to people's workplaces and mass transit systems and so that open spaces are not built on.
  • snow crystal — a crystal of ice sufficiently heavy to fall from the atmosphere.
  • 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.
  • snowboarding — a board for gliding on snow, resembling a wide ski, to which both feet are secured and that one rides in an upright position.
  • snowshoe cat — a breed of cat with soft short hair, blue eyes, an inverted V-shaped marking on the face, and white feet
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