12-letter words containing s, w, i
- house wizard — (Probably from ad-agency tradetalk, "house freak") A hacker occupying a technical-specialist, R&D, or systems position at a commercial shop. A really effective house wizard can have influence out of all proportion to his/her ostensible rank and still not have to wear a suit. Used especially of Unix wizards. The term "house guru" is equivalent.
- housewarming — a party to celebrate a person's or family's move to a new home.
- in sb's wake — If you leave something or someone in your wake, you leave them behind you as you go.
- in the wings — in the corridors of a theatre
- in the works — exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.
- in two minds — If you are in two minds, you are uncertain about what to do, especially when you have to choose between two courses of action. The expression of two minds is also used, especially in American English.
- industrywide — from, covering, or affecting an entire industry: industrywide profits.
- intergrowths — Plural form of intergrowth.
- intertwisted — Simple past tense and past participle of intertwist.
- interviewees — Plural form of interviewee.
- interviewers — Plural form of interviewer.
- interwishing — to want; desire; long for (usually followed by an infinitive or a clause): I wish to travel. I wish that it were morning.
- isaac newton — Sir Isaac, 1642–1727, English philosopher and mathematician: formulator of the law of gravitation.
- it takes two — If you say it takes two or it takes two to tango, you mean that a situation or argument involves two people and they are both therefore responsible for it.
- jawless fish — cyclostome.
- jaws of life — powerful shears used for cutting a vehicle open after a collision
- jesse window — a church window having a representation of the tree of Jesse.
- king's crown — a tropical American shrub, Justicia carnea, of the acanthus family, bearing clusters of tubular reddish flowers.
- kirschwasser — a fragrant, colorless, unaged brandy distilled from a fermented mash of cherries, produced especially in Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace, France.
- kitchenwares — Plural form of kitchenware.
- knife switch — a form of air switch in which a moving element, usually a hinged blade, is placed between two contact clips.
- law of sines — a law stating that the ratio of a side of a plane triangle to the sine of the opposite angle is the same for all three sides.
- lawbreakings — Plural form of lawbreaking.
- lawyer's wig — the shaggy ink-cap
- lawyerliness — Quality of being lawyerly.
- light switch — lever or knob for controlling a light
- lightweights — Plural form of lightweight.
- limit switch — a switch that automatically cuts off current to an electric motor when an object moved by it, as an elevator, has passed a given point.
- limp-wristed — Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. effeminate.
- long-waisted — of more than average length between the shoulders and waistline; having a low waistline.
- low-spirited — depressed; dejected: He is feeling rather low-spirited today.
- lowsing time — the time at which work or school finishes; knocking-off time
- ludwigshafen — a city in SW Germany, on the Rhine opposite Mannheim.
- malt whiskey — Malt whiskey or malt is whiskey that is made from malt.
- mass wasting — downhill movement of soil and rock fragments induced by gravity.
- medium-sweet — (esp of wines) fairly sweet
- midwest city — a city in central Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City.
- midwesterner — Middle West.
- mine-sweeper — a specially equipped ship used for dragging a body of water in order to remove or destroy enemy mines.
- minesweepers — Plural form of minesweeper.
- minesweeping — (nautical) The detection and safe disposal of mines.
- misknowledge — a misunderstanding or misconception
- mwambutsa iv — 1912–77, king of Burundi 1962–66.
- new atlantis — a political allegory by Francis Bacon, published in 1627.
- new business — New business is the number of new policies that are written by an insurance company in a particular period.
- new hebrides — former name of Vanuatu.
- new politics — politics concerned more with grass-roots participation in the political process than with party loyalty or affiliation: identified especially with the candidacies of Senators Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern.
- new urbanism — an international movement concerned with tackling the problems associated with urban sprawl and car dependency
- newfashioned — Alternative form of new-fashioned.
- news service — an agency that gathers news stories for its members or subscribers. Compare news agency (def 1), press association, wire service.