12-letter words containing u, a, w
- gateway drug — any mood-altering drug, as a stimulant or tranquilizer, that does not cause physical dependence but may lead to the use of addictive drugs, as heroin.
- go walkabout — to wander through the bush
- ground water — the water beneath the surface of the ground, consisting largely of surface water that has seeped down: the source of water in springs and wells.
- guangzhouwan — a former French-leased territory (1898–1945) on the SW coast of Guangdong province, in S China. About 190 sq. mi. (490 sq. km).
- gully-washer — a usually short, heavy rainstorm.
- gullywashers — Plural form of gullywasher.
- 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.
- how are you? — what is your state of health?
- how dare you — You say 'how dare you' when you are very shocked and angry about something that someone has done.
- hubble's law — the law that the velocity of recession of distant galaxies from our own is proportional to their distance from us.
- journeywoman — The female equivalent of a journeyman.
- jugal furrow — (in certain insects) the crease, between the anal and jugal veins, along which the wing folds.
- just as well — fortunate
- k'ang yu-wei — 1858–1927, Chinese scholar and reformer.
- laundrywoman — laundress.
- laundrywomen — Plural form of laundrywoman.
- lawrenceburg — a town in S Tennessee.
- lee kuan yew — 1923–2015, Singaporean statesman; prime minister of Singapore 1959–90, during which period his party's authoritarian rule was criticized but the country's economy progressed rapidly
- ludwigshafen — a city in SW Germany, on the Rhine opposite Mannheim.
- lukewarmness — The property of being lukewarm; ambivalence, weakness.
- makeup water — Makeup water is water which is added to compensate for losses, especially losses caused by evaporation.
- mangelwurzel — a variety of the beet Beta vulgaris, cultivated as food for livestock.
- matthew quay — Matthew Stanley, 1833–1904, U.S. politician: senator 1887–99, 1901–4.
- meadow mouse — any of numerous short-tailed rodents of the genus Microtus and allied genera, chiefly of fields and meadows in the temperate Northern Hemisphere.
- minimum wage — lowest hourly earnings permitted by law
- minimum-wage — of or relating to a minimum wage: minimum-wage demands.
- mountain dew — moonshine; whisky that has been illegally distilled
- mountainward — Towards a mountain or mountains.
- mulligatawny — a curry-flavored soup of East Indian origin, made with chicken or meat stock.
- multiwarhead — (of a missile) capable of carrying several independent warheads
- murphy's law — the facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will.
- mwambutsa iv — 1912–77, king of Burundi 1962–66.
- narrow gauge — a standard of measure or measurement.
- naughty word — a word that is considered to be rude
- new urbanism — an international movement concerned with tackling the problems associated with urban sprawl and car dependency
- newfoundland — a large island in E Canada. 42,734 sq. mi. (110,680 sq. km).
- nurserywoman — a woman who owns or operates a plant nursery.
- out and away — away from, or not in, the normal or usual place, position, state, etc.: out of alphabetical order; to go out to dinner.
- out at elbow — ragged or impoverished
- out of whack — to strike with a smart, resounding blow or blows.
- pasqueflower — an Old World plant, Anemone pulsatilla, of the buttercup family, having purple, crocuslike flowers blooming about Easter.
- pastures new — If someone leaves for greener pastures, or in British English pastures new, they leave their job, their home, or the situation they are in for something they think will be much better.
- power vacuum — a situation when a government has no identifiable central authority
- punxsutawney — a town in central Pennsylvania: Groundhog Day celebration.
- push forward — keep advancing
- quartz watch — a watch that is operated by the vibrations of a quartz crystal controlled by a microcircuit
- queen's ware — a hard, cream-colored earthenware, perfected c1765 by Wedgwood.
- quo warranto — (formerly, in England) a writ calling upon a person to show by what authority he or she claims an office, franchise, or liberty.
- raoult's law — the principle that the fraction by which the vapor pressure of a solvent is lowered by the addition of a nonvolatile, nonelectrolytic solute is equal to the mole fraction of the solute in the solution.