17-letter words containing w, a, c
- deathwatch beetle — a beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum, whose woodboring larvae are a serious pest. The adult produces a rapid tapping sound with its head that was once popularly supposed to presage death
- diocletian window — a window in the form of a round-headed archway with a narrower compartment on either side, the side compartments usually being capped with entablatures on which the arch of the central compartment rests.
- due course of law — the regular administration of the law, according to which no citizen may be denied his or her legal rights and all laws must conform to fundamental, accepted legal principles, as the right of the accused to confront his or her accusers.
- dwarf huckleberry — tangleberry.
- fellow countryman — sb of same nationality
- flowering currant — an ornamental shrub, Ribes sanguineum, growing to 2 to 3 metres (6 to 9ft) in height, with red, crimson, yellow, or white flowers: family Saxifragaceae
- flowering tobacco — any plant belonging to the genus Nicotiana, of the nightshade family, as N. alata and N. sylvestris, having clusters of fragrant flowers that usually bloom at night, grown as an ornamental.
- fort walton beach — a city in NW Florida.
- forward contracts — Forward contracts are agreements to buy something in the future for a price that has been agreed today.
- frederick william — 1795–1861, king of Prussia 1840–61 (brother of William I of Prussia).
- funicular railway — a short, very steep railway having two parallel sets of tracks, upon each of which runs a car or train raised or lowered by means of a cable that simultaneously lowers or raises the other car or train in such a way that the two are approximately counterbalanced.
- greenwich village — a section of New York City, in lower Manhattan: inhabited and frequented by artists, writers, and students.
- hurricane warning — a storm warning given for winds with speeds exceeding 63 knots (72 mph, 32 m/sec) when the source of the winds is a tropical cyclone.
- i will/can manage — You say 'I can manage' or 'I'll manage' as a way of refusing someone's offer of help and insisting on doing something by yourself.
- julian of norwich — ?1342–?1413, English mystic and anchoress: best known for the Revelations of Divine Love describing her visions
- law of reflection — the principle that when a ray of light, radar pulse, or the like, is reflected from a smooth surface the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of refraction — the principle that for a ray, radar pulse, or the like, that is incident on the interface of two media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the velocity of the ray in the first medium to the velocity in the second medium and the incident ray, refracted ray, and normal to the surface at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
- law of trichotomy — the property that for natural numbers a and b , either a is less than b , a equals b , or a is greater than b .
- lincoln's sparrow — a North American sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, having a buff breast with black streaks.
- lower paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- mayflower compact — an agreement to establish a government, entered into by the Pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620.
- mercy otis warren — Earl, 1891–1974, U.S. lawyer and political leader: chief justice of the U.S. 1953–69.
- message switching — store and forward
- metabolic pathway — biochemistry: sequence of reactions within a cell or organism
- mileage allowance — the number of miles allowed to be travelled on a rented vehicle such as a car during the period it is rented or leased
- nautical twilight — the period of time during which the sun is 12° below the horizon
- new scotland yard — See under Scotland Yard (def 1).
- newcastle disease — a rapidly spreading virus-induced disease of birds and domestic fowl, as chickens, marked by respiratory difficulty, reduced egg production and, in chicks, paralysis.
- newspaper cutting — clipping from a news publication
- northcountrywoman — a female native or inhabitant of the North of England
- norwegian current — an ocean current formed from the terminus of the North Atlantic Current, flowing N along the Norwegian coast into the Barents Sea.
- of its own accord — If something happens of its own accord, it seems to happen by itself, without anyone making it happen.
- on the wrong tack — a short, sharp-pointed nail, usually with a flat, broad head.
- open-channel flow — Open-channel flow is a liquid flow in a channel, which has a free liquid surface.
- pacific northwest — the region of North America lying north of the Columbia River and west of the Rockies
- pebbleweave cloth — an irregularly textured material made from twisted yarn
- quantum cell wire — (electronics, computing) (Or "quantum wire", "binary wire") Quantum cells arranged in a line to carry signals. Adjacent cells with the same orientation are at a low energy state and a change of orientation at one end of a quantum wire propagates along the wire, transmitting a signal. However, unlike conventional wire, since only the orientation of charge pairs changes, no current flows. Circuits created using quantum cell wires are referred to as Quantum-dot Wireless Digital Circuits, see quantum dot, Quantum-dot Cellular Automata.
- quick on the draw — having fast reflexes
- radioactive waste — the radioactive by-products from the operation of a nuclear reactor or from the reprocessing of depleted nuclear fuel.
- rainbow coalition — a political grouping together by several minority parties
- renaissance woman — a woman who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.
- richard arkwright — Sir Richard, 1732–92, English inventor of the spinning jenny.
- roll with a punch — to move in the same direction as a punch thrown at one so as to lessen its force
- sandwich compound — any of a class of organometallic compounds whose molecules have a metal atom or ion bound between two plane parallel organic rings
- sawatch mountains — range of the Rocky Mountains, in central Colo.: highest peak, Elbert
- scattered showers — showers that are scattered across an area, or that occur at intervals throughout the day
- scentless mayweed — a similar and related plant, Matricaria maritima, with scentless leaves
- schwedler's maple — a variety of the Norway maple, Acer platanoides schwedleri, producing red leaves that subsequently turn green.
- second balkan war — Balkan War (def 2).
- secondary rainbow — a faint rainbow formed by light rays that undergo two internal reflections in drops of rain, appearing above the primary rainbow and having its colors in the opposite order.