20-letter words containing w, a, f
- spanish west african — of or relating to the former Spanish overseas territory of Spanish West Africa (now the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara) or its inhabitants
- spread like wildfire — If something, especially news or a rumour, spreads like wildfire, it spreads extremely quickly.
- stefan-boltzmann law — the law stating that the total energy radiated from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
- that makes two of us — the same applies to me
- the luck of the draw — If you say that something is the luck of the draw, you mean that it is the result of chance and you cannot do anything about it.
- the way of the cross — a series of images in a church or along a road to a church etc depicting the last hours of Christ
- third-party software — software created by programmers or publishers independent of the manufacturer of the hardware for which it is intended.
- turn over a new leaf — one of the expanded, usually green organs borne by the stem of a plant.
- unified screw thread — a screw thread system introduced for defence equipment (1939–44), in which the thread form and pitch were a compromise between British Standard Whitworth and American Standard Sellers: adopted by the International Standards Organization
- university of hawaii — (body, education) A University spread over 10 campuses on 4 islands throughout the state. See also Aloha, Aloha Net.
- van der waals forces — weak electrostatic forces between atoms and molecules caused by transient distortions in the distribution of electrons in the interacting atoms or molecules
- walk-in refrigerator — a refrigerated storage room, as at a butcher shop.
- war of the rebellion — American Civil War.
- wardrobe malfunction — an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing
- warehouse facilities — places for storing goods
- watering of the eyes — the formation of tears in the eyes
- whole-life insurance — a type of insurance with a savings element that is guaranteed to pay out on death provided premiums have been paid as required by the policy
- whyte classification — a system for classifying steam locomotives according to the total number of wheels on the front trucks, drivers, and rear trucks, in that order. For example, a Pacific locomotive is designated as 4-6-2.
- with a grain of salt — to season with salt.
- with a pinch of salt — without wholly believing; sceptically
- woman of easy virtue — a sexually available woman, esp a prostitute
- woman of the streets — a prostitute; streetwalker.
- working-capital fund — a fund established to finance operating activities in an industrial enterprise.
- yu-shiang whole fish — /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ An obsolete name for the Greek character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII code 9, Unicode glyph 0x0263) which with a loop in its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked whole (not parsed) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang) sauce. Used primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display this character on the screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand.