21-letter words containing w, a, n

second-hand endowment — A second-hand endowment is a traditional with-profits endowment policy that has been sold to a new owner part way through its term.
sir william alexander — Sir William (Alexander) 1867–1957, Scottish lexicographer and philologist.
slatwall merchandiser — A slatwall merchandiser is a three-dimensional display unit with grooves cut into its surface into which metal hanging rails can be fixed at various heights.
snr bandwidth product — (communications) The integral of the SNR over frequency. The SNR bandwidth product is an important limit in the capacity of a communication channel.
sovereign wealth fund — an investment fund created using the financial assets of a national government
step-down transformer — a device that transfers an alternating current from one circuit to one or more other circuits with a decrease of voltage
submerged arc welding — a type of heavy electric-arc welding using mechanically fed bare wire with the arc submerged in powdered flux to keep out oxygen
subsistence allowance — money given in advance to a new soldier, employee, etc., to buy food, clothing, and pay for other necessities while awaiting a first pay.
surface-to-underwater — (of a missile, message, etc.) traveling from the surface of the earth to a target underwater.
swim against the tide — to resist prevailing opinion
take one's (own) life — to commit suicide
the break of day/dawn — The break of day or the break of dawn is the time when it begins to grow light after the night.
the women's land army — a unit of women recruited to do agricultural work in the United Kingdom during World War I and World War II
thermal power station — a power station in which heat is converted into electricity
throw one's hat at it — to give up all hope of getting or achieving something
throw someone a curve — a continuously bending line, without angles.
to lay down your life — If someone lays down their life for another person, they die so that the other person can live.
to let your hair down — If you let your hair down, you relax completely and enjoy yourself.
to my way of thinking — You add to my way of thinking to a statement in order to indicate that you are giving your opinion.
to sink without trace — If you say that someone or something sinks without trace or sinks without a trace, you mean that they stop existing or stop being successful very suddenly and completely.
to take the long view — If you take the long view, you consider what is likely to happen in the future over a long period, rather than thinking only about things that are going to happen soon.
traffic control tower — an elevated structure for the visual observation and control of the air and ground traffic at an airport
twist the lion's tail — a large, usually tawny-yellow cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa and southern Asia, having a tufted tail and, in the male, a large mane.
under one's own steam — If you do something under your own steam, you do it without any help from anyone else.
up hill and down dale — strenuously and persistently
venus's flower basket — a glass sponge of the genus Euplectella, inhabiting deep waters off the Philippines and Japan, having a cylindrical skeleton formed of an intricate latticework of siliceous spicules.
warm silence software — A small company run by(?) Robin Watts, producing software for the Acorn Archimedes.
washington's birthday — February 22, formerly observed as a legal holiday in most states of the U.S. in honor of the birth of George Washington.
watenstedt-salzgitter — former name of Salzgitter.
water of constitution — water present in a molecule that cannot be removed without disrupting the molecule.
weak head normal form — (reduction, theory) (WHNF) A lambda expression is in weak head normal form (WHNF) if it is a head normal form (HNF) or any lambda abstraction. I.e. the top level is not a redex. The term was coined by Simon Peyton Jones to make explicit the difference between head normal form (HNF) and what graph reduction systems produce in practice. A lambda abstraction with a reducible body, e.g. \ x . ((\ y . y+x) 2) is in WHNF but not HNF. To reduce this expression to HNF would require reduction of the lambda body: (\ y . y+x) 2 --> 2+x Reduction to WHNF avoids the name capture problem with its need for alpha conversion of an inner lambda abstraction and so is preferred in practical graph reduction systems. The same principle is often used in strict languages such as Scheme to provide call-by-name evaluation by wrapping an expression in a lambda abstraction with no arguments: D = delay E = \ () . E The value of the expression is obtained by applying it to the empty argument list:
weinberg-salam theory — electroweak theory.
west lothian question — the apparent inconsistency that members of parliament who represent Scottish constituencies are eligible to vote at Westminster on matters that relate only to England, whereas members of parliament from English constituencies are not eligible to vote on Scottish matters
west university place — a city in SE Texas.
what price something? — what are the chances of something happening now?
whip-and-tongue graft — a graft prepared by cutting both the scion and the stock in a sloping direction and inserting a tongue in the scion into a slit in the stock.
whistling in the dark — If you say that someone is whistling in the dark, you mean that they are trying to remain brave and convince themselves that the situation is not as bad as it seems.
white-crowned sparrow — a North American sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, having black and white stripes on the head.
white-knuckle paddler — an inexpert and timid canoeist.
wholesale price index — an indicator of price changes in the wholesale market
william the conqueror — ("the Conqueror") 1027–87, duke of Normandy 1035–87; king of England 1066–87 (son of Robert I, duke of Normandy).
with one's bare hands — If someone does something with their bare hands, they do it without using any weapons or tools.
without qualification — If something is stated or accepted without qualification, it is stated or accepted as it is, without the need for any changes.
word association test — a technique for determining a subject's associative pattern by providing a verbal stimulus to which a verbal response is required.
word-association test — a psychological test in which the person being tested responds to a given word with the first word (or the first word in a specified category, such as an antonym) brought to mind
workers' compensation — a government-sponsored insurance system, funded by contributions from employers, for compensating employees for injury or occupational disease suffered in connection with their employment

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