12-letter words containing w, a, s, h, r
- sandwich bar — a place where sandwiches are sold
- say the word — If someone says the word, they give their approval as a sign that something should start to happen.
- school prawn — a common olive-green prawn, Metapenaeus macleayi
- scram switch — (jargon) (From the nuclear power industry) An emergency power-off switch (see Big Red Switch), especially one positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel. In general, this is *not* something you frob lightly; these often initiate expensive events (such as Halon dumps) and are installed in a dinosaur pen for use in case of electrical fire or in case some luckless field servoid should put 120 volts across himself while Easter egging. SCRAM stands for Safety Control Rod Ax Man. In the early days of nuclear power, boron moderator rods were raised and lowered on ropes. In the event of a runaway chain reaction, a man with an axe would chop the rope and drop the rods into the nuclear pile to stop the reaction. See also molly-guard, TMRC.
- screw thread — Also called worm. the helical ridge of a screw.
- sea crawfish — spiny lobster
- shadow price — the calculated price of a good or service for which no market price exists
- shadowgraphy — the production of a shadowgraph
- sharp-witted — having or showing mental acuity; intellectually discerning; acute.
- shawl collar — a rolled collar and lapel in one piece that curves from the back of the neck down to the front closure of a single-breasted or double-breasted garment.
- shirtwaister — a tailored blouse or shirt worn by women.
- shooting war — open conflict between hostile nations involving direct military engagements.
- shop steward — commerce: union rep
- shower stall — an individual compartment or self-contained unit, having a single shower and accommodating one person.
- skeeter hawk — mosquito hawk.
- smart growth — People such as architects and environmentalists use smart growth to refer to the construction of new buildings and roads within a town or city so that they are close to people's workplaces and mass transit systems and so that open spaces are not built on.
- solway firth — an arm of the Irish Sea between SW Scotland and NW England. 38 miles (61 km) long.
- sparrow hawk — a small, short-winged European hawk, Accipiter nisus, that preys on smaller birds.
- stomach worm — a nematode, Haemonchus contortus, parasitic in the stomach of sheep, cattle, and related animals.
- straightaway — straight onward, without turn or curve, as a racecourse.
- straightways — in a direct course
- superhighway — a highway designed for travel at high speeds, having more than one lane for each direction of traffic, a safety strip dividing the two directions, and cloverleaves to route the traffic on and off the highway. Compare expressway.
- swash letter — an ornamental italic capital letter having a flourish extending beyond the body of the type.
- swashbuckler — a swaggering swordsman, soldier, or adventurer; daredevil.
- switch grass — a North American grass, Panicum virgatum, having an open, branching inflorescence.
- swivel chair — a chair whose seat turns around horizontally on a swivel.
- the far west — the area of the United States west of the Great Plains
- thitherwards — in that direction
- twitch grass — couch grass.
- variety show — vaudeville performance
- waking hours — Your waking hours are the times when you are awake rather than asleep.
- walkthroughs — Plural form of walkthrough.
- warehouseman — a person who stores goods for others for pay.
- warehousemen — Irregular plural form of warehouseman.
- warning shot — gunshot fired into the air
- warwickshire — a county in central England. 765 sq. mi. (1980 sq. km).
- wash drawing — a watercolor painting executed by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other.
- wash leather — a soft leather, usually made of sheepskin
- wash-leather — a soft leather, usually sheepskin, dressed in imitation of chamois.
- washer-dryer — a washing machine and a clothes dryer combined in one unit.
- watchstander — (US) A person who is on watch on a ship.
- water shield — Also called water target. an aquatic plant, Brasenia schreberi, of the water lily family, having purple flowers, floating, elliptic leaves, and a jellylike coating on the underwater stems and roots.
- water splash — a place where a stream runs over a road
- water thrush — either of two North American warblers, Seirus noveboracensis or S. motacilla, usually living near streams.
- waterishness — the state of being waterish
- watermanship — the skill, duties, business, etc., of a waterman.
- weather ship — a ship equipped for meteorological observation.
- weather-wise — skillful in predicting weather.
- weathercasts — Plural form of weathercast.
- weathercocks — Plural form of weathercock.