12-letter words containing w, a, t, c
- cutaway dive — a back dive in which the diver rotates the body to enter the water headfirst facing the springboard.
- cutwork lace — point coupé (def 2).
- cutwork-lace — Also called cutwork. a process for producing lace in which predetermined threads in the ground material are cut and removed in order to provide open areas for the insertion of ornamental patterns.
- deathwatches — Plural form of deathwatch.
- doomwatching — the act of watching the environment to warn of and prevent harm
- downcastness — The quality of being downcast.
- draw curtain — a curtain, opening at the middle, that can be drawn to the sides of a stage.
- entranceways — Plural form of entranceway.
- factory work — work in a factory
- feuchtwanger — Lion [lee-awn] /ˈli ɔn/ (Show IPA), 1884–1958, German novelist and dramatist.
- fire watcher — a person who watches for fires, esp those caused by aerial bombardment
- float switch — an electric switch controlled by a conductor floating in a liquid.
- flowcharting — (computing) the design and construction of flowcharts.
- friction saw — a high-speed circular saw, usually toothless, that is used for cutting metals by using frictional heat to melt the material adjacent to it.
- isaac newton — Sir Isaac, 1642–1727, English philosopher and mathematician: formulator of the law of gravitation.
- jacket crown — a type of artificial, tooth-colored dental crown made of acrylic or porcelain
- kitchenwares — Plural form of kitchenware.
- law merchant — the principles and rules, drawn chiefly from custom, determining the rights and obligations of commercial transactions; commercial law.
- macroweather — Longer term average weather, covering period of length between that of weather and climate.
- match-winner — a player who wins a sports match for his or her team, for example by scoring a goal
- middle watch — the watch from midnight until 4 a.m.
- network card — network interface controller
- new covenant — (sometimes initial capital letters) (in Christian exegesis) the promises of salvation made by God to humans individually, based on divine grace rather than Mosaic Law.
- nightcrawler — An earthworm of the species Lumbricus terrestris, known for its large size and nocturnal surfacings.
- on the watch — to be alertly on the lookout, look attentively, or observe, as to see what comes, is done, or happens: to watch while an experiment is performed.
- out of whack — to strike with a smart, resounding blow or blows.
- packed tower — A packed tower is a tall distillation vessel which uses packing.
- phonetic law — a statement of some regular pattern of sound change in a specific language, as Grimm's law or Verner's law.
- plastic flow — deformation of a material that remains rigid under stresses of less than a certain intensity but that behaves under severer stresses approximately as a Newtonian fluid.
- plastic wrap — a very thin, transparent sheet of plastic, usually packaged in rolls and often having the ability to cling to other substances, used especially to wrap and store food and for microwave cooking.
- poll watcher — a representative of a political party or of an organization running a candidate who is assigned to the polls on an election day to watch for violations of the laws that regulate voting, campaigning, etc.
- postcardware — Shareware that borders on freeware, in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be psychologically related to real estate "sales" in which $1 changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift.)
- power factor — (in an electrical circuit) the ratio of the power dissipated to the product of the input volts times amps
- quartz watch — a watch that is operated by the vibrations of a quartz crystal controlled by a microcircuit
- ratchet down — If something ratchets down or is ratcheted down, it decreases by a fixed amount or degree, and seems unlikely to increase again.
- saskatchewan — a province in W Canada. 251,700 sq. mi. (651,900 sq. km). Capital: Regina.
- 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.
- semantic web — an extension of the World Wide Web in which data is structured and XML-tagged on the basis of its meaning or content, so that computers can process and integrate the information without human intervention: the semantic Web acting as a global database or huge brain.
- snow crystal — a crystal of ice sufficiently heavy to fall from the atmosphere.
- snowshoe cat — a breed of cat with soft short hair, blue eyes, an inverted V-shaped marking on the face, and white feet
- space writer — a journalist or copywriter paid according to a space rate. Also called space man. Compare stringer (def 6).
- st. lawrence — D(avid) H(erbert) 1885–1930, English novelist.
- static water — water collected and stored in reservoirs, tanks, etc., as for urban use.
- stomach worm — a nematode, Haemonchus contortus, parasitic in the stomach of sheep, cattle, and related animals.
- swagger coat — a woman's pyramid-shaped coat with a full flared back and usually raglan sleeves, first popularized in the 1930s.
- swamp locust — water locust.
- switch grass — a North American grass, Panicum virgatum, having an open, branching inflorescence.
- switch plate — a plate, usually of metal, ceramic, or plastic, covering a switch so that the knob or toggle protrudes.
- tack welding — to join (pieces of metal) with a number of small welds spaced some distance apart.