19-letter words containing w, a, t, e
- northwest ordinance — the act of Congress in 1787 providing for the government of the Northwest Territory and setting forth the steps by which its subdivisions might become states.
- not worth a cracker — worthless; useless
- not worth a crumpet — utterly worthless
- nuclear power plant — factory that generates atomic energy
- okeechobee waterway — a waterway in S Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. 155 miles (244 km) long.
- one way and another — on balance
- orange flower water — a distilled infusion of orange blossom, used in cakes, confectionery, etc
- out at (the) elbows — shabby; poverty-stricken
- parting of the ways — When there is a parting of the ways, two or more people or groups of people stop working together or travelling together.
- perfoliate bellwort — a slender plant, Uvularia perfoliata, of the lily family, of eastern North America, having pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers.
- personal watercraft — a jet-propelled boat ridden like a motorcycle.
- pileated woodpecker — a large, black-and-white American woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, having a prominent red crest.
- pinwheel escapement — a clock escapement in which two pallets, usually of unequal length, alternately engage and release pins set on the escape wheel perpendicular to its plane of rotation.
- play footsie (with) — to touch feet or rub knees (with) in a caressing way, as under the table
- play the devil with — Theology. (sometimes initial capital letter) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan. a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption.
- programmer's switch — (hardware) A button on the front of some Apple Macintosh computers which, when pressed, causes a command line prompt to appear. This gives access to the built-in mini-debugger, which has commands to dump memory, return to the application that was broken out, and others. A more sophisticated debugger must be installed in order to inspect breakpoints, etc.
- public-interest law — a branch of law that often utilizes class-action suits to protect the interest of a large group or of the public at large, as in matters relating to racial discrimination, air pollution, etc.
- reef whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 1).
- sandwich generation — the generation of people still raising their children while having to care for their aging parents.
- smooth the path/way — If you smooth the path or smooth the way towards something, you make it easier or more likely to happen.
- so what else is new — not surprised
- son-of-a-bitch stew — (in the Old West) a stew often prepared by chuck-wagon cooks for working cowboys, containing tripe and often also the heart, liver, brains, kidney, etc., of a slaughtered steer.
- sound effects woman — a woman who produces sounds artificially or reproduces them from a recording, etc, to create a theatrical effect, such as the bringing together of two halves of a hollow coconut shell to simulate a horse's gallop. Such sound effects are used in plays, films, etc
- sow one's wild oats — any uncultivated species of Avena, especially a common weedy grass, A. fatua, resembling the cultivated oat.
- spanish west africa — a former overseas territory of Spain in NW Africa: divided in 1958 into the overseas provinces of Ifni and Spanish Sahara
- spider-hunting wasp — any solitary wasp of the superfamily Pompiloidea, having a slender elongated body: the fast-running female hunts spiders as a food store for her larvae
- st. lawrence seaway — a series of channels, locks, and canals between Montreal and the mouth of Lake Ontario, a distance of 182 miles (293 km), enabling most deep-draft vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean, up the St. Lawrence River, to all the Great Lakes ports: developed jointly by the U.S. and Canada.
- stick in one's craw — the crop of a bird or insect.
- straightforwardness — going or directed straight ahead: a straightforward gaze.
- strawberry geranium — a plant, Saxifraga stolonifera (or S. sarmentosa), of the saxifrage family, native to eastern Asia, that has rounded, variegated leaves and numerous threadlike stolons and is frequently cultivated as a houseplant.
- swallow-tailed coat — tail coat.
- swallow-tailed kite — an American kite, Elanoides forficatus, having black upper parts, white head and underparts, and a long, deeply forked tail.
- swedish nightingale — Jenny (Johanna Maria Lind Goldschmidt"The Swedish Nightingale") 1820–87, Swedish soprano.
- sweetheart contract — a contract made through collusion between management and labor representatives containing terms beneficial to management and detrimental to union workers.
- sweetheart neckline — a neckline on a woman's garment, as a dress, with a high back and a low-cut front with two curved edges resembling the conventionalized shape of a heart.
- sweetness and light — extreme or excessive pleasantness or amiability.
- switchblade (knife) — a large jackknife that snaps open when a release button on the handle is pressed
- take it to the wire — to compete to the bitter end to win a competition or title
- take my word for it — If you say to someone 'take my word for it', you mean that they should believe you because you are telling the truth.
- taming of the shrew — a comedy (1594?) by Shakespeare.
- teaching fellowship — a fellowship providing a student in a graduate school with free tuition and expenses and stipulating that the student assume some teaching duties in return.
- the grapes of wrath — a novel (1939) by John Steinbeck.
- the great awakening — a movement of religious revival in the American Colonies from c. 1720 to the time of the Revolution
- the hampshire downs — a range of low chalk hills that crosses Hampshire in S England
- the mathworks, inc. — (company) The company marketing MATLAB. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Address: 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, Massachusetts 01760-2098 USA. Telephone: +1 (508) 647-7000. Fax: +1 (508) 647-7101.
- the pickwick papers — a novel written by the English novelist Charles Dickens(1812--70)
- the whole enchilada — all of it; everything; the entirety of something
- the wolverine state — a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes area of the north central US
- throw cold water on — having a relatively low temperature; having little or no warmth: cold water; a cold day.
- throw in one's hand — (in cards) to concede defeat by putting one's cards down