21-letter words containing w, e, i, l, s
- spicebush swallowtail — a swallowtail butterfly, Papilio troilus, having a dark body with yellow spots on the forewings and greenish hind wings.
- 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.
- take one's (own) life — to commit suicide
- thermal power station — a power station in which heat is converted into electricity
- threshold wage policy — a policy whereby wages are increased in accordance with inflation
- to blow sth wide open — to expose something
- to rub shoulders with — If you rub shoulders with famous people, you meet them and talk to them. You can also say that you rub elbows with someone, especially in American English.
- 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.
- up to the elbows with — busily occupied with; deeply immersed in
- warm silence software — A small company run by(?) Robin Watts, producing software for the Acorn Archimedes.
- watenstedt-salzgitter — former name of Salzgitter.
- 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.
- wet collodion process — a photographic process, in common use in the mid-19th century, employing a glass photographic plate coated with iodized collodion and dipped in a silver nitrate solution immediately before use.
- 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.
- wholesale price index — an indicator of price changes in the wholesale market
- william of malmesbury — William of, William of Malmesbury.
- wilson's storm petrel — a small petrel, Oceanites oceanicus, that breeds in the Southern Hemisphere but ranges into the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- with sb's compliments — If you say that you are giving someone something with your compliments, you are saying in a polite and fairly formal way that you are giving it to them, especially as a gift or a favour.
- worth someone's while — worth someone's time, consideration, etc.; profitable in some way
- yellow lady's-slipper — a showy orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, of eastern North America, having purple-tinged yellow flowers with an inflated lip petal.
- yellow-fever mosquito — a mosquito, Aedes aegypti, that transmits yellow fever and dengue.