18-letter words containing w, e, i, l
- i would be obliged — expressions used to tell someone in a polite but firm way that one wants them to do something
- in black and white — without colour
- in complete flower — a flower without one or more of the normal parts, as carpels, sepals, petals, pistils, or stamens.
- in compliance with — in accordance with
- inverse square law — one of several laws relating two quantities such that one quantity varies inversely as the square of the other, as the law that the illumination produced on a screen by a point source varies inversely as the square of the distance of the screen from the source.
- jewel in the crown — the most valuable, esteemed, or successful person or thing of a number
- junior lightweight — a boxer weighing up to 130 pounds (58.5 kg), between featherweight and lightweight.
- kill with kindness — to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay. Synonyms: slaughter, massacre, butcher; hang, electrocute, behead, guillotine, strangle, garrote; assassinate.
- kirtland's warbler — a wood warbler, Dendroica kirtlandii, breeding only in north-central Michigan and wintering in the Bahamas, bluish gray above, striped with black and pale yellow below: an endangered species.
- law of segregation — the principle, originated by Gregor Mendel, stating that during the production of gametes the two copies of each hereditary factor segregate so that offspring acquire one factor from each parent.
- lawrence of arabia — D(avid) H(erbert) 1885–1930, English novelist.
- lesser whitethroat — an Old World warbler, Sylvia curruca, having a greyish-brown plumage with a white throat and underparts
- light middleweight — an amateur boxer weighing 67–71 kg (148–157 pounds)
- light welterweight — an amateur boxer weighing 60–63.5 kg (132–140 pounds)
- live by one's wits — the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure. Synonyms: drollery, facetiousness, waggishness, repartee.
- long hundredweight — a hundredweight of 112 pounds (50.8 kg), the usual hundredweight in Great Britain, but now rare in the U.S.
- lower palaeolithic — the earliest of the three sections of the Palaeolithic, beginning about 3 million years ago and ending about 70 000 bc with the emergence of Neanderthal man
- lyophilized powder — Lyophilized powder is a freeze-dried powder.
- mechanical drawing — drawing, as of machinery, done with the aid of rulers, scales, compasses, etc.
- mendel's first law — the principle, originated by Gregor Mendel, stating that during the production of gametes the two copies of each hereditary factor segregate so that offspring acquire one factor from each parent.
- milkweed butterfly — monarch butterfly.
- mixed-flow turbine — a water turbine in which water flows radially and axially through the rotating vanes
- mobility allowance — an allowance paid by the government to help people who have limited mobility
- mop the floor with — that part of a room, hallway, or the like, that forms its lower enclosing surface and upon which one walks.
- multiflow computer — (company) A now-defunct computer company, best known for its work in Very Long Instruction Word processors. Address: New Haven, Conn. USA.
- multiple ownership — ownership by several people or organizations
- nailed to the wall — [like a trophy] Said of a bug finally eliminated after protracted, and even heroic, effort.
- negative cash flow — the situation when income is less than payments
- new american bible — an English translation of the Bible based on the original languages, prepared by Catholic Biblical scholars, and first published in 1970.
- new zealand on air — the operational name for the New Zealand Broadcasting Commission
- new zealand pigeon — a large fruit-eating native pigeon, Hemiphagia novaeseelandiae, of forest areas
- norwegian elkhound — one of a breed of dogs having a short, compact body, short, pointed ears, and a thick, gray coat, raised originally in Norway for hunting elk and other game.
- now you're talking — at last you're saying something agreeable
- oil of wintergreen — methyl salicylate.
- oriental scops owl — any of a group of small owls having ear tufts and a whistling call, especially Otus scops (Old World scops owl) and O. sunia (Oriental scops owl)
- percussion welding — a form of resistance welding in which the required pressure is provided by a hammerlike blow.
- pileolated warbler — either of two western subspecies of Wilson's warbler.
- plate-glass window — a window that has glass which has been formed by rolling
- precipitable water — the total water vapor contained in a unit vertical column of the atmosphere.
- prerelease showing — a showing of a film before it goes on general release
- presumption of law — a presumption based upon a policy of law or a general rule and not upon the facts or evidence in an individual case.
- przewalski's horse — a wild horse, Equus caballus przevalskii, chiefly of Mongolia and Sinkiang, characterized by light yellow coloring and a stiff, upright black mane with no forelock: the only remaining breed of wild horse, it is now endangered and chiefly maintained in zoos.
- reinvent the wheel — (jargon) To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is often a valid criticism. On the other hand, automobiles don't use wooden rollers, and some kinds of wheel have to be reinvented many times before you get them right. On the third hand, people reinventing the wheel do tend to come up with the moral equivalent of a trapezoid with an offset axle.
- resistance welding — welding utilizing pressure and heat that is generated in the pieces to be welded by resistance to an electric current.
- revolutionary wars — American Revolution.
- rhode island white — one of a dual-purpose American breed of chickens having white feathers and a rose comb.
- rosebay willowherb — a perennial onagraceous plant, Chamerion (formerly Epilobium) angustifolium, that has spikes of deep pink flowers and is widespread in open places throughout N temperate regions
- rub shoulders with — to mix with socially or associate with
- salem witch trials — 17th-century witchcraft case
- schleswig-holstein — two contiguous duchies of Denmark that were a center of international tension in the 19th century: Prussia annexed Schleswig 1864 and Holstein 1866.