17-letter words containing w, e, i, r, s
- waist measurement — a measure of the circumference of the narrowest part of a person's waist
- wang laboratories — (body) Computer manufacturer, known for their office automation products and the Wang PC. Quarterly sales $208M, profits $3M (Aug 1994).
- war establishment — the full wartime complement of men, equipment, and vehicles of a military unit
- wardrobe mistress — a woman in charge of keeping theatrical costumes cleaned, pressed, and in wearable condition.
- warehouse receipt — a receipt for goods placed in a warehouse.
- warehousing costs — the costs involved in storing goods in a warehouse
- warm-up exercises — preparatory exercises done to warm up the muscles
- warsaw convention — a multilateral treaty on aviation set up chiefly to limit air carriers' liability to passengers and shippers on international flights in the event of an accident.
- washington square — a short novel (1881) by Henry James.
- weapons inspector — a person who inspects a country's weapons
- weather satellite — meteorological satellite.
- weather-resistant — resisting the effects of severe weather, as rain or cold: weather-resistant cloth for topcoats.
- wedding breakfast — meal served at wedding reception
- weeping lovegrass — any grass of the genus Eragrostis, as E. curvula (weeping lovegrass) and E. trichodes (sand lovegrass) cultivated as forage and ground cover.
- weigh one's words — a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes black·bird· from black· bird·. Words are usually separated by spaces in writing, and are distinguished phonologically, as by accent, in many languages.
- welfare economics — a branch of economics concerned with improving human welfare and social conditions chiefly through the optimum distribution of wealth, the relief or reduction of unemployment, etc.
- west three rivers — a town in S Quebec, in E Canada.
- western australia — a state in W Australia. 975,920 sq. mi. (2,527,635 sq. km). Capital: Perth.
- westminster abbey — a Gothic church in London, England.
- wheatstone bridge — a circuit for measuring an unknown resistance by comparing it with known resistances.
- whiskey rebellion — a revolt of settlers in western Pennsylvania in 1794 against a federal excise tax on whiskey: suppressed by militia called out by President George Washington to establish the authority of the federal government.
- whistler's mother — (formal name, Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother) a painting (1871) by James McNeill Whistler.
- wild service tree — either of two European trees, Sorbus domestica, bearing a small, acid fruit that is edible when overripe, or S. torminalis (wild service tree) bearing a similar fruit.
- william shoemaker — William Lee ("Willie") 1931–2003, U.S. jockey.
- williams syndrome — an abnormality in the genes involved in calcium metabolism, resulting in learning difficulties
- wimshurst machine — a device for the production of electric charge by electrostatic induction, consisting of two oppositely rotating glass or mica disks carrying metal strips upon which charges are induced and subsequently removed by contact with metallic combs.
- winchester bushel — a unit of dry measure containing 4 pecks, equivalent in the U.S. (and formerly in England) to 2150.42 cubic inches or 35.24 liters (Winchester bushel) and in Great Britain to 2219.36 cubic inches or 36.38 liters (Imperial bushel) Abbreviation: bu., bush.
- winding staircase — long set of spiral stairs
- windscreen washer — a small nozzle on the bonnet of a motor vehicle, from which jets of water are squirted electronically onto the windscreen to help clean it
- wireless internet — access to the internet without a cable
- wireless operator — a radio operator
- wood preservative — a coating applied to timber as a protection against decay, insects, weather, etc
- woolly rhinoceros — an extinct rhinoceros; Coelodonta antiquitatis
- working substance — a substance, usually a fluid, that undergoes changes in pressure, temperature, volume, or form as part of a process for accomplishing work.
- worth one's while — a period or interval of time: to wait a long while; He arrived a short while ago.
- wring one's hands — If someone wrings their hands, they hold them together and twist and turn them, usually because they are very worried or upset about something. You can also say that someone is wringing their hands when they are expressing sorrow that a situation is so bad but are saying that they are unable to change it.
- wuthering heights — a novel (1846) by Emily Brontë.
- yellow journalism — a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nm.
- yellowstone river — river flowing from NW Wyo. through Mont. into the Missouri River: 671 mi (1,080 km)
- zebra swallowtail — a swallowtail butterfly, Papilio marcellus, having black and greenish-white stripes on the wings.