17-letter words containing w, e, m
- swash plate motor — a collar or face plate on a shaft that is inclined at an oblique angle to the axis of rotation and converts reciprocating motion to rotation
- sweet mock orange — the syringa, Philadelphus coronarius.
- sword of damocles — Damocles (def 2).
- tanenbaum, andrew — Andrew Tanenbaum
- the lower animals — relatively simple or primitive animals and not mammals or vertebrates
- the lower mammals — relatively simple or primitive mammals
- the new jerusalem — the de facto capital of Israel (recognition of this has been withheld by the United Nations), situated in the Judaean hills: became capital of the Hebrew kingdom after its capture by David around 1000 bc; destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 bc; taken by the Romans in 63 bc; devastated in 70 ad and 135 ad during the Jewish rebellions against Rome; fell to the Arabs in 637 and to the Seljuk Turks in 1071; ruled by Crusaders from 1099 to 1187 and by the Egyptians and Turks until conquered by the British (1917); centre of the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, when the Arabs took the old city and the Jews held the new city; unified after the Six Day War (1967) under the Israelis; the holy city of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Pop: 693 200 (2003 est)
- the show-me state — the nickname of the US state of Missouri, which comes from its inhabitants' reputation for scepticism
- thermal underwear — underwear designed to retain body heat in cold temperatures.
- twelfth amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1804, providing for election of the president and vice president by the electoral college: should there be no majority vote for one person, the House of Representatives (one vote per state) chooses the president and the Senate the vice president.
- twelve-mile limit — the offshore boundary of a state, extending 12 miles (19 km) at sea.
- unlawful assembly — a meeting of three or more people with the intent of carrying out any unlawful purpose
- verticillium wilt — a disease affecting many temperate-climate plants in hot weather, caused by soil-inhabiting fungi of the genus Verticillium and characterized by wilt, dulling or yellowing of leaf color, and withering near the base.
- wade-giles system — a system of Romanization of Chinese, devised by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (1818–95) and adapted by Herbert Allen Giles (1845–1935), widely used in representing Chinese words and names in English, especially before the adoption of pinyin.
- waianae mountains — a mountain range in W Oahu, Hawaii. Highest peak, Mount Kaala, 4025 feet (1228 meters).
- waist measurement — a measure of the circumference of the narrowest part of a person's waist
- waiver of premium — a provision in a policy establishing specific conditions under which the policy will be kept in force without the policyholder's being required to continue to pay premiums.
- walk-in apartment — a ground-floor apartment having a private entrance directly from the street, rather than through a hallway of the building.
- 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.
- warm-up exercises — preparatory exercises done to warm up the muscles
- water lily family — the plant family Nymphaeaceae, characterized by aquatic herbaceous plants having usually broad leaves, solitary, often showy flowers, and fruit in a variety of forms, and including the lotus (genus Nelumbo), spatterdock, water lily, and water shield.
- wave-cut platform — a flat surface at the base of a cliff formed by erosion by waves
- wearable computer — a small computer that is worn or carried on the body; a wearable computing device: a wrist-worn wearable computer with a head-mounted display.
- 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.
- well-accommodated — to do a kindness or a favor to; oblige: to accommodate a friend by helping him move to a new apartment.
- well-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.
- well-demonstrated — to make evident or establish by arguments or reasoning; prove: to demonstrate a philosophical principle.
- well-woman clinic — a health-service clinic for preventive monitoring, health education, and advice for women
- welsh nationalism — the political belief that Wales should be independent
- welshman's button — an angler's name for a species of caddis fly, Sericostoma personatum
- westminster abbey — a Gothic church in London, England.
- weston-super-mare — a town and resort in SW England, in North Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, on the Bristol Channel. Pop: 78 044 (2001)
- 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.
- white book cd-rom — (hardware, standard) A more open CD-ROM standard than Green Book CD-ROM. All films mastered on CD-ROM after March 1994 use White Book. Like Green Book, it is ISO 9660 compliant, uses mode 2 form 2 addressing and can only be played on a CD-ROM drive which is XA (Extended Architecture) compatible. White book CDs are labelled "Video CD".
- white-nationalism — white supremacy.
- whitesmiths style — (programming) An obsolete and deprecated source code indent style popularised by the examples that came with Whitesmiths C, an early commercial C compiler. Basic indent per level is eight spaces, occasionally four. if (cond) { } (2014-09-24)
- 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.
- windows messaging — (messaging) Microsoft's Internet electronic mail application, formerly called Microsoft Exchange.
- wire entanglement — a barbed-wire obstacle, usually mounted on posts and zigzagged back and forth along a front, designed to channel, delay, or halt an advance by enemy foot soldiers.
- wish someone well — to wish success or good fortune for someone
- withdrawal method — a method of contraception in which the man withdraws his penis from the woman's vagina before ejaculation
- witness statement — account of sb who saw an incident
- woman of the hour — a woman honored by a group.
- women's institute — (in Britain and Commonwealth countries) a society for women interested in the problems of the home and in engaging in social activities
- wood meadow grass — a coarse, spreading grass, Poa nemoralis, of Eurasia, having flowers in long, narrow clusters.
- wrangell-mountain — Mount, an active volcano in SE Alaska, in the Wrangell Mountains. 14,006 feet (4269 meters).
- 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.