22-letter words containing w, e, r, d
- read between the lines — a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
- sell sb down the river — If someone sells you down the river, they betray you for some personal profit or advantage.
- special drawing rights — the reserve assets of the International Monetary Fund on which member nations may draw in proportion to their contribution to the Fund
- the end of the rainbow — If you say that something is at the end of the rainbow, you mean that people want it but it is almost impossible to obtain or achieve.
- the french west indies — various islands in the Lesser Antilles, administered by France; chiefly Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of Saint Martin. Pop: 838 000 (2004 est). Area: 2792 sq km (1077 sq miles)
- the great leap forward — the attempt by the People's Republic of China in 1959–60 to solve the country's economic problems by labour-intensive industrialization
- three-wattled bellbird — any of several birds having a loud bell-like cry, especially Anthornis melanura, a honey eater of New Zealand, and Procnias tricarunculata (three-wattled bellbird) of Central America.
- to bend over backwards — If you say that someone is bending over backwards to be helpful or kind, you are emphasizing that they are trying very hard to be helpful or kind.
- to cast your net wider — If you cast your net wider, you look for or consider a greater variety of things.
- to draw someone's fire — If you draw fire from someone, you cause them to shoot at you, for example because they think that you are threatening them.
- to drown one's sorrows — If you say that someone is drowning their sorrows, you mean that they are drinking alcohol in order to forget something sad or upsetting that has happened to them.
- to get/be carried away — If you get carried away or are carried away, you are so eager or excited about something that you do something hasty or foolish.
- to have had a good war — to have made the most of the opportunities presented to one during wartime
- to swallow one's pride — If you swallow your pride, you decide to do something even though you think it will cause you to lose some respect.
- to twiddle your thumbs — If you say that someone is twiddling their thumbs, you mean that they do not have anything to do and are waiting for something to happen.
- twenty-first amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1933, providing for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, which had outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
- twenty-third amendment — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1961, allowing District of Columbia residents to vote in presidential elections.
- van der waals equation — an equation of state relating the pressure, volume, and absolute temperature of a gas, taking into account the finite size of the molecules and the attractive force between them.
- wardour street english — affectedly archaic speech or writing
- was not born yesterday — is not gullible or foolish
- water under the bridge — If you say that an event or incident is water under the bridge, you mean that it has happened and cannot now be changed, so there is no point in worrying about it any more.
- west greenland current — an ocean current flowing northward along the west coast of Greenland.
- what's the difference? — what does it matter?
- white-throated sparrow — a common North American finch, Zonotrichia albicollis, having a white patch on the throat and a black and white striped crown.
- whitworth screw thread — a thread form and system of standard sizes, proposed by Whitworth in 1841 and adopted as standard in the U.K., having a flank angle of 55° and a rounded top and foot
- wi-fi protected access — (networking, security) (WPA) A security scheme for wireless networks, developed by the networking industry in response to the shortcomings of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). WPA uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption and provides built-in authentication, giving security comparable to VPN tunneling with WEP, with the benefit of easier administration and use.
- windsor and maidenhead — (since 1917) a member of the present British royal family. Compare Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (def 1).
- would sooner/'d sooner — If you say that you would sooner do something or you'd sooner do it, you mean that you would prefer to do it.
- wrong end of the stick — a complete misunderstanding of a situation, explanation, etc
- yellow-shafted flicker — a North American woodpecker C. auratus, which has a yellow undersurface to the wings and tail
- your neck of the woods — Someone or something that is from your neck of the woods is from the same part of the country as you are.