17-letter words containing w, e
- boiler horsepower — a unit of measurement of the ability of a boiler to evaporate water, usually given as the ability to evaporate 34½ pounds (15.6 kg) of water an hour, into dry saturated steam from and at 212°F (100°C).
- bone marrow donor — a person who donates bone marrow
- bow street runner — (in Britain from 1749 to 1829) an officer at Bow Street magistrates' court, London, whose duty was to pursue and arrest criminals
- bowel obstruction — a blockage in the bowel
- boys will be boys — If you say boys will be boys, for example when a group of men are behaving noisily or aggressively, you are suggesting in a light-hearted way that this is typical male behaviour and will never change.
- breakdown service — a service that provides assistance to motorists who break down
- breakdown voltage — the minimum applied voltage that would cause a given insulator or electrode to break down.
- broad-winged hawk — an American hawk, Buteo platypterus, dark brown above and white barred with rufous below.
- broadview heights — a town in N Ohio.
- broken white line — a regular, discontinuous white line on a roadway, indicating that overtaking is permitted
- brownian movement — random movement of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid, caused by bombardment of the particles by molecules of the fluid. First observed in 1827, it provided strong evidence in support of the kinetic theory of molecules
- browserconfig.xml — (web) A Microsoft configuration file used to customise the appearance and behaviour of website links pinned to the Windows start screen or desktop taskbar. browserconfig.xml allows the site owner to specify things like badges and tile images.
- bull of the woods — the foreman of a logging operation.
- bull's-eye window — bull's-eye (def 7).
- bury the tomahawk — to stop fighting; make peace
- camberwell beauty — a nymphalid butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, of temperate regions, having dark purple wings with cream-yellow borders
- camberwell carrot — a large, almost conical, marijuana cigarette
- canadian pondweed — a North American aquatic plant, Elodea (or Anacharis) canadensis, naturalized in Europe, having crowded dark green leaves: family Hydrocharitaceae. It is used in aquariums
- canarybird flower — a nasturtium, Tropaeolum peregrinum, of Peru, having round, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
- capital allowance — the practice of allowing a certain amount of money spent by a company on fixed assets to be taken off the profits of the company before tax is imposed
- caribou codeworks — (company) The company which sells QTRADER. Director of Marketing: Norm Larsen <[email protected]>.
- celebrity wedding — a wedding of famous people, usually reported at length in celebrity magazines
- character witness — a witness in a trial who testifies to the accused's general good character rather than providing evidence about the specific offence which has led to him or her being on trial
- charles henry dow — Charles Henry, 1851–1902, U.S. journalist and publisher: a founder of Dow Jones company.
- charles townshend — Charles, 1725–67, English politician, chancellor of the exchequer for whom the Townshend Acts are named.
- circle the wagons — to take defensive action; prepare for an attack: from arranging a wagon train in a circular formation
- close to the wind — sailing as nearly as possible towards the direction from which the wind is blowing
- closing-down sale — a sale held to clear stock from a shop that is ceasing to operate
- cock of the woods — pileated woodpecker.
- cocktail waitress — a woman who serves in a bar or cocktail lounge
- consolidated laws — a body of laws collected together in a single codifying statute
- consumer watchdog — an organization or government agency that campaigns for consumers
- contingent worker — a temporary or contract worker, especially one hired for one task or project.
- contraflow system — a system of traffic lanes whose normal direction is reversed to allow traffic to move during repairs or an accident
- converged network — (networking) A single network that can carry voice, video and data.
- costume jewellery — Costume jewellery is jewellery made from cheap materials.
- crew-neck sweater — a sweater with a crew neck
- cromwellian chair — an upright oaken chair, often with arms, having all pieces turned and a seat and back panel of leather or cloth attached with brass-headed nails.
- crossover network — an electronic network in a loudspeaker system that separates the signal into two or more frequency bands, the lower frequencies being fed to a woofer, the higher frequencies to a tweeter
- darwinian fitness — fitness (def 3).
- darwinian-fitness — health.
- dead in the water — If you say that someone or something is dead in the water, you are emphasizing that they have failed, and that there is little hope of them being successful in the future.
- dead to the world — unaware of one's surroundings, esp fast asleep or very drunk
- deathwatch beetle — a beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum, whose woodboring larvae are a serious pest. The adult produces a rapid tapping sound with its head that was once popularly supposed to presage death
- deepwater horizon — an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, 40 miles (64km) south-east off the coast of Louisiana, that suffered a massive oil spill following an explosion in April 2010
- diocletian window — a window in the form of a round-headed archway with a narrower compartment on either side, the side compartments usually being capped with entablatures on which the arch of the central compartment rests.
- dow jones average — The Dow Jones Average is a daily measurement of stock-exchange prices, based on the average price of a selected number of securities.
- down in the dumps — If you are down in the dumps, you are feeling very depressed and miserable.
- down the plughole — If you say that something has gone down the plughole, you mean that it has failed or has been lost or wasted.
- down-at-the-heels — of a shabby, run-down appearance; seedy: He is rapidly becoming a down-at-heel drifter and a drunk.