17-letter words containing w, h, e, r
- great willow herb — either of two tall, large-flowered willow herbs, Epilobium angustifolium or E. hirsutum.
- great-grandnephew — a grandson of one's nephew or niece.
- greenwich village — a section of New York City, in lower Manhattan: inhabited and frequented by artists, writers, and students.
- guardhouse lawyer — a person in military service, especially an inmate of a guardhouse or brig, who is or claims to be an authority on military law, regulations, and soldiers' rights.
- guinea-hen flower — checkered lily.
- hardware platform — a group of compatible computers that can run the same software.
- hardware register — (hardware, system administration) (Or "hardware log") A list of all hardware, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer.
- harvey wallbanger — a screwdriver cocktail topped with Galliano.
- have no words for — to be incapable of describing
- high-tensile wire — wire which can withstand great strain without breaking or becoming deformed
- highways engineer — a civil engineer trained and specialized in the planning, construction, maintenance, etc of highways and roads
- hoare powerdomain — powerdomain
- homework exercise — an exercise that is set as homework
- horst wessel song — the official song of the Nazi party in Germany from 1933 to 1945.
- how's-your-father — sexual intercourse
- hurricane warning — a storm warning given for winds with speeds exceeding 63 knots (72 mph, 32 m/sec) when the source of the winds is a tropical cyclone.
- in the wilderness — If politicians or other well-known people spend time in the wilderness, they are not in an influential position or very active in their profession for that time.
- in/with regard to — You can use with regard to or in regard to to indicate the subject that is being talked or written about.
- isherwood framing — a system for framing steel vessels in which light, closely spaced, longitudinal frames are connected by heavy, widely spaced transverse frames with deep webs.
- lee harvey oswald — Lee Harvey, 1939–63, designated by a presidential commission to be the lone assassin of John F. Kennedy.
- lewis with harris — the northernmost island of the Hebrides, in NW Scotland. 825 sq. mi. (2135 sq. km).
- lowbush blueberry — a shrub, Vaccinium angustifolium, of eastern North America, having small, white flowers and blue-black fruit.
- lower forty-eight — the forty-eight conterminous states of the United States
- lower paleolithic — See under Paleolithic.
- make the worst of — to be pessimistic about
- middle of nowhere — a completely isolated, featureless, or insignificant place
- mother spleenwort — a fern, Asplenium bulbiferum, of tropical Africa and Australasia, the fronds often bearing bulbils that sprout into new plants while still attached, grown as an ornamental.
- mount fairweather — a mountain in W North America, on the border between Alaska and British Columbia. Height: 4663 m (15 300 ft)
- narrow-shouldered — having shoulders which do not extend very far from the neck; not broad-shouldered
- nashville warbler — a North American wood warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, having a gray head, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts.
- north-wall hammer — a type of ice axe that has a hammer as part of its head
- northern bobwhite — any of several American quail of the genus Colinus, especially C. virginianus (northern bobwhite) having mottled reddish-brown, black, and white plumage.
- northwest by west — a point on the compass, 11°15′ west of northwest. Abbreviation: NWbW.
- northwest passage — a ship route along the Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska, joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- number eight wire — a standard gauge of fencing wire
- number three wood — spoon (def 5).
- on the wrong foot — in an inauspicious manner
- on the wrong tack — a short, sharp-pointed nail, usually with a flat, broad head.
- pacific northwest — the region of North America lying north of the Columbia River and west of the Rockies
- pincushion flower — scabious2 (def 1).
- private ownership — the fact of being owned by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public body
- put the screws on — a metal fastener having a tapered shank with a helical thread, and topped with a slotted head, driven into wood or the like by rotating, especially by means of a screwdriver.
- quick on the draw — having fast reflexes
- roof of the world — Tibet, Plateau of.
- rough-legged hawk — a large hawk, Buteo lagopus, of the Northern Hemisphere, that feeds chiefly on small rodents.
- rub the wrong way — to subject the surface of (a thing or person) to pressure and friction, as in cleaning, smoothing, polishing, coating, massaging, or soothing: to rub a table top with wax polish; to rub the entire back area.
- scattered showers — showers that are scattered across an area, or that occur at intervals throughout the day
- schwedler's maple — a variety of the Norway maple, Acer platanoides schwedleri, producing red leaves that subsequently turn green.
- september weather — weather characteristic of the month of September, esp in being unpredictable as summer is ending and autumn is beginning
- show sb the ropes — If you show someone the ropes, you show them how to do a particular job or task.