17-letter words containing w, i, l, e, s
- spin one's wheels — a circular frame or disk arranged to revolve on an axis, as on or in vehicles or machinery.
- swaddling clothes — cloth for wrapping around a baby
- tell its own tale — to be self-evident
- the final whistle — a blast on a referee's whistle to indicate that a game is over
- the lower animals — relatively simple or primitive animals and not mammals or vertebrates
- the lower regions — hell
- the outside world — You can use the outside world to refer to all the people who do not live in a particular place or who are not involved in a particular situation.
- three-strikes law — a law that mandates a life sentence to a felon convicted for the third time.
- tiger swallowtail — a yellow swallowtail butterfly, Papilio glaucus, of eastern North America, having the forewings striped with black.
- to oil the wheels — If someone or something oils the wheels of a process or system, they help things to run smoothly and successfully.
- turkish towelling — woven cloth which is used to make towels, wash cloths, etc
- twelve patriarchs — any of the sons of Jacob ((the twelve patriarchs),) from whom the tribes of Israel were descended.
- 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.
- wage-price spiral — a situation in which wage and price increases drive each other upward and cause inflation
- 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
- weather satellite — meteorological satellite.
- weeping lovegrass — any grass of the genus Eragrostis, as E. curvula (weeping lovegrass) and E. trichodes (sand lovegrass) cultivated as forage and ground cover.
- 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-accomplished — completed; done; effected: an accomplished fact.
- well-investigated — to examine, study, or inquire into systematically; search or examine into the particulars of; examine in detail.
- welsh nationalism — the political belief that Wales should be independent
- welsh nationalist — a person who believes that Wales should be independent
- western australia — a state in W Australia. 975,920 sq. mi. (2,527,635 sq. km). Capital: Perth.
- wet one's whistle — to make a clear musical sound, a series of such sounds, or a high-pitched, warbling sound by the forcible expulsion of the breath through a small opening formed by contracting the lips, or through the teeth, with the aid of the tongue.
- 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.
- white blood cells — any of various nearly colorless cells of the immune system that circulate mainly in the blood and lymph and participate in reactions to invading microorganisms or foreign particles, comprising the B cells, T cells, macrophages, monocytes, and granulocytes.
- 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)
- 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.
- wild sweet potato — man-of-the-earth.
- 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
- 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.
- windowglass shell — capiz.
- wireless internet — access to the internet without a cable
- wireless operator — a radio operator
- wish someone well — to wish success or good fortune for someone
- woolly rhinoceros — an extinct rhinoceros; Coelodonta antiquitatis
- worth one's while — a period or interval of time: to wait a long while; He arrived a short while ago.
- 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.