19-letter words containing w, y
- philadelphia lawyer — a lawyer of outstanding ability at exploiting legal fine points and technicalities.
- play footsie (with) — to touch feet or rub knees (with) in a caressing way, as under the table
- play the devil with — Theology. (sometimes initial capital letter) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan. a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption.
- punch and judy show — A Punch and Judy show is a puppet show for children, often performed at fairs or at the seaside. Punch and Judy, the two main characters, are always fighting.
- punch-and-judy show — a puppet show having a conventional plot consisting chiefly of slapstick humor and the tragicomic misadventures of the grotesque, hook-nosed, humpback buffoon Punch and his wife Judy.
- saint swithin's day — July 15, superstitiously regarded as a day that, should it rain or be fair, will be followed by 40 consecutive days of like weather.
- see one's way clear — to be willing (to do something)
- sleepy hollow chair — an armchair of the mid-19th century, sometimes on rockers, having a single piece forming a high upholstered back and a concave upholstered seat.
- smooth the path/way — If you smooth the path or smooth the way towards something, you make it easier or more likely to happen.
- st. lawrence seaway — a series of channels, locks, and canals between Montreal and the mouth of Lake Ontario, a distance of 182 miles (293 km), enabling most deep-draft vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean, up the St. Lawrence River, to all the Great Lakes ports: developed jointly by the U.S. and Canada.
- strawberry geranium — a plant, Saxifraga stolonifera (or S. sarmentosa), of the saxifrage family, native to eastern Asia, that has rounded, variegated leaves and numerous threadlike stolons and is frequently cultivated as a houseplant.
- take my word for it — If you say to someone 'take my word for it', you mean that they should believe you because you are telling the truth.
- the eye of the wind — the direction from which the wind is blowing
- the world of cryton — (TWOC) A BBS for the Acorn Archimedes. Telephone: +44 (1749) 670 030 (24hrs, most speeds).
- to blow a raspberry — If you blow a raspberry, you make a sound by putting your tongue out and blowing, in order to insult someone.
- to follow your nose — If you follow your nose to get to a place, you go straight ahead or follow the most obvious route.
- to have it off/away — To have it off with someone or have it away with someone means to have sex with them.
- to lay down the law — If you say that someone lays down the law, you are critical of them because they give other people orders and they think that they are always right.
- to lick your wounds — If you say that someone is licking their wounds, you mean that they are recovering after being defeated or made to feel ashamed or unhappy.
- to pull your weight — If you pull your weight, you work as hard as everyone else who is involved in the same task or activity.
- to wet your whistle — To wet your whistle means to have a drink.
- trickle-down theory — an economic theory that monetary benefits directed especially by the government to big business will in turn pass down to and profit smaller businesses and the general public.
- twenty-six counties — the counties of the Republic of Ireland
- wade-giles (system) — a system for transliterating Chinese ideograms into the Latin alphabet, in wide use esp. before Pinyin was adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1979
- wassermann antibody — reagin (def 1).
- waste heat recovery — the use of heat that is produced in a thermodynamic cycle, as in a furnace, combustion engine, etc, in another process, such as heating feedwater or air
- wearable technology — a small computer or advanced electronic device that is worn or carried on the body: the trendiest wearable technologies.
- websters-dictionary — Informal. a dictionary of the English language, especially American English, such as Dictionary.com.
- wedding anniversary — the annual commemoration of a couple's marriage: a tenth wedding anniversary.
- welsh mountain pony — a small sturdy but graceful breed of pony used mostly for riding, originally from Wales
- wesleyan methodists — a branch of the Methodist Church in its original form
- western yellow pine — ponderosa pine.
- what possessed you? — If you ask what possessed someone to do something, you are emphasizing your great surprise that they have done something which you consider foolish or dangerous.
- what's your poison? — what would you like to drink?
- what-do-you-call-it — whachamacallit.
- whorfian hypothesis — Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
- wireless telegraphy — Now Rare. radiotelegraphy.
- with flying colours — If you pass a test with flying colours, you have done very well in the test.
- with your eyes open — If you say that you did something with your eyes open or with your eyes wide open, you mean that you knew about the problems and difficulties that you were likely to have.
- withdrawal symptoms — When someone has withdrawal symptoms, they feel ill after they have stopped taking a drug which they were addicted to.
- withdrawal syndrome — a spectrum of physical and behavioral symptoms following cessation from the continuous use of an addictive drug, the character and severity of the symptoms depending upon the particular drug and the daily dose.
- wood-and-water joey — a person employed to carry out menial tasks
- world day of prayer — the first Friday in Lent, during which Christians belonging to ecumenical communions pray for foreign missions.
- wouldn't harm a fly — If you say that someone wouldn't hurt a fly or wouldn't harm a fly, you are emphasizing that they are very kind and gentle.
- yellow book, jargon — (publication) The print version of the Jargon File, titled "The New Hacker's Dictionary". It includes essentially all the material the File, plus a Foreword by Guy L. Steele, Jr. and a Preface by Eric S. Raymond. Most importantly, the book version is nicely typeset and includes almost all of the infamous Crunchly cartoons by the Great Quux, each attached to an appropriate entry. The first, second, and third editions correspond to versions 2.9.6, 3.0.0, and 4.0.0 of the File, respectively.
- yellow-dog contract — a contract between a worker and an employer in which, as a condition of employment, the worker agrees not to remain in or join a union.
- yellowtail flounder — a righteyed flounder, Limanda ferruginea, inhabiting waters along the Atlantic coast of North America, having a yellowish tail fin and rusty-red spots on the body: once commercially important, now greatly reduced in number.
- yellowtail kingfish — a large carangid game fish, Seriola grandis, of S Australian waters