17-letter words containing w
- between two fires — between two attacks; shot at, criticized, etc. from both sides
- biological weapon — a weapon which uses a biological agent to harm people and other living organisms
- black swallowtail — the tail of a swallow or a deeply forked tail like that of a swallow.
- black swallowwort — celandine (def 1).
- black-water fever — a form of babesiosis seen in cattle, deer, bison, water buffalo, African buffalo, and reindeer; characterized by fever, depression, jaundice, dark red-black discolouration of the urine, anaemia, and death
- blackpoll warbler — a North American warbler, Dendroica striata, the adult male of which has the top of the head black.
- blackwells island — a former name of Roosevelt Island.
- blow hot and cold — to vacillate
- blow someone away — to kill by shooting
- blowout preventer — A blowout preventer is a valve that can be closed when there is uncontrolled flow of fluids.
- blowpipe analysis — a type of chemical analysis in which the intensely hot flame of a blowpipe vaporizes a mineral or other substance with a characteristically colored flame and a unique odor, so as to identify chemical elements in a substance
- blue sky software — eHelp Corporation
- boatswain's chair — a seat consisting of a short flat board slung from ropes, used to support a person working on the side of a vessel or in its rigging
- 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
- buys ballot's law — a law stating that if an observer stands with his back to the wind in the N hemisphere, atmospheric pressure is lower on his left, and vice versa in the S hemisphere
- buys-ballot's law — the law stating that if one stands with one's back to the wind, in the Northern Hemisphere the atmospheric pressure will be lower on one's left and in the Southern Hemisphere it will be lower on one's right: descriptive of the relationship of horizontal winds to atmospheric pressure.
- 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.
- circassian walnut — the hard, heavy, brown or purplish wood of the English walnut
- circle the wagons — to take defensive action; prepare for an attack: from arranging a wagon train in a circular formation
- circuit switching — (communications) Communication via a single dedicated path between the sender and receiver. The telephone system is an example of a circuit switched network. The term connection-oriented is used in packet-based networks in contrast to connectionless communication or packet switching.
- classical pathway — the activation of complement by an antigen-antibody reaction. Compare alternative pathway.
- 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