12-letter words containing l, w
- bladder worm — an encysted saclike larva of the tapeworm. The main types are cysticercus, hydatid, and coenurus
- bladderwrack — any of several seaweeds of the genera Fucus and Ascophyllum, esp F. vesiculosus, that grow in the intertidal regions of rocky shores and have branched brown fronds with air bladders
- blow by blow — precisely detailed; describing every minute detail and step: a blow-by-blow account of the tennis match; a blow-by-blow report on the wedding ceremony.
- blow molding — Blow molding is a process for forming plastic objects in which plastic is melted, put in a mold, and then shaped by having compressed air blown into it.
- blow through — to leave; make off
- blow-by-blow — A blow-by-blow account of an event describes every stage of it in great detail.
- blow-molding — the sound of any vapor or gas issuing from a vent under pressure.
- blue dogwood — a shrub or small tree, Cornus alternifolia, of eastern North America, having clusters of white flowers and bluish fruit.
- blue swimmer — an edible bluish Australian swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus
- blue whiting — a fish of the cod family, Micromesistius poutassou
- blue-sky law — a state law regulating the trading of securities: intended to protect investors from fraud
- boil down to — If you say that a situation or problem boils down to a particular thing or can be boiled down to a particular thing, you mean that this is the most important or the most basic aspect of it.
- boiled sweet — Boiled sweets are hard sweets that are made from boiled sugar.
- bottled wine — wine that has been transferred from barrel to bottle
- bottlewasher — a person or machine that washes bottles.
- bowdlerizing — to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
- bowel cancer — cancer of the colon
- bowling ball — a round, heavy ball for bowling, usually made of hard rubber or plastic, with holes drilled into it for the bowler's thumb and two fingers.
- breast wheel — a waterwheel onto which the propelling water is fed at the height of a horizontal axle.
- brooks's law — (programming) "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" - a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting work among N programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N), but the complexity and communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of "The Mythical Man-Month". The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as "Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice; too often, management still does. See also creationism, second-system effect, optimism.
- brown hackle — an artificial fly having a peacock herl body, golden tag and tail, and brown hackle.
- brush flower — a flower or inflorescence with numerous long stamens, usually pollinated by birds or bats
- bullet wound — a wound made by a bullet
- by wholesale — at wholesale
- call waiting — Call waiting is a telephone service that sends you a signal if another call arrives while you are already on the phone.
- cam follower — the slider or roller in contact with the cam that transmits the movement dictated by the cam profile
- capped elbow — a swelling of the elbow of a horse due to irritation caused by the hoof striking the elbow when lying down.
- cartwheeling — Present participle of cartwheel.
- cashew apple — the soft, swollen, pear-shaped stalk of the cashew tree, to which a cashew nut is attached: used in preserves and wine.
- cassel brown — Vandyke brown.
- caterwauling — the shrieking and yowling made by a cat, for example when it is on heat or fighting
- cathode glow — a luminous region between the Aston dark space and the Crookes dark space in a vacuum tube, occurring when the pressure is low.
- cauliflowers — Plural form of cauliflower.
- cave dweller — a prehistoric person; person who lives in a cave
- center wheel — the wheel driving the minute and hour hands of a timepiece.
- charles drew — Charles Richard, 1904–50, U.S. physician: developer of blood-bank technique.
- charles' law — the principle that all gases expand equally for the same rise of temperature if they are held at constant pressure: also that the pressures of all gases increase equally for the same rise of temperature if they are held at constant volume. The law is now known to be only true for ideal gases
- childcrowing — a disease which causes spasms of the vocal cords
- chili powder — Chili powder is a very hot-tasting powder made mainly from dried chilies. It is used in cooking.
- chinese wall — a notional barrier between the parts of a business, esp between the market makers and brokers of a stock-exchange business, across which no information should pass to the detriment of clients
- chip jewelry — (jargon) A euphamism for old computers destined to be scrapped or turned into decorative ornaments. "I paid three grand for that Mac SE, and now it's nothing but chip jewelry."
- cigar flower — the common name for a small, shrubby plant, Cuphea ignea, of the loosestrife family, native to Mexico and Jamaica, grown as an ornamental and houseplant: named for its red tubular flowers that resemble cigars.
- circular saw — A circular saw is a round metal disk with a sharp edge which is used for cutting wood and other materials.
- city dweller — a resident or inhabitant of a city
- clam chowder — chowder containing clams
- claw hatchet — a hatchet with a claw at one end of its head for extracting nails
- claw setting — a jewellery setting with clawlike prongs
- clean bowled — bowled by a ball that breaks the wicket without hitting the batsman or his bat
- clos network — (networking) A type of network topology that can connect N inputs to N outputs with less that N^2 crosspoint switches.
- clownishness — The state of being clownish.