18-letter words containing w, h, a
- short-tailed shrew — a grayish-black shrew, Blarina brevicauda, common in eastern North America, that has a tail less than half the length of the body.
- slow on the uptake — slow to understand or learn
- south saskatchewan — a river in W Canada, flowing E from S Alberta and joining the North Saskatchewan River to form the Saskatchewan River. 865 miles (1392 km) long.
- sow dragon's teeth — to take some action that is intended to prevent strife or trouble but that actually brings it about
- spike-tooth harrow — a harrow equipped with straight teeth on horizontal bars, usually employed to smooth and level plowed soil or seedbeds for planting or sowing.
- stomach sweetbread — sweetbread (def 1).
- submarine sandwich — a sandwich made with a long cylindrical bread roll
- swedish gymnastics — a system of passive and active exercising of muscles and joints
- swollen-headedness — the quality of being conceited
- take the wraps off — to reveal
- talk between ships — TBS (def 1).
- the bird has flown — the person in question has fled or escaped
- the cat's whiskers — a person or thing that is excellent or superior
- the operative word — If you describe a word as the operative word, you want to draw attention to it because you think it is important or exactly true in a particular situation.
- the powers that be — You can refer to people in authority as the powers that be, especially when you want to say that you disagree with them or do not understand what they say or do.
- the weather bureau — the national agency responsible for collecting data about the weather and issuing forecasts
- the welsh assembly — the elected assembly for Wales, based in Cardiff, that has certain powers devolved from the UK government
- the worse for wear — If you say that someone is the worse for wear, you mean that they are tired, ill, or in a bad state because they have been very active, been through a difficult experience, or been drinking alcohol.
- to find fault with — If you find fault with something or someone, you look for mistakes and complain about them.
- to plough a furrow — If you say that someone ploughs a particular furrow or ploughs their own furrow, you mean that their activities or interests are different or isolated from those of other people.
- to sweep the board — If someone sweeps the board in a competition or election, they win nearly everything that it is possible to win.
- to watch your step — If someone tells you to watch your step, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
- townsend avalanche — avalanche (def 3).
- two-chamber system — the system of having two parliamentary chambers, as the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the United Kingdom
- warehouse capacity — the amount of storage space in a warehouse
- watchdog committee — a committee responsible for monitoring standards of behaviour
- water of hydration — the portion of a hydrate that is represented as, or can be expelled as, water: now usually regarded as being in true molecular combination with the other atoms of the compound, and not existing in the compound as water.
- water on the brain — hydrocephalus.
- wave of the future — a trend or development that may influence or become a significant part of the future: Computerization is the wave of the future.
- weather forecaster — meteorologist
- welland ship canal — a ship canal in S Canada, in Ontario, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario: 8 locks. 25 miles (40 km) long.
- wernicke's aphasia — a type of aphasia caused by a lesion in Wernicke's area of the brain and characterized by grammatical but more or less meaningless speech and an apparent inability to comprehend speech.
- wesleyan methodist — a member of any of the churches founded on the evangelical principles of John Wesley.
- west-northwestward — moving, bearing, facing, or situated toward the west-northwest.
- west-southwestward — moving, bearing, facing, or situated toward the west-southwest.
- westinghouse brake — a railroad air brake operated by compressed air.
- what has become of — If you wonder what has become of someone or something, you wonder where they are and what has happened to them.
- wheelchair housing — housing designed or adapted for a chairbound person
- whispering gallery — a space or gallery beneath a dome or broad arch in which low sounds produced at any of certain points are clearly audible at certain other distant points.
- white man's burden — the alleged duty of white colonizers to care for nonwhite indigenous subjects in their colonial possessions.
- white-collar crime — any of various crimes, as embezzlement, fraud, or stealing office equipment, committed by business or professional people while working at their occupations.
- white-faced hornet — any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro (giant hornet) introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata (bald-faced hornet or white-faced hornet) of North America.
- white-spotted hyla — a type of tree frog (H. leucophyllata) of tropical America
- whitewater rafting — the sport of rafting down fast-flowing rivers, esp over rapids
- whittaker chambers — Robert, 1802–71, Scottish publisher and editor.
- widemouth blindcat — any of several catfishes, as Satan eurystomus (widemouth blindcat) of Texas, that inhabit underground streams and have undeveloped eyes and unpigmented skin.
- wilson's phalarope — a phalarope, Phalaropus tricolor, that breeds in the prairie regions of North America and winters in Argentina and Chile.
- witch hazel family — the plant family Hamamelidaceae, characterized by trees and shrubs having alternate, simple leaves, flowers in clusters or heads, and fruit in the form of a double-beaked woody capsule, and including the sweet gum, witch alder, and witch hazel.
- withdrawal symptom — effects of stopping a drug
- without hesitation — immediately, willingly