votary (en)

(noun) a sworn adherent / (noun) devotee / (noun) a devoted admirer / (noun) a devout or zealous worshipper / (noun) a staunch believer or advocate

Wagnerian (en)

relating to or characteristic of the operas of German composer Richard Wagner

Walpurgisrevel (de)

(noun) alternative way of saying "Walpurgisnacht" or "Walpurgis Night", meaning Witches' Night; feast day of Saint Walpurga

wangled (en)

obtain (something that is desired) by persuading others to comply or by manipulating events

weir (en)

(noun) a fence or enclosure set in a waterway for taking fish / (noun) a dam in a stream or river to raise the water level or divert its flow / (biographical name) Robert Walter 1803–1889 Am. painter

welkin (en)

(noun) the vault of the sky; firmament / (noun) the celestial abode of God or the gods; heaven / (noun) the upper atmosphere

whinge (en)

complain persistently and in a peevish or irritating way

wildcat strikes (en)

a strike undertaken by unionized workers without union leadership's authorization, support, or approval; sometimes termed an unofficial industrial action

William Gaddis (en)

an American novelist; one of the first and most important American postmodern writers

winnow (en)

(verb) blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff; remove (people or things) from a group until only the best ones are left

Wissahickon (en)

tributary of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania

wonted (en)

(adjective) usual or ordinary especially by reason of established habit / (verb) accustom habituate / (verb) to have the habit of doing something

wraith (en)

a ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death; or, a wisp or faint trace of something

Yalta Conference (en)

held from February 4 to 11 in Yalta, USSR, 1945; FDR, Churchill and Stalin met to discuss Europe's postwar reorganization

zaibatsu (en)

(noun) a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II

zeliglike (en)

a chameleonlike person who is unusually ubiquitous (from Woody Allen film "Zelig")

zeugma (en)

(noun) the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one (as in “opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy”)