W
wae;seewoe.
wafer-woman,a seller of wafer-cakes, freq. mentioned in the dramatists as employed in amorous embassies; ‘Am I not able . . . to deliver a letter handsomely? . . . Why every wafer-woman will undertake it’, Fletcher, Maid in the Mill, i. 3. 12; Beaumont and Fl., Woman-hater, ii. 1 (Valerio); Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (Romelio). Cp. what Chaucer says ofwafereres(C. T.C.479).
waff,to wave, waft; ‘He waffes [wafts] an armie out of France’, Warner, Albion’s England, bk. iii, ch. 18;waft, waved, beckoned; Merch. Ven. v. 1. 11. Still in prov. use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Waff, vb.11), and in the north Midlands (Dr. Henry Bradley). Seewaft(2).
waft,a passing smell or taste, a ‘twang’. A Mad World, iv. 3 (near end); speltweft, ‘Ill malting is theft, Wood-dride hath a weft’ (i.e. malt wood-dried has a tang), Tusser, Husbandry, § 84. See EDD. (s.v. Waft, sb.13).
waft,to wave; ‘Wafts her hand’, Heywood, Love’s Mistress, i. 1 (Admetus); vol. v, p. 100; to convey by water, King John, ii. 1. 73; 2 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 116; to invite by a motion of the hand, ‘Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her’, Timon, i. 1. 70; Hamlet, i. 4. 78; to turn quickly, ‘Wafting his eyes to the contrary’, Wint. Tale, i. 2. 372; to float, ‘Satan . . . now with ease wafts on the calmer wave’, Milton, P. L. ii. 1042.
waftage,passage by water, Tr. and Cr. iii. 2. 11.
wafture,the act of waving; ‘With an angry wafture of your hand’, Jul. Caes. ii. 1. 246. Seewaft(2).
wage,to stake as a wager; ‘The King hath waged with him six Barbary horses’, Hamlet, v. 2. 154; King Lear, i. 1. 158; to reward with wages, Coriolanus, v. 6. 40; to barter, exchange, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 18; to be opposed in combat, to contend, to strive, ‘To wage against the enmity o’ the air’, King Lear, ii. 4. 212; Webster, Appius, iii. 1 (Valerius); iii. 2 (Mar. Claudius).
wag-halter.Once a common term for a rogue or gallows-bird, one who is likely to make a halter wag or shake; ‘A wag-halter page’, Ford, The Fancies, i. 2; ‘Baboin, a trifling, busie or crafty knave; a crack rope, wag-halter, unhappy rogue, wretchless villain’, Cotgrave.
wagmoire,a quagmire. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 130. ‘Wagmire’ was once in prov. use in Glouc. and Devon (EDD.). Fromwag, to shake, see EDD. (s.v. Wag, 2).
wagpastie,a term of contempt; a rogue; ‘A little wagpastie, A deceiver of folkes’, Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2.
wagtail,a contemptuous term for a profligate woman. Middleton, A Trick to catch, ii. 1 (Lucre); Shirley, Traitor, ii. 1 (Sciarrha).
waift, weft,a ‘waif’, a thing cast adrift; used by Spenser of a person, ‘She was flying like a weary weft’, F. Q. v. 3. 27; vi. 1. 18,wefte, iii. 10. 36;waift, iv. 12. 31.
wailful,doleful. Two Gent. iii. 2. 69.
waistcoat,a body-dress for a woman, like a man’s waistcoat; sometimes very costly. When worn without an upper dress, it was considered the mark of a profligate woman. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. ii. 3 (Leucippe); Woman’s Prize, i. 4 (Livia); Loyal Subject, ii. 4 (Young Archas). Hencewaistcoateer, a strumpet, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. i. 1 (2 Usher); Wit without Money, iv. 4 (Luce).
wake,the feast of the dedication of a church, originally the vigil before the festival; the merry-making in connexion therewith; ‘He haunts wakes, fairs’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 109; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L. L. v. 2. 318;wake-day, Tusser, Husbandry, § 90. 5. ‘Wake’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for an annual festival and holiday, often connected with the dedication of the parish church; the fair held at such times was also so called, see EDD. (s.v. Wake, sb.18). OE.wacu, a watch, a vigil; cp.wacana(‘vigilias’) in Luke ii. 8 (Lind.).
waker,wakeful. Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover confesseth him (ed. Bell, p. 66); Golding, Metam. xi. 599; fol. 139, bk. (1603). OE.wacor, wakeful, vigilant.
wale:the wale of cloth, the ridge or rib in cloth denoting its quality; ‘Thou’rt rougher far, and of a coarser wale’, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One: Triumph of Honour, sc. i (Sophocles); Middleton, Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Easy). ME.wale, a stripe (Prompt.). OE.walu, a weal, mark of a blow (Napier, Glosses).
wales,pl.springs of water; ‘To cloudes alofte the wales and waters rise’, Mirror for Mag., Domitius Nero, st. 11; Golding, Metam. ii. 11. Probably the same word aswall, in prov. use for a spring of water in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Wall, sb.21).
walk the round,to be one of the watchmen. Massinger, Guardian, iii. 5 (Severino); to act as a watchman, go the round; B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Face).
walking mort,a grown-up unmarried whore; often a pretended widow (Cant). Described in Harman’s Caveat, p. 67 (Aydelotte, p. 27); cp. Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. 1 (Patrico).
wallope,to gallop. Morte Arthur, leaf 90. 33; bk. v, c. 11. In prov. use in the north country and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME.walloppyn, as an hors (Prompt. EETS. 538), Anglo-F.waloper, to gallop (see Bartsch, 544. 26);galoper(Rough List).
walm,a surge, bubbling up of water. Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, viii. 87. A north-country word for ‘a bubbling’ (EDD.). OE.wælm, surging water (Beowulf).
walter,to ‘welter’, roll. Peele, Sir Clyomon, l. 1. Hencewaltering, a lolling (as snakes’ tongues), Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 267 (211 of Latin text); rolling, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 498 (Latin text). In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England and E. Anglia. ME.walteryn(Prompt. EETS. 514).
†waltsome,disgusting, heinous; ‘O waltsome murder’, Mirror for Mag., Hastings, st. 30. Probably an intended improvement of ME.wlatsom, in an imitation of Chaucer: ‘Mordre is so wlatsom and abhominable’ (C. T.B.4243). OE.wlætta, disgust, nausea (Sweet).
wamble,to rumble, to roll, to stir uneasily; used of food in the stomach. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1 (Fool); Lyly, Endimion, iv. 2; ‘Allecter, to wamble as a queasie stomach doth’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England north and south, see EDD. (s.v. 1). ME.wamelynin the stomak, ‘nausio’ (Prompt. EETS. 538). Cp. Dan.vamle, to become squeamish,vammel, nauseous (Larsen).
wamentation,lamentation. Fair Em. i. 2. 73. Seewayment.
wan,a winnowing-fan. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xi. 163, 164; explained as ‘a corn-cleansefan’, id., xxiii. 416. L.vannus, a winnowing-fan. See Dict. (s.v. Fan).
wanhope,loss of hope, dejection, despair; ‘Wanhope, poor soule on broken anchor sits Wringing his armes, as robbed of his wits’, Glaucus (Nares). Still heard in Lancashire (EDD.). ME.wanhope, despair (Chaucer, C. T.A.1249). Cp. Du. ‘wanhope, dispaire’ (Hexham).
waniand:phr.in the waniand, in the waning (moon), i.e. at an unlucky time; ‘He would . . . make them wed in the waniand’, Sir T. More, Wks., p. 306 h. ME.in the waniand(Minot, ed. T. Wright, i. 87); ‘In woo to wonne in the wanyand’ (York Plays, p. 124). OE.on wanigendum mōnan(Leechdoms, i. 320);wanian, to lessen, to wane. See Dict.
wanion:phr.with a wanion, with a vengeance, with ill-luck. Pericles, ii. 1. 17; Beaumont and Fl., Knt. of B. Pestle, ii. 2 (Wife); B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 5; Eastward Ho (Nares). In prov. use in Scotland and Ireland. See above.
want,to be without, to lack. King John, iv. 1. 99; Coriolanus, i. 3. 90. Very common in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England; ‘We wanted the plague in Scotland, when they had it in England’ (Scoticisms, 105), see EDD. (s.v. Want, vb. 8).
want,absence of a person; ‘His present want’ (= the present want of him, i.e. his being absent at present), 1 Hen. IV, iv. 1. 44; Shirley, Witty Fair One, i. 1. 17.
wanty,a horse’s belly-band; a girth used for securing a load on a pack-horse. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 5. Still in prov. use in various parts of England from Yorks. to the Isle of Wight (EDD.). OE.wambbelly +tīge, a band.
wanze away,to wane, vanish, disappear; ‘And all the things that liked him did wanze away’, Golding, Metam. iii. 501; fol. 38, back (1603); ‘Which wanz’d away againe’ (L.evanuit), id., vi. 47. ‘Wanze’ is an E. Anglian word used in the sense of wasting away. ME.wanson, ‘or wanyn as the mone,decresco’ (Prompt.); OE.wansian, to lessen.
wappe,to lap, used of the sound of water against the rocks, Morte Arthur, leaf 425. 5; bk. xxi, c. 5.
†wappened,over-worn (so Schmidt). Timon, iv. 3. 38. Probably a misprint forwappered. ‘Wappered’ is a Glouc. word for tired, fatigued (EDD.). Seeunwappered.
wapper-eyed,having quick restless eyes, sore-eyed, blear-eyed. Middleton, The Black Book, ed. Dyce, v. 528. Still in use in Devon and Somerset (EDD.).
war;seewarre.
ward,a ‘side’, or compartment of the Counter, or prison. There were two Counters, one in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street. The Counter had three ‘wards’ or ‘sides’, the Master’s side, the Two-penny Ward, and the Hole; and it was not uncommon for the debtors, as their means decreased, to descend gradually from the first to the last. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, v. 4 (Carlo); v. 7 (Macilente).
ward,garrison, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 15; the guard at the gate of a castle, id., iii. 11. 21; custody, prison, ‘To commit one to ward or prison, In custodiam tradere’, Baret, Alvearie;Bible, Gen. xl. 3; 2 Hen. VI, v. 1. 112; the guard in a prison, Acts xii. 10 (AV. and Wyclif).
ward,a guard made in fencing, a posture of defence. Temp. i. 2. 471; 1 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 215.
warden,a large coarse pear used for baking, Bacon, Essay 46; Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 48; by pop. etym. a keeping pear; ‘Poire de garde, a warden or winter-pear, a pair which may be kept very long’, Cotgrave; Beaumont and Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, ii. 3 (Dorialus); speltwardon, Palsgrave. ME.wardon(e(Prompt. and Cath. Angl.). So named fromWardon(nowWarden) in Beds. The arms of Wardon Abbey were argent, three warden-pears, or. See Dict. (s.v. Wardon).
warder,a staff or truncheon carried by one who presided at a tournament or combat. Richard II, i. 3. 118 (when the ‘warder’ was thrown down, the fight was stopped). ‘They fight; Robert and the Palatinecast their wardersbetween them and part them’, Heywood, Four Prentises (stage-direction); vol. ii, p. 204.
ware,to spend money. Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 122; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 43. Very common in the north country; in Yorks. (N. Riding) they say, ‘He wares nowt, for he addles nowt’, see EDD. (sv. Ware, vb.19). ME.warynin chaffare ‘mercor’, (Prompt. EETS. 539, see note, no. 2636). Icel.verja, to clothe, to invest money, to spend.
ware,to bid any one beware; ‘I’ll ware them to mel’ (i.e. I’ll teach them to beware of meddling), Heywood, Witches of Lancs. iv (Parnell); vol. iv, p. 234.
wareless,unexpected. Spenser, F. Q. v. 1. 22; unwary, heedless, id., v. 5. 17.
warison,gift, recompense. Morte Arthur, leaf 186, back, 35; bk. ix, ch. 22. ME.warisoun, requital (Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1537);warysone(Prompt. EETS. 516). Norm. F.guarison(garison), ‘vivres, moyens de subsistance’ (Moisy, 500).
warke,work. Spenser, Shep. Kal., May, 145; F. Q. ii. 1. 32. A north-country pronunc., see EDD. (s.v. Work).
†warling(?), in the proverb, ‘Better be an old man’s darling, than a young man’s warling’, Barry, Ram. Alley, ii (Adriana); Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, pp. 80, 130). [In Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 45), ‘snarling’ is the word used instead of ‘warling’.]
warp.‘A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind’ (i.e. working themselves forward—the metaphor is of a ship), Milton, P. L. i. 341. In Scotland used of the flight of a swarm of bees, see EDD. (s.v. Warp, vb.19).
warray,to harass with war, Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 48; Fairfax, Tasso, i. 6. ME.warray, to make war (Barbour’s Bruce, see Glossary);werray(Wars Alex. 2495);werreyen(Chaucer, C. T.A.1544). Anglo-F.werreier, to make war (F.guerroyer). See Dict. (s.v. War).
warre:in phr.warre old; ‘But when the world woxe old, it woxe warre old (whereof it hight)’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 31. The meaning is that when the world grew old, it grewworse, and that fromwarre oldorwar-old, the word ‘world’ is derived; cp. Shep. Kal., Sept., 108, ‘They sayne the world is muchwarthen it wont’. The word ‘warre’ (or ‘war’) is in prov. use in the north country and in Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. War, adj.1). ME.werre, worse (Ormulum, 4898). Icel.verr, adv.,verri, adj., worse.
warrie,gnarled, knotted. Golding, Metam. viii. 743 (fol. 104; 1603); alsowarryed, id., xiii. 799. OE.wearrig, having callosities, deriv. ofwearr, a callosity (Sweet).
wary,to curse. Skelton, Magnyfycence, 2266. See EDD. (s.v. Wary, vb.2). ME.warien, to curse (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. ii. 1619), OE.wergian.
waryish;seewerish.
washical,‘what shall I call’; a name for a thing that one does not take the trouble to mention. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, v. 2 (Hodge).
wasp,used metaph. for a petulant or spiteful person. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 210; Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, iv. 3 (1 Swordsman). So used in Scotland (EDD.).
wassail,a drinking-bout, a carouse; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L. L. v. 2. 318; Macbeth, i. 7. 64; Hamlet, i. 4. 9; ‘A wassail candle’, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2. 179 (a large candle lighted up at a feast). The word ‘wassail’, well known in Yorks. in connexion with old Christmas ceremonies and festivities; for ample details, see EDD. It was originally a phrase used at a banquet. In Laȝamon, Rowena presents a cup to Vortigern with the wordswæs hail(wassail), a salutation, meaning ‘be hale, be in good health’. O. Sax.wes hēl, be hale: so in the salutation of the Virgin,hēl wis thu= Ave! (Vulgate, Luke i. 28); so also in Anglo-Saxon Gospels,hāl wes ðu!See Dict.
waster,a cudgel; ‘The youthes of this citie have used on holy dayes . . . to exercise their wasters and bucklers’, Stow’s Survey (ed. Thoms, p. 36); Mad Men of Gotham, 19 (Nares);to play at wasters, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, iv. 3 (Countryman); Burton, Anat. Mel. (Naros);to win at wasters, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, ii. 3 (Candido); ‘Bastone, any kind of cudgel, waster, or club’, Florio.
Wat,a name for a hare. Venus and Ad. 697; Drayton, Pol. xxiii. 331; Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use (EDD.). Properly a pet-name forWalter(Water).
watch,a time-piece, clock. Richard II, v. 5. 52. Probably, a candle marked out into sections, each of which was a certain portion of time in burning, Richard III, v. 3. 63.
watchet,pale blue. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 40; Marston, Malcontent, iii. 1 (Bilioso); Drayton, Pol. v. 13. ME.wachet, light blue colour (Chaucer, C. T.A.3321). See Dict.
Water,a pronunciation of the Christian name Walter, see 2 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 35. ME.WateereorWater, ‘propyr name of a man,Walterus’ (Prompt. EETS. 517, see note, no. 2530). Anglo-F.Gualtier(Ch. Rol. 2039), Norm. F.Waltier. Of Teutonic origin, cp. OE.Wealdhere(power + army), see Oldest Eng. Texts, 537.
water, to lay in;Seelay(5).
water-gall,a second rainbow seen above the first; a fragment of a rainbow appearing on the horizon; Lucrece, 1588. A Hampshire word, see EDD. (s.v. Water, 1 (50)).
water-rug,a rough kind of water-dog (?). Macbeth, iii. 1. 94.
water-work,painting executed in water-colour; ‘The German hunting in water-work’, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 158.
wawes,waves. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 4. ME.wawe, a wave (Chaucer, C. T.B.508); ‘awaweof the see’ (Wyclif, James i. 6). Icel.vāgr, a wave.
wax:phr.a man of wax, Romeo, i. 3. 76 (as pretty as if he had been modelled in wax); so,a prince of wax, Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, i. 1 (Megra). Cp. ‘a lad of wax’, ‘a man of wax’, in prov. use in Durham and west Yorks., see EDD. (s.v. Wax, sb.24), where the expressions are associated with the vb.wax(to grow).
waxen,pr. pl., they increase. Mids. Night’s D. ii. 1. 56. The ME. pres. pl. in the Midland dialect. For the geographical area of the pres. pl. inn,sn, see Wright’s English Dialect Grammar, § 435.
way,to go on one’s way, to journey; ‘As they together wayd’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 12.
way,to ‘weigh’. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 46; ‘Full many things so doubtfull to be wayd’, id., iv. 1. 7; to esteem, ‘All that she so deare did way’, id., vii. 6. 55.
wayment,to lament. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 16. ME.waymenten(Chaucer, C. T.I.230). Norm. F.guaimenter,waimenter: ‘Les virgines d’els ne guaimenterent’ (Ps. lxxvii. 69, ed. Michel, 111); see Moisy.
wealth,welfare, prosperity. Merch. Ven. v. 1. 249; Hamlet, iv. 4. 27; ‘The thinges that shuld have bene for their welth’ (AV. welfare), Ps. lxix. 23 (A.D.1539); ‘wealth, peace and godliness’, Prayer Book (Collect for King). ME.welthe, prosperity, well-being (Gower, C. A. ii. 1207).
weanell;seewennel.
wear,the fashion, that which is worn; ‘It is not the wear’, Meas. for M. iii. 2. 78.
wearish;seewerish.
weather:phr.To make fair weather, to conciliate another with fair words, Much Ado, i. 3. 25; 2 Hen. VI, v. 1. 30. Cp. the proverb, ‘Two women placed together make foul weather’, Hen. VIII, i. 4. 22.
weather-fend,to ‘defend’ from the weather. Tempest, v. 1. 10.
weave,to float backwards and forwards; ‘Amidst the billowes beating of her, Twixt life and death long to and fro she weaved’, Spenser, F. Q. v. 4. 10. See EDD.
weaver,a fish, having sharp spines; theTrachinus draco, orT. vipera. Drayton, Pol. xxv. 167. Cp. ME.wivere, a serpent (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1010); Anglo-F.wivre, a serpent, viper; esp. in blazon; L.vipera, a viper; see Dict. (s.v. Wyvern).
web and pin,a disorder of the eyesight. King Lear, iii. 4. 122;pin and web, i. 2. 291. Fromweb, a film; andpin, a small spot. In E. Anglia ‘web’ is used for a film over the eye, see EDD. (s.v. Web, 4).
weel,a wicker trap or basket used for catching eels, &c. Heywood, Anna and Phillis, vol. vi, p. 309; Tusser, Husbandry, § 36, st. 31. In gen. prov. use in the Midlands (EDD.).
weeld,the ‘weald’ of Kent; ‘I was born and lerned myn englissh in Kente in the weeld’, Caxton, Historyes of Troye, preface. See Dict. (s.v. Weald).
ween,to suppose, think;wend, pt. t., Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 11. ME.wenen(Chaucer, C. T.A.1655); OE.wēnan.
Weeping Cross.Nares notes that there were at least three crosses so named, near Oxford, Stafford, and Shrewsbury respectively.To come home(orreturn)by Weeping Cross, to repent of an undertaking, Lyly, Euphues, p. 243.
‘He that goes out with often losse,At last comes home by Weeping Crosse,’
‘He that goes out with often losse,At last comes home by Weeping Crosse,’
‘He that goes out with often losse,
At last comes home by Weeping Crosse,’
Howell, Eng. Prov.; Ray’s Proverbs (ed. Bohn, p. 22).
weerish;seewerish.
weesel,weasand, windpipe. Peele, David, ed. Dyce. p. 465, col. 2. Speltwizzel, Mayne, City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Cp. Bavarian dial.waisel, the gullet of animals that chew the cud (Schmeller).
wee’st heart,woe is the heart (of me)! Congreve, Love for Love, ii. 1 (Nurse). ‘Wae’s t’ heart,’ ‘Wae’s heart of me,’ are Yorks. exclamations; ‘Wae’s my heart’ is of frequent occurrence in Scottish poetry, see EDD. (s.v. Woe, 2).
weet,wet; ‘Till all the world is weet’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 33. This is a common pronunc. of ‘wet’ in the north country and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME.weet, wet (Chaucer, C. T.A.4107). OE.wǣt.
weet,to know, Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 6. Fairfax, Tasso, v. 86. This is a northern pronunc. of ‘wit’ (to know), see EDD. (s.v. Wit, vb.). ME.wetyn, to know (Prompt. EETS. 545).
weft,seewaftandwaift.
wefte,abandoned, avoided, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4. 36.
weird:in phr.the weird sisters, used of the three witches, as foretelling destiny, Macbeth, iv. 1. 136. The expression is taken from Holinshed’s Chronicle of Scotland; it was used by Gawin Douglas (Virgil, 80, 48) for the Parcae or Fates; ‘Cloto, una de tribus parcis quae finguntur regere vitam hominis, anglice, one of the thre Weyrde systers’, Pynson’s Ortus Vocabulorum (ed. 1509). See Grimm, Teut. Myth. 407. Seewerd.
weld,to wield, govern. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 32; vi. 8. 11; Shep. Kal., Oct., 40; to wield, to carry, Kyd, Span. Tragedy, i. 4. 35;to weld oneself, to erect oneself, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 699 (L.se tollit). ME.welden, to wield, to control (Chaucer, C. T.D.271), to move with ease (C. T.D.1947).
welk,to fade, to grow dim (of the sun in the west). Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 23; to cause to grow dim, ‘But nowe sadde Winter welked hath the day’, Shep. Kal., Nov., 13. Cp. prov. use of ‘welk’ in the sense of to fade, to wither (used of plants, see EDD., s.v. Welk, vb1). ME.welke, to wither (Chaucer, C. T.D.277). Cp. G.welken, to wither.
welked,withered, faded; ‘Her wealked face with woful teares besprent’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 12. ME.welked, withered (Chaucer, C. T.D.277).
welked,curved, twisted, applied to horns; ‘Welked horns’, Golding’s Ovid, occurring three times, pp. 60, 107, and 122 (ed. 1603); ‘Hornes welkt and waved like the enraged Sea’, King Lear, iv. 6. 71; ‘And setting fire upon the welked shrouds’ (i.e. the curved clouds), Drayton, Barons’ Wars, vi. 39 (Nares).
welkin,the sky; ‘Look on me with your welkin eye’ (i.e. heavenly or sky-blue eye), Winter’s Tale, i. 2. 136. ME.welken, the sky (Chaucer, Hous F. iii. 1601). OE.wolcen, a cloud, alsowolcnan, clouds. Cp. G.wolke, a cloud.
well-a-near,alas!, alack-a-day!;
‘The poor lady shrieks, and well-a-near,Does fall in travail with her fear,’
‘The poor lady shrieks, and well-a-near,Does fall in travail with her fear,’
‘The poor lady shrieks, and well-a-near,
Does fall in travail with her fear,’
Pericles, iii, Prol. 51; Look about You, sc. 2, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vii. 397. An obsolete north-country exclamation—writtenwell-aneerandwell-an-ere(EDD.).
well-liking,in good condition, plump, L. L. L. v. 2. 268; ‘They . . . shalbe fatt and well lykenge’, Ps. xcii. 13 (Great Bible, 1539).
well said!,really meaning ‘well done!’, Westward Ho, ii. 2 (Birdlime). Common.
Welshman’s hose.Nares takes this to mean ‘no hose at all’, as denoting something non-existent or wholly indefinite; but perhaps the Welshman of the phrase was accused of wearing his ‘hose’ hind part before; ‘The lawes wee did interprete and statutes of the land, Not truely by the texte, but newly by a glose: And wordes that were most playne, when they by us were skand, Wee tourned by construction to a Welshman’s hose’, Mirror for Mag., Tresilian, st. 15.
wend;seeween.
wennel,a weaned animal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20, 28; ‘A lamb or a kid or a weanell wast’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., Sept., 198 (weanell wastprob. means ‘a stray weanling’). ‘Wennel’ is an E. Anglian word for a weaned calf (EDD.).
went,a path, a way; ‘Tract of living went’ (i.e. trace of living way, of any way which living men use), Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 47; v. 4. 46; v. 6. 3. ‘Went’ in many applications is in prov. use in many parts of Great Britain; see EDD. ME.wente, a way, passage (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 787).
werd,fate, destiny; ‘The wofull werd’, Sackville, Mirror for Mag., Induction, st. 63. In prov. use in this sense in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Weird, 1). ME.werd, fate, destiny (Wars Alex. 3247);werdis, destinies (Barbour’s Bruce, ii. 329). OE.wyrd, fate, destiny;Wyrde, the Fates. Parcae, The Weird Sisters (B. T.). Icel.Urðr(in poetry), one of the Norns, see Grimm, Teut. Myth, 405. Seeweird.
werish,tasteless, insipid; ‘Dawcockes, lowtes, cockescombes and blockhedded fooles were . . . saidbetizareto be as werishe and as unsavery as beetes’, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 85; ‘Werysshe as meate is that is nat well tastye,mal savouré’, Palsgrave;wearish, weak, delicate, puny, sickly-looking, ‘A wretched wearish elfe’, Spenser, F. Q. iv. 5. 34;weerish, Drayton, Pol. xxix. 62;waryish, Golding, Metam. ii. 776. See Nares (s.v. Wearish). In prov. use, in many forms, in various parts of Great Britain, see EDD. (s.v. Wairsh).
werwolf,a man changed into a wolf by enchantment; ‘She made hym seuen yere a werwolf’, Morte Arthur, leaf 397, 17; bk. xix, c. 11;warwolf, Drayton, Man in the Moon, 13. ME.werwolf(Will. of Palerne, 80), MHG.werwolf, a man-wolf; cp. Med. L.gerulphus(Ducange), OF.garou, cp. F.loup-garou(Hatzfeld). See Dict.
wetewold,a ‘wittol’, a contented cuckold. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 187; Assembly of Gods, 710 (see Notes by Dyce, on Skelton, ii. 305). Seewittol.
wet finger:phr.with a wet finger, easily, readily. Beaumont and Fl., Cupid’s Revenge, iv. 3 (Citizen); Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2. 5; id., Gul’s Hornbook; Heywood’s Proverbs (ed. Farmer, p. 95; see Word-List). It prob. means as easy as turning over the leaf of a book, or rubbing out writing on a slate with a wet finger, or tracing a lady’s name on the table with spilt wine (Farmer).
wethering,weathering, seasoning due to exposure to weather. Latimer, Sermon on the Ploughers (ed. Arber, p. 24). In prov. use in Norfolk, see EDD. (s.v. Weather, vb. 8).
wexing,waxing (as the moon). Dryden, Annus Mirab., st. 4. ME.wexe, to grow (Wyclif, Matt. xiii. 30).
wharrow,a little instrument fixed on a spindle for the string of the ‘turn’ to run in; a small pulley on a spindle. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 298. See passage from Guillim’s Display of Heraldry (ed. 1724, p. 300), quoted in EDD. (s.v.). Cognate with OE.hweorfa, the ‘whorl’ which helps to turn the spindle (B. T.).
what,whatsoever thing; ‘Such homely what as serves the simple clowne’, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 7; ‘Come downe and learne the little what that Thomalin can sayne’, Shep. Kal., July, 31.
whelk,a pimple, blotch. Hen. V, iii. 6. 108. A Derbyshire word, see EDD. (s.v. Whelk, sb.2). ME.whelke(Chaucer, C. T.A.632).
when,(?) an exclamation of impatience. Short for ‘whenwill you do what is bidden you?’, Webster, Duch. of Malfi, ii. 1 (Duchess); iv. 2 (Bosola). Common.
whe’r,whether. Often speltwhere. Tempest, v. 1. 111; King John, i. 1. 75.
where,whereas; wherever; whence. L. L. L. ii. 1. 103; Mids. Night’s D. v. 1. 93; Hen. V, iii. 5. 15.
whereas,where that, where. 2 Hen. VI, i. 2. 58; Pericles, i. 4. 70. Not uncommon.
where-some-ere,wheresoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 2. G.Wheresomeveris heard in Lanc. (EDD.).
wherrit, whirrit,a blow, a thump, a smart box on the ear. Fletcher, Nice Valour, iii. 2 (Lapet); ‘A whirret on the eare’, Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes’ (Nares). Still in prov. use in the north (EDD.).
wherry;seewhirry.
whether,which of the two. Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 352, ‘Whether of them twayne’, Tyndale, Matt. xxi. 31.
whether whether were,which was which. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 10.
whether,whither. Spenser, F. Q. v. 6. 35.
whew,to whirl, to hurry; ‘I whew it away’, Buckingham, The Rehearsal, ii. 4. 7. So in the Lake country, ‘He whew’d his clog throo t’window’, see EDD. (s.v. Whew, vb.22).
whiblin,a trick, device. Marston, Insatiate Countess, ii. 2 (Rogero). Cp.quiblin.Cp. the obsolete Dorset word ‘whibble’, to lie (EDD.).
whiblin,an impotent creature; a term of contempt. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, i. 2 (Fustigo). Seewhimling.
whids,words;to cut bene whids, to speak good words (Cant). Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). [A rousing whid, a great lie, Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 1.] The Slang Dict. (1874) says thatwhidfor a ‘word’ or a ‘falsehood’ is modern slang from the ancient cant.
whiff,a special way of taking tobacco; ‘Capers, healths, and whiffs’, Marston, What You Will, ii. 1 (Laverdure);taking the whiff, B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, Character of Shift (prefixed to the play).
whiffler,an officer who clears the way for a procession. Henry V, v, chorus, 12; Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 523. ‘Whifflers’ (fifers) usually went first in a procession; the term was then applied to those who went forward (without any musical instrument) to clear the way for the procession of a sovereign or of a city corporation. See Nares; and EDD. (s.v. Whiffle, vb.11 (2)).
whiffler,a puffer of tobacco. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Chough).
whig,whey, sour milk, buttermilk. Greene, Description of the Shepherd, l. 29; ed. Dyce, p. 304. Cp. the Linc. expression, ‘As sour as whig’ (EDD.).
whigh-hie, wi-hee,a sound imitative of the neighing of a horse. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1 (Sogliardo); Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Bomby). Hence,wyhee, v., to neigh; Marston, The Fawn, iv. 1 (Dondolo).
while,until. Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, iv. 4 (Tamb.). Macbeth, iii. 1. 44; Richard II, i. 3. 122; see Schmidt. Very common in the north, also in E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. While, 6).
whiles,until; ‘Whyles tomorowe’, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 83; Twelfth Nt. iv. 3. 29. See EDD. (s.v. Whiles, 4).
whimling(a term of contempt), a poor creature. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iv. 7 (Mother). Probably the same word as ‘wimbling’, also written ‘whimbling’, used in the Midlands of plants that are long, thin, and of feeble growth, see EDD. Seewhiblin(2).
whimp,to whimper; ‘Wil whympe and whine’, Latimer, Sermons (ed. Arber, p. 77). Cp. the prov. words ‘wimp’ and ‘whimper’ in EDD.
whip,to move quickly. Sackville, Induction, st. 5; Much Ado, i. 3. 63;to whip out, to draw out quickly, ‘He whips his rapier out’, Hamlet, iv. 1. 10. See EDD.
whip-cat,drunken; ‘Whip-catbowling’, drunken emptying of bowls, Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, iii. 367. See Halliwell. In Worc. a ‘whip-cat’ means a farmer’s feast after bean-setting, see EDD. (s.v. Whip, 1 (4)); ‘To whip the cat’, to get tipsy (Halliwell).
whip-her-ginney,the name of a game of cards. Mentioned in Taylor’s Works (Nares). Speltwhip-her-jenny, ‘a game at cards, borrowed from the Welsh’, Halliwell.
whip-her-jenny,a term of contempt, Two Angry Women, iv. 3 (Coomes); Halliwell.
whip-jack,a sham sailor who begs. Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll); used as a term of reproach generally, ‘One Boner, a bare whippe Jacke for lucre of money toke upon him to be thy father’, Bp. Ponet in Maitland on Reformation, p. 74. [‘Sir Charles Grandison is none of your gew-gaw whip-jacks that you know not where to have’, Richardson, Grandison, vi. 156.] See Davies.
whipstock,the handle of a whip. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 28; Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 95. Also, a carter; as a term of abuse, Tomkis, Albumazar, iv. 4 (end). The equivalent termwhipstalkoccurs in the Spanish Tragedy (Nares).
whirlbat,a ‘cestus’, or weighty boxing-glove. Dryden, Pref. to Fables, § 3 from end. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, viii. 285; writtenwhoorlbat, id., Iliad xxiii, 538. See Davies (s.v. Whirly-bat).
whirlpit,a whirlpool. Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xxi. 223; Sandys, Paraph. Exod. xv; Marmyon’s Fine Companion; Holland, tr. Ammianus (Nares).
whirlpool,a sea-monster of the whale kind; perhaps the cachalot or sperm-whale, which is distinguished from other whales by its peculiar manner of blowing; ‘A whale or a whirlepoole’,Bible, Job xli. 1 (marginal rendering of Leviathan); Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 23; ‘Tinet, the Whall tearmed a Horlepoole or Whirlepoole’, Cotgrave; Holland’s Pliny, bk. ix, ch. 3; speltwherlpoole, Drayton, Pol. xx. 100;wherpoole, id., xxv. 174. See Wright, Bible Word-Book.
whirry,to whirl along, to whirl away, to hurry off, Stanyhurst, tr. Aeneid, iii. 611;wherry, Dekker, O. Fortunatus, iv. 2 (Agripyne);whurry, Taylor’s Works (Nares);whorry, Herrick, To Bacchus, a Canticle. See EDD. (s.v. Whirry, vb. 3).
whisket,a pandaress, The London Chanticleers, sc. 2 (Jenniting).
whiskin,a wanton person, Ford, Fancies Chaste, iv. 1 (Secco); a pandaress, Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iv. 2 (Steward). Seepimp-whiskin.
whist,to keep silence; ‘They whisted all’, Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1; ‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, ii. 1; put to silence, ‘So was the Titanesse put downe and whist’, Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 59; as adj., still, silent, ‘Where all is whist and still’, Marlowe, Hero and L. (Nares); ‘All the companie must be whist’, Holinshed, Desc. of Ireland (ed. 1808, p. 67); ‘The winds with wonder whist’, Milton, Hymn Nat. 64;whistly, silently, Arden of Feversham, iii. 3. 9. ME.whist!(Wyclif, Judges xviii. 19). Seewhust.
whister,a blow;Whisterpoop, a smart blow or smack on the ear or ‘chops’, London Prodigal, ii. 1. 68 [A Linc., Somerset, and Devon word (EDD.)];Whistersnefet, Udall, tr. Apoph., Diogenes, § 72 [Cp.whistersniff, a Hampshire word (EDD.)]. See Davies.
white,the central circle on an archery butt. Tam. Shrew, v. 2. 186; ‘Blanc, the white or mark of a pair of butts;Toucher au blanc, to strike the white, to hit the nail on the head’, Cotgrave.
white,used in expressions of endearment:white boy; ‘Such a brave sparke as you, that is your mother’s white boy’, Two Lancashire Lovers (Nares); Knight of the Burning Pestle, ii. 2 (Mrs. Merrythought); Ford, ’Tis Pity, i. 3; Yorkshire Tragedy, iv. 120; Two Angry Women, iii. 2 (Mall); ‘I shall be his little rogue and his white villain’, Return from Parnassus, ii. 6 (end).
whitemeat,food made of milk, eggs, bread, and the like. Northward Ho, i. 2 (Philip); B. Jonson, Every Man out of Humour, iv. 1 (Fallace); used attrib. and metaph., ‘Your whitemeat spirit’, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Pt. II, sc. 2. 13.
white money,silver coin. Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2 (Galatea). In use in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1. 160).
white-pot,a dish made of milk, eggs, and sugar, &c., boiled in a pot. Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 4 (Eyre); Butler, Hud. i. 1. 299; Spectator, No. 109, § 4. ‘Whitpot’ is the name of a favourite dish in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. White, 1 (64)). See Nares.
white powder,a white kind of gunpowder. It does not appear to have existed; but there was a theory that a white gunpowder would explode without noise. Discussed by Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. ii, ch. 5, sect. 5. Beaumont and Fl., Honest Man’s Fortune, ii. 2 (Laverdine). See Nares.
whiting-mop,a young whiting. Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, ii. 2; metaph. a fair lass, Massinger, Guardian, iv. 2. Sowhiting, Skelton, El. Rummyng, 223.
whiting-time,bleaching-time. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 140.
whitleather,white leather, leather dressed with alum, and very tough. Tusser, Husbandry, § 17. 4; ‘In thy whitleather hide’, Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, v. 1 (Elder Loveless).
whitster,a bleacher of linen. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 15; Pepys, Diary, Aug. 12, 1667;whitstarre. Palsgrave. ‘Whitster’s Arms’ is still a common alehouse sign in Lanc. (EDD.). ME.whytestare, ‘candidarius’ (Prompt. EETS. 526, see note, no. 2565). See Bardsley’s Surnames, 328, 329.
whittle,a small clasp-knife. Timon, v. 1. 183; Middleton, The Widow, iii. 2 (Francisco). In gen. prov. use in this sense, see EDD. (s.v. Whittle, sb.11). ME.thwitel, a knife (Chaucer, C. T.A.3933), deriv. ofthwiten, to pare or cut little pieces from a thing; OE.þwītan, to cut out, cognate with Icel.þveit, a piece of land, common in place-names in the north of England, e.g. Seathwaite, Langthwaite, Postlethwaite.
whittled,drunk, intoxicated. Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 2 (Lucio);whitled, Gascoigne, ed. Hazlitt, i. 498, l. 4. See Nares. Given as an obsolete prov. word in use in the north of England (EDD.). Cp. the slang term ‘cut’ for tipsy, somewhat drunk, see EDD. (s.v. Cut, ppl. adj.).
whome,home; ‘He wil paye whome’, Latimer, pref. to 2 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, p. 48). So pronounced in Wilts. and Shropshire; in north Devon ‘whum’, see EDD. (s.v. Home).
whoobub,hubbub. Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 629; Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 5. (or 6) 35;whobub, Beaumont and Fl., iv. 1 (Soto).
whoop!,an exclamation. King Lear, i. 4. 245; Hence,to whoop, ‘The shepheard whoop’d for joy’, Drayton, Shepherd’s Garland; ‘We are whoop’d’ (i.e. cried ‘whoop’ upon), Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 2 (Franio).
whoorlbat;seewhirlbat.
whorry;seewhirry.
who-some-ere,whosoever. Greene, Alphonsus, i. 1. 15. So alsowhere-some-ere, wheresoever, id., i. 2. 6. A parallel formation towhosoever, with the Icel. conj.sem(Norw. dial., Danish and Swedishsom), as, that, sec EDD. (s.v. Howsomever).
whot, whott,hot. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 58; ii. 5. 18.
whule,to cry plaintively, to whine, howl. Chapman, tr. of Odyssey, xii. 135; Palsgrave, p. 785. A Suffolk word, see EDD. (s.v. Whewl).
whurry;seewhirry.
whust,to keep silence; ‘They whusted all’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 1; to leave anything unsaid, ‘The libertie of an hystorie requireth that all shoulde bee related and nothing whusted’, Holinshed’s Chronicles (Nares); Stanyhurst, tr. of Aeneid, i. 357. Seewhist.
wicker,pliant; ‘Bird! how she flutters with her wicker wings!’, B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. i. 2 (Æglamour).
widow,to endow with a widow’s right, to jointure. Meas. for M. v. 6. 153.
widowhood,a widow’s right, a jointure. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 125.
wigher,to neigh as a horse. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, iii. 2 (Dindimus). Cp. G.wiehern, to neigh.
wight, wyght,active. Morte Arthur, leaf 172, back, 30; bk. ix, c. 4; ‘Wyght or stronge,fort’, Palsgrave; Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91. In prov. use in the north of England (EDD.). ME.wight, active (Chaucer, C. T.B.3457). See Dict. M. and S. (s.v. Wight).
Wild:the Wild of Kent, the Weald of Kent, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 60; ‘I was borne in the wylde of Kent’, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 268). In EDD. we find that the Weald of Sussex is always spoken of asThe Wildby the people who live in the Downs, and the inhabitants of the Downs call the dwellers of ‘The Wild’the wild people. ‘The Wild of Surrey’ is described in Marshall’s Review (1817, v. 355). The same word as the adj. ‘wild’, see Dict. (s.v. Weald).
wildered,bewildered. Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 682. In prov. use in Scotland (EDD.).
wilding,a crab-apple. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 2 (Maudlin); Warner, Albion’s England, iv. 20. Still in prov. use in the Midlands and in the west country (EDD.).
will,to desire, signify one’s will to. Webster, Sir T. Wyatt (Arundel), ed. Dyce, p. 188; Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii, l. 50.
willow,worn as an emblem of unhappy love. Much Ado, ii. 1. 194, 225; ‘Wear the willow garland’, 3 Hen. VI, iv. 1. 100; ‘A green willow must be my garland’, Othello, iv. 3. 50.
wilsome, wylsome,wandering, devious; ‘Wylsome wayes’, Morte Arthur, leaf 124. 11; bk. vii, c. 22. In Scotland ‘wilsome’ is used in the sense of bewildered, lonely, dreary, desolate; see EDD. (s.v. Will, adj. 1 (3)). ME.wylsum: ‘Mony wylsum way he rode’ (Gawayne, 689);wilsom(Wars Alex. 4076, 5565). Icel.villr, bewildered, erring, astray.
wimble,quick, lively, active. Spenser, Shep. Kal., March, 91; Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2 (Feliche). In prov. use in the north of England and the Midlands, see EDD. (s.v. Wimble, adj.).
winbrow,an eyebrow. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 270, back, 12. Low G.winbrāwe, an eyebrow (Lübben); cp. OHG.wintbrāwa,wintbrā,winbrā, an eyebrow (Schade).
windlace,a winding or circuitous way; ‘By slie driftes and windlaces aloofe’, Mirror for Mag., Glocester, st. 46; ‘Fetching a windlesse’, Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, 270);windlasses, pl., Hamlet, ii. 1. 65; speltwinlas, Golding, Metam. vii. 784 (= L.gyrum).
windore,a window. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 59; Diogenes, § 120; Butler, Hud. ii. 2. 369. Still heard in Glouc. (EDD.).
window-bars,lattice-work, cross-work of narrow bands across a woman’s bosom. Timon, iv. 3. 116.
wind-sucker,a kestrel; usedfig.for a covetous person. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, i (end). In prov. use, see EDD. (s.v. Wind, sb.11 (40)). See Nares.
winlas;seewindlace.
winter-ground,to cover up in the ground so as to protect plants from the winter; ‘Furr’d moss . . . To winter-ground thy corse’, Cymbeline, iv. 2. 229.
wirt,a smart box on the ear. North, Plutarch, M. Brutus, § 6 (in Shaks. Plut., p. 112). Seewherrit.
wis;seeiwis.
wish,to commend one to another. Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 113; Match at Midnight, iv. 1 (Sim).
wishly,with eager desire; ‘To putte on his spectacles and pore better and more wishely with his olde eyen on Saynt Johns ghospell’, Sir T. More, Works, p. 1134 (Richardson); Palsgrave, p. 613.
wisket,a small basket; ‘Wysket,sportula’, Levins, Manipulus. In prov. use in various parts of England; see EDD.
wistly,attentively, observingly; ‘She . . . wistly on him gazed’, Lucrece, 1355; Venus and Ad. 343; Passionate Pilgrim, 82; Richard II, v. 4. 7. Perhaps the same word aswhistly, silently, and so, with mute attention. Seewhist.
wit:The five wits, the five faculties of the mind, common sense, imagination, fancy, estimation, memory, Much Ado, i. 1. 67; Sonnet cxli, 9. See Nares.
wit,to know. Greene, James IV, iv. 2. 3; Pericles, iv. 4. 31; 1 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 16. ME.witen(Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. v. 1324). OE.witan. Seewist,wot.
wite,to blame. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 16; Shep. Kal., Aug., 136;wite, blame, F. Q. vi. 3. 16. In prov. use in Scotland, Ireland, and in the north of England (EDD.). ME.witen(wyten), to blame, reproach (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. i. 825), OE.wītan.
with, wyth,a twisted band of willow; ‘A wyth take him!’ (i.e. hang him—said of an Irishman), Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, iii. 2 (1 Servant); ‘An Irish Rebell condemned, put up a Petition to the Deputie, that he might be hanged in a With, and not in an Halter, because it had beene so used with former Rebels’, Bacon, Essay 39. In prov. use; see EDD. (s.v. With, sb.1). See Dict. (s.v. Withy).
withal= with, as placed at the end of the sentence. As You Like It, iii. 2. 328; used in the sense of likewise, besides, at the same time,Bible, 1 Kings xix. 1; Ps. cxli. 10; Acts xxv. 27; ‘Though he be merry, yet withal he’s honest’, Taming Shrew, iii. 2. 25; Bacon, Essay 58; phr.to do withal, ‘They fell sick and died: I could not do withal’ (i.e. I could not help it), Merch. Ven. iii. 4. 72; Northward Ho, iv (Doll); Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 2 (Urse). See Wright’s Bible Word-Book.
withdrawing-chamber,(the modern) drawing-room. Bacon, Henry VII (ed. Lumby, p. 24).
witness,a sponsor in Baptism, a godfather or godmother. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Littlewit); Magn. Lady, iv. 3. 16. So in Devon (EDD.).
wittol,a tame cuckold knowing himself to be so. Merry Wives, ii. 1. 3; B. Jonson, The Fox, v. 1 (Mosca); Beaumont and Fl., Knight of Malta, iii. 2 (Gomere); ‘Jannin, a wittall, one that knows and bears with or winks at his wife’s dishonesty’, Cotgrave. Bp. Hall uses the formwitwal, which may be the older form, ‘Fond wit-wal, that wouldst load thy witless head With timely horns before thy bridal bed’ (Sat. i. 7. 17). The word orig. was a name for the green woodpecker, ‘Godáno, a witwall, a woodwall’, Florio. The ‘witwall’, like the cuckoo, was the subject of ribald jests. In Cheshire and Glouc. ‘witwall’ is a name for the woodpecker; in Suffolk a contented cuckold is called a ‘wittol’; see EDD. Seewetewold.
wizzel,weasand, windpipe. The City Match, iii. 4 (Quartfield). Seeweesel.
woe,sad, sorrowful. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 53; Temp. v. 1. 139; 2 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 73. In the north country very common in prov. use, pronouncedwae: ‘I would be wae for the wife’s sake’, see EDD. (s.v. Woe, 3).