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Welsbach

Of or pertaining to Auer von Welsbach or the incandescent gas burner invented by him.

Welsh

To cheat by avoiding payment of bets; -- said esp. of an absconding bookmaker at a race track. To avoid dishonorably the fulfillment of a pecuniary obligation.

Welsher

One who cheats at a horse race; one who bets, without a chance of being able to pay; one who receives money to back certain horses and absconds with it.

Weltanschauung

Lit., world view; a conception of the course of events in, and of the purpose of, the world as a whole, forming a philosophical view or apprehension of the universe; the general idea embodied in a cosmology.

Welte

imp. of Weld, to wield.

Welter

Of, pertaining to, or designating, the most heavily weighted race in a meeting; as, a welter race; the welter stakes.

Welterweight

A weight of 28 pounds (one of 40 pounds is called a heavy welterweight) sometimes imposed in addition to weight for age, chiefly in steeplechases and hurdle races.

Weltschmertz

Sorrow or sadness over the present or future evils or woes of the world in general; sentimental pessimism.

Welwitschia

An African plant (Welwitschia mirabilis) belonging to the order Gnetaceae. It consists of a short, woody, topshaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are the cotyledons enormously developed, and at length split into diverging segments.

Wem

To stain; to blemish; to harm; to corrupt.

Wemless

Having no wem, or blemish; spotless.

Wen

An indolent, encysted tumor of the skin; especially, a sebaceous cyst.

Wen Wyn Wynn

One of the runes (/) adopted into the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, alphabet. It had the value of modern English w, and was replaced from about a. d. 1280 at first by uu, later by w.

Wen-li

The higher literary idiom of Chinese, that of the canonical books and of all composition pretending to literary standing. It employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.

Wench

To frequent the company of wenches, or women of ill fame.

Wencher

One who wenches; a lewd man.

Wend

A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.

Wendic

The language of the Wends.

Wends

A Slavic tribe which once occupied the northern and eastern parts of Germany, of which a small remnant exists.

Wenny Wennish

Having the nature of a wen; resembling a wen; as, a wennish excrescence.

Wenona

A sand snake (Charina plumbea) of Western North America, of the family Erycidae.

Went

Course; way; path; journey; direction.

Wentletrap

Any one of numerous species of elegant, usually white, marine shells of the genus Scalaria, especially Scalaria pretiosa, which was formerly highly valued; -- called also staircase shell. See Scalaria.

Wep

imp. of Weep.

Wept

imp. p. p. of Weep.

Were

To guard; to protect.

Weregild

The price of a man's head; a compensation paid of a man killed, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord of a vassal, and partly to the next of kin. It was paid by the murderer.

Werewolf

A person transformed into a wolf in form and appetite, either temporarily or permanently, whether by supernatural influences, by witchcraft, or voluntarily; a lycanthrope. Belief in werewolves, formerly general, is not now extinct.

Wernerian

Of or pertaining to A. G. Werner, The German mineralogist and geologist, who classified minerals according to their external characters, and advocated the theory that the strata of the earth's crust were formed by depositions from water; designating, or according to, Werner's system.

Wernerite

The common grayish or white variety of soapolite.

Weroole

An Australian lorikeet (Ptilosclera versicolor) noted for the variety of its colors; -- called also varied lorikeet.

Wesleyan

One who adopts the principles of Wesleyanism; a Methodist.

Wesleyanism

The system of doctrines and church polity inculcated by John Wesley (b. 1703; d. 1791), the founder of the religious sect called Methodist; Methodism. See Methodist, n., 2.

Westernmost

Situated the farthest towards the west; most western.

Westing

The distance, reckoned toward the west, between the two meridians passing through the extremities of a course, or portion of a ship's path; the departure of a course which lies to the west of north.

Westmost

Lying farthest to the west; westernmost.

Westward

The western region or countries; the west.

Wet

To fill or moisten with water or other liquid; to sprinkle; to cause to have water or other fluid adherent to the surface; to dip or soak in a liquid; as, to wet a sponge; to wet the hands; to wet cloth.

Wet-shod

Having the feet, or the shoes on the feet, wet.

wetback

A Mexican who enters the United States illegally, by wading across the Rio Grande; -- disparaging and offensive.

Wetbird

The chaffinch, whose cry is thought to foretell rain.

Wetness

The quality or state of being wet; moisture; humidity; as, the wetness of land; the wetness of a cloth.

Wey

A certain measure of weight.

Whaap

The European curlew; -- called also awp, whaup, great whaup, and stock whaup. The whimbrel; -- called also May whaup, little whaup, and tang whaup.

Whack

A smart resounding blow.

Whahoo

An American tree, the winged elm. (Ulmus alata).

Whala

To lash with stripes; to wale; to thrash; to drub.

Whale

Any aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea, especially any one of the large species, some of which become nearly one hundred feet long. Whales are hunted chiefly for their oil and baleen, or whalebone.

Whaleback

A form of vessel, often with steam power, having sharp ends and a very convex upper deck, much used on the Great Lakes, esp. for carrying grain.

Whaleboat

A long, narrow boat, sharp at both ends, used by whalemen.

Whalebone

A firm, elastic substance resembling horn, taken from the upper jaw of the right whale; baleen. It is used as a stiffening in stays, fans, screens, and for various other purposes. See Baleen.

Whaleman

A man employed in the whale fishery.

Whaler

One who whales, or beats; a big, strong fellow; hence, anything of great or unusual size.

Whaling

Pertaining to, or employed in, the pursuit of whales; as, a whaling voyage; a whaling vessel.

Whall

A light color of the iris in horses; wall-eye.

Whally

Having the iris of light color; -- said of horses.

Whangdoodle

An imaginary creature, of undefined character.

Wharfinger

A man who owns, or has the care of, a wharf.

Wharling Wharl

A guttural pronunciation of the letter r; a burr. See Burr, n., 6.

Wharp

A kind of fine sand from the banks of the Trent, used as a polishing powder.

What

Why? For what purpose? On what account?

Whate'er

A contraction of what-ever; -- used in poetry.

Whatever

Anything soever which; the thing or things of any kind; being this or that; of one nature or another; one thing or another; anything that may be; all that; the whole that; all particulars that; -- used both substantively and adjectively.

Whatnot shelf Whatnot

A kind of stand, or piece of furniture, having shelves for books, ornaments, etc.; an /tag/re.

Whatso

Whatsoever; whosoever; whatever; anything that.

Whatsoe'er

A contraction of whatsoever; -- used in poetry.

Whealworm

The harvest mite; -- so called from the wheals, caused by its bite.

Wheat

A cereal grass (Triticum vulgare) and its grain, which furnishes a white flour for bread, and, next to rice, is the grain most largely used by the human race.

Wheatbird

A bird that feeds on wheat, especially the chaffinch.

Wheatear

A small European singing bird (Saxicola /nanthe). The male is white beneath, bluish gray above, with black wings and a black stripe through each eye. The tail is black at the tip and in the middle, but white at the base and on each side. Called also checkbird, chickell, dykehopper, fallow chat, fallow finch, stonechat, and whitetail.

Wheaten

Made of wheat; as, wheaten bread.

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