Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WEAV-ER, n.

1. One who weaves; one whose occupation is to weave.
2. The common name of the genus Ploceus, of several species, passerine birds, natives of Africa and the East Indies; so called because they construct curious and often pensile nests, by interweaving twigs and fibers. Ed. Encyc.

WEAV-ER-FISH, n.

A kind of fish, a species of Trachinus, of which about four species are well known. They inflict wounds with the spines of their first dorsal fin, which are much dreaded. Their flesh is esteemed. [See Weever.] Ainsworth.

WEAV-ING, n.

1. The act or art of forming cloth in a loom by the union or intertexture of threads.
2. The task or work to be done in making cloth.

WEAV-ING, ppr.

Forming cloth by intermixture of threads.

WEB, n. [Sax. web; Sw. vaf,: See Weave.]

1. Texture of threads; plexus; any thing woven. Penelope devised a web to deceive her wooers. Spenser.
2. Locally, a piece of linen cloth. England. Ireland.
3. A dusky film that forms over the eye and hinders the sight; suffusion. Shak.
4. Some part of a sword. Qu. net-work of the handle or hilt. Shak. Fairfax.
5. In ship-building, the thin partition on the inside of the rim, and between the spokes of a sheave. Cyc.
6. In ornithology, the membrane which unites the toes of many water-fowls. Spider's web, a plexus of very delicate threads or filaments which a spider spins from its bowels, and which serves as a net to catch flies or other insects for its food. Web of a coulter, is the thin sharp part.

WEB'BED, a. [from web.]

Having the toes united by a membrane, or web; as, the webbed feet of aquatic fowls.

WEB'-FOOT-ED, a. [web and foot.]

Having webbed feet; palmiped. A goose, or duck, is a web-footed fowl.

WED, n.

A pledge.

WED, v.i.

To marry; to contract matrimony. When shall I wed? Shak.

WED, v.t. [Sax. weddian, to covenant, to promise, to marry; Sw. vadja; Dan. vedder, to wager; W. gwezu; L. vador, to give bail, or faedus, a league; probably both are of one family.]

1. To marry; to take for husband or for wife. Since the day I saw thee first, and wedded thee. Milton.
2. To join in marriage. And Adam, wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her. Milton.
3. To unite closely in affection; to attach firmly. We are apt to be wedded to our own customs and opinions. Men are wedded to their lusts. Tillotson.
4. To unite for ever. Thou art wedded to calamity. Shak.
5. To espouse; to take part with. They wedded his cause. [Obs.] Clarendon.

WED'DED, pp.

Married; closely attached.

WED'DING, n.

Marriage; nuptials; nuptial ceremony; nuptial festivities. Let her beauty be her wedding dower. Shak.

WED'DING, ppr.

Marrying; uniting with in matrimony.

WED'DING-CLOTHES, n. [wedding and clothes.]

Garments for a bride or a bridegroom, to be worn at marriage.

WED'DING-DAY, n. [wedding and day.]

The day of marriage.

WED'DING-FEAST, n. [wedding and feast.]

A feast or entertainment prepared for the guests at a wedding.

WEDGE, n. [Sax. wecg, waecg; Dan. veg; Sw. vigg; D. wig. This word signifies a mass, a lump.]

1. A mass of metal; as, a wedge of gold or silver. Josh. vii.
2. A piece of metal, particularly iron, thick at one end and sloping to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, &c. This is one of the five mechanical powers. A like piece of wood is by some persons called a wedge, or a glut.
3. Something in the form of a wedge. Sometimes bodies of troops are drawn up in the form of a wedge.

WEDGE, v.t.

1. To cleave with a wedge; to rive. [Little used.]
2. To drive as a wedge is driven; to crowd or compress closely. We were wedged in by the crowd.
3. To force, as a wedge forces its way; as, to wedge one's way. Milton.
4. To fasten with a wedge or with wedges; as, to wedge on a sythe; to wedge in a rail or a piece of timber.
5. To fix in the manner of a wedge. Wedg'd in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast. Dryden.

WEDG'ED, pp.

Split with a wedge; fastened with a wedge; closely compressed.

WEDGE-SHAP-ED, a. [wedge and shape.]

Having the shape of a wedge; cuneiform. A wedge-shaped leaf is broad and truncate at the summit, and tapering down to the base. Smith.

WEDGE'WOOD-WARE, n.

A superior kind of white earthen ware, made at Henley, in England, and so called from its inventor, whose name was Wedgewood.

WEDG'ING, ppr.

Cleaving with a wedge; fastening with wedges; compressing closely.

WED'LOCK, n. [Qu. wed and lock, or Sax. lac, a gift.]

Marriage; matrimony. Addison.

WED'LOCK, v.t.

To marry. [Little used.] Millon.

WED'LOCK-ED, pp.

United in marriage. [Little used.] Milton.