Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WEST'ER-LY, a.

1. Being toward the west; situated in the western region; as, the westerly parts of England. Gramm.
2. Moving from the westward; as, a westerly wind.

WEST'ER-LY, adv.

Tending, going or moving toward the west; as, a man traveling westerly:

WEST'ERN, a. [west and Sax. aern, place.]

1. Being in the west, or in the region nearly in the direction of west; being in that quarter where the sun sets; as, the western shore of France; the western ocean.
2. Moving in a line to the part where the sun sets; as, the ship makes a western course.

WEST'ING, n.

Space or distance westward; or departure; as, the westing and southing of a ship.

WEST'WARD, adv. [Sax. westweard; west and weard, L. versus.]

Toward the west; as, to ride or sail westward.

WEST'WARD-LY, adv.

In a direction toward the west; as, to pass westwardly.

WET, a. [Sax. waet; Sw. vata Dan. vaede, moisture, Gr. {foreign}; L. udus.]

1. Containing water, as wet land, or a sod cloth; or having water or other liquid upon the surface, as a wet table. Wet implies more water or liquid than moist or humid.
2. Rainy; as, wet weather; a wet season.

WET, n.

1. Water or wetness; moisture or humidity in considerable degree. Wear thick shoes or pattens to keep your feet from the wet.
2. Rainy weather; foggy or misty weather. Swift.

WET, v.t. pret.

1. and pp. wet. But wetted is sometimes used. [Sax. waetan; Sw. vata; Dan. vaeder.]
2. To fill or moisten with water or other liquid: to sprinkle or humectate; to cause to have water or other fluid adherent to the surface; to dip or soak in liquor; as, to wet a spunge; to wet the hands; to wet cloth. Wet the thirsty earth with falling show'rs. Milton.
3. To moisten with drink. Walton.

WETH'ER, n. [Sax. wether or wedder, In Dan. vaeder is a ram.]

A ram castrated.

WET'NESS, a.

1. The state of being wet, either by being soaked or filled with liquor, or by having a liquid adherent to the surface; as, the wetness of land; the wetness of a cloth. It implies more water or liquid than humidness or moisture.
2. A watery or moist state of the atmosphere; a state of being rainy, foggy, or misty; as, the wetness of weather or the season.

WET'TED, pp.

Rubbed for sharpening; sharpened; provoked; stimulated.

WET'TISH, a.

Somewhat wet; moist; humid.

WEX, v.t.

or i. To grow; to wax. [Not to be used.] [See War.]

WE'ZAND,

for Weasand. [See the latter.]

WH,

Note.—In words beginning with wh, the letter h, or aspirate, when both letters are pronounced, precedes the sound of w. Thus what, when, are pronounced hwat, hwen. So they were written by our ancestors, and so they ought to be written still, as they are by the Danes and Swedes.

WHACK, v.t.

To strike. This is probably the primary word on which is formed thwack. [See Twit.] Whack is a vulgar word.

WHALE, n. [Sax. hwal, hwael; G. wallfisch, from wallen, to: stir agitate, or rove; D. walvisch Sw. and Dan. hval. This animal is named from roundness, or from rolling; for in Dan. hvalt is arched or vaulted; hvaeller, to arch or vault, D. welven.]

The general name of an order of animals inhabiting the ocean, arranged in zoology under the name of Cete or Cetaceae, and belonging to the class Mammalia, in the Linnaean system. The Greenland whale is of the genus Balaena. It is the largest animal of which we have any account, and probably the largest in the world. It is sometimes sixty feet in length in the northern seas, and in the torrid zone much larger. The whale furnishes us with oil, whalebone, &c. [See Cachalot.]

WHALE-BONE, n. [whale and bone.]

A firm elastic substance taken from the upper jaw of the whale, used as a, stiffening in stays, fans, screens, &c.

WHALE-FISH-ER-Y, n.

The fishery or occupation of taking whales.

WHALE-MAN, n.

A man employed in the whale-fishery.

WHAL-ER, n.

A ship employed in the whale-fishery.

WHAL-ING, n.

The business of taking whales.

WHALL, or WHAUL, n.

A disease of the eyes, called glaucoma. [Local.]

WHAL-Y, a.

Marked with streaks; properly Wealy.